Volume 90, Number 1 - California Historical Society

At times, an expedition was the consummate
exercise whereby soldiers and militia repented of
their sins and, at least for the moment, restored
their place in the Christian community. In 1828,
Sergeant Sebastian Rodríguez reported that during
the hunt for fugitive converts, the soldiers
twice heard Mass. 81 The most sacred ceremony
of the Catholic faith requires believers to confess
their sins. According to the Latin Rite, which
would be the liturgy followed by the residents of
California, the congregation prays, “I have sinned
exceedingly in thought, word, and deed, through
my fault, through my most grievous fault.” After
the priest asks that “the Almighty and Merciful
Lord grant us pardon . . . and [the] remission of
our sins,” any person who wishes could receive
Communion, and once more sit at the Lord’s
table. 82 Even Indians taken prisoner during these
expeditions received the chance to repent. In
1837, José María Amador of San Jose led “soldiers
and civilians” into the Central Valley to recover
stolen horses. Of the two hundred Indians captured
by the party, one hundred were fugitive
neophytes, with the remainder being gentiles, or
“heathen.” Amador told the Christian Indians
to “pray the creed.” In other words, they could
renounce sin by professing their faith. He then
ordered their execution with “two arrows in the
front and two in the back.” To make sure that the
pagan Indians did not die in a state of sin, Amador
“baptized” them and commanded his men to
shoot the prisoners “in the back.” 83
In the end, the way the priests and settlers used
violence testifies to connections that span generations.
Muslims in Spain conveyed certain practices
to their Christian rivals, who then passed
them to the settlers and colonists of the New
World. Although rendered into Christian form,
the Muslim ideas of jihad and ribat nonetheless
possessed some of their original shape and intent.
In some instances, war became a pilgrimage in
which the warrior performed penance, and thus
obtained the opportunity to fight his way into
Like Spanish Christians
centuries before, California’s
warriors believed that for
the duration of their quest,
the slaying of enemies
would serve as penance or
professions of worship.
paradise. But if war is an act of faith, there come
beguiling questions. Did the residents of California,
like their predecessors in Spain, use religion
to justify war? Or did they really think war was a
form of religious expression? The answer to these
questions depends on the reader’s approach to
faith. But even so, the association of war with a
pilgrimage addresses contemporary concerns.
When one reads about Muslim militants invoking
God to justify violence, or remembers that in
2003 an American president said that war would
usher in a “New Age” and fulfill biblical prophecies,
the priests and settlers of California sound
quite modern. 84 They are not, then, a remote
populace lost to us through time and distance;
rather, in their use of war they behaved as we do,
sometimes repelled, sometimes emboldened, but
all the while fascinated by the clarion call to muster
ranks and fight.
Michael Gonzalez is an associate professor of history at
the University of San Diego. He teaches California history,
Chicano history, Cold War history, and Middle Eastern history
and terrorism. He also is the director for the history master’s
program.
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