A Bibliography of Early California
and Neighboring Territory Through 1846:
An Era of Exploration, Missions, Presidios, Ranchos, and Indians
Compiled by
Robert LeRoy Santos
California State University, Stanislaus
University Library
Alley-Cass Publications
Turlock, CA
2002
Chapter Five
PRESIDIOS - MILITARY
This chapter contains works about Spanish and Mexican Military in California, Baja California, Mexico, and the
Southwest through 1846.
[E1]
Alexander, David V. Arizona Frontier Military Place Names, 1846-1912. Las Cruces, NM: Yucca Tree Press, 1998. 163
pp.
[E2]
Archer, Christon L. "The Royalist Army of New Spain, 1810-1821: Militarism, Praetorianism, or Protection of
Interests?" Armed Forces & Society: An Interdisciplinary Journal 17(Fall 1990): 99-117 Notes: Examines
the results of war and then the administration of peace following the independence wars of
1810-1821 and the changed attitude found in the officers.
[E3]
Barbolla, Diane Everett. "Alta California Troops: Acculturation and Material Wealth in a Presidio and Mission
Context, 1769-1810." Ph.D. diss., University of California, Riverside, 1992. 226 pp.
[E4]
Barteet, Charles Cody. "Defending the Spanish New World: Spanish Military Architecture of the Sixteenth through
Eighteenth Centuries." M.A. thesis, University of Texas, San Antonio, 2000. 83 pp. Notes: A study of Spanish
military architecture in New Spain.
[E5]
Blyth, Lance R. "Los Vaqueros Buenos: The Presidial Soldiers at Santa Fe, 1778-1805." M.A. thesis, Colorado
State University, 1997. 75 pp.
[E6]
Campbell, Judith Urban. "The Families of the California Presidios 1769-1834." M.A. thesis, University
of San Diego, 1998. 190 pp. Notes: The concentration is on the San Diego Presidio.
[E7]
Comer, Douglas Craig. "Ritual Ground: Bent's Old Fort, Ideology, and the Annexation of the Southwest."
Ph.D. diss., University of Maryland, College Park, 1993. 372 pp. Notes: Addresses the notion of ritual trade among
Indians and whites, with items representing social connections, as the fabric that led to a common purpose to expel
Mexican control of the region.
[E8]
Costello, Julia G. and Phillip L. Walker. "Burials from the Santa Barbara Presidio Chapel." Historical
Archaeology 21(1987): 3-17. Notes: Describes the findings of three graves at the presidio chapel and their importance
to the understanding of the culture of the 1830s and 1840s in California.
[E9]
Espana y Nueva Espana: Sus Acciones Transmaritimas. Mexico City: Universidad Iberoamericana, 1991. 202 pp. Notes:
Papers from the conference,I Simposio Internacional, Mexico City, 23-26 October, 1990, to celebrate Columbus' 500th
anniversary of the discovery of the New World. Papers are on Spanish naval history in regard to New Spain. In Spanish.
[E10]
Delgado, Edmundo. "A Spanish Ranker in New Mexico: Captain Manuel Delgado of Santa Fe, 1738-1815." New
Mexico Historical Review 66(1991): 1-13. Notes: A biography of soldier who served at several presidios in New Spain,
1738-1815.
[E11]
Foos, Paul W. "Mexican Wars: Soldiers and Society in an Age of Expansion, 1835-1855." Ph.D. diss., Yale
University, 1997. 566 pp. Notes: Examines the position of the military in the society of the Southwest in its quest
to preserve the status quo and to advance military expansion of the region.
[E12]
Giese, Dale F. Forts of New Mexico. Silver City, NM: N.p., 1995. 32 pp. Notes: A guidebook to historical military
structures.
[E13]
Gonzalez de la Vara, Martin. Historiografia Norteamericana Sobre las Instituciones Militares en la Frotera Norte
de Nueva Espana. Tijuana: El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, 1994. 31 pp. Notes: A paper presented at COLEF III,
October 194 about the military in New Spain. In Spanish.
[E14]
Harris, Carl V., Jarrell C. Jackman, and Catherine Rudolph, eds. Santa Barbara Presidio Area 1840 to the Present.
Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Trust for Historical Preservation and the University of California, Santa Barbara,
Public Historical Studies, 1993. 174 pp.
[E15]
Herring, Patricia Roche. "Tucsonense Preclaro (Illustrious Tucsonan): General Jose C. Urrea, Romantic Idealist."
Journal or Arizona History 34(1993): 307-320. Notes: Traces the story of a soldier/politician who was a Mexican
liberal and fought for federalism, 1797-1849.
[E16]
Hough, Granville W. and N.C. Hough. California Patriots During Spain's 1779-1783 War with England. Laguna Hills,
CA: The Authors, 1998. 157 pp. Notes: Genealogical source.
[E17]
____________. Spain's California Patriots in Its 1779-1783 War with England During the American Revolution. 2 vols.
Midway City, CA: Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research, 1998. Notes: Genealogical source.
[E18]
Jackman, Jarrell C. Felipe de Goicoechia: Santa Barbara Presidio Comandante. Santa Barbara: Anson Luman, 1993.
33 pp. Notes: Covers 1784-1802.
[E19]
Johnston, Francis J. "Fort Funston, Yesterday and Today." Journal of America's Military Past 20(1993):
48-62. Notes: Though about a San Francisco military garrison opened in 1898, there is information on the area from
the Spanish period.
[E20]
Kruse, David. Final Cultural Resources Inventory Update: Presidio San Francisco (PSF). Sacramento: U.S. Army Corp
of Engineers, 1991. 101 pp. Notes: An inventory of the historic buildings and building sites at the presidio.
[E21]
Langellier, John Philip. El Presidio de San Francisco: A History under Spain and Mexico, 1776-1846. Denver: National
Park Service, 1992. 181 pp. Notes: Also printed with the titles: Presidio of San Francisco Golden Gate National
Recreation Area, California and Historic Resource Study, El Presidio de San Francisco.
[E22]
____________. "San Francisco Presidio: A Chequered History." Journal of the Council on America's Military
Past 15:2(1987): 3-25. Notes: Presents the history of the presidio from 1776 profiling its expansion and architecture.
[E23]
Lopez Urrutia, Carlos. El Real Ejercito de California. Madrid: Grupo Medusa Ediciones, 2000. 317 pp. Notes: Examines
the history of Spanish colonial forces in California and Baja California, 1768-1822. In Spanish.
[E24]
Malcolm, Barrie Earl. "The Soldiers of Spain's California Army, 1769-1821." M.A. thesis, Portland State
University, 1993. 93 pp.
[E25]
Moncada Maya, Jose Omar. Ingenieros Militares en Nueva Espana: Inventario de Su Labor Cientifica y Espacial, Siglos
XVI a XVIII. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Instituto de Geografia, 1993. 194 pp. Notes:
Discusses military engineering in New Spain from the sixteenth through the eighteenth century. In Spanish.
[E26]
Monterey County Genealogical Society. Soldiers and Census's Early Alta California, 1779-1850. Salinas: The Author,
199?. 66 pp.
[E27]
Moorehead, Max L. The Presidio: Bastion of the Spanish Borderlands. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991.
288 pp.
[E28]
Nearing, Richard and David Hoff. Arizona Military Installations, 1752-1922. Tempe, AZ: GEM Pub. Co., 1995. 59 pp.
[E29]
Perissinotto, Giorgio Sabino Antonio and Catherine Rudolph, eds. Documenting Everyday Life in Early Spanish California:
The Santa Barbara Presidio Memorias and Facturas, 1779-1810. Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation,
1998. 405 pp.
[E30]
Pucci, Frank Joseph. "An Historical Geography of the North Mexican Frontier: The Presidio Line from 1766-1786."
Ph.D. diss., University of Minnesota, 1993. 232 pp. Notes: Explains that the Southwest frontier was different than
the other eastern frontiers in the United States in that no one really had control of the border area because missionary
and secular efforts failed.
[E31]
Rivera, Pedro de. Pedro de Rivera and the Military Regulations for Northern New Spain, 1724-1729: A Documentary
History of His Frontier Inspection and the Reglamento de 1729. Edited by Thomas H. Naylor and Charles W. Polzer.
Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1988. 367 pp.
[E32]
Ruiz, Julie Ann. "The Boundaries of Conflict: The Mexican War in Nineteenth-Century American Literature."
Ph.D. diss., University of California, Berkeley, 2001. 303 pp. Notes: Analyzes the literature of four authors in
regard to the image of the Mexican they present surrounding the event of the Mexican War of 1846-1848 and its effect
on the collective minds of succeeding generations.
[E33]
Salas, Elizabeth. Soldaderas in the Mexican Military: Myth and History. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990.
163 pp. Notes: Covers the Southwest and Mexico beginning with the sixteenth century. Originally a Ph.D. dissertation,
University of California, Los Angeles, 1987.
[E34]
Smith, Fay Jackson. Captain of the Phantom Presidio: A History of the Presidio of Fronteras, Sonora, New Spain,
1686-1735, Including the Inspection by Brigadier Pedro de Rivera 1726. Spokane, WA: A.H. Clark, 1993. 217 pp. Notes:
Examines the lives of three commanders of the presidio along with the presidio's history.
[E35]
Sullivan, Eileen A. "Irish Military Men Serving Spain in North America in the 18th and 19th Centuries."
Irish Sword [Ireland] 21[No. 86](1999): 387-392. Notes: Traces the lives of several Irishmen who were in Spanish
military service, 1760-1830, and with an account of those serving in Arizona.
[E36]
Thompson, Erwin N. Defender of the Gate: The Presidio of San Francisco, a History from 1846-1995. 2 vols. Denver:
U.S. Dept. of the Interior, 1997.
[E37]
____________. The Guns of San Diego: San Diego Harbor Defenses, 1796-1947: Historic Resource Study, Cabrillo National
Monument. San Diego: National Park Service, 1991. 171 pp.
[E38]
U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, Sacramento District. California Historic Military Buildings and Structures Inventory.
4 vols. Sacramento: The Author, 2000. Notes: Vol. 1 is the inventory; vols. 2 and 3 have the historical texts;
and vol. 4 contains the appendices.
[E39]
Vallejo, Mariano Guadalupe. Report of a Visit to Fort Ross and Bodega Bay in April 1833. Translated and edited
by Glenn Farris and Rose-Marie Beebe. Santa Barbara?: California Mission Studies Association, 2000. 32 pp.
[E40]
Vinson, Ben. Bearing Arms for His Majesty: The Free-Colored Militia in Colonial Mexico. Stanford: Stanford University
Press, 2001. 304 pp. Notes: Taken from the author's Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, 1998, with the same
title.
[E41]
Whitehead, Richard S. Citadel on the Channel: The Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, Its Founding and Construction,
1782-1798. Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Trust for Historical Preservation; Spokane: Arthur H. Clark, 1996. 220
pp.
[E42]
Williams, Jack S. "The Archaeology of Underdevelopment and the Military Frontier of Northern New Spain."
Historical Archaeology 26(1992): 7-21. Notes: Discovers that presidios in the colonial period, 1750-1821 were self-sufficient
in a sense relying on materials from New Spain, but from 1830 on, there was more reliance on European manufactured
goods as the West became tied more to Old World capitalism.
[E43]
____________. "Architecture and Defense on the Military Frontier of Arizona, 1752-1856." Ph.D. diss.,
University of Arizona, 1991. 319 pp.
[E44]
____________. San Diego Presidio Reader 1996. San Diego: Center for Spanish Colonial Archaeology, 1997. 189 pp.
Notes: Analysis of the excavations done at the presidio in 1996.