California genocide

Indigenous Californians Prior to Spanish arrival, California was home to an American Indian population thought to have been as high as 300,000. The largest group were the Chumash people, with a population around 10,000. The region was highly diverse, with numerous distinct languages spoken. While there was great diversity in the area, archeological findings show little evidence of intertribal conflicts. For example, traditional use of fire by Californian and Pacific Northwest tribes, allowed them to "cultivate plants and fungi" that "adapted to regular burning. The list runs from fiber sources, such as bear-grass and willow, to foodstuffs, such as berries, mushrooms, and acorns from oak trees that once made up sprawling orchards". Many practices were used to manage the land without tremendous destruction in other ways including "tillage, pruning, seed broadcasting, transplanting, weeding, irrigation, and fertilizing". These groups worked to stimulate the growth and diversity of botanical resources across landscapes. Traditional practices allowed for the "extraordinarily successful management of natural resources available to Native Californian tribes". Because of traditional practices of Native Californian tribes, they were able to support habitats and climates that would then support an abundance of wildlife, including rabbits, deer, varieties of fish, fruit, roots, and acorns. The Native people largely followed a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, moving around their area through the seasons as different types of food were available. The American Indian people of California, according to sociologist Kari Norgaard, were "hunting and fishing for their food, weaving baskets using traditional techniques" and "carrying out important ceremonies to keep the world intact". It was also recorded that the American Indian people in California and across the continent had used "fire to enhance specific plant species, optimize hunting conditions, maintain open travel routes, and generally support the flourishing of the species upon which they depend, according to scholars like the United States Forest Service ecologist and Karuk descendent Frank Lake". Gregory Orfalea estimates that pre-contact population was reduced by 33% during the Spanish and Mexican regimes. Most of the decline stemmed from imported diseases, low birth rates, and the disruption of traditional ways of life, but violence was common, and some historians have charged that life in the missions was close to slavery. According to George Tinker, an American Indian scholar, "The Native American population of coastal population was reduced by some 90 percent during seventy years under the sole proprietorship of Serra's mission system". According to journalist Ed Castillo, member of the Native American Caucus of the California Democratic Party, Serra spread the Christian faith among the Native population in a destructive way that caused their population to decline rapidly while he was in power. Castillo writes that "The Franciscans took it upon themselves to brutalize the Indians, and to rejoice in their death...They simply wanted the souls of these Indians, so they baptized them, and when they died, from disease or beatings... they were going to heaven, which was a cause of celebration". The artifacts included subsistence remains, middens, and flaked stone tools. • 1769: Spanish colonizers extended the Mexican Catholic mission system into the mission system in California, which led to the forced conversion and enslavement of California area Native Americans. • 1821–1823: Mexico gained independence from Spain and took control of California, continuing the Spanish government's policies of forced labor and conversion of Indigenous peoples. • 1851–52: The Mariposa War broke out between white settlers and the Ahwahnechee, resulting in the displacement and killing of Native Americans by the Mariposa Battalion in the Sierra Nevada region. • 1851–66: Shasta city and the communities of Marysville and Honey Lake paid bounties for the killing of Native Americans. • 1860s: The federal government began a policy of forced removal of Native Americans peoples to reservations, which led to violence and displacement. • Late 1800s–early 1900s: Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families by the California government and placed in boarding schools, where they were subjected to abuse and forced assimilation. • 1909: The California state government established the California Eugenics Record Office, which promoted the forced sterilization of people declared by the government to be "unfit", including "Black, Latino and Indigenous women who were incarcerated or in state institutions for disabilities". == History ==

1846-1850 , Pomo basket maker who published a Pomo narrative on the Bloody Island massacre in Clear Lake. Starting with the conquest of California in 1846, early US incursions into Alta California, then a part of Mexico, saw several massacres take place. Military expeditions led by John C. Fremont saw the earliest massacres of California Indigenous peoples orchestrated by US forces. In April 1846, the first of these massacres occurred on the Sacramento River against the Wintu, which killed anywhere from 150 to 1000 people. Later that month, Fremont's contingent was attacked by the Klamath leading to two or three deaths. As a result, massacres took place against the Klamath. 14 people were killed. More massacres would be perpetrated by Fremont throughout his campaign in California. At that time, non-Indigenous settlers were outnumbered 15 to 1 in California. In 1847, John Sutter was appointed the first federal Indian Subagent in California. As Subagent, Sutter was known to participate extensively in the human trafficking of Indigenous Californians. Sutter had kidnapped over two thousand people to work at his ranch in near slave like conditions. The workers were often from the Pomo and Nisenan tribes. Sutter had ordered those around him to keep the Natives under fear. The conditions at the Sutter Ranch were very poor. Over the course of 1848, gold miners poured into California from other parts of the USA, bringing further violence. The Whitman massacre in Oregon spurred revenge killings against Indigenous communities in California. As violence escalated, more settlers arrived 1849. This wave of immigration popularized the term "forty niners" for gold miners in California. That year, Pomo and Wappo laborers killed rancher Andrew Kelsey, a man known for selling indentured Native people. Quechan war In late 1849, the Quechan people came into conflict with white outlaws known as the Glanton gang in Southern California, who ran competing ferrying businesses. The gang committed numerous crimes on local Natives and Mexicans living in the area. In part due to the brutality of these outlaws, some settlers reached a deal with the Quechan to run a ferrying business for a quarter of the price that the gang charged. The outlaws killed a Irish ferryman named Callaghan who was ferrying people on behalf of the Quechan and had threatened the tribe. The Quechan attempted to negotiate a compromise, but were beaten by the outlaws in response. In 1850, the gang's leader, John Glanton, and 10 others were killed by the Quechan. Soon afterwards the government of California would respond, organizing the first state supported militia campaign against California Natives. The Gila Expedition would lead to a massacre of Quechan people and would be used as a model for later operations. Other massacres would take place that year in places such as Clear Lake, Mendocino and other areas in the northern regions of California. 1851-1855 In 1851, numerous treaties were negotiated with California tribes, though none were ratified. Tribes were required to sign and acknowledge such agreements. Resistance to the treaty process was often met with violence, as happened to the Yokuts, who refused to attend treaty negotiations. The 1850 "Act for the Government and Protection of the Indian" legalized the indentured servitude of Indigenous children in California, as well as Indigenous people who had committed "Indian crimes". The act intensified the kidnapping and forced labor of Indigenous Californians. As conditions worsened, calls were made for a "war of extermination" by governor Peter Burnett in 1851, Burnett had argued the extinction of Natives was inevitable and nearing. Savage dismissed attempts to resolve the war through treaties and arguing that tribes in the mountains would continue to resist, he blamed the Treaty Commission for temporarily preventing further attacks by the Mariposa Battalion, claiming that this lead to the deaths of 8 settlers. Savage also prevented treaty negotiations with the Ahwahneechee, who had sought negotiations, by telling the Treaty Commissioner that their interest was simply a ploy to ambush Savage. The war continued, with the Mariposa Battalion's primary strategy being to starve out resisting tribes by burning their food supplies. The Mariposa War largely ended when Ahwahneechee leader Tenaya was captured. Soon after the tribe was marched to Fresno. Expeditions and massacres would take place targeting the Nissenan,Wintu, Yana, Nomlaki, and Modoc as well, in 1851. These actions were somewhat subdued by the Treaty Commission who were hoping to secure agreements that year. Northern California conflicts In 1852, due to the previous year's massacres by settlers, Modoc began attacking emigrant caravans which passed through their territory. Several massacres of these caravans took place as a result of this, such as at Bloody Point. Ben Wright, a settler who had participated in previous massacres against the Modoc, called for a truce. When individuals from the tribe came down to negotiate, Wright massacred all those who'd arrived. Those killed included the father of future Modoc leader Captain Jack, the death toll was said to be between 30–90. Wright was later killed by a Rogue River Indian man named Enos after Wright had sexually assaulted an indigenous woman who worked as a interpreter. Enos was soon hanged for the murder. The treaties signed in 1851 were rejected in 1852 when the California Senate voted against ratification. Reasonings given included that the senators believed too much land granted to the tribes and much of the granted lands were rich in minerals which could be mined and shouldn't be controlled by indigenous communities. Additional massacres occurred throughout 1852 in Northern California, such as those against Shasta, Tolowa, Wintu, and Sinkyone people, killing hundreds. In 1853, a letter sent to the Superintendent of Indian Affairs in California by a district attorney outlined the conditions in which native indentured laborers, particularly those kidnapped from Clear Lake, were living. The letter stated that many who were kidnapped and brought to ranches in Napa County had already died due to the inhumane conditions. The Superintendent later forwarded this information to the Secretary of the Interior and added that the Indigenous population of California in 1853 was between 75k-100k. Superintendent Edward Beale would write to the secretary of Interior: In 1853, there were documented instances of settlers attempting to infect native Californians with smallpox, there was also multiple cases of Natives being deliberately poisoneed by settlers, poisoned food was left out for the starving Indigenous people to find and eat, this would lead to their death. Several massacres occurred that year, the largest being the Yontocket massacre against the Tolowa. Settlers surrounded the village of Yontocket, the largest village of the Tolowa, where many had gathered for a religious ceremony. They set fire to the village and shot those who tried to escape, the death toll was anywhere from 150-600. Smaller massacres would take place elsewhere throughout the year. In 1854, an act was passed banning Indigenous Californians from owning firearms, possession of firearms resulted in a fine and a one to six month prison sentence, this law would remain in effect till 1913. During this period, the Shasta Expedition would lead to further massacres, sporadic killings continued elsewhere. The Winter months saw a rise in conflict, after settlers attempted to assault a Karuk girl, 4 settlers were killed by the Karuk in retaliation. The Klamath River war began when settlers tried to forcibly disarm the Indigenous people in the region and met resistance. The war continued into 1855, after 2 Natives were killed along the Salmon River, the tribes fled to the mountains. Later retaliatory attacks would kill 22 settlers on the same day. The Klamath River War would be a predecessor to the Bald Hills War. From 1855 onwards, it became a increasingly common practice for Indigenous people to be kidnapped from reservations and forced into indentured servitude, particularly women and children. A report issued that year accused the officials who ran the Reservations as being highly corrupt. 1856-1860 In 1856, indigenous people living in San Diego faced significant danger, public lynchings occurred, and it was a frequent practice for police in Southern California to kill Natives who had not yet been trialled by hanging them in their cell. Starving Yokuts who engaged in cattle rustling were attacked by militiamen, after a number of operations, 14 Yokuts had been killed. Soon afterward, militiamen received intelligence of a large Yokut gathering and planned an ambush. Although taken by surprise, the Yokuts managed to repel the ambush and they retaliated by following the retreating militia and burning settler houses and property. That same year, California militiamen killed 185 Indigenous people during the Modoc expedition. "Slave marts" were reported to be operating in Los Angeles, selling Indigenous Indentured laborers. Bald Hills war and Round Valley massacres In 1857, massacres intensified in Mendocino and the Round Valley region, where settlers were encouraged to settle the area by the California Superintendent of Indian Affairs. One of the earliest settlers killed by the Yuki was William Mantle, Mantle was known to keep "Pet Indians" who were Individuals that had been kidnapped from Round Valley and forced into labor. 14 Yuki were killed in retaliation for his murder. That year, a massacre to the Yahi people saw 50 people killed, while 81 Achumawi people and 10 Washoe were killed in numerous separate massacres, throughout these operations no settlers were killed. By 1858, Indigenous Californians living in settler towns often subsisted off discarded food, and many Indigenous women were forced into prostitution. Women who were kidnapped were frequently forced into sexual exploitation and attempts by tribes to resist these actions caused further violence. Starvation was widespread on reservations in California, on the Round Valley reservation, eight to ten people were dying per day to syphilis and Inadequate rations. Hunger frequently drove Natives to killing livestock which would lead to further attacks on Native villages. Massacres in Round Valley between 1858-1860 killed more than 500 people. The term "Indian depredations" was commonly used around Mendocino and Round Valley to justify attacks on Native communities, although often times livestock deaths came from other causes. The Wintoon War lead to at least 200 deaths and forced 6 tribes to relocate onto reservations. The Mendocino War followed soon after, the immediate catalyst was the killing of 3 horses by the Yuki, one of which being a prized stallion. Much of the violence committed against Indigenous Californians in Mendocino between 1859-1860 was done by a militia known as the Eel River Rangers, organized by a prominent "Indian Hunter" Walter Jarboe. In the aftermath of the horse killings, a two week operation by settlers in Round Valley killed over 240 Indigenous people. The Eel River Rangers were known to consume local cattle during their operations. Settlers worried they'd not be compensated for this loss of cattle. In 1859, an Indigenous boy, who was between 12 and 15 years old was lynched in Tehama County after being accused of setting fire to his master, Col Stevenson's home, leading to at least 7 deaths. Expeditions were done against the Yana and Maidu in retaliation for the fire, leading to the deaths of at least 42 Yana and Maidu. Expeditions along the Pit River that year resulted in hundreds more deaths among Indigenous communities. In early 1860 a large massacre targeted the Wiyot. Although Wiyot maintained peaceful relations with settlers prior, over 285 were killed within a week. Additional massacres took place in northeastern California throughout the year. In Round Valley the practice of settler raiding parties routinely kidnapping women and children was common. Amendments to the Act for the Government and Protection of Indians resulted in the age of majority altered for indigenous minors from 18 to 25 for boys and 15 to 21 for girls respectively. 1861–1865 , the last known member of the Yahi. In 1861, forced labor was widespread in Round Valley. Orphaned children of massacre victims were prime targets to be taken by settlers. Two Yuki boys tried poisoning their master, the former California Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Thomas Hanley. Hanley after discovering the poison, found one of the children and hanged them in public. The Horse Canyon massacre in Mendocino killed up to 200 Wailaki people, the massacre was carried out after the Wailaki had killed livestock. Konkow Maidu were persuaded to participate in the massacre by settlers and the Round Valley Reservation Superintendent, despite not wishing to do so. In 1862, a trial took place involving George H. Woodman, a prominent kidnapper of Indigenous children in Mendocino County, during the trial, over 40 people testified to Woodmans innocence, arguing he saved starving children from turning to theft or "being shot like coyotes". Other witnesses however noted that he held exhibitions in which he displayed his "little brown cubs," commanding them to "lie down" or "roll over" like a dog. Conditions in Round Valley deteriorated further, and multiple massacres occurred, the largest of which killed 45 Wailaki people. The Konkow fled the reservation that winter, facing starvation and aware that killing settler livestock would provoke massacres, they chose to make the journey back to their homelands in Butte County. The Yahi had killed three children that year, sparking outrage. In 1863, the Konkow Maidu were forced to undertake a return march to Round Valley. the Yahi were implicated in further raids and the murder of two more children. In 1864, massacres would continue along the Sacramento River, targeting the Yana, Achumawi and other tribes. The death toll would be 361. Yahi in Northern California would continue to face massacres from 1865 to 1871, resulting in over 200 deaths. Owens Valley war In 1862, Owens Valley Paiutes began raiding settler livestock, the livestock which had consumed and destroyed much of the Valley's resources, forced the Paiutes into food scarcity. Settlers responded by raping three Paiute women. After Paiutes killed two settlers, a retaliatory massacre resulted in the deaths of over 73 Paiutes and burning of a village. Further skirmishes lead to costly victories for the Paiutes, although managing to defend their villages from settlers, they suffered many casualties doing so. Tribes elsewhere in Southern California including Tejon were reported to have aided the Owens Valley Paiutes. In 1863, Paiutes in Owens Valley murdered three settlers and two soldiers soon afterwards. Settlers responded with further massacres, by April 150 Paiutes had been killed. In May the Owens Valley Paiutes surrendered. Starvation led Owen Valley Paiutes to kill cattle, reigniting conflict the following year. In 1865, over 100 Paiutes were coralled and killed in a single incident. Sporadic killings would continue into 1866. == Consequences for Native populations ==

'' Following the American Conquest of California from Mexico, the influx of American settlers due to the California Gold Rush in 1849, and the statehood of California in 1850, state and federal authorities incited, aided, and financed the violence against the American Indians. The California Natives were also sometimes contemptuously referred to as "Diggers", for their practice of digging up roots to eat. On January 6, 1851, at his State of the State address to the California Senate, 1st Governor of California, Peter Burnett said: "That a war of extermination will continue to be waged between the races until the Indian race becomes extinct must be expected. While we cannot anticipate this result but with painful regret, the inevitable destiny of the race is beyond the power or wisdom of man to avert." During the California genocide, reports of the decimation of American Indians in California were made to the rest of the United States and internationally. A notable early eyewitness testimony and account: "The Indians of California" (1864) is from John Ross Browne, Customs official and Inspector of Indian Affairs on the Pacific Coast. He systematically described the fraud, corruption, land theft, slavery, rape, and massacre perpetrated on a substantial portion of the aboriginal population. This was confirmed by a contemporary, Superintendent Dorcas J. Spencer. Forced labor The California Act for the Government and Protection of Indians was enacted in 1850 (amended 1860, repealed 1863). This law provided for "apprenticing" or indenturing Indian children to white settlers, and also punished "vagrant" Indians by "hiring" them out to the highest bidder at a public auction if the Indian could not provide sufficient bond or bail. This legalized a form of slavery in California. Reservations experienced large losses of life due to starvation. At the Round Valley Reservation, the population had fallen from 3,450 to 250 between 1857 and 1858, with a large portion having died from starvation. Those at the reservation who were unable to work were not given food. Indigenous food sources were destroyed by settler fisheries and the depletion of local wildlife. In 1852, it was stated in the Senate that the Superintendent of Indian Affairs had received information that over 15,000 Natives had died of starvation in California the previous year. Diseases were widespread, and many died after having already weakened by malnutrition. Indigenous women commonly contracted sexually transmitted infections(STIs) which often proved fatal, and were often due to prostitution, into which women were reportedly forced into by officials and reservation employees.The Nome Cult Farm was particularly known for lack of food and prevalence of STIs. Violence statistics In 1943, a study by demographer Sherburne Cook, estimated that there were 4,556 killings of California Indians between 1847 and 1865. Contemporary historian Benjamin Madley has documented the numbers of Californian Indians killed between 1846 and 1873; he estimates that during this period at least 9,492 to 16,092 Californian Indians were killed by non-Indians, including between 1,680 and 3,741 killed by the U.S. Army. Most of the deaths took place in what he defined as more than 370 massacres (defined as the "intentional killing of five or more disarmed combatants or largely unarmed noncombatants, including women, children, and prisoners, whether in the context of a battle or otherwise"). Madley also estimates that fewer than 1,400 non-Indians were killed by Indians during this period. The Native American activist and former Sonoma State University Professor Ed Castillo was asked by The State of California's Native American Heritage Commission to write the state's official history of the genocide; he wrote that "well-armed death squads combined with the widespread random killing of Indians by individual miners resulted in the death of 100,000 Indians in [1848 and 1849]." Another contemporary historian, Gary Clayton Anderson, estimated that no more than 2,000 Native Americans were killed in California. Jeffrey Ostler has critiqued Anderson's estimate, calling it "unsubstantiated" and "at least five times too low". In the early 1850s, the California legislature authorized payment for multiple expeditions against the Native Americans of California. Some scholars believe that state legislators and officials "created a legal environment in which California Indians had almost no rights, thus granting those who attacked them virtual impunity which is defined as freedom from punishment." In addition, state legislators raised up to $1.51 million to pay for state militia expeditions against California Native Americans. List of recorded massacres Population decline 1978)|upright=1.2 == Select ethnic groups targeted ==

While many groups were targeted in the genocide the circumstances of individual groups can be illustrative of the on the ground happenings of the killings. Yuki The Yuki people experienced catastrophe by the events of 1847–1853. The United States took possession of California from Mexico in January 1847, with the Gold Rush arriving swiftly in 1848. Hundreds of thousands came in the search of wealth, placing pressure on Indigenous Californians. More than 1,000 Yuki are estimated to have been killed in the Round Valley Settler Massacres of 1856–1859 and 400 in the Mendocino War; many others were enslaved and only 300 survived. The intent of the massacres was to exterminate the Yuki and gain control of the land they inhabited. U.S. Army soldiers deployed to the valley stopped further killings and in 1862 the California legislature revoked a law which permitted the kidnapping and enslavement of Native Americans in the state. A few specific attacks of which there is witness testimony are: • A local paper reported 55 Indians killed in Clinton Valley on October 8, 1856. • A white farmer, John Lawson, admitted an attack killing eight Indians, three by shooting and five by hanging, after some of his hogs were stolen. He stated that these killings were a common practice. • A white farmer, Isaac Shanon, testified to killing 14 Indians in a revenge attack after a white man was killed in early 1858. • White persons from the Sacramento Valley came into Round Valley and killed four Yuki Indians with the help of locals in June 1858, despite having been warned against it by Indian Agents. • White settlers attacked and killed nine Indians in the mountains edging the valley in November 1858. • Former Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Thomas Henley (fired two months earlier for embezzling funds), led a massacre of 11 Yuki Indians in August 1859. Due to the overwhelming number of killings, an exact death toll is unknowable. The following estimates were made by government agents and newspapers at the time: • 1856: 300 total killed over the course of the year. • Winter 1856–57: About 75 Yuki Indians killed over the course of the winter. • March–April 1858: 300–400 male Yukis killed in three weeks. • November 1858 – January 1859: 150+ or 170 Yuki Indians killed between November and January • March–May 1859: 240 Yuki killed in assaults led by H.L. Hall in revenge for the slaughter of Judge Hastings's horse and a total of 600 men, women, and children killed within the previous year. Yuki women and children were frequently kidnapped by raiders and sold to ranchos and landowners in California, particularly in Round Valley where settler kidnapping rings operated. One example of this is provided by Round Valley Elder Ernestine Ray, who stated: These estimates suggest well over 1,000 Yuki deaths at the hands of white settlers. (See Cook, Sherburne; "The California Indian and White Civilization" Part III, pg 7, for an argument in favor of the approximate reliability of figures of Indians killed at this time.) Yahi The Yahi were the first of the Yana people to suffer from the Californian Gold Rush, for their lands were the closest to the gold fields. The Yontoket massacre decimated the cultural center of the Tolowa peoples. The Native people from the surrounding areas would gather there for their celebrations and discussions. The survivors of the massacre were forced to move to the village north of Smith's River called Howonquet. The slaughtering of the Tolowa people continued for some years. They were seemingly always caught at their Needash celebrations. These massacres caused some unrest which led in part to the Rogue River Indian war. Many Tolowa people were incarcerated at Battery Point in 1855 to withhold them from joining an uprising led by their chief. In 1860, after the Chetco/Rogue River War, 600 Tolowa were forcibly relocated to Indian reservations in Oregon, including what is now known as the Siletz Reservation in the Central Coastal Range. Later, some were moved to the Hoopa Valley Reservation in California. Adding to the number of dead from the Yontoket Massacre and the Battery Point Attack are many more in the following years. These massacres included the Chetco Massacre with 14 dead, the Illinois Creek massacre with 8 to 15 dead, the Howonquet Massacre with 70 dead, the Achulet massacre with 65 dead (not including those whose bodies were left in the lake) and the Smith River Massacre(s) where hundreds may have been killed. Contemporary Tolowa recall the conditions of the Klamath Reservation as being reminiscent of a concentration camp. In 1857, desperate Tolowa organized an uprising in hopes of escaping these conditions, which led to 10-20 Tolowa being killed by the U.S military when soldiers arrived to suppress the uprising. Wiyot Wiyot people were found primarily around Humboldt Bay at the time of their first encounters with settlers. The Wiyot were known to be friendly and did not engage in conflict with settlers. Early incidents included the murder of 2 Wiyot by white settlers in 1850, with further incidents soon following in the area. Multiple massacres of Wiyot took place in 1852, along the Eel River, including one incident in which at least 15 Wiyot were killed. Massacres at Humboldt Bay in 1855, resulted in at least 15 killed with the justification given that Indians "attempted violence upon a lady". Further massacres occurred in 1856 killing 6 Wiyot, and in 1859, a further 15. The largest series of massacres came in 1860, when five separate massacres over the course of a week resulted in the deaths of over 285 Wiyot. Before the Indian Island massacre, Wiyot men had left the village to hunt. The volunteer company that arrived noted this absence and upon encountering unarmed women and children, chose to conserve ammunition and kill the Wiyots with axes and knives. Journalist Bret Harte, who reported and published a scathing article condemning the massacre, was forced to flee Humboldt after receiving threats of lynching. Following the massacres, some Wiyot were forcefully removed to the Klamath reservation. One survivor, Jane Sam, later recounted the starvation and destitution which was found on the reservation. Wiyot who were confined to reservations often returned to Humboldt Bay. In 1862, a further 28 to 46 Wiyot were massacred in two separate massacres at Light's Prairie and Little River. == Economic aspects in Southern California ==

At the outset, the European-American population of Los Angeles County identified a practical application for the utilization of Indian labor within an economy that was experiencing a shortage of laborers due to the mass migration of individuals to the gold fields. During the 1850s, white Americans in the United States depended on individuals of Amerindian descent to cultivate vast areas of land in return for minimal or non-existent monetary compensation. During the period of the Gold Rush, numerous rancho owners were able to reap significant benefits by driving their livestock into the Central Valley and Sierra foothills, thereby capitalizing on the relatively prosperous years of gold mining. Due to Economic expansion because of the increased need for mining, even Indigenous groups in remote locations, such as those in the Coso Range, were incorporated into the economy. The Cupeno leader Antonio Garra organised people in San Diego County to revolt against these conditions, Garra's rebellion rebellion became one of the largest in Southern California till his capture by Cahuilla leader Juan Antonio. Tribes in Southern California would suffer through epidemics of smallpox and massacres. Tribes such as the Cahuilla, Gabrielino, and Yokut, frequently driven by starvation would steal horses and livestock. Almost all "Mission Indians" in California were left landless over the course of the genocide, as their communities were forcibly dispersed, and lands taken by settlers. == Legacy ==

Land grab and value retraced the path of the 1863 forced relocation of Konkow Maidu people along the Nome Cult Trail. According to M. Kat Anderson, an ecologist and lecturer at University of California, Davis, and Jon Keeley, a fire ecologist and research scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey, after decades of being disconnected from the land and their culture, due to Spanish and U.S. settler violence, Native peoples are slowly starting to be able to practice traditions that enhance the environment around them, by directly taking care of the land. Anderson and Keeley write, "The outcomes that Indigenous people were aiming for when burning chaparral, such as increased water flow, enhanced wildlife habitat, and the maintenance of many kinds of flowering plants and animals, are congruent and dovetail with the values that public land agencies, non-profit organizations, and private landowners wish to preserve and enhance through wildland management". Through these returned practices, they are able to commit and practice their culture, while also helping the other people in the area that will benefit from the ecological differences. California Landmark 427, built in 2005 represents the Bloody Island Massacre of the Pomo people that took place on May 15, 1850. The monument is used as a center point of an annual festival beginning in 1999 held by Pomo descendants. Candles and tobacco are burned in honor of their ancestors. Call for tribunals American Indian scholar Gerald Vizenor has argued in the early 21st century for universities to be authorized to assemble tribunals to investigate these events. He notes that United States federal law contains no statute of limitations on war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide. He says: Vizenor believes that, in accordance with international law, the universities of South Dakota, Minnesota, and California Berkeley ought to establish tribunals to hear evidence and adjudicate crimes against humanity alleged to have taken place in their individual states. After hearing testimony, a Truth and Healing Council will clarify the historical record on the relationship between the state of California and American Indians. In November 2021, the board of directors of the former "University of California Hastings College of Law" voted to change the name of the institution because of its founder and namesake S. C. Hastings's alleged involvement in the killing and dispossessing of Yuki people in the 1850s. The name change was approved via an act of the California Legislature (California Assembly Bill 1936, 2021–2022 regular session) and was signed into law by the governor on 23 September 2022. The name change took effect on January 1, 2023. The institution is now known as the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco. In April 2024, Governor Newsom announced California's support for returning ancestral tribal lands to Indigenous communities, describing the initiative as "an acknowledgment of past sins, a promise of accountability, and a commitment to a better future". The California Truth and Healing Council, established pursuant to Newsom's 2019 executive order, was charged with examining the historical relationship between the state and Native Americans, with authority to make recommendations on reparation and restoration measures. Archaeological evidence of violence and refugeeism in California Research made in 2015 on Native burial mounds in the San Francisco Bay Area found that Indigenous people would move to different places in order to avoid genocide. The movement can be traced by the dating of the burial mounds since multiple Native tribes found these burial mound spaces as places of religious and cultural freedom. The Amah Mutsun are a group of Indigenous peoples who were reported to be unable to pass on their traditions during this time, their practices remained untold for a number of years. People of this group, descendants, and archaeologists participate in conducting collaborative, ethnographic research to bring light to previous practices like burial practices and vegetation patterns. == Academic debate on the term "genocide" ==

There is vigorous debate over the scale of American Indian losses after the discovery of gold in California and whether to characterize them as genocide. The application of the term "genocide", in particular, has been controversial. According to historian Jeffrey Ostler, the debate mostly rests on disagreements regarding the definition of the term. He writes that by a strict ("intentionalist" James J. Rawls argued that Californian whites "advocated and carried out a program of genocide that was popularly called 'extermination'". Militias were called out by the governors of California for "expeditions against the Indians" on a number of occasions. Supporters of the use of the term "genocide" stress the involvement and complicity of federal and state authorities in perpetrating atrocities against the Indigenous Californians, and point to their statements and policies as evidence of direct genocidal intent. For example, historian Richard White, in a review of Madley's An American Genocide, argues that "no reader of his book can seriously contend that what happened in California doesn't meet the current definition of "genocide"," citing the "relentless attacks by federal troops, state militia, vigilantes, and mercenaries [that] made the enslavement of Indians possible and starvation and disease inevitable". White continues, "in California, what Americans have often called "war" was nothing of the sort. For every American who died, 100 Indians perished. They died horribly—men, women, and children. The men who killed them were brutal. Nor did the killings result from a moment of rage; they were systematic." White stresses the complicity of the US federal government, noting that "the funding that the US government provided for California's militia expeditions made attacking Indians possible and profitable". citing the 1851 State of the State address given by the 1st Governor of California, Peter Burnett, in which he said: "That a war of extermination will continue to be waged between the races until the Indian race becomes extinct must be expected." Jeffrey Ostler, too, endorsed the usage of the term, writing that it "rests on a substantial body of scholarship". He also notes that Madley "illuminates the ways that federal and state policies facilitated popular violence against Indians". Jacobs points out, for example, that "in 1854, Congress agreed to pay off California's war debt, and by the end of 1856, the federal government had given California more than $800,000 to distribute to bond holders who had financed the genocidal killing in the state." Blackhawk writes that in California, "settlers used informal and state-sanctioned violence to shatter Native worlds and legitimate their own" and also notes that "in February 1852, for example, the state legislature appropriated $500,000 to fund anti-Indian state militias". Regarding the role of the federal government, he writes that they had "earlier attempted an alternate scenario to the genocide at hand. In 1851 and 1852, officials negotiated eighteen treaties across the state; however, bowing to California representatives, the Senate rejected these treaties, essentially authorizing the continued use of settler violence to aid colonization." Against the use of the term Other scholars and historians dispute the accuracy of the term "genocide" to describe what occurred in California, as well as the blame which has been placed directly on the federal government and the state government of California, a University of Oklahoma professor of history who describes the events in California as "ethnic cleansing", arguing that "If we get to the point where the mass murder of 50 Indians in California is considered genocide, then genocide has no more meaning". while historian Tom Henry Watkins stated that "it is a poor use of the term" since the killings were not systematic or planned. In a critical review of Brendan Lindsay's ''Murder State: California's Native American Genocide, 1846–1873,'' Michael F. Magliari notes that "Sherburne F. Cook|[Sherburne] Cook never described the terrible events of 1846–1873 as a genocide, and neither had any of his leading successors in California Indian history". While acknowledging that actions against some tribes native to California were genocidal, he opts for the term ethnocidal for actions against other tribes, considering the former term's application to all cases "highly problematic". (He rejects the UN Genocide Convention's "sweeping definition" of genocide, whereas Lindsay embraces it.) In a subsequent review of Benjamin Madley's An American Genocide, he says that some scholars may find Madley's use of the UN Genocide Convention as an "overly broad and elastic definition", that the evidence of genocide "varies considerably from place to place and is far stronger in some cases", and that Madley's case against the federal government is "not nearly so strong" as that against "frontier miners, farmers, and ranchers". Magliari also argues that "epidemics, not violence, still remained by far the greater factor in Native mortality". He nevertheless concludes : "Beyond the shadow of any reasonable doubt (and by the standards of any reasonable definition), genocide did in fact play a significant role in the US conquest and subjugation of Native California." == See also ==