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ROUGH DRAFT

Overview

A violent conflict between native settlers and local natives (especially with various Yuki people) in Mendocino County, California, that was caused by settler intrusion on native lands and subsequent native retaliation, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of natives. In 1859, a band of locally sponsored rangers led by Walter S. Jarboe, called the Eel River Rangers, raided the countryside in an effort to remove natives from settler territory and move them onto the Nome Cult Farm, an area near the Mendocino Indian Reservation. By the time the Eel River Rangers were disbanded in 1860, Jarboe and his men killed 283 warriors, captured 292, killed countless women and children, and only suffered 5 casualties themselves in just 23 engagements. The bill to the state for the rangers’ services amounted to $11,143.43. Scholars, however, claim that the damage to the area and natives in particular was even higher than reported, especially given the vast number of raiding parties formed outside of the Eel River Rangers. Settlers, frustrated with the lack and inadequacy of federal protection, formed their own raiding parties against the natives, joining Jarboe in his mission to rid Round Valley of its native population. In a span of four years (1856-1860), the Indian population in Mendocino County fell by 70-80%. Those that survived were moved to the Nome Cult Farm, where they experienced hardships typical of the reservation system of the day.

Background

Round Valley, located in northeastern Mendocino County in Northern California, was home to various Native American tribes. The most populous of these local tribes were the Yuki, whose territory was roughly 1,100 square miles. The Yuki were not one political people; rather, they were comprised of several autonomous groups that shared both language and culture, with each community having its own leadership. In 1853, California started its Indian Reservation System, which was headed by Thomas J. Henley (Superintendent of Indian Affairs), and by 1854 Round Valley was discovered by white settlers. Frank Asbill, the first white man to see the territory, estimated that there were about 20,000 natives in the area at the time. Scholars now believe this number is a little high, but by 1856, there were 12,000 Native Americans in Round Valley. Although a few families moved into native territory, many of the settlers were hunters, fugitives, drifters, and the like. In general, they were people who lived off of the land, who traveled to the area for its resources. In the same year, Thomas Henley sent Simmon Pena Storms to start the Nome Cult Farm. Originally meant to be a resting point for natives and people traveling to the Mendocino Reservation, the Nome Cult Farm grew to become a reservation of its own, occupying 5,000 acres of northern Round Valley. This division of the 20,000 acre territory left over 15,000 acres for white settlement.

Bibliography

OUTLINE

Overview

A violent conflict that happened between native settlers and the Yuki tribe that was caused by settler intrusion on native lands and subsequent native retaliation, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of natives. A band of locally sponsored rangers, led by Walter Jarboe, raids the countryside in an effort to remove natives from settler property and move them into the Nome Cult Farm, a section of the Mendocino Reservation. Settlers also sponsored their own raiding parties against the natives. In all 23 engagements, Jarboe and his men killed 283 warriors, captured 292, killed countless women and children, and only suffered 5 casualties themselves. The bill to the state for their services amounted to $11,143.43. In a span of four years (1856-1860), the Indian population in Mendocino County fell by 70-80%. Those that survived were moved to the Nome Cult Farm.

Background/Seeds of Conflict

• Round Valley in northeastern Mendocino County

• Yukis local tribe

• 1853 is the start of California’s Indian Reservation System, led by Thomas Henley (Superintendent of Indian Affairs)

• Area discovered by settlers in 1854, and within 3 years there are 19 families living on the area
  • Other types of migrants to the area arrive, in the form of people who live off the land

• 1856: Henley sends “subagent” Simmon Pena Storms to start the “Nome Cult Indian Farm”
  • New territory would occupy 5,000 acres of the northern Round Valley, which means that 15,000 acres are now available for whites
  • Natives that work the land are in a type of indentured servitude, raising the crops but reaping little of the actual benefits; no food!!!

• More settlers = less game; their animals eat up native’s food supply
  • Settlers treat the natives very harshly, stealing Yuki women and forcing more onerous labor on the natives

Escalation

• A lack of food coupled with persistent offenses by settlers forces natives to get creative with finding food…they have negotiated with settlers to be able to eat livestock (cattle and horses) that wander off the settlement and die a natural death…
• Local residents, such as Dryden Lacock, believe that these tensions boiled over in the form of small raiding parties by settlers that killed 50 to 60 Indians on every trip
• First two notable white casualties
  • 1857: William Mantle shot by Yuki crossing the Eel river
  • 1858 John McDaniel murdered
  • Official Army reports claim that the Indians were provoked

Federal Involvement

• As conflict brews, in 1858, settlers petition the U.S. army for aid. The 6th U.S. infantry journeys out to Round Valley under the command of Major Johnson.
  • With bad weather hampering the army’s progress, Johnson sends Lietenant Edward Dillon and 17 other men ahead to scout and assess the situation
  • They report back that the settlers had misconstrued the situation, and that what was happening on the ground was the exact opposite of what they reported
• Ragged bands of settlers ravaged Indian populations, and any action by the Indians involving the stealing of horses was either out of revenge or to stay alive
• Within the report, Dillon claims that the problem starts all the way at the top with Henley, who has even been involved in organizing some of these raiding parties
• By 1858 it becomes too hard to ignore the deep-seated feelings of hatred the settlers had for natives
  • Judge Hastings makes an effort to help the settlers, his foreman H.L. Hall complains to Dillon that Natives are raiding and stealing supplies. Dillon tells Hall he will handle it, but Hall ignores the command and takes his own men raiding, where they search and kill natives.
  • By March 23, 1859, Hall and his men slaughtered as many as 240 natives
• The Indians were now caught in a catch-22. They could either starve to death and suffer on the reservations that provided them with no food, or they could venture off into the mountainous regions of Mendocino County and risk slaughter by local settlers.

Walter S. Jarboe and the Mendocino War

• As the conflict reaches a boiling point, Judge Hastings makes the executive decision to fire Hall and move all of the remaining natives to the Mendocino Reservation. He also wrote to Governor Weller, complaining about the loss of property to the natives, and proposed the creation of a group of volunteer settlers, who were paid and outfitted by the government, whose sole mission was to rid the area of Indians.
  • In this proposal, they claimed that at least 20 whites had already been killed, and that an estimated $40,000 worth of livestock and property had been stolen or damaged by natives. It also claimed that the natives were attacking whites upon first sight. Finally, it proposed Walter S. Jarboe as the leader of this new group of raiders.
  • Jarboe’s background…one of the leaders that killed roughly 60 Indians in 1858 at the Cape Mendocino reservation
• After Hastings and Henley issue their proposal, on May 9, 1859, Major Johnson and Lieutenant Dillon issue a report of their on, claiming that only 2 whites had been killed, whereas roughly 600 Yuki people had been slaughtered in the past year. The allegations of whites being attacked the second they saw Indians was not true.
• Hastings and Henley’s proposal is rejected by the governor, so they must outfit the expedition out of their own pockets, and the raiding band is launched.
• By the middle of August, Jarboe and his men had already killed 50 men, women, and children, using horse and cattle carcasses as evidence to Major Johnson that the natives were in fact stealing livestock.
  • This draws ire from Major Johnson, who takes the complaint all the way up to Governor Weller, who responds by sanctioning the raids, but asking Jarboe to leave women and children out.
• The rampage continues through October, as Jarboe and his men kill and capture dozens of Indians. However, retaliation finally takes place against one of Jarboe’s men.
  • John Bland kidnapped a young Yuki girl. Several escape attempts later, Bland went out looking for her, and stumbled upon a native tribe of Wailakis, who killed him.
• Jarboe uses this as an excuse to ask for military help, but Lieutenant Dillon rejects this request. Jarboe attacks the Wailakis and sends the captives to the Mendocino reservation.
• Despite the presence of a harsh winter, Jarboe’s killings persist through November and December, until Governor Weller finally writes of his distress, citing that he wanted only those who were guilty of stealing to be punished, not every member of the Yuki and other tribes. Jarboe replies that the he has good intentions, and that the natives have been extremely hostile to him, and he sees no other way out of this conflict than to pursue the same course.
• By this time, other settlers have joined the fray, launching attacks in small companies and slaughtering natives. Native resistance, meanwhile, has been very small, and the resistance that Jarboe and the settlers meet they put down with ease. Finally, Governor Weller disbanded the party of rangers in January 1860.

Aftermath

• On February 18, 1860, Jarboe sumed up his escapades:
  • 23 Engagements
  • 283 dead warriors
  • 292 prisoners
  • Bill to the state for 5 month service: $11,143.43
  • Only 5 rangers were casualties!

Public Reception

• The public reception of this conflict was mixed.
• A newly created Joint Special Committee on the Mendocino Indian War heard testimony from local settlers. The evidence was contradictory, with stories differing from each account, but some things remained consistent:
  • Basically, there was a general consensus that the settlers wanted the natives out of their land, and used any means necessary to force them out, including blaming natives for stealing livestock when in fact the animals had just died on their own of natural causes. All subsequent native raids were out of revenge or for survival.
• The investigation concluded that no war actually occurred in Mendocino County, since the slaughter of natives that offered little resistance, and launched no counter attacks could not be considered a war. The committee also recommended some laws to help protect California Indians in the future.
• Between the time people settled in Mendocino County and the end of the ‘war’ (1856-1860), the population of Indians decreased by 80%.
• In the late 1880s→Round Valley War!
  • Tensions partially caused by and enhanced by this conflict would eventually boil over into the Round Valley War
  • Defiance of federal authority settlers began taking over the area of the reservation

Afterword of the main players

• Thomas Henley: becomes a large-scale, prosperous rancher
• Judge Hastings: dies a millionaire philanthropist
• Lieutenant Dillon and Major Johnson fought in Civil War as Confederate officers, and retired after the war
• Walter Jarboe: remains in Mendocino county: controversial figure! married Cynthia Winchester from Napa County
  • Justice of the peace in Ukiah in Ukiah (1862-1863)
    • Spent time ranching, but was constantly in and out of trouble
  • Various lawsuits against him over money owed and property
  • Died unexpectedly of unknown causes in March 1865
    • Survived by widow and 3 children
    • Owned an estate, valued at $1700 with cattle, hops, furniture, and indentured Indians (whom Mrs. Jarboe freed after his death)

Articles Consulted for this Outline

Adams, Kevin; Schneider, Khal (1 November 2011). ""Washington is a Long Way Off": The "Round Valley War" and the Limits of Federal Power on a California Indian Reservation". Pacific Historical Review 80 (4): 557–596. doi:10.1525/phr.2011.80.4.557. Retrieved 25 February 2013.

III, Frank H. Baumgardner, (2006). Killing for Land in Early California: Indian blood at Round Valley: Founding the Nome Cult Indian Farm. New York: Algora Pub.. ISBN 9780875863641.

Lindsay, Brendan C. Murder State: California's Native American Genocide, 1846-1873. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. pp. 2012. ISBN 9780803240216.

Secrest, William B. (2003). When the Great Spirit Died: The Destruction of the California Indians, 1850 - 1860 (2. pr. ed.). Sanger, CA: Word Dancer Press. ISBN 9781884995408.

Secrest, William B. (1988). "Jarboe's War". Californians 6 (6): 16-22.

Comments

Anthony--this looks really good. It would help to add a little more about the settlers--what brought them there, etc. Also, make sure you use the past tense throughout when drafting the article. Are there allegations of genocide regarding this massacre? If so, it would be useful to add that discussion to the aftermath section.Docjay57 (talk) 17:37, 8 March 2013 (UTC)