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Saturday, Jun. 27, 2009

Dan Krieger: A hard-fought battle for U.S. citizenship

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This is an American story for Independence Day.

Jose de la Guerra was born in 1779 near Santander, along the northern Spanish coast near France.

As a young boy, he went to live with his mother’s uncle, Pedro Gonzales de Noriega, who was an influential businessman in Mexico City.

He joined the Mexican army of the northern frontier. In 1827, he became the “commandante” of the Presidio at Santa Barbara, arguably the most prestigious military appointment in Alta California. He retired in 1842 after 52 years of military service.

For the remainder of his life he was respectfully referred to as “El Capitan.” His daughters and granddaughters married into prominent English and American families, beginning a prominent de la Guerra dynasty that is even connected to the story of the famed racehorse Seabiscuit.

In 1849, the people of Santa Barbara sent Pablo de la Guerra, Capitan De la Guerra’s son, as their representative to California’s Constitutional Convention in Monterey.

He later served as a leader of the California Legislature. In 1860, he was lieutenant governor of California.

During the crises of the American Civil War, Pablo de la Guerra became a staunch Unionist.

Southern California was rife with secessionist feeling. Toasts to the president of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis, were being raised from San Luis Obispo to San Diego.

Pablo de la Guerra helped form “Company C” of the 1st Battalion, Native California Cavalry, the only unit in the Union Army whose members spoke no English, with the exception of their captain, de la Guerra’s youngest brother, Antonio Mario de la Guerra.

The 99 volunteers went first to Drum Barracks, now in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Wilmington, where their mission was to guard the vulnerable but vital seaport at San Pedro.

The unit was then dispatched to Fort Yuma on the Colorado River to protect the crossing against both Confederate Raiders and the warring Yaqui Indians who were seeking independence from Mexico.

Captain Antonio de la Guerra fell seriously ill in the Colorado Delta.

Army doctors administered large quantities of mercury in an effort to suppress a malarial infection.

Shortly after his return to Santa Barbara, sections of his palate and jaw began to disintegrate.

Blindness followed, and his family watched in sadness as this once vigorous veteran of America’s Civil War died a slow and pain-filled death.

In 1869, Pablo de la Guerra, a Californio — native who was of Spanish ancestry — landholder who had signed the California Constitution, ran for re-election as judge for California’s First Judicial District, which included San Luis Obispo County.

His opponents claimed that de la Guerra was not qualified for office, claiming Congress had not granted citizenship to de la Guerra or other Californios.

In People v. de la Guerra (1870), the California Supreme Court declared in a landmark decision that when California was admitted as a state on Sept. 9, 1850, all Mexican residents had become citizens.

Early in his career, Pablo de la Guerra, while a member of the California State Senate in 1852, spoke out against a federal land law that deprived Californios of their land.

He said somewhat bitterly: “We thought (we belonged to) the most civilized, the most humane ... nation that was the most careful in protecting the just rights of its citizens ... ”

The 1870 California Supreme Court decision affirming his citizenship and right to public office must have seemed a bittersweet victory for the aging jurist who had served his country and state so well.

Dan Krieger is a professor emeritus of history at Cal Poly and president of the California Mission Studies Association.