battlelines 09-14 color

1Vol. XXVII, No 5 September/October 2014

CALENDARSaturday, September 6Grape Day, Escondido, 9:30 -4 pTuesday, September 23History Discussion, Rancho SanJulian led by Dianne Cowan,Joslyn Senior Ctr Escondido,4:00 to 6:00 pmFriday, September 26Board Meeting, 11 am-1 pmSaturday, October 4Annual Meeting, Speaker &Lunch, Park. SPBVA offices(behind Arch Center), NoonSunday, October 5Living History, ParkFriday, October 24Board Meeting, 11 am-1 pmTuesday, October 28History Discussion, Banditos ofthe Cow Counties led by JakeEnriquez, Joslyn Senior Ctr Es-condido, 4:30 to 6:30 pmNOTE: History Discussionshave changed to the 4th Tues-day of the month AND the lo-cation is now Joslyn Senior Ctr210 E. Park Ave (off NorthBroadway), Escondido. Alsonote starting times.

UPCOMING EVENTSPhotograph courtesy of Ranger Noah Martin

UPDATED PARK KIOSK:EAGLE SCOUT PROJECT

Supervising Ranger Chris Lozano with newEagle Scout Nick Stevens--see article page 3

With autumn around the corner, it is time to rev up our activities.Look for us at Grape Day in Escondido or at the park itself with FirstSunday Living History, resuming October 5. Be sure to join us for ourAnnual Meeting on Saturday, October 4, when SPBVA member andretired State Parks Historian Alexa Clausen presents her research onEscondidos adobe homes. This is a good time to meet others, enjoylunch on us, and learn about the community. You can also check outthe Eagle Scout kiosk project, volunteer for First Sundays or BattleDay, buy some good reads at the visitor center, and meet board mem-bers. We need your support!

2BATTLELINES Sep/Oct 2014

Park Hours:

Saturday &

Sunday, 10 am

to 5 pm

Park Phone

Number:(760) 737-2201

weekends only or

(619) 220-5422

www.parks.ca.gov

www.spbva.org

SPBVA Info:Tom Vilicich

(951) 674-0185 [email protected]

School & Adult

Tours Contact:

Darlene Hansen

(760) 480-6320

BATTLELINES

Contributions

Deadline :

October 24, 2014

Contact editor,

Ellen Sweet,[email protected]

The park was approached by theSan Diego Arts and Cultural TourismDepartment for the City of San Diegoabout doing a tourism video at SanPasqual. The filming was held on Au-gust 10 and the park was fortunate tohave Tom Vilicich, Shirley Buskirk,and Gilbert Garcia available and be apart of the project. The project isfunded by the city and features cul-tural destinations that are not as highprofile, such as parks like Old TownSan Diego and Balboa Park. This wasa great opportunity and hopefully theresults will bring more visitors to San

Pasqual.A great thank you goes out to Tom

V. and Gilbert for participating at theJunipero Serra Museum at PresidioPark and doing outreach for StateParks. They participated in the Festi-val Celebration of Life on PresidioHill. I am told that it was a good turnout and the public enjoyed seeing aDragoon and a Californio.

State Parks would also like to thankthe San Pasqual Band of Mission In-dians for their support and recent ef-forts by coming out to the park andconducting a park clean up.

Park Updates for San Pasqual Battlefield SHP

by Supervising Ranger Chris Lozano

SPBVA PresidentTom Vilicich (left)and Senior Park AideGilbert Garcia at Pre-sidio Park on July 13,2014, for the SerraMuseum Open House.

Photos courtesy of Melvin Sweet

3SPBVA 2014

BOARD

MEMBERSShirley Buskirk

Cliff Clifford

Royce Clifford

Donald Coates

Tom Cook

Jake Enriquez

Randall Hamud

Darlene Hansen

Ron Hinrichs

Gisela Koestner

Richard Meyer

Leroy Ross, Jr.

Stan Smith

Ellen Sweet

Tom Vilicich

Bob Wohl

President:

Tom Vilicich

Vice-President:

Don Coates

Treasurer:

Gisela Koestner

Recording Secy:

Ellen Sweet

Corporate Secy:

Ron Hinrichs

Mailing Address:

PO Box 300816

Escondido, CA 92030

BATTLELINES Sep/Oct 2014

Eagle Scout Project

Last year prospective Eagle ScoutNick Stevens approached the park aboutdoing his Eagle Scout project. Althoughit took a while to get the project ap-proved and coordinated with variouspark specialists, Nick hung in there andcompleted his project in July.

I want to thank him for his efforts at

the park and his contributions to thecommunity. The park now has an up-dated kiosk with a new park map andmarker post on the nature trail. An up-dated trail guide, which will coincidewith the new markers, will be availableshortly to guide park visitors along thetrail.

by Supervising Ranger Chris Lozano

Supervising Ranger ChrisLozano signs paperworkfor new Eagle Scout NickStevens. New trail marker#1, indicates the Beale-Carson Monument.

Photos courtesy of RangerNoah Martin


Park Day 2014: Clean up & Event by Gilbert Garcia, Senior Park Aide

We would like to send a big Thank you! to themembers of the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indi-ans for cleaning up the park. Armando Martinez andthe work crew spent three days cutting, raking, andremoving brush, leaves, and other debris from thesidewalks, amphitheater, and bridge areas. It looksso much better! They also cleaned up the graveyardwhere Felicia, daughter of Chief Pinto is buried.

Then, under the leadership of Christie Orozcofrom their education department and others, a cul-tural event was held on July 10. A group of dancers

and singers performed in the amphitheater. Ar-mando taught the youth and everyone else how towork the clay for making pottery.

The event continued with everyone visiting themuseum and learning the information there. TheSan Pasqual Reservation fire truck and crew wereon hand to keep everyone safe.

I personally had a great time working with and vis-iting with all who were involved. I hope they willcome again soon. Thanks again for all your help.

San Pasqual Band ofMission Indians Park

Day 2014Photographs courtesy of GilbertGarcia


SPBVA ANNUAL MEETING

Park Boardroom (behind Archaeology Center)Saturday, October 4, 2014

12:00 Noon Lunch provided

Escondidos Adobe Home Revival:From Mid-Century Modern Adobe to Mexican Hacienda

Speaker: Alexa Clausen

Alexa, retired State Historian for California State Parks and SPBVA member, lives in Escon-dido. She is a volunteer for the Escondido History Centers annual Adobe Home Tour, andwill share her research on the adobe home development craze.

Lunch: Please RSVP by Wed, Oct 1 to Ellen Sweet at (858) 459-7759 or byemail to [email protected]

An intense revival of adobe home construction took place in mid-century throughout San Diego County, and Escondido was not theexception. The hub of the adobe revival was in the developmentcalled Longview Acres, located in the area surrounding Kit CarsonPark. In 1948 an adobe brickyard was created to supply the construc-tion. Charles Paxton, self-taught architect and developer from LaJolla, and citrus grove owner and developer Lawrence R. Green laidout sections of land in old orange and avocado groves for adobe builthousing. In 1952, Weir Brothers Adobe Construction of Encinitasmoved their headquarters to Escondido Blvd. By 1980, the cost ofconstruction became prohibitive and requests to build adobe homesdwindled.

6SPBVAs HISTORY DISCUSSIONS:

Tues, September 23* 4:006:00 pmRancho San Julian

led by Dianne Cowan

Tues, October 28* 4:306:30 pmBanditos of the Cow Counties

led by Jake Enriquez*Joslyn Senior Center

210 E. Park Ave (off North Broadway), Escondido, * Note location change and schedule change--now programs are the 4th Tuesday of the month andstarting time changes between 4:00 pm and 4:30 pm. Check carefully!

Call Ron Hinrichs, 760-746-8380 for information.


San Pasqual Battlefield Volunteer Association15808 San Pasqual Valley Rd P.O. Box 300816 Escondido, CA 92027 Escondido, CA 92030-0816

September 1, 2014 ANNUAL MEETING NOTICE

In accordance with Article V, Section 2 of the Bylaws, this is to notify all members of the San PasqualBattlefield Volunteer Association that the ANNUAL MEETING will be held on Saturday, October 4,2014, at the park beginning at 12 noon.

In accordance with Article VI, Section 1, additional nominations will be accepted if:1. Any ten members nominate candidates for directorship at any time before the 10th day pre-

ceding the election. On timely receipt of a petition signed by the required number of members, the sec-retary will cause the names of the candidates to be placed on the ballot along with the candidates namedby the nominating committee.

2. Any member present at the meeting may place other names into nomination.(This assumes they have permission.)

The Nominating Committee has selected the following members to be elected for THREE YEARTERMS starting January 1, 2015:

* Don Coates *Tom Cook *Richard Meyer *Bob WohlPrior to the above election any new business brought to the floor will be discussed.

TOM VILICICH., President * Denotes Incumbent


The dragoons and ship landing forces whofought at San Pasqual, not to mention thehighly skilled mounted Californios, repre-sented some of the earlier ancestors of to-days armored forces of maneuver. Theheavy horse of antiquity might moreclosely resemble the tanks role in breakingup infantry concentrations, but the lightermounted infantry of 1846 followed thesame credo of move, shoot, and communi-cate that is followed today by tankers inthe US Army and Marine Corps. This re-view of the Balboa Park exhibit will look atthe role of Marine armor in the San Diegoregion, as highlighted in the exhibit.The Marine Corps Tankers Association

recently donated $2,000 to help the histori-cal society at Camp Pendleton get neededsiding for the building housing theirMechanized Museum. That structure usedto be the embarkation point on the rail headand is an all-wooden structure. The build-ing represented the initial marshalling areaand starting point for hundreds of thousandsof Marines off to Pacific campaigns fromWWII through the Vietnam years, and awhile thereafter. The author recalls loadingM48s bound for Twenty-Nine Palms therein the late 1970s. Faye Jonason, Camp Pen-dleton Base Historian, suggested this con-

tribution as the best way of helping portray tanks in the Corps. Base Facilities was reluctant to dedicatefunds to accomplish much-needed repairs to the old warehouse. There were legal questions as to whether anon-governmental agency such as the Tankers Association could contribute to repairing governmentalfacilities. So we simply gave the money to their docent fund to accomplish the purpose. The society fol-lowed our lead with more funds, and soon the government decided to complete the project with over$200,000 in restoration funds. Youll see this work being done as well as the ongoing repowering of tanksand ontos by Society volunteer at the large tank park next door.

Theres lots of other military and maritime museums in town, but the San Diego History Center in Bal-boa Park is a good place to start. Its exhibit will run until the end of the year, and tells the story of how thelarge military presence has shaped the development of San Diego over the last 200 years. The exhibit ishoused there with the help of nine other local museums contributing displays that highlight their specificroles in the theme of the exhibitthe title of this article. Ill focus on how Marine tanks and amphibious capabilities are portrayed in the museum to help define this Pacific Powerhouse.

San Diego: From Presidio to Pacific PowerhouseAn Exhibit in Balboa Parks San Diego History Center

by Stan Smith

Continued on next page


San Diego: From Presidio to . . . continued

Continued from previous pageC Company of First Tank Battal-

ion is shown en masse in the cen-ter of this 1956 photo with all eight-een Pershings together in this shotof what goes into a powerhousetaken during a get-together betweenthe Korean and Vietnam wars.

In the next photograph, a moremodern M-1(A)1 is off-loaded byMarine Reservists from a fast-moving LCAC (Landing Craft, AirCushion) onto Camp Pendletonbeaches during summer training,showing one way to project this lo-cal Powerhouse concept onto distantshores in other Pacific locations inthe future.

Finally, we might be remiss if wedid not include a rendition of thefirst Marine into San Diego back in1846. First Lieutenant ArchibaldGillespie is featured here using hiscigar lighter to fire the US ArmyDragoons field howitzer during thebattle of San Pasqual. Note the Ma-meluke sword identifying him inthis painting on loan to the HistoryCenter from MCRD San DiegosCommand Museum. Gillespie wasthe only Marine present at the bat-tle.

Gillespie was the senior commander of the naval con-tingent and subordinate to only General S.W. Kearnyduring the skirmish. The unique perspective his forcebrought to the battle was significant to the outcome andcould be considered as one of the hereditary ancestorsof todays Marine tanker units. Likewise, the US Ar-mor Association has long given credit to the UnitedStates Cavalryrepresented by Kearnyas being among their forebears. Both, undoubtedly, would givefull credit to the mounted vaqueros of yesterday as alsorepresenting todays Combat Arm of Defense.


Bob & Judy Bowman Ronilee Clark & Brian Arnold Donald & Vicky Coates Jake & Tammy Enriquez Greg Hill

Kym & Debbie Lobdell Michael Pique Melvin & Ellen Sweet Thomas M. Vilicich US Seagoing Marines Assn (Stan Smith)

Dragoon Level Members ($100 or more this year)

Renewing MembersThanks!Shelley Hayes Caron, CarlsbadRon Hinrichs, EscondidoKym & Debbie Lobdell, AnaheimDick Staley, Lake ElsinoreEllen & Melvin Sweet, La JollaBob & Robyn Wohl, CarlsbadUS Seagoing Marines (Stan Smith), San Diego

Volunteer Recruitment!San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park is alwayslooking for volunteers. If you have interest in work-ing the visitor center, maintenance work, givingschool tours, or participating in the living historyprograms at the park, please contact the park visitorcenter and talk to Senior Park Aide Gilbert Garciafor information.

NAME THE 1st US DRAGOON PRIVATE of COMPANY C

As announced in the last Battlelines, remember to send Tom Vilicich ([email protected]) your choice inthe Name the Private election or vote at the visitor center before our Oct 4 Annual Meeting (see list below).PRIVATES OF COMPANY C:

Stephen A. BishopZarah BoboJohn BrownGeorge S. BryanJoseph T. Campbellkilled in action 12/6/1846 Mark D. ChildsGeorge CoffeltJeremiah CrabbEdward CurranMichael CurranWilliam Daltonkilled in action 12/6/1846 A.C. DonaldsonThomas A. DouglasJohn Dunlapkilled in action 12/6/1846 Peter ForneyThomas GradyJohn HamerleJoseph B. Kennedydied of wounds12/21/1846 Matthew LauberWilliam C. Leckeykilled in action 12/6/1846 Jacob MauserJohn McNeillyJames Murphy

John MurtyGeorge F. MyersFerdinand NicholasJames A. OsbourneAmasa PalmerGeorge PearceJames PinkertonHenry PurcellIsaac N. RandolphJames RepetoSamuel T. Reposekilled in action 12/.6/1846 John StokelyDavid StreeterChristian TeinchmanMichael A. TubbWilliam TubbPaul VanakenJohn VyerJacob WestfallJohn WhiteGeorge N. WilliamsJohn D. Wood

10

JOIN NOW! Our non-profit organization supports the activities of the San Pasqual Battlefield StateHistoric Park. All members receive BATTLELINES (email or regular mail), a 10% discount on allbookstore items, special programs, field trips, history discussions, and opportunities to participate in ourLiving History Sundays and in our annual December re-enactment of the Battle.

SAN PASQUAL BATTLEFIELD VOLUNTEER ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONP.O. Box 300816, Escondido, CA 92030-0816

(760) 737-2201

This is my/our membership application & dues for the following category:

____Student ($5) ____ Sustaining ($50) ____Dragoon ($100 or more)

____Individual ($15) ____Organization ($25) ____Benefactor ($1,000 or more)

____Family ($20) ____Corporate ($100) Please make checks payable to: SPBVA

NAME(S)_______________________________________________________________________________________________

ADDRESS ______________________________________________________________________________________________

CITY _______________________________________________________ STATE _______________ZIP _________________

PHONE_____________________________________________ EMAIL________________________________________

OCCUPATION_________________________INTEREST/SKILLS_____________________________________________


Off the Shelf... by Shirley Buskirk

The park was scheduled to close July 1, 2012 but we were given a reprieve. They said we hadanother two years. Well, July 1, 2014 has comeand gone and were still open, but Im still holdingmy breath as nothing official has been saidand the higher up you ask the question, the more vaguethey becomeor they just dont reply at all. The most encouraging thing I heard was from someonenot high up on the totem pole. His words of wis-dom were in the form of a question, Do you thinktheyd be making improvements to the park if theywere going to close it?

He wasnt telling me, Hey, of course its goingto stay open or they wouldnt be working on it. Itwas a question, like he really wanted to knowwhat I thought because he didnt know for sure.The head guy in Sacramento, a retired major-general, quit, so who knows what is going to hap-pen.

Well, at least the park is open now, so once againIm inviting you to come to the visitor center andlook at our books. You might also noticeif

youve been there beforethat the mannequin with the fancy dragoon dress uniform has been de-moted. That guy with the horses tail spouting outof his tall leather hat has been retired. Seems thatis a special uniformmaybe one of a kindthat belonged to a guy that was in the dragoons, butgot out several years before the battle happened.He was James Clyman, a mountain man. Now hisuniform is going to rest in a drawer where no onewill see it, but it will last a lot longer that way.Anyway, the new guy, a private this time, is in aregular everyday uniform that didnt belong toanyone, but it has seen lots of action. Every De-cember some volunteer puts it on and fights thebattle once more.

There is a list of all the dragoon privates of Com-pany C in the visitor center. We are asking peopleto look at that listanother reason to come to the visitor centerand pick a name to go with the uni-form. And, oh yes, while you are there you mightwant to take a look at the books and things wehave for sale and maybe even buy something.

battlelines 09-14 color

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