The Branciforte sack of Mission Santa Cruz during the Bouchard scare. Fr. Ramón Olbés complained the Branciforte comisionado & villagers committed 'atentados' on the mission's property. When Bouchard's force took Monterey (23 Nov 1818), Olbés evacuated the mission toward Sta Clara; the comisionado Joaquín Buelna had been ordered to remove the mission's goods (under inventory) before the enemy could sack them — instead, the inválido Joaquín Castro found Buelna & most of the Branciforte vecindario sacking the mission: forcing the main gate with axes, breaking the warehouse windows, carrying off the goods; returning 6–7 days later they found it 'enteramente saqueada,' doors/windows/stores broken, the church profaned — a crucifix, the image of San Luis & the Santo Niño 'hechos pedazos,' excrement on canes in the sacristy. A vivid, well-known episode. The testimony is conflicting: the comisionado Joaquín Buelna's defense quotes the Gov.'s actual written order ('hará V. que pase con algunos á destruir aquellos intereses para que los enemigos no se apoderen de ellos') and blames the mayordomo Castro & 60 mission Indians for the disorderly sack; villager José Mª Salazar says Castro broached the liquor barrels; some say the Indians (not the villagers) broke the crucifix and that San José/the Santo Niño were undamaged. Argüello sent all the declarations to the Gov. (18 Nov 1819). Orig. pp.3–26 ⭐ VERIFIED ON THE LEAF 2026-08-27. Span corrected: the sumaria runs n276 through the UPPER PART of n284, where it closes 'El 18 de En.o 1819 paso el Capn. Arguello todas las declaraciones al Gobr.' with Savage's cite 'pp 3-26'. The old scan cell stopped at n278 and the old date note said the investigation ran to Nov 1819; the leaf shows it closed 18 Jan 1819.
| Date | 1818-12-08 (events Nov 1818; investigation Jan 1819) (exact) |
|---|---|
| From | Gob. Solá |
| To | Capt. Luis Argüello (investig. by Argüello, escribano cabo José Berreyesa) |
| Place | Rancho de la Real Hacienda / Sta Cruz |
| Series | Provincial State Papers, Benicia (Military) |
| Tomo | XL–LII (volume range; this entry is not resolved to one tomo) |
| Original tomo page | pp.3–26 |
| Savage copy page | 276–284 |
| Scan leaf | n276–n284 |
| Document type | verbatim transcription |
| Source | verbatim transcription |
Read this leaf on the Internet Archive ↗ · leaf n276–n284
Gob. Solá to Capt. Luis Argüello (investig. by Argüello, escribano cabo José Berreyesa), Rancho de la Real Hacienda / Sta Cruz, 1818-12-08 (events Nov 1818; investigation Jan 1819), Provincial State Papers, Benicia (Military), XL–LII, pp.3–26, Archives of California, C-A 17, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. [the tomo is given as the volume’s full range: this entry has not been resolved to a single tomo within XL–LII]Cite the document by series, tomo and original tomo page, as the literature does; the C-A number locates it in the repository. To cite this catalogue entry itself, use https://archivesofcalifornia.com/record/ca17/ca17-d331.html