I had to wonder why you went to such trouble to compose your article "Time of Tumult" (March 15). It has been told many times. It was revisionism at its worst. Apparently you were using the Chumash Indians as your shill to promote your anti-oil agenda.

The mission system did not harm the Indians, politics did. The Indians were a part of the big picture of European conquest. The Spanish kings used the presidios and missions to conquer and hold their territory just as the English, Romans, and others did.

But in addition they promoted Christianity as a means of saving the souls of the Indians and holding their territory. Other groups in the world did exactly the same things for their beliefs. The Spanish did a good job until they were forced to leave because of the Mexican revolution. All of the Spanish priests were forced out of the  country. The Mexicans destroyed all that the Spanish built and the Indians were the losers. You should read Father Payeras' letters to get a good insight into mission life and how the Indians were treated. His book is at the library. He was president of the missions and died at La Purisima and is buried in the priest's chapel there.

You modern historians constantly take it out of the context of the times.

Your buddies at the liberal Independent tabloid did the same with their "history" of Father Serra's sainthood. In your article, the Indians are the victims and the missions are the bad guys. Not true. The Mexicans made a mess of everything, as they usually do. After all, the Indians were brought up in the Spanish missions and they no longer knew that life of the wild. The Spanish trained them in the latest European technology. But I am sure there were some excesses that I have read of. European diseases were bad for all indigenous people because no one knew about them and why they had them. The Mexicans mistreated them, when they thought they were equals. There was a serious lack of communication and the Mexicans mistreated the Indians because of racial discrimination. So they revolted. Otherwise the Chumash were peaceful.

The saving grace of your article was using John Johnson as your reference.

I knew him when he was a grad student at UCSB and he is the expert on the mission culture. The Chumash were a failing race because of natural health diseases that they had, lack of food, and infighting. The Spanish offered them an alternative to that life. Our whole state is based on the works of the missions and it is a good heritage. It was destroyed by the hapless Mexicans and their greed. Fortunately, the Missions have been restored and preserved by dedicated historians.

Please take time to get up to speed by reading my two books: The Royal Ranchos of the Spanish Missions in Santa Barbara County and The Royal Presidios of California. Both are in the Black Gold library system, but are out of print.

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