A Cross of Thorns: The Enslavement of California's Indians by the Spanish Missions

by Elias Castillo

The Spanish missions of California have long been misrepresented as places of benign and peaceful coexistence between Franciscan friars and California Indians. In fact, the mission friars enslaved the California Indians and treated them with deliberate cruelty. A Cross of Thorns describes the dark and violent reality of mission life. Beginning in 1769, California Indians were enticed into the missions, where they and their descendants were imprisoned for 60 years of forced labor and daily beatings.

The chilling depictions of colonial cruelty in A Cross of Thorns are based on little known church and Spanish government archives and letters written by the founder of California's mission, Friar Juniperro Serra (who advocated the whipping of mission Indians as a standard policy), and published first-hand accounts of 18th and 19th century travelers.

Tracing the history of Spanish colonization in California from its origins in Spain's 18th century economic crisis to the legacy of racism and brutality that continues today, A Cross of Thorns is one of the most thought-provoking books ever written on California history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Race, Indigenous, Spain

235 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2015

Reviews

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just read a book that makes me ashamed of my Spanish ancestors. A Cross of Thorns: The Enslavement of California’s Indians by the Spanish Missions by Elias Castillo tells the story of the horrible way the Spanish missionaries and soldiers treated the Native Americans in California. Father Serra and his crew, portrayed as kindly clerics in our grade-school textbooks, actually forced the local Indians to live at the missions as slave labor. They beat them and forced them to live in terrible conditions where huge numbers died of disease. If the Indians tried to run away or tried to maintain their own traditions, they were punished in the name of a God who would only save those who embraced the Catholic Church. The Spanish started establishing their 21 missions in the late 1700s. By the time the missions died out under Mexican rule in the 1830s, the California Indian tribes were decimated, their lands gone and their culture practically eliminated. This is not a happy book, but it is an important one, disclosing truths we need to know. Castillo, whom I remember as a reporter for the San Jose Mercury News back when I lived there, has done a masterful job of researching and documenting this book, using sources that go all the way back to the mission days, including letters and reports from the Spaniards and eyewitness accounts from people who visited the missions in those days. He tells it all in the free-flowing prose of an accomplished journalist. No study of early California can be complete without this book.

[Monica Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good history of the California mission system from a more unbiased view than most histories. The actions of the Franciscans and the Spanish, along with Mexico and the U.S. are shown in more detail.

[Roger Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

In general, this is a great account of the fallout from Junipero Serra. It is well sourced and documented, readable, and evenly paced. Castillo does miss that Serra actually sent money to George Washington to fund the Revolution -- about $400, if I remember right, which was a lot for the time. Spain was in a state of economic depression, and so we should see this political move by a Franciscan to a largely Protestant-led Revolution as particularly notable. But the res of Castillo's book is well-written and a helpful narrative to undermine knee-jerk and unreflectively patriotic and christian-biased narratives.

[Gronk · Rating 4 out of 5]

As others have stated this is an important work setting the record straight on the enslavement and genocide of California Native Americans at the hands of the Franciscan Friars at the CA Missions. (And later by the Mexican and U.S. governments.) The historical lies that have been told to hide the truth are shameful. It is important to document thoroughly what truly happened and Castillo does an excellent job of documenting his sources. The book itself is a bit of a slog to read. It jumps around a bit, is repetitive, and often times not very engaging. This sort of work doesn't need to be entertaining though. It needs to be factual, with sources cited. Castillo accomplishes that perfectly.

[Andrea Bazely · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoroughly researched and powerfully written exploration of Mission-era California and the impact of Spanish missions on the indigenous peoples of California beginning in the 1700s and continuing well beyond California’s achievement of Statehood in 1850. Castillo points to the cruelty and genocide imposed by the Missions on California natives and supports his assertions with historical records kept by leaders of both the Missions and the Spanish government. I was fortunate enough to meet the author shortly before his passing in 2019.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This well-researched book reveals the ugly truth about what really happened at the California missions, too often romanticized in mainstream history: Father Serra and others beat and enslaved the Indians, keeping them uneducated and forcing them to work so the missions could benefit from free labor. I was struck by how many of the friars' contemporaries criticized them for such abuse of the Native Americans. This important book should be taught in American History classes.

[Edward Weiner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my kind of book. I was aware of the basic argument, i.e., what I was taught in fourth grade California history about Father Serra and the missions is not the whole story. This well-researched and well-written book is real history in great and gory detail. There are no heroes in the story -- just facts about Spanish imperialists, religious devotees, indigenous people, etc. The author's bias is obvious, but that does not detract from the scholarship.

[Miroku Nemeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just completed this excellent study on the reality of slavery and genocide against the California Indians. Far from the romantic images of the mission system that many schoolchildren and tourists get, Castillo believes the missions should be seen and showcased not of the commonly perceived monuments to beauty and Christian/Indian cooperation, but as genocidal death camps. And he is right.

[C.a. Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the history of the Spanish Missions and Spain’s holy conquest to “convert the wild Indians”. The California Missions became a death sentence and forced slavery for the coastal tribes in California. This book answers the questions of what happened to the Aztec nations in Mexico to the California Coastal Native Americans. Very well written and researched.

[Valentin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gives facts as to how the California natives were basically slaves in the missions. They were cheap labor subjected to physical punishment. This book destroys the idea that the Spanish missionaries were good people and that the Natives lived happy lives in the missions.

[Erica Fraser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth reading

[Kate Kistle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative

[Michael Howley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty confident that whatever you think you know about the missions, they were worse than you thought

[David Hockabout]

I was raised in California on the tales of a gentile Serra and the idealized life of peace and plenty with the California Native Peoples On September 23, 2015 Franciscan Junipero Serra was canonized a Saint In the Roman Catholic Church. This after an out cry from California Natives, historians and civil rights organizations. The scab off on the night of September 28, 2015. The Mission Carmel, where Serra is buried, was attacked by vandals. Statues of the Saint were knocked our, on was beheaded red paint adorned the walls representing the blood of the fallen and abused people under the care of the Franciscans. There were painted and carved signs saying 'St Genocide'

The missions. lead by Serra. were to Christianized and establish a Spanish and later a Mexican present Alto California against Russian incursions. But, the result was the whole sale round up of natives lead into the mission grounds and kept as slave for the benefit of the friars. Whipping were a normal way of life for even small infractions of mission or Catholic rules

"The Cross of Thorns' is a well documented book by Ellias Castillo. This book tells the history of of the treatment and the destruction of human beings their way of life from the founding of Mission San Diego up to the present struggle of recognition from the U.S. government.

[Greg Beale · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Utter Shame of It All

Reading this nightmare of human depravity led by a man recently acquiring sainthood, literally destroys Christianity as a viable religion. How could men of God do this? Yet the evidence is overwhelming in this well researched book of genocide. And yet the atrocity continues with the utter refusal of the United States to grant tribal status to a culture that was here thousands of years before the missions. Christians? These beasts were not Christians. We all deserve The Reckoning that surely will come.

[Ava •°✧• · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is perfect for anyone who wants to learn about the Spanish Missions. I used this in a school project with my friend and we found it amazingly helpful!

[AnneKristine Norris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I spent my elementary years in Southern California and remember the California history that I learned as a fourth grader. Benevolent missionaries. The golden trail of mustard. As an adult, I'm better educated about Native American experience at the hands of European conquerors. California's history regarding this shameful period still seems hidden and I'm glad I read Mr. Castillo's book. I found it difficult to get through, not because of the content, but because it seemed to jump around, bogged down in detail after detail. I found it hard to catch a thread that I could follow.

It is a nice collection of reference materials, although I found myself going to the computer to read proclamations and histories of individuals. I wanted maps!

[Mills College Library]

979.40049 C3525 2015