The Saga of Orange County’s “Pirates” - San Juan Capistrano Visitor Series Part 8
The following is an abridged version of my recently published book, The Saga of Orange County's "Pirates": The Sacking of Mission San Juan Capistrano by Hippolyte Bouchard in 1818 . The book includes new information, more details, and an appendix with translations of all of the known first-hand accounts of the attack. This book was written after consulting a large number of resources, including material from the Bancroft Library, the Santa Barbara Mission Archive Library and sources provided by fellow scholars. I could not have written this article without the help of my friend Phil Brigandi (1959-2019) , who assisted me with research every step of the way. A big thanks also goes out to Michael Melzer, the author of The Patriot Pirate , the definitive book on Bouchard's privateering journey around the world. Another big thanks goes out to Dr. Rose Marie Beebe for assisting me with some translations. And finally, another big thanks goes out to Phoebe Herring (see abo...