AGENDA
Thursday, January 27, 2022 - All Activities this day at the Courtyard by Marriott
08:00 AM - 01:00 PM: OCTA board meeting followed by lunch
All day: A self-guided tour of historic sites between San Diego and Los Angeles will be provided to registrants who want to visit those sites on their own. After registration, you will be supplied with information and directions on how to visit these sites.
02:00 PM - 05:00 PM: Registration table open at the Courtyard by Marriott
03:00 PM - 05:00 PM: Guided tour of Fort Rosecrans Cemetery with an on-site narrative of the two battalion individuals (a soldier and a woman) and the San Pasqual solders who are buried there. Those interested should meet at the front entrance to the cemetery, located at 1700 Cabrillo Memorial Drive in San Diego.
05:00 PM: Dinner on your own
07:30 PM: Keynote Speaker - OCTA Vice President Steve Allison will speak on "The San Diego We Know and Love," which lives on in our shared history and our personal and family memories. Steve grew up in San Diego, and his grandfather’s 16mm films, boxes of photos, his journal, class photos, report cards, and the stories his brothers and he tell each other help him remember "My San Diego." As each succeeding generation moves into its future, its past begins to fade. What’s left for historians to sort through gets thinner and thinner the farther back in time we go. On the other side of photographs and newspapers, we pay homage to those intrepid writers and clerks who kept journals, military and cemetery records, payrolls, land transactions, wills, etc. Beyond that, traveling even farther into the past, the Kumeyaay oral histories paint pictures of their lives and traditions. To know of anything beyond them, we rely on archaeologists and geologists to decipher the earth's records. This presentation attempts to give context to our view of San Diego history from his personal experiences and what was known about San Diego before the Mormon Battalion arrived on this day 175 years ago.
Friday, January 28, 2022 - All Activities this day at the Temple Beth Israel at 2450 Heritage Park Row in San Diego
The Temple was built in Classic Revival style in 1889. It was San Diego's first synagogue and was constructed by the Congregation Beth Israel. It was later temporary quarters for many other religious sects before they established churches of their own. It was saved from demolition and moved to its current location across from the Mormon Battalion Visitors Center and is managed by San Diego County Parks and Recreation. It is located at 2454 Heritage Park Row, just a few blocks east of the host hotel.
07:30 AM: Registration table opens at the Temple Beth Israel
0:800 AM - 08:50 AM: The Kumeyaay Nation (Campo Band) and the Effect of European Takeover - Michael Connoly Miskwish
Of all the groups, the California tribes have lost the most through disease, conflict, and disenfranchisement, yet they are with us still. What can they tell us from their perspective? Michael Connolly Miskwish of the Kumeyaay Nation will discuss these topics and also explain how the Catholic church and its missions influenced the Alta California culture and the indigenous peoples.
09:00 AM - 09:50 AM: Settling the Mission and Presidio - Barry Goldlust, San Diego History Center
Separation from Mexico led to a distinct sub-culture and the Californios led an enviable lifestyle. Mr. Goldlust will recognize and include the multi-cultural mix in California of South/Central Americans, Pacific Islanders, Inuits, Russians, British, French, Americans, etc. He will also discuss ranching and oceanic trade and will include thumbnails of those non-Spanish who came early and stayed.
10:00 AM - 10:50 AM: Early Land Routes into California and the Boston Trade Ships - Frank Tortorich, OCTA member and authority/noted researcher of the Carson River Route, Mormon migration history, and the Mormon Battalion
The forbidding desert landscape kept overland travel to a trickle before 1846. Cooke's Wagon Road connected the older pack/trade routes into a continuous wagon road, the important precursor to the Gold Rush and later overland routes. While the land routes typically get our attention, there was a more important three-point trade circuit - California, South America and Hawaii/Asia. California supplied the hides and tallow, with San Diego as just one major trade anchorage.
11:00 - 11:50 AM: Military Intervention in California, 1846-47: The U.S. Invasion, Occupation, and its Challenge - Lt. Col. Sherman L. Fleek, Command Historian, U.S. Military Academy, West Point
Lt. Col. Fleek will discuss the arrival of the navy and Fremont, as well as Fort Stockton and the "scoping out" of California in the Polk post-election period. He will then delve into the arrival of Kearny's Dragoons and the Army of the West's second task: to take and hold Alta California until peace. The Battle of San Pasqual will also be covered.
11:50 AM - 01:00 PM: Lunch (included in the registration fee)
01:00 - 01:50 PM: Kearny's Ace in the Hole to Hold California: The Mormon Battalion - Brandon Metcalf, Archivist at the Church History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City
The arrival of the ship Brooklyn, the New York 7th Infantry, and the Mormon Battalion -- along with American settlers -- was Kearny's ace in the hole to hold California. Brandon Metcalf will discuss the arrival of the argonauts and the southern route to California via Cooke's Wagon Road.
02:00 - 02:50 PM: The Women's Stories: The Five Women Who Arrived with and the Locals Who Served the Mormon Battalion in California - Laura Anderson and Mary Ann Kirk
An introduction to the five women who arrived in San Diego with the Mormon Battalion. They will also discuss the local women who served the Mormon Battalion in California, including Juana Machado Wrightington and Magell Mancheeta.
03:00 - 03:50 PM: Say Their Names: Slavery in California - Kevin Henson (tentative speaker)
Biddy Mason, the US Army officer's servants, and slavery among the Spanish, Mexicans, Americans, and tribes are the theme of this talk. OCTA's video on Biddy Mason, a slave brought to California by her Mormon owners, will kick off this talk. The results of the work done by the Mormon Battalion Association on NARA military records will also be discussed, as will aspects of tribal and Spanish slavery.
04:00 - 04:50 PM : The Relationship Between the LDS Church and OCTA - Elder D. Todd Christofferson
Elder Christofferson will discuss his vision for the myriad and exciting ways in which the LDS Church and OCTA could work together toward the common goals of historic trail preservation, mapping and marking, research, promotion, and education.
05:00 PM: Dinner on your own
Saturday, January 29, 2022
09:00 AM - 03:00 PM: Enjoy the commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Mormon Battalion by taking in the various free activities, entertainment, and interactive booths found all throughout Old Town San Diego, especially in the portion managed as the state's most popular historic park. Attendees are invited to dress in period clothing and march in with the re-enactors. To participate in the re-enactment, contact Terry Wirth at (760) 685-4300 or [email protected]..
10:00 - 10:30 AM - Mormon Battalion Parade with the Marine Corp Band. Join us as 335 re-enactors march for about four blocks into Old Town San Diego to recreate that day on January 29, 1847 when the Mormon Battalion marched into San Diego. (Re-enactors will meet at the Cal Trans parking lot at Taylor and Juan Streets at 9 AM.)
12:00 PM - 01:00 PM: Tour of the Junípero Serra Museum in Presidio Park (limited to 20 participants). A van will transport participants from the Mormon Battalion Historic Center at 2510 Juan St. to the museum and back again. (Note: the museum is not requiring proof of vaccination or masks. It is an "extra" and not an official OCTA function. Please visit https://sandiegohistory.org/serramuseum for more information.)
01:30 PM - 02:30 PM: Tour of the Junípero Serra Museum in Presidio Park (limited to 20 participants). A van will transport participants from the Mormon Battalion Historic Center at 2510 Juan St. to the museum and back again.
03:00 PM - 04:00 PM: The Women's Stories: The Five Women Who Arrived with and the Locals Who Served the Mormon Battalion in California - Laura Anderson and Mary Ann Kirk (a repeat of the Friday presentation; this presentation will be at the Temple Beth Israel)
An introduction to the five women who arrived in San Diego with the Mormon Battalion. They will also discuss the local women (the Californios and Indigenous) who served the Mormon Battalion in California, including Juana Machado Wrightington and Magell Mancheeta.
04:00 PM - 05:00 PM: Co B's Sojourn in San Diego: The Story of the Mormon Battalion in San Diego - Greg Christofferson (this presentation will be at the Temple Beth Israel)
U.S. Army Surgeon John Strother Griffin wrote that "they have been engaged while here in digging wells, plastering houses and seem anxious to work." Greg Christofferson will discuss the work of the Mormon Battalion once they arrived in San Diego.
0;500 PM: Dinner on your own
Sunday, January 30, 2022
07:00 AM - 05:00 PM: Van tour of the trail corridor for the 49ers Southern Route to California/Mormon Battalion/Butterfield Overland Stage/Juan Bautista de Anza expedition through San Diego County. Stops include interpretive sites in the barren Yuha Desert near Plaster City and into the beautiful Anza Borrego State Park, where we will visit important trail sites like Palm Spring, Vallecito Stage Station, Box Canyon, and Foot & Walker Pass, and finally into the grasslands surrounding Warner's Ranch, down into the San Pasqual Battlefield site, and wrapping up the day at the gorgeous Mission San Luis Rey. This is a tour you will not want to miss! The tour will depart from and return to the Courtyard Old Town. Lunch, snacks, drinks, and admission fees included.
