Franciscan Frontiersmen

How Three Adventurers Charted the West

Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States
Cover of the book Franciscan Frontiersmen by Robert A. Kittle, University of Oklahoma Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Robert A. Kittle ISBN: 9780806158389
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press Publication: May 18, 2017
Imprint: University of Oklahoma Press Language: English
Author: Robert A. Kittle
ISBN: 9780806158389
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Publication: May 18, 2017
Imprint: University of Oklahoma Press
Language: English

Pious and scholarly, the Franciscan friars Pedro Font, Juan Crespí, and Francisco Garcés may at first seem improbable heroes. Beginning in Spain, their adventures encompassed the remote Sierra Gorda highlands of Mexico, the deserts of the American Southwest, and coastal California. Each man’s journey played an important role in Spain’s eighteenth-century conquest of the Pacific coast, but today their names and deeds are little known. Drawing on the diaries and correspondence of Font, Crespí, and Garcés, as well as his own exhaustive field research, Robert A. Kittle has woven a seamless narrative detailing the friars’ striking accomplishments.

Starting with a harrowing transatlantic voyage, all three traveled through uncharted lands and found themselves beset by raiding Indians, marauding bears, starvation, and scurvy. Along the way, they made invaluable notes on indigenous peoples, flora and fauna, and prominent eighteenth-century European colonial figures.

Font, the least celebrated of the three, recorded the daily events of the 1775–76 colonizing expedition of Juan Bautista de Anza while serving as its chaplain. Font’s legacy includes some of the earliest accurate maps of California between San Diego Bay and San Francisco Bay. Garcés, an itinerant missionary, developed close relationships with Indians in Sonora and California. He learned their languages and lived and traveled with them, usually as the only white man, and brokered dozens of peace agreements before he was killed in a Yuma uprising. Crespí, who traveled up the California coast with Father Junípero Serra, kept meticulous journals of an expedition to reconnoiter the San Francisco Bay area, the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, and the northern reaches of California’s central valley.

This enthralling narrative elevates these Spanish friars to their rightful place in the chronicle of American exploration. It brings their exploits out of the shadow of the American Revolution and Lewis & Clark expedition while also illuminating encounters between European explorers and missionaries and the American Indians who had occupied the Pacific coast for millennia.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Pious and scholarly, the Franciscan friars Pedro Font, Juan Crespí, and Francisco Garcés may at first seem improbable heroes. Beginning in Spain, their adventures encompassed the remote Sierra Gorda highlands of Mexico, the deserts of the American Southwest, and coastal California. Each man’s journey played an important role in Spain’s eighteenth-century conquest of the Pacific coast, but today their names and deeds are little known. Drawing on the diaries and correspondence of Font, Crespí, and Garcés, as well as his own exhaustive field research, Robert A. Kittle has woven a seamless narrative detailing the friars’ striking accomplishments.

Starting with a harrowing transatlantic voyage, all three traveled through uncharted lands and found themselves beset by raiding Indians, marauding bears, starvation, and scurvy. Along the way, they made invaluable notes on indigenous peoples, flora and fauna, and prominent eighteenth-century European colonial figures.

Font, the least celebrated of the three, recorded the daily events of the 1775–76 colonizing expedition of Juan Bautista de Anza while serving as its chaplain. Font’s legacy includes some of the earliest accurate maps of California between San Diego Bay and San Francisco Bay. Garcés, an itinerant missionary, developed close relationships with Indians in Sonora and California. He learned their languages and lived and traveled with them, usually as the only white man, and brokered dozens of peace agreements before he was killed in a Yuma uprising. Crespí, who traveled up the California coast with Father Junípero Serra, kept meticulous journals of an expedition to reconnoiter the San Francisco Bay area, the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, and the northern reaches of California’s central valley.

This enthralling narrative elevates these Spanish friars to their rightful place in the chronicle of American exploration. It brings their exploits out of the shadow of the American Revolution and Lewis & Clark expedition while also illuminating encounters between European explorers and missionaries and the American Indians who had occupied the Pacific coast for millennia.

More books from University of Oklahoma Press

Cover of the book At Sword's Point, Part 2 by Robert A. Kittle
Cover of the book Plastic Indian by Robert A. Kittle
Cover of the book War Party in Blue by Robert A. Kittle
Cover of the book Violent Encounters by Robert A. Kittle
Cover of the book Phil Sheridan and His Army by Robert A. Kittle
Cover of the book A Perfect Gibraltar by Robert A. Kittle
Cover of the book Ernest L. Blumenschein by Robert A. Kittle
Cover of the book Coast-to-Coast Empire by Robert A. Kittle
Cover of the book Moroni and the Swastika by Robert A. Kittle
Cover of the book Still in the Saddle by Robert A. Kittle
Cover of the book Hoover Dam by Robert A. Kittle
Cover of the book A Toast to Eclipse by Robert A. Kittle
Cover of the book The XIT Ranch of Texas and the Early Days of the Llano Estacado by Robert A. Kittle
Cover of the book Behind Every Man by Robert A. Kittle
Cover of the book "That's What They Used to Say" by Robert A. Kittle
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy