Kumeyaay - The American Period
By : Mike Connolly
Campo Tribe
In 1848 gold was discovered in northern California. By 1849 the first passenger ships began arriving in California with gold prospectors. This year San Diego was incorporated. A river ferry opened in the territory of the Quechan to ferry migrants over the Colorado River on their way to California. On April 23, 1850, the Quechan attacked the ferry and burned the structures. By December, U.S. soldiers had established Fort Yuma in the Quechan territory to secure the overland route into California.
The flood of Americans through the overland route drove out the Kumeyaay from the San Felipe Valley, the New River and Alamo Rivers. The Sh’mulqs from those areas fled to the Mohave, Quechan and to other Sh’mulqs of the Kumeyaay both north and south of the border. In 1850 California was granted U.S. statehood. This was also the year California passed the "Act for the Government and Protection of Indians". Under this Act Indians were to be regulated at the state level. This was a direct challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court decision of 1832, (Worcester vs. Georgia), which recognized the Federal Government as the authority for dealing with Indians. The Act also gave whites the right to take custody and control of any Indian children, prohibited using Indian testimony in convicting a White, prohibited setting fire to grasslands and other restrictions.
One of the worst provisions was the vagrancy provision that allowed unemployed Indians to be arrested and hired out to Whites for four-month increments. In many cases the Indian was immediately re-arrested at the end of the four months, creating a revolving door of forced servitude. In other cases, the four-month limit was simply ignored. In 1851, San Diego Sheriff Agoston Haraszthy decreed that Indians were obligated to pay local taxes. The failure to pay the tax resulted in confiscation of land and property of San Diego County Indians.
These acts by the Sheriff, as well as other acts against Indian land claims led many Indians to believe that slavery and death were their only alternatives to armed revolt. That year, Chief Antonio Garra of the Cupeno led attacks on Warner’s Ranch and Hot Springs. Most of the Luiseno, the Cahuilla, and the northern Kumeyaay (Ipai) sided with the whites. The Quechan and Cocopas had originally been planning to join in with Garra but internal squabbles prevented this from happening. The U.S. Army response force marched to Santa Ysabel where they split into two forces, from there they took separate routes into the village of Los Coyotes. One of the commands was attacked in route by a force under Chief Chapuli, who was killed in the assault. Both commands eventually converged on Los Coyotes capturing four Chieftains and executing them on the spot.
Later, Chief Garra was tricked by the Cahuilla Chief Juan Antonio and was given to a San Diego citizen militia and shot on January 17, 1852. On January 7, 1852, Oliver M. Wozencraft, one of three special treaty commissioners, negotiated the Treaty of San Ysabel with Kumeyaay (Ipai & Tipai) leaders. This was one of 18 treaties negotiated with Indians throughout California from 1851-1853. The treaties reserved 7.5 million acres to the tribes of the State. A variety of political forces successfully lobbied against Senate ratification of the treaties. What this meant for the Kumeyaay was no legal protections for their lands. Some tried to homestead land, but lacking citizenship, were unable to make a claim and were subject to eviction as soon as a white person filed a claim. Sometimes whites would ask to rent a portion of the Indian land and subsequently file a homestead claim and evict the Indians. In some areas villages were simply burned and settlers moved in while the Indians were in a seasonal camp at another location. It was virtually impossible for Indians to press their land claims when such seizure occurred.