Reservation Era Begins 1850-1878

1851

“Mariposa War” (California)

Mariposa Indian encampment, Yosemite Valley, California. Image: Albert Bierstadt
Mariposa Indian encampment, Yosemite Valley, California. Image: Albert Bierstadt

With the invasion of miners and laws supporting indentured servitude, many miners enslave Native people, forcing the men to work in mines and the Native women into prostitution. Volunteer militia raid Native villages and kill Indians, while capturing others for “services.” Tribes resist and fight back, beginning with the Ahwahnechee and the Chowchilla in the Sierra Nevada and San Joaquin Valley, who lead a raid on James D. Savage’s Fresno River post in December 1850. In retaliation for that act of resistance, Mariposa County Sheriff James Burney leads local militia in an assault on the Native resisters on a mountainside near present-day Oakhurst, California. Reportedly, neither side “wins” the battle (“List of Indian massacres”).

Traumatic Event

Native Resistance