Friars, Soldiers, and Reformers

Hispanic Arizona and the Sonora Mission Frontier, 1767-1856
Erscheinungsjahr 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8165-3528-6
Verlag: University of Arizona Press

Buch, Englisch, 364 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 175 mm x 254 mm, Gewicht: 658 g

Reihe: Century Collection

The Franciscan mission San José de Tumacácori and the perennially undermanned presidio Tubac become John L. Kessell's windows on the Arizona–Sonora frontier in this colorful documentary history. His fascinating view extends from the Jesuit expulsion to the coming of the U.S. Army.

Kessell provides exciting accounts of the explorations of Francisco Garcés, de Anza's expeditions, and the Yuma massacre. Drawing from widely scattered archival materials, he vividly describes the epic struggle between Bishop Reyes and Father President Barbastro, the missionary scandals of 1815–18, and the bloody victory of Mexican civilian volunteers over Apaches in Arivaipa Canyon in 1832. Numerous missionaries, presidials, and bureaucrats—nameless in histories until now—emerge as living, swearing, praying, individuals.

This authoritative chronicle offers an engrossing picture of the continually threatened mission frontier. Reformers championing civil rights for mission Indians time and again challenged the friars' "tight-fisted paternalistic control" over their wards. Expansionists repeatedly saw their plans dashed by Indian raids, uncooperative military officials, or lack of financial support.

Frairs, Soldiers, and Reformers brings into sharp focus the long, blurry period between Jesuit Sonora and Territorial Arizona.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kessell, John L

Über Autor(innen)

John L. Kessell, free-lance researcher and writer of Southwestern history, contributor to scholarly journals, and author of the book Mission of Sorrows: Jesuit Guevavi and the Pimas, 1691–1767 (UA Press, 1970), earned his Ph.D. at the University of New Mexico, where he subsequently taught. In addition he has been a historian for the National Park Service and has served as assistant editor of the New Mexico Historical Review. In 1973 he received the Western Historical Quarterly's first Herbert E. Bolton Award.