Existing comment:
Within a few months, a small contingent of soldiers arrived in San Diego from Loreto in Baja California, and several more came south from Monterrey, although there were few to spare from either outpost. The garrison, by December 21, 1777, included a lieutenant, a sergeant, six corporals, and forty-eight privates.
The work of building the presidio began in earnest in 1778. The presence of married soldiers served as inducement to construct a complex of fire-resistant adobe structures within the walls of the Presidio.
Life in San Diego was slow and undisturbed by the world until 1793, when the English explorer George Vancouver landed here. He and the Spaniards enjoyed cordial relations, but he publicized the excellence of the harbor in his reports and remarked on its need for protection from attack. He recommended Ballast Point as the best location for a harbor defense fortification.
The Spanish followed Vancouver's suggested to the letter, and built Fort Guijarros on Point Guijarros -- "Point Cobblestones" -- in recognition of its stony beach.
The Spanish soldiers at San Diego remained few and ill-equipped. Administratively, the military establishment here was a poor orphan, far from army sources of supply and finance. The missions had to feed and clothe the troops, although to a large extent they had to fend for themselves. Yet they remained loyal to the Spanish crown during the revolutionary wars that ended in Mexico's independence from Spain in 1821. |