Historical Marker · No. 68
El Campo Santo
San Diego, San Diego County · California
Erected by State Department of Recreation in cooperation with the San Diego City Department of Parks and Recreation and Squibob Chapter, E Clampus Vitus, August 6, 1994, 1994
Antonio Garra was Kuupangaxwichem, mission-educated, and he led a revolt in 1851 against a county tax levied on people who had no vote. He was tried by a military commission and shot beside his own open grave on January 10, 1852. The plaque names him as the most eminent of many Native Americans buried here, then reports that a street railway bisected the cemetery in 1894. Graves are still under San Diego Avenue, which was paved over them in 1942. Ground-penetrating radar has found some of them.
What the plaque says
El Campo Santo (The Holy Field) El Campo Santo once included the adobe chapel on Conde Street, in which was buried Jose Antonio Aguirre and where funeral services were held for Maria Victoria Dominguez Estudillo, Cave Johnson Couts, and many distinguished early San Diegans. Between 1849 and 1897, 477 persons were buried in these grounds. Antonio Garra was the most eminent of many Native Americans interred here. A number of graves were relocated after 1874. A street railway bisected the cemetery in 1894. The wall around this portion was built in 1933. Restoration has continued to the present. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 68 First registered December 6, 1932. Plaque placed by the State Department of Recreation in cooperation with the San Diego City Department of Parks and Recreation and Squibob Chapter, E Clampus Vitus, August 6, 1994.
Where it stands
32.75156, -117.19330 · Directions
More markers nearby
- Adobe Chapel of the Immaculate Conception — steps away
- The Whaley House — steps away
- Site of Casa de Cota — 0.2 mi
- Casa de Lopez — 0.2 mi