European Contact
For more details on this topic, see Spanish missions in California.Father Junipero Serra first established the original mission in Monterey on June 3, 1770, near the native village of Tamo. In May 1771, the viceroy approved Serra's petition to relocate the mission to its current location near the present-day town of Carmel-by-the-Sea and named it Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo. Serra's goal was to put some distance between the mission's neophytes and the Presidio of Monterey. The Presidio was the headquarters of Pedro Fages, who served as military governor of Alta California between 1770 and 1774. Fages and Serra were engaged in a heated power struggle. The new mission was within a short distance of the Rumsen Ohlone villages of Tucutnut and Achasta. The latter village may have been founded after Mission San Carlos was relocated to Carmel. The mission was about 10 miles (16 km) from the nearest Esselen territory, Excelen. On May 9, 1775, Junípero Serra baptized what appears to be the first Esselen, Pach-hepas, who was the 40-year-old chief of the Excelen. The baptism took place in at Xasáuan, 10 leagues (about 26 miles (42 km)) southeast of the mission, in an area now named Cachagua, a close approximation of the Esselen name. Under Spanish law, the Esselen were technically free men, but they could be compelled by force to labor without pay.
King Charles V of Spain issued the New Laws (in Spanish, Leyes Nuevas, or "New Laws of the Indies for the Good Treatment and Preservation of the Indians") on November 20, 1542. These were replaced around the beginning of the 17th century with Repartimiento, which entitled a Spanish settler or official to the labor of a number of indigenous workers on their farms or mines. The Spanish state based its right over the land and persons of the Indies on the Papal charge to evangelize the indigenous population. This motivated the Jesuits to build missions across California.
The priests baptized a number of Esselen during 1776, most of them children, and a few more in the following years. The priests allowed the children after baptism to continue to live with their parents in their village until they reached the "age of reason," which was about nine years old. In 1783, the soldiers fought the Excelen and killed a few of them. The battle may have resulted from the soldiers' attempts to collect the children and force them to live at the mission. Baptisms picked up again after this date, perhaps because the Excelen saw they could not defeat the soldiers and decided they wanted to be with their children.
From 1783-1785, about 40% of the Excelen were baptized. Another three Esselen were baptized at the Soledad Mission in the early 1790s, but by 1798 the majority of the Indians had been baptized. A new priest, Father Amoró, arrived in September 1804 and injected fresh energy into baptism efforts. From 1804 to 1808, 25 individuals from Excelen were baptized during these final four years. They comprised nearly 10% of the total Excelen population who were baptized. They had held out for 33 years after proselytizing began in their area. The last five baptized were all older, from 45 to 80 years. The total number of Esselen baptized is estimated to range from 790 to 856.
It may be that the older Esselen were baptized last because they were left alone after their children and grandchildren had already been coerced into living at the mission. They may have been unable to support themselves in the rugged, higher reaches of the mountains where the last remnants of the tribe hid out. This is supported by recent evidence which shows that some Esselen were able to move beyond the reach of the Spanish soldiers on their horses in the rugged upper reaches of the Carmel River, Pine Valley area, Tassajara Creek, and other areas. Some may have survived into the 1840s, when they were able to filter out and find work on the nearby ranches. The priests were ignorant of the cultural differences between the tribes and forced the Rumsen and Esselen Indians to live together. The two tribes were very hostile and their proximity to one another brought ongoing strife.
Read more about this topic: Esselen People
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