| Tule River War | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the American Indian Wars | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Yokuts | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Foster DeMasters W. G. Poindexter  LaRhett Livingston | unknown | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 300–400 | >700 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| some wounded | >100 killed | ||||||
The Tule River War of 1856 was a conflict where American settlers, and later, California State Militia, and a detachment of the U. S. Army from Fort Miller, fought a six-week war against the Yokuts in the southern San Joaquin Valley. [1] [2]
The Native Americans living in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains were relatively undisturbed by early Spanish colonization. During the late 1840s and into the 1850s, once gold was discovered in California, American miners began encroaching on Indigenous lands. In late 1850, a trader named James Woods settled on the south bank of the Kaweah River along with a party of approximately 15 men. According to a contemporary account, the Native Americans killed the entire party of settlers in the spring of 1851. The Kaweah people imposed a ten-day deadline for the settlers to vacate their lands. After the settlers missed the deadline, the locals attacks the non-Native settlers and skinned Woods. [1] : 7–8 [2] Other accounts come from American survivors who state Woods was the lone victim, although the various accounts all agree Woods was skinned. [1] : 8
Although the United States drafted a treaty with the local tribes in 1851 (one of 18 such treaties signed state-wide, setting aside 7.5 percent of California's land area), [3] defining a proposed reservation and 200 head of cattle per year, [4] the US Senate failed to ratify any of the eighteen treaties in a secret vote cast on July 8, 1852, with every member either abstaining or voting no. [5] The result of the vote was not made public until 1905. [3]
In the fall of 1851, the Wingfield brothers settled and claimed the land near the cabin built by Woods. The Wingfields did not initially experience any trouble with the Native population. [1] : 10 On April 20, 1852, Mariposa County was subdivided, creating Tulare County, with the temporary county seat to be near the Woods cabin. Creating a new county brought new government positions, and during the preparation for elections to be held in July 1852, the Wingfield brothers were taken captive by Native Americans. They were later released when an armed expedition under Major James Savage approached the encampment. [1] : 12
In 1851, William Campbell and John Poole set up a ferry across the Kings River on land reserved for the Choinumni in one of the un-ratified 1851 treaties. The nearby Choinumni village in the Kings River Reservation was raided in July 1852 by the newly elected Judge Walter Harvey. After the skirmish, Judge Harvey shot and killed Major James Savage. [6] [7]
Throughout the 1850s, settler-led militias would attack Native American villages, justifying their actions as retaliation for raids of cattle and horses. Although the Native Americans did steal horses and cattle, they were often motivated by subsistence, as their normal means of living were often cut off by settlers, and these raids generally did not threaten settler lives. In contrast, the militias would often indiscriminately slaughter Native people. [8]
In 1853, some of the Yokuts-speaking population were relocated to the Sebastian Indian Reservation by California's first Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Ned Beale. [8] Beale's vision was similar to the Spanish Missions, and he intended the Sebastian Reservation to be self-sustaining. Since the Sebastian Reservation was not located close to traditional Yokuts territories, though, the majority of the Yokuts population stayed in the newly-formed Tulare County. [8]
In August 1855, citizens of Visalia petitioned Beale's successor, Superintendent Thomas Henley to prevent starvation amongst the Native populace. [8] The settlers reasoned that potential raids could be averted by establishing an agency to ensure Native welfare. Henley's plan was similar to Beale's: establish self-sufficient reservations. In preparation, Henley delegated scouts to identify suitable locations in the Tule Lake region. [8]
In the spring of 1856, a rumor that 500 cattle had been stolen by Native Americans began to circulate. Upon further investigation, a single yearling calf had been taken and slaughtered as a bridal gift during the wedding feast. [1] : 20 In addition, Orson Smith's sawmill burned, and the fire was attributed to Native American marauders. [9] Armed militias were organized to counter the perceived menace, and commenced raiding Native camps and killing their inhabitants. [8]
In Visalia, some citizens took in a village of Native Americans upon overhearing a militia plan to ambush the village at night. [1] : 21
One militia, under the leadership of Captain Foster DeMasters, ventured up the north fork of the Tule River, where they encountered a well-sited Native encampment. According to historical reports, the encampment had fortifications which consisted of a two- to four-foot high breastworks composed of boulders and brush, and the terrain made it difficult for an attacker to flank. In the initial attack, the militia under DeMasters failed to dislodge the numerically-superior Native force. DeMasters' militia was wearing makeshift body armor consisting of cotton-padded jackets, which proved ineffective against arrows. [1] : 21 [2]
In pursuit of the presumed cattle raiders, a small detachment under the command of John Williams had earlier separated from the main force of DeMasters' militia, and encountered a small party of Native Americans. After attacking and driving off the party at daybreak, Williams' group returned to DeMasters, and it was decided to send for reinforcements. During the ride to Keyesville, Williams encountered what he thought was a bear, which he promptly shot. Later, when riding back with the Keyesville reinforcements, it was discovered that Williams had shot a large black mule owned by a local settler. [1] : 22
The combined force, including reinforcements from Keyesville, now under the leadership of Sheriff W.G. Poindexter, were also unable to dislodge the Native encampment. After falling back, the militia then proceeded to move, by force, the Native Americans which had been previously protected by other settlers. In addition, the militias conducted a scorched-earth campaign by destroying Native American supply caches. [1] : 22–23
News of these engagements spread throughout California, exaggerating the degree of menace and misrepresenting its causes. [2] Finally, in May 1856, army soldiers and others under the combined command of Lt LaRhett Livingston were able to drive off the defenders. It had been decided the night before to divide the combined forces into four divisions to envelop and simultaneously assault the encampment at daybreak. However, during the preliminary scouting, Livingston was in the process of selecting the most advantageous ground for a howitzer he had brought along when he came under attack. Livingston then ordered a charge and drove off the encampment's defenders. The natives were pursued for a few days into the mountains but could not be found before the Livingston's force was compelled to return to the valley. [1] : 23–24
This was the last engagement in the war. After several more weeks of raids on cattle herds and settler houses, the Indian sub-Agent William Campbell, sought out the natives in the mountains and found they were willing to make peace. About 100 of the native people had died in the war. The Tule River War lasted approximately six weeks. [1] : 24
In retrospect, George Stewart wrote "Thus ended the Tule river war of 1856; a war that might have been prevented had there been an honest desire on the part of the white settlers to do so, and one that brought little glory to those who participated therein. The responsibility cannot now be fixed where it properly belongs. Possibly the Indians were to blame. Certainly the whites were not blameless, and it is too seldom, indeed, that they have been in the many struggles with the aboriginal inhabitants of this continent." [1] : 24
Historian Annie Mitchell later wrote in the Tulare County Historical Society bulletin (Los Tulares No. 68, March 1966): "Over the years it has been assumed that the Tule River War was a spontaneous, comic opera affair. It was not and if the Indians had been armed with guns instead of bows and a few pistols they would have run the white men out of the valley." [10]
Tulare County is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 473,117. The county seat is Visalia. The county is named for Tulare Lake, once the largest freshwater lake west of the Great Lakes. Drained for agricultural development, the site is now in Kings County, which was created in 1893 from the western portion of the formerly larger Tulare County.
Porterville is a city in the San Joaquin Valley, in Tulare County, California, United States. It is part of the Visalia-Porterville metropolitan statistical area. Since its incorporation in 1902, the city's population has grown as it annexed nearby unincorporated areas. The city population was 62,623 at the 2020 census.
Tulare Lake or Tache Lake is a freshwater lake in the southern San Joaquin Valley, California, United States. Historically, Tulare Lake was once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River, and the second-largest freshwater lake entirely in the United States based upon surface area. For thousands of years, from the Paleolithic onward, Tulare Lake was a uniquely rich area, which supported perhaps the largest population of Native Americans north of Mexico.
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Thomas Jefferson Mayfield (1843–1928) led a remarkable double life in the early decades of California statehood, living his boyhood as an adopted member of the Choinumni (Choinumne) branch of the Yokuts tribe in the San Joaquin Valley, then rejoining the dominant Anglo-American community throughout his long adulthood.
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The Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reservation is a federally recognized tribe of Native Americans. The Tule River Reservation is located in Tulare County, California. The reservation was made up of Yokuts, about 200 Yowlumne, Wukchumnis, and Western Mono and Tübatulabal. Tribal enrollment today is approximately 1,857 with 1,033 living on the Reservation.
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The Hualapai War, or Walapai War, was an armed conflict fought from 1865 to 1870 between the Hualapai native Americans and the United States in Arizona Territory. The Yavapai also participated on the side of the Hualapai and Mohave scouts were employed by the United States Army. Following the death of the prominent Yavapai leader Anasa in April 1865, the natives began raiding American settlements which provoked a response by the United States Army forces stationed in the area. By the spring of 1869 disease forced the majority of the Hualapais to surrender though some skirmishing continued for almost two more years.
William Mayfield (1810–1862) was an American pioneer in Illinois, Texas, and California; a soldier, farmer, miner, and a cattleman. He led Tulare County militia to aid settlers in the early part of the Owens Valley Indian War and was killed in the Battle of Mayfield Canyon.
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Yoimut or Yo'yomat was a Yokuts woman who was the last speaker of the Chunut language of central California. Josie Alonzo has also been recorded as the last "full-blooded" Chunut. She was a noted polyglot, speaking 8 different Yokutsan languages along with English and Spanish. She was among the last indigenous inhabitants of Tulare Lake, before being forcibly removed by Anglo-American settlers. She was an informant to anthropologists Frank F. Latta and A. H. Gayton.
Poole's Ferry: Most important of Kings River's earliest crossings, it was operated from 1851–1857 by William Campbell and John Poole three miles above this point. The ferry and its trading post served travelers and miners. In July, 1852, it became the focus of violence when an armed party led by Walter Harvey, Tulare County's first judge, raided a Choinumni Yokuts Indian Village. Yosemite discoverer Major James D. Savage, famed Indian trader and peacemaker, tried to ease tensions but was shot and killed by Harvey in an argument at the trading post on Aug 16, 1852
Battle Mountain: A long period of unrest between the settlers and Indians of Tulare County erupted in war during the Spring of 1856. Untrue reports that five hundred head of cattle had been stolen in Frazier Valley and the burning of the Orson K. Smith sawmill aroused the local settlers. A group of volunteers under the command of Foster DeMasters located a party of over seven hundred Indians in fortified positions on the cone shaped mountain in the valley below. Unable to breach the Indian defenses on their own, the volunteers sent for help. A second company of Tulare County Volunteers under Sheriff W. G. Poindexter, miners from Keysville on the Kern River, settlers from as far north as Merced and Mariposa and Army detachments from Fort Tejon and Fort Miller responded. Captain Livingston of Fort Miller assumed overall command of a combined force estimated at three to four hundred men. Unable to withstand assault by this combined force and their Army howitzer, the Indians disappeared into the pine forest above you. Reports indicate three settlers were wounded and several Indians were killed. Dedicated October 20, 1990; Dr Samuel Gregg George; Chapter 1855 of E Clampus Vitus