Source: Amy Notes (ID702)
Author: Howard, Amy (ID633)
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This must be what Mend wanted to do.
This must be what Mend wanted to do.
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Half of SA's soldier plazas went to non-soldiers
Date Created: 2023-10-12 20:56:17
Source: The King?s Coffer (ID 83)
Author: Bushnell, Amy (ID 32)
Content_id: 3955
In the garrison it was possible to collect the pay of a soldier without being one. There were seldom as many soldiers fit for duty as there were authorized plazas in the garrison, and the vacant spaces, called “dead-pays” (plazas muertas) AN429, served as a fund for pensions and allowances. A retired or incapacitated soldier held his plaza for the length of his life. A minor’s plaza (plaza de menor or muchacho) could be purchased for or granted to someone’s son to provide extra income, and if the lad developed no aptitude as a soldier the money did not have to be paid back. Plazas were used variously as honoraria to Indian chiefs AN430, dowries AN431, and salary supplements: a captain traditionally named his own servants or slaves to posts in his company and pocketed their pay. AN432 [Note 41: Gov. Zuniga y Cerda 9/30/1702 and Junta action 8/23/1703; Gaspar Marques, Chief of San Sebastian and Tocoy 6/23/1606; Catalina de Valdes 1616; cedula to the royal officials 10/15/1686; Alonso de Pastrana 1616; Pedro Benedit Horruytiner 11/10/1657.] Understrength in the garrison due to these practices was a perennial problem. Sometimes it was the governor who abused his power to assign plazas. The crown refused to endorse 19 of them awarded by Interim Governor Horruytiner to the sons, servants, and slaves of his supporters. AN433 At other times the government in Spain was to blame. Governor Hita Salazar complained that every ship to arrive bore new royal grants of plazas for youngsters, pensioners, and widows. A few of these were outright gifts; on most, the crown collected both the half-annate and a fee for waiving its own rule against creoles in the garrison. AN434 Again and again governors protested that of the plazas on the payroll only half were filled by persons who would be of any use to defend the fort and the town. AN435 [Note 42: Pedro Beltran de Santa Cruz, Havana 11/20/1655, and comment by the fiscal of the Council 7/5/1657; Gov. Hita Salazar 3/13/1679] (Bushnell KC)