Pedro Fages

Pere Fages Beleta (Catalan: Pere Fages i Beleta) (1734–1794), nicknamed L'Ós (The Bear), was a soldier, explorer, and the second Spanish military Governor of Las Californias Province of New Spain from 1770 to 1774, and the Governor of Las Californias from 1782 to 1791.

Career

Fages was born in Guissona, Lleida province, Catalonia, Spain. In 1767, Lieutenant Fages left Spain with the Free Company of Volunteers of Catalonia for New Spain, to serve under Domingo Elizondo in Sonora. In 1769, Fages was selected by Viceroy José de Gálvez to lead the shipborn portion of the Gaspar de Portolà led expedition to found San Diego, California. Fages sailed from the Baja California Peninsula town of La Paz on January 10, 1769, aboard the San Carlos, and arrived at San Diego Bay on April 29 with scurvy-ridden troops, after sailing over 200 mi (320 km) off course because of cartography errors. Fages accompanied the 1769 and 1770 land expeditions to locate Monterey Bay. During this time he was promoted to captain.

After Portolà left California in 1770, Pedro Fages served as the somewhat independent military governor of California Nueva (New California), which was later to become Alta California, headquartered in Monterey. During this time, Fages explored by land San Francisco Bay, San Pablo Bay, the Carquinez Strait, the San Joaquin River, and surrounding areas; and earned his nickname l'ós while hunting bears near San Luis Obispo. Fages quarreled with Father Junípero Serra, president of the Alta California missions, and was replaced in 1774 by Fernando Rivera y Moncada.

In 1777 Fages returned to Sonora to fight the Apaches, where he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. In 1781 he successfully quelled the Quechan (Yuma) Indian revolt and temporarily reopened the Colorado River crossing of the Anza trail at Yuma, Arizona. The Quechan's successfully re-closed the trail for the next 50+ years after he and his troops departed.

Pedro Fages was appointed Governor of Las Californias in 1782, replacing Felipe de Neve. He returned to Monterey, which had replaced Loreto as the capital of the Californias in 1777. Fages was promoted to colonel in 1789, and resigned his governorship in 1791. Pedro Fages moved back to Mexico City, where he died in 1794.

Personal life

Fages married Eulalia Callis June 3, 1780 in Mexico City. She was born October 4, 1758 in Barcelona, Spain and journeyed to Mexico City with her mother and brother to join her father Agustín Callis, the original captain of the Free Company of Volunteers of Catalonia. Eulalia loved fashion and believed in charity. At Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo, she gave away her clothing after seeing the lack of clothing worn by the Indians.

Fictional portrayals

Pedro Fages appears as a minor character in the 1955 film Seven Cities of Gold, which presents a fanciful and historically inaccurate account of the founding of Spanish California. Lieutenant Fages is played by Mexican actor Victor Junco. In the credits, Fages' name is misspelled as "Faces."^[1]

Governor Fages and his wife make a brief appearance in the Isabel Allende novel Zorro. Pere Fages is the protagonist of the historical novel La última conquista (2005) by Ramón Vilaró and is a secondary character in Los acasos (2010) by Javier Pascual.

References

• California State Military Museum article about Fages
• "Pedro Fages and Miguel Costansó: Two Early Letters From San Diego in 1769", Journal of San Diego History 21:2 (Spring 1975), translated by Iris W. Engstrand
• The History of California by Hubert Howe Bancroft (vol. 1, 1542-1800), pp. 486–487.
• "The Señoras Gobernadoras of Spanish Alta California A Comparative Study", Papers from the Presidio (1998) by Donald A. Nuttall.

v t e Governors of California Before US 1 de Portolà 2 Fages 3 Rivera 4 de Neve 5 Fages 6 Roméu 7 Arrillaga 8 Arrillaga 9 Borica 10 Alberní 11 Arrillaga 12 J. Argüello 13 Solá 14 L. Argüello 15 Echeandía 16 Victoria 17 P. Pico 18 Zamorano / Echeandía 19 Figueroa 20 Castro 21 Gutierrez 22 Chico 23 Gutierrez 24 Alvarado 25 Carrillo 26 Alvarado 27 Micheltorena 28 P. Pico 29 Flores 30 A. Pico 31 P. Pico 32 Riley 33 Burnett After US 34 Burnett 35 McDougall 36 Bigler 37 J. Johnson 38 Weller 39 Latham 40 Downey 41 Stanford 42 Low 43 Haight 44 Booth 45 Pacheco 46 Irwin 47 Perkins 48 Stoneman 49 Bartlett 50 Waterman 51 Markham 52 Budd 53 Gage 54 Pardee 55 Gillett 56 H. Johnson 57 Stephens 58 Richardson 59 Young 60 Rolph 61 Merriam 62 Olson 63 Warren 64 Knight 65 P. Brown 66 Reagan 67 J. Brown 68 Deukmejian 69 Wilson 70 Davis 71 Schwarzenegger 72 J. Brown Before US After US US list by time in office US list by age