4 Things You Should Know about the Chumash Revolt of 1824

Starting at Mission Santa Ines and spreading to Mission Santa Barbara, and Mission La Purisima the Revolt of 1824 was the largest organized resistance movement to occur during the Spanish and Mexican periods in California. There is a significant body of work surrounding this uprising, but here are four things you should know:

#1 The Revolt was the result of months of planning, but started a day early, when a young boy was badly beaten. This incident was not the only reason for the rebellion; rebellion was calculated and planned fight for liberation, not revenge.

#2 Indians from faraway missions came to build a defense at Santa Ines and others took in refugees.  Chumash people at Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa took in refugees that fled north. In the video below, Alan talks about how Chumash, Tataviam, and Tongva people from Mission San Fernando came to fight.

#3 This was a fight for physical, intellectual, and spiritual survival. When soldiers went to go collect the Indians that fled to the hills during and after the rebellion, they witnessed them return to their original practices.

#4 This was one of many revolts in the California missions. One of these revolts was led by Toypurina, a Tongva medicine woman, who convinced Indians from six villages to participate in a revolt against the San Gabriel Mission in 1785.

To learn more about the events that transpired and the long-term impacts of both the revolt and the mission system, watch this video featuring Joe Talaugon (Chumash) and Alan Salazar (Chumash, Tataviam), both of whom have ancestors who fought in the Revolt of 1824.