The chief object of the Presidios was to give protection to the Missionaries and guard them against the Indians.

The full complement of soldiers in each Presidio was two hundred and fifty--but the number rarely reached as high as this.

The soldiers in those early days were not, as a rule, of the highest standing.

Many of them were from the dregs of the Mexican army, and among them were men sometimes who had committed crime and were in a measure in banishment.
There could be no greater contrast possible than that between the Presidio of Spanish days and the Presidio of the present time, both as to the place and the personnel of the officers and men of the garrison.

As you look around you now your eyes rest on wide and handsome parade grounds, on beautiful gardens where flowers bloom in luxuriance, on groups of the Monterey Cypress, on neatly trimmed hedges, on walks in many places bordered with cannon balls, on attractive buildings which have a homelike aspect with vines climbing the walls, on barracks where the soldiers are made comfortable.