BGuthrie Photos: CA -- San Francisco -- Presidio

CA -- San Francisco -- Presidio:

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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[13] SFPRES_110728_053.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?) $Outpost of an Empire: You are near what was the northwest corner of the Spanish Presidio (1776). For almost fifty years, a walled-in cluster of adobe buildings served as the northernmost outpost of Spain's New World colonies. From this site and the Spanish mission three miles away, the city of San Francisco would eventually develop. The Spanish garrison here protected Spanish land and regulated ship traffic into the bay until Mexico took control of this territory in 1822. Duty was never easy. Unreliable supply lines left the soldiers constantly wanting. Rain eroded and earthquakes fractured the adobe walls. When the Americans occupied the post in 1846, they found a dilapidated post "crumbling for want of care."$	[14] SFPRES_110728_057.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[15] SFPRES_110728_067.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. SFPRES_110728_038.JPG: The Ordonez Gun: A "War Prize" from the Philippines -- 1899 The Presidio's Ordonez gun was originally mounted in a Spanish coastal fort at Subic Bay in the Philippines. Undamaged during the Spanish-American War, the gun was captured by Filipino nationalists, who were known as "Insurrectos" by the occupying Americans. In September 1899, a combined U.S. Army-Navy force attacked the Filipino positions at Subic Bay. This gun was reported to have been destroyed by shellfire from the American cruiser USS Charleston. Some historians suggest that the damage was caused by the explosion of shell within the gun. Following the war, numerous captured guns from the Philippines were brought to the United States as war prizes. Publisher William Randolph Hearst acquired this Ordonez gun and presented it to the City of San Francisco. It was on display in Columbia Square Park until 1973, when the U.S. Army acquired the gun for display at the Presidio. This Ordonez gun has been preserved in its battle-damaged state as a reminder of the U.S. Army soldiers who passed through the Presidio and their Spanish and Filipino opponents who manned the weapon. This rifled artillery piece, developed by Captain don Salvador Diaz Ordonez of the Spanish army, could fire a 500-pound shell nearly seven miles. The Spanish military mounted Ordonez guns in coastal forts in Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and elsewhere.
2. SFPRES_110728_044.JPG: War in the Philippines: The Spanish-American War, the Philippine-American War, and the Presidio, 1898-1902 On April 21, 1898, the United States declared war against Spain. The immediate causes were America's support of Cuba's ongoing struggle against Spanish rule and the mysterious explosion of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor. This was the first overseas war fought by the United States, with campaigns in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. On May 1, 1898, the Spanish fleet guarding the Philippine Islands was defeated by the U.S. Navy under the command of Commodore George Dewey. Unaware of Dewey's success, President McKinley authorized the assembling of troops to mount a campaign against the capital of Manila. The military base best suited as a staging point for these troops was the Presidio of San Francisco. From 1898 to 1900, 80,000 soldiers passed through the post on their way to the Philippines. After the war against Spain ended, United States leaders decided to give Cuba its independence but keep the Philippines. In 1899, this led to fighting against Philippine "Insurrectos" who wanted their independence. The fighting diminished after the capture of the nationalist leader Emilio Aguinaldo. The conflict officially ended on July 4, 1902. With its new overseas possessions (the Philippines, Guam, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico), the United States emerged as a world power. Signs of the brief war with Spain and the longer conflict with the Filipinos are evident throughout the Presidio today: the large brick Montgomery Street barracks and the original portion of Letterman Hospital built during this period, are now important parts of the historic scene. Major Generals Frederick Funston, who captured Aguinaldo, and William R. Shafter, commander of U.S. Army forces in Cuba during the war, are buried in the San Francisco National Cemetery on the Presidio.
3. SFPRES_110728_053.JPG: Outpost of an Empire: You are near what was the northwest corner of the Spanish Presidio (1776). For almost fifty years, a walled-in cluster of adobe buildings served as the northernmost outpost of Spain's New World colonies. From this site and the Spanish mission three miles away, the city of San Francisco would eventually develop. The Spanish garrison here protected Spanish land and regulated ship traffic into the bay until Mexico took control of this territory in 1822. Duty was never easy. Unreliable supply lines left the soldiers constantly wanting. Rain eroded and earthquakes fractured the adobe walls. When the Americans occupied the post in 1846, they found a dilapidated post "crumbling for want of care."
4. SFPRES_110728_057.JPG: Pershing Square: Some of the Presidio's highest-ranking officers lived in houses on the site of Pershing Square -- until 1915, when disaster struck. On the night of August 27, 1915, fire ravaged the home of Brigadier General John J. Pershing, killing his wife and three daughters. The Army did not rebuilt the house, and eventually dedicated this area as Pershing Square -- a memorial to the Pershing family. For more than four decades, the boom of cannon and the lowering of the flag here at 5:00pm have signaled the end of the workday on the Presidio. The flagstaff (below) stands near the site of Pershing's home. Since 1951, this area has been the ceremonial heart of the Presidio. John J Pershing, with his family. Only his son, at right, survived the fire of 1915. General Pershing would go on to command the American Expeditionary Force in Europe during World War I.
5. SFPRES_110728_077.JPG: Dedicated to the memory of General of the Armies John J. Pershing This flagpole marks the site of the quarters occupied by General Pershing
6. SFPRES_110728_116.JPG: Note the cargo carrier behind him
7. SFPRES_110728_131.JPG: This tablet marks the north-west corner of the original Presidio of San Francisco founded by the Spaniards under Lieutenant Moraga September 17, 1776 Placed by the California Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution 1928
8. SFPRES_110728_135.JPG: Station #4 -- Pershing Square: The 2-1/4 ton, 105-1/2-foot flagpole is the tallest in the San Francisco area. The flagpole marks the site where Gen. John J. Pershing and his family lived in government housing. While away on military duty on the Mexican border in August 1915, a fire broke out in the house, taking the lives of Mrs. Pershing and three daughters. Only their son, Warren, survived.
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AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Wikipedia Description: Presidio of San Francisco
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Presidio of San Francisco (originally, El Presidio Real de San Francisco or Royal Presidio of San Francisco) is a park on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in the City and County of San Francisco. It is operated by the National Park Service of the United States as a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The largest area "Main Post" is managed by the Presidio Trust, a congressionally chartered nonprofit organization. The park is characterized by many wooded areas, hills, and scenic vistas overlooking the San Francisco Bay.

The Presidio was recognized by Congress as a National Historic Landmark District, the highest historic designation that can be given in the U.S. This designation is given to a collection of structures and their related landscape which have nationally important historical integrity. The Presidio Trust Act calls for "preservation of the cultural and historic integrity of the Presidio for public use." The Act also requires that the Presidio Trust be financially self-sufficient by 2013. The result of these two imperatives are conflicts between maximizing income by leasing historic buildings, permitting public use despite most structures being rented privately, and preservation of the integrity of the National Historic Landmark District by maintaining the historic "sense of place" despite new construction, competing pressures for natural habitat restoration, and requirements for commercial purposes that impede public access. As of 2007, there was only a rudimentary visitors' center to orient visitors to the Presidio's history.
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Same Subject: Click on this link to see coverage of items having the same subject: [(NPS) Golden Gate NRA] [Display ALL (NPS) Golden Gate NRA photos] [Military (Non-Events)] [Park (Natl Recreation Area)] [Display ALL Park (Natl Recreation Area) photos]
2011 photos: Equipment this year: I mostly used the Fuji S100fs camera as well as two Nikon models -- the D90 and the new D7000. Mostly a toy, I also purchased a Fuji Real 3-D W3 camera, to try out 3-D photographs. I found it interesting although I don't see any real use for 3-D stills now. Given that many of the photos from the 1860s were in 3-D (including some of the more famous Civil War shots), it's odd to see it coming back. Trips this year: Civil War Trust conferences (Savannah, GA, Chattanooga, TN), New Jersey over Memorial Day for my birthday (people never seem to visit New Jersey -- it's always just a pit stop on the way to New York. I thought I might as well spend a few days there. Despite some nice places, it still ended up a pit stop for me -- New York City was infinitely more interesting), my 6th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco). Ego strokes: Author photos that I took were used on two book jackets this year: Jason Emerson's book "The Dark Days of Abraham Lincoln's Widow As Revealed by Her Own Letters" and Dennis L. Noble's "The U.S. Coast Guard's War on Human Smuggling." I also had a photo of Jason Stelter published in the Washington Examiner and a picture of Miss DC, Ashley Boalch, published in the Washington Post. Number of photos taken this year: just over 390,000.
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