$46,500 to find San Pasqual Battlefield

pegleglooker

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Grant to be used in bid to pinpoint battle site

SAN PASQUAL VALLEY — Although it is known that the Battle of San Pasqual was fought in December 1846 between U.S. and Mexican soldiers, the exact site eludes present-day historians and archaeologists.

That soon may change because of a $46,500 grant the San Diego Archaeological Center received last month from the National Park Service's American Battlefield Protection Program.

The program was formed to help promote the preservation of battlefields associated with wars on American soil. The gift is one of 33 similar grants totaling $1.36 million awarded to help preserve sites where battles were fought, from Colonial American-Indian wars to the Civil War.

The battlefield's currently observed site, San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park, is adjacent to the archaeological center, on state Route 78 two miles east of the San Diego Wild Animal Park. It includes a marker with information about the battle and a visitors center that is open on weekends. It is one of 220 state parks the governor has slated for closure to help cut the state's $26.3 billion deficit.

“We felt that by documenting the battle and getting some more information out there, we might be able to raise the importance of this park in the eyes of the state,” said archaeology center executive director Cindy Stankowski. “Of course, everything's up for grabs . . . but my hope is that we'll actually be able to put together enough information that we can say this is significant. There aren't very many battlefields in California, for one thing.”

Although the archaeology center rents land from the state park system, it is an independent, nonprofit organization and not threatened with closure, Stankowski said.

The grant would fund a three-year project. Local historian and archaeologist Richard Carrico will spend the first year surveying the area.

Stankowski said she hopes to create outdoor interpretive panels and a brochure with more information for the public.

The San Pasqual Battlefield Volunteer Association stages periodic re-enactments of the battle at the park. Stankowski hopes to film the next one for educational purposes.

“That would be kind of cool to be able to run that on a loop for people,” she said. “They haven't changed the exhibits forever (at the visitors center).”

The battle, one of the few in the Mexican-American War fought on U.S. soil, resulted in the deaths of 17 American and two Mexican soldiers. An additional 18 soldiers were wounded.

Stankowski said Carrico will be working with the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians on the project. They once had a village on the site where the center leases land.

“They played a role in (the war) by helping some of the wounded American soldiers, so . . . pulling their history into this event is really important, too,” she said.

Carrico, a professor in San Diego State University's Department of American Indian Studies, will use historical documents, photographs and military records to help locate the original site, which he said is probably somewhere between the Wild Animal Park and the archaeological center.

“I'm 100 percent sure where the monument is is not where it took place,” Carrico said. “That was a convenient place to put the monument back when it was first established (in 1922), and it was a piece of property that the state could, quite frankly, buy from a private owner.”

Carrico said that, based on historical accounts of the battle, it appears that Gen. Stephen Kearny's army arrived from the north near Ramona and dropped down into the valley somewhere near the Wild Animal Park.

“That's where the Indian village was, and they talk about how the Mexicans were encamped at the village,” he said.

By pinpointing and documenting the actual site, Carrico said, he hopes to help create a tangible sense of place, similar to what visitors to Gettysburg National Military Park experience, where the occasional cannons and an old wooden fence serve as strong emotional cues.

“I think this will give kids something very specific,” he said. “Now, teachers can actually stand there and say, 'In 1846, here's what was going on, right here. It was foggy and there was rain.' You get to imagine the horses and the blood and the gunshots.”

Pat Sherman: (760) 737-7556;
 

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A different kind of treasure hunting, they get paid before they find anything! A typical
govenment project.
Rich
 

gollum

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About 150 men per side. That amounts to something more like a large firefight, not a battle. When I think BATTLE, I think of larger forces.


Best-Mike
 

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pegleglooker

pegleglooker

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gollum said:
About 150 men per side. That amounts to something more like a large firefight, not a battle. When I think BATTLE, I think of larger forces.


Best-Mike

I guess, considering that not many battles or skirmishes were fought in California, that is why it's called a battle.... I agree a TRUE battle was MUCH larger area and a TON more people... Thx Mike

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And from a treasure hunter's standpoint there probably not many artifacts
to find.
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Jerry311

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Old Thread but

Did they ever find the site or anything?
I've been to the old school house out there.
 

Mackaydon

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Yeas ago, I TH-ed there for a full day (carried spare batteries), west of the monument to the top of the hill; found nothing but modern junk.
I'll assume I was just in the wrong place; haven't been back.
Don......
 

Jerry311

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Is there any info Pointing to a location ? San Pasqual is pretty big. lol
 

Mackaydon

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