Editing California Genocide

{{Act of Villainy|location=California|crimes=[[Genocide]]<br>[[Slavery]]<br>[[Ethnic cleansing]]<br>[[Mass murder]]<br>[[Genocidal rape]]<br>[[War crimes]]<br>[[Negrophobia]]<br>[[Anti-Native American Sentiment]]|perpetrator=Agents of the United States Government and Private Citizens|name=California Genocide|image="Protecting The Settlers" Illustration by JR Browne for his work "The Indians Of California" 1864.jpg|date=1846-1873}}
{{Quote|That’s what [the California Genocide] was, a genocide. No other way to describe it. And that’s the way it needs to be described in the history books.|California Governor [[wikipedia:Gavin Newsom|Gavin Newsom]], June 2019}}
The '''California genocide''' was the [[Genocide of Indigenous Peoples|killing of thousands of indigenous peoples]] of California by United States government agents and private citizens in the 19th century. Considered to be part of the [[American Indian Wars]] as well as the larger [[Amerindian Genocide]], the genocide began following the American Conquest of California from Mexico, and the influx of settlers due to the California Gold Rush, which accelerated the decline of the indigenous population of California. Between 1846 and 1873, it is conservatively estimated that American settlers murdered some 9,500 California Natives, and acts of enslavement, [[kidnapping]], [[rape]], child separation and displacement were widespread. These acts were encouraged, tolerated, and carried out by state authorities and militias.

The 1925 book ''Handbook of the Indians of California'' estimated that the indigenous population of California decreased from perhaps as many as 150,000 in 1848 to 30,000 in 1870 and fell further to 16,000 in 1900. The decline was caused by disease, starvation, killings, and massacres. California Native Americans, particularly during the Gold Rush, were targeted in killings. Between 10,000 and 27,000 Native Americans were also taken as forced labor by settlers. The state of California used its institutions to favor white settlers' rights over indigenous rights, dispossessing natives.

Since the 2000s several American academics and activist organizations, both Native American and European American, have characterized the period immediately following the U.S. Conquest of California as one in which the state and federal governments waged genocide against the Native Americans in the territory. In 2019, California's governor Gavin Newsom apologized for the genocide and called for a research group to be formed to better understand the topic and inform future generations.
==Background==
Prior to Spanish arrival, California was home to an indigenous 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.

The various groups appear to have adapted to particular areas and territories. California habitats and climate supported an abundance of wildlife, including rabbits, deer, varieties of fish, fruit, roots, and acorns. The natives largely followed a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, moving around their area through the seasons as different types of food were available.

California was one of the last regions in the Americas to be colonized. Spanish missionaries, led by Franciscan administrator Junípero Serra and military forces under the command of Gaspar de Portolá, did not reach this area until 1769. The mission was intended to spread the Christian faith among the region's indigenous peoples and establish places to develop area resources and products for the empire. The Spanish built San Diego de Alcalá, the first of 21 missions, at what developed as present-day San Diego in the southern part of the state along the Pacific. Military outposts were constructed alongside the missions to house the soldiers sent to protect the missionaries.

Spanish and Mexican rule were devastating for native populations. “As the missions grew, California’s native population of Indians began a catastrophic decline.” Gregory Orfalea estimates that pre-contact population was reduced by 33% during the Spanish and Mexican regimes. Most of the deaths stemmed from imported diseases 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.

In the latter half of the 19th century California state and federal authorities incited, aided, and financed miners, settlers, ranchers, and people's militias to enslave, kidnap, [[murder]], and exterminate a major proportion of displaced Native Americans. The latter were sometimes contemptuously referred to as "Diggers", for their practice of digging up roots to eat. Many of the same policies of violence were used here against the indigenous population as the United States had done throughout its territory. This started with the first meeting of the California State Legislature in 1846, when it was decided that white settlers had the right to forcibly adopt native children against their will and instituted enslavement as the punishment for any crimes committed by natives, up to and including minor crimes such as loitering and drunkenness.

Simultaneous to the ongoing extermination, reports of the decimation of Native Americans were made to the rest of the United States and internationally.

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 Whites, 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. White settlers took 24,000 to 27,000 California Native Americans as forced laborers, including 4,000 to 7,000 children.

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.

By one estimate, at least 4,500 Californian Indians were killed between 1849 and 1870. Contemporary historian Benjamin Madley has documented the numbers of Californian natives 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. 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").

Even when the massacres ended in 1873, violence was still rife and thousands continued to die from starvation and illnesses introduced by the settlers.

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 squad]]s combined with the widespread random killing of Indians by individual miners resulted in the death of 100,000 Indians in [1848 and 1849]."

== List of massacres ==

* '''Sacramento River''' (April 6th, 1846) - An American militia under the command of Captain [[John C. Frémont]] attacked a Wintun camp near the banks of the Sacramento river, killing more than 120 natives and injuring 600 more.
* '''Klamath Lake''' (May 12th, 1846) - In reprisal for the attacks on soldiers, Captain Frémont killed two Klamath warriors two days later, while [[Kit Carson]] attacked a local Klamath village the next day, killing 14 natives.
* '''Sutter Buttes''' (June 1st, 1846) - Captain Frémont and his men orchestrated an attack on a Wintun tribe at a rancheria near the Sutter Buttes after hearing rumors that the natives were orchestrating an attack on settlers.
* '''Temecula''' (December 2nd, 1846) - In reprisal for the Pauma massacre, in which 11 settlers were killed by native warriors, a California militia led by [[José del Carmen Lugo]] and Cahuilla chief [[Juan Antonio]] launched an attack on a Luiseño war party at Escondido, killing more than 30 warriors.
* '''Rancheria Tuela''' (March 1st, 1847) - In retaliation to a slave escape, white slavers attacked a native community in Rancheria Tuela, resulting in the deaths of five people.
* '''Kern and Sutter''' (March 23rd, 1847) - U.S. Army Captain [[Edward Kern]] and rancher [[John Sutter]] orchestrated a series of massacres on three native villages. It is estimated that around 20 people were killed.
* '''Konkou Maidu''' (June 30th, 1847) - A trio of Spanish-speaking slavers named [[Antonio Armijo]], [[Robert Smith|Robert Smith,]] and [[John Eggar]] massacred thirteen Maidu natives and captured 30 more as part of a slave raid. John Sutter reported the incident and the three men were arrested by the U.S. Army, but they were acquitted.
* '''Bloody Island''' (May 15th, 1850) - In reprisal for the murders of two slavers named [[Andrew Kelsey]] and [[Charles Stone]] during a native slave rebellion under Pomo chief Augustine, the 1st Dragoons Regiment under the command of [[Nathaniel Lyon]] and [[J.W. Davidson]] massacred 60 to 200 Pomo natives. One of the survivors was a 6-year-old girl named Lucy Moore (Ni'ka) and her descendants established the Lucy Moore Foundation.
* '''Old Shasta Town''' (January 1st, 1851) - A group of miners attacked a local Wintu village and killed approximately 300 people before burning down their council meeting house.
* '''Bridge Gulch''' (April 23rd, 1852) - A reprisal party led by Sheriff [[William H. Dixon]] killed more than 150 Wintu people in the Hayfork Valley in retaliation for the murder of a colonel named John Anderson.
* '''Wright''' (November 1st, 1852) - A party of white settlers led by [[Ben Wright]] massacred more than 40 Modocs during a "peace parley".
* '''Howonquet''' (1853) - A group of white settlers massacred 70 Tolowa natives residing in the village of Howonquet.
* '''Yontoket''' (1853) - A party of settlers led by [[Peter Hardeman Burnett]] massacred 450 Tolowa people at a rancheria in Yontoket.
* '''Tulare County''' (December 30th, 1853) - In what is referred to as the "Ox incident", an unspecified number of natives were killed by U.S. soldiers in the Four Creeks area.
* '''Achulet''' (1854) - In reprisal for horst theft, a group of settlers attacked a Tolowa village near Lake Earl, resulting in the deaths of more than 65 people.
* '''Asbill''' (May 15th, 1854) - Six settlers from Missouri led by [[Pierce Asbill]] attacked a Yuki settlement and killed approximately 40 people.
* '''Kabayai Creek''' (August 17th, 1854) - A party of settlers attacked a Wintu village at Kabayai Creek and killed 42 people.
* '''Shingletown''' (March 1st, 1856) - A party of settlers massacred 20 Yana people in reprisal for stock theft.
* '''Round Valley''' (1856-1859) - Over a thousand Yuki natives residing in the Round Valley were massacred by white settlers within three years.
* '''Chico Creek''' (1859) - A party of settlers massacred 40 Maidu natives residing near Chico Creek.
* '''Pit River''' (September 1st, 1859) - A party of white settlers massacred 70 Achowami natives residing near the Pit River, with the vast majority of the victims being women and children.
* '''Mendocino War''' (1859-1860) - A band of rangers known as the [[Eel River Rangers]] led by [[Walter S. Jarboe]] orchestrated a series of 23 massacres against Yuki tribes within six months, resulting in the deaths of 283 warriors and countless women and children.
* '''Bloody Rock''' (1860) - 65 Yuki natives were killed by white settlers in Mendocino County.
* '''Tuluwat Island''' (February 26th, 1860) - Approximately 150 Wiyat natives were killed by white settlers in three separate incidents on Tuluwat Island.
* '''Horse Canyon''' (1861) - A group of white settlers and their native allies massacred approximately 240 Wailaki people residing in the Horse Canyon within the Round Valley.
* '''Upper Station''' (1862) - A party of white settlers massacred 20 Wailaki people in the Round Valley.
* '''Big Antelope Creek''' (1862) - A party of settlers led by [[Hi Good]] killed 25 Yana people.
* '''Kowonk''' (1862) - A group of settlers killed 45 Konkow people living in a Round Valley reservation.
* '''Keyesville''' (April 19th, 1863) - A California militia under the command of Captain [[Moses A. McLaughlin]] massacred 35 Tübatulabal men residing in Kern County.
* '''Cottonwood''' (1864) - A group of white settlers massacred 20 Yana people in Cottonwood.
* '''Oak Run''' (1864) - 300 Yana people were killed by white settlers during a spiritual ceremony.
* '''Owens Lake''' (1865) - In reprisal for the murder of a settler named Mrs. McGuire and her son, a party of white vigilantes tracked down the killers and massacred 40 Paiute people.
* '''Three Knolls''' (1865) - An unspecified number of Yana people were killed by settlers at Mill Creek.
* '''Campo Seco''' (1868) - 33 Yahi people were murdered by a settler party in a cave north of Mill Creek.
* '''Kingsley Cave''' (1871) - 30 Yahi people were killed by four settlers in Tehama County and only 15 were spared.

[[Category:Genocidal]]
[[Category:United States of America]]
[[Category:Villainous Event]]
[[Category:Genocidal]]
[[Category:Destroyer of Innocence]]
[[Category:Mass Murderers]]
[[Category:Rapists]]
[[Category:Oppressors]]
[[Category:Government support]]
[[Category:Slaver]]
[[Category:Starvers]]
[[Category:Torturer]]
[[Category:Xenophobes]]
[[Category:Arsonist]]
[[Category:Eco Destroyer]]
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[[Category:Barbarians]]
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[[Category:Animal Cruelty]]