Wiyot massacre of 1860

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In the Wiyot massacre of 1860, or the Indian Island massacre , between 80 and 250 Indians from the Wiyot tribe were murdered by white settlers on February 26, 1860 . The massacre occurred near Tuluwat (also Tolowot ) near Eureka in Humboldt County , California , on an island that is now called Indian Island .

massacre

Indian Island, in the foreground marked with a sign as a National Historic Landmark , picture taken in 2011

Settlers had settled in the area since the California gold rush more than ten years before the massacre. The Wiyot were a peaceful tribe who never fought with white settlers and had no reason to expect an attack.

In order not to attract the attention of the Eureka residents, the attackers are said to have mainly used picks, clubs and knives as weapons. However, contrary to popular belief, firearms were also used to murder the Indians, according to Jack Norton Sr. in his book Genocide in Northwestern California: When Our Worlds Cried. According to Norton, some Eureka residents reported hearing multiple gunshots that night, but not many of them were aware of the genocidal acts. The Wiyot estimates that between 80 and 250 Wiyot men, women and children were murdered. Since most of the adult and strong men were on the road at the time of the massacre to collect supplies for a world renewal ceremony to celebrate the New Year, almost all murdered men of the Wiyot are said to have been of an old age, which is one of the reasons for the lack of ability was in defense. There were few survivors.

Uniontown (now Arcata ) local newspaper , the Northern Californian , described the incident as follows:

“Blood stood in pools on all sides; the walls of the huts were stained and the grass colored red. Lying around were dead bodies of both sexes and all ages from the old man to the infant at the breast. Some had their heads split in twain by axes, others beaten into jelly with clubs, others pierced or cut to pieces with bowie knives. Some struck down as they mired; others had almost reached the water when overtaken and butchered. "

“Blood had collected in puddles everywhere; the walls of the huts were stained and the grass stained red. Bodies of both sexes and all ages were lying around, from old men to babies. Some had their heads split with axes, others beaten to a pulp with clubs, still others pierced with Bowie knives or cut into pieces. Some were slain when they were stuck in the morass; others had almost reached the water when they were caught and slaughtered. "

- after Jack Norton

The Tuluwat massacre was part of a coordinated attack on Wiyot settlements around Humboldt Bay , including a camp on the Eel River . Although the attack was strongly condemned in newspapers outside Humboldt County, none of the perpetrators was ever punished. A writer in nearby Union Town, the then unknown Bret Harte , attacked the murderers in his publications and had to leave the area soon after, as he was threatened with death. Various locals wrote letters to the editor of the San Francisco newspapers condemning the attacks and naming suspects.

examination

The motives for the massacre were never entirely clear. The local sheriff , Barrant Van Ness, wrote in the San Francisco Bulletin a few days after the massacre that the motive was revenge for cattle theft. Ranchers in the inland valleys claimed that one-eighth of their cattle had been stolen or slaughtered by Indians during the previous year and that one rancher, James C. Ellison, was killed in pursuit of potential cattle thieves in May 1859. However, the area where the ranches were located was inhabited by the Nongatl tribe, not the Wiyot, so the victims of the massacre would have been unrelated to the cattle theft. Van Ness concluded his statement by stating that he did not want to apologize for the murderers.

Major Gabriel J. Rains , then commanding officer of Fort Humboldt , reported to his superior that a local vigilante group had decided to "kill every peaceful Indian - men, women and children". The vigilante group , which called itself the Humboldt Volunteers, Second Brigade , was formed in early February in Hydesville , one of the ranching locations in the Nongatl area. They spent most of February attacking Indians along the Eel River. They sent a petition to the Governor of California, John G. Downey , requesting that the Humboldt Volunteers be accepted into the military on regular pay . Downey declined the request, stating that the US Army would send another company of the regular forces to Fort Humboldt.

consequences

According to the Wiyot, they have not been allowed to return to the island or any other area and have often found their land stolen or devastated. Soldiers from Fort Humboldt took numerous survivors into protective custody in the fort and later took them to the Klamath River Reserve. More recently, the Wiyot have bought back parts of their land to hold their annual world renewal ceremony. In 2004, the Eureka City Council decided to return part of the island that was owned by the city to the Wiyot.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Jerry Rohde: Genocide and Extortion. In: The North Coast Journal Weekly of Politics, People & Art. February 25, 2010, accessed December 8, 2011 .
  2. ^ Jack Norton: Genocide in northwestern California: when our worlds cried . Indian Historian Press, San Francisco 1979, ISBN 0-913436-26-2  ( formally incorrect ) , p. 82 .
  3. ^ Glaucus: From California; The Humboldt Butchery of Indian Infants and Women ... In: The New York Times . March 16, 1860, accessed December 7, 2011 .
  4. ^ Charles Rossiter: More of the Humboldt Bay Butchery . In: San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin . March 2, 1860.
  5. ↑ Barrant Van Ness: The Humboldt Bay Massacre - Statement of the Sheriff of Humboldt County. ( Memento of July 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) In: National Intelligencer. March 31, 1860. (English)
  6. ↑ Lynwood Carranco, Estle Beard: Genocide and vendetta . The Round Valley wars of Northern California. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 1981, ISBN 0-8061-1549-1 , pp. 129-130 .
  7. ^ San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin . March 11, 1860.
  8. ↑ a b Tuluwat Project ( English ) Wiyot Tribe. Retrieved March 8, 2020.

Coordinates: 40 ° 49 ′  N , 124 ° 10 ′  W