Just before dawn. Womens clam shell necklaces clicking gently against their dresses. Ma birds, deer or hunters supported their females meanwhile they raised their voices skyward. Between songs the singers offered prayers of thanks for the creation and the renewal of the world. Finally they stopped and walked addway under a full moon. And outside its gently from the shore and inside people slept and unaware that Crescent City men had established their own branch of californias expanding killing machine. Coast rangers and mountain rangers had been well armed by california governor and january 1854 californias state Quarter Master general had sent the judge 20 muskets. 10 rifles and 1,000 rifle cartridges. And 2,000 rifles and heavily armed militia men prepare to do one thing and one thing only. Kill californians. In the predawn hours of december 3 1st, 1854, as many as 116 militia men accompanied by an unknown number of auxiliaries surrounded the village and took it up in the brush. And as men, women and children emerge to begin their day they open fire on men, women and children. Possesses three guns the indian people were unable to resist. They swam across the lake they encountered a second group of killers. Sharp shooters lying in wait. When the firing stopped perhaps hundreds were dead. Not more than five indian people survived this massacre. The attackers apparently suffered but a single casualty in the state of california later paid these militia men for their socalled work. Between 1846 and 1870 Californias Indian population plunged from 150,000 people to 30,000. Diseases, dislocation and starvation were important causes of these many deaths. However abduction, unfree labor and masked death on federal reservations, individual homicides battle and massacres took thousands of lives and hindered reproduction. This was genocide. An attempt to destroy National Ethical racial or religious group as such including killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group. Deliberately inflicting on the Group Conditions of life calculated to break apart their physical destruction in hole or in part. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group and forcibly transfer people of the group to another group. The convention provides a clear internationally recognized rubric for evaluating instances of genocide including historical cases not subject to jurisdicti jurisdiction. They must commit at least one of the five genocide acts. Following the formulation of this new International Treaty scholars began reexamining the colonelization by the United States. More than 20 scholars deemed california a case of genocide. Still relatively little has been written about the california genocide. At least compared to other genocides in world history. Building on previous scholarship an american genocide is the first year by year comprehensive recounting of the genocide that took place against california indians under u. S. Rule. The stakes are high for scholars and california indians and all citizens of the United States. Scholars will need to reevaluate current interpretive accents and address new questions. They could reexamine the assumption that indirect effects of colonization like diseases were the leading cause of death in encounters between native californ californians. They lose validity as they compare genocide in california to others around the world. Where they documented genocide it would be necessary to evaluate what roles local governments and private individuals played and whether or not the killings were part of a larger recurring regional patte pattern. Who ordered and carried out the killing. Why do we not know more about these events. Did democracy drive the process of masked murder . Did genocide play a role in the making of modern canada, mexico, United States or other western hemisphere nations. Should they press for government apologies or control of land where events took place cases involving sovereignty and federal recognition. How should they commemorate victims of mask murder while also accommodation, resistance and survival and on going cultural renewal. What happens if a tribal member learns he or she is the desen debit of perpetrators and victims. How might california indian people reconcile increased knowledge of the genocide that took place here. Sometimes at the hands of agents at the federal government where their often intense patriotism. What role might acknowledgment of genocide have on intergenerational historical trauma . Something so prevalent in many communities today and that traumas connection to present day physical illnesses and the question also poses explosive questions for all u. S. Citizens. Should government officials tender public apologies as president S Ronald Reagan and george h. W. Bush did in the 1980s. With the forcible relocation and internment of some 120,000 japanese americans. Many of them california citizens during the second world war. Should federal officials offer monetary compensation along the lines of the more than 1. 6 million that Congress Paid out to 82,210 of these japanese americans. And 3 billion. And a better understanding here in california might also impact the federal governments. And committed and with the same monuments museums and state legislative days of remembrance that today commemorate the genocide and the holocausts. Will genocides join these mask murders in Public School curriculum and public discourse. These questions are important that can only be addressed in very limited ways. And understanding of relations between california indians and newcomers sporadic mass killings punctuated the initial years of u. S. Rule here but James Marshalls 1848 gold strike precipitated it. They played a leading role in increasing violence against california indian people. And the society in which Indigenous People sought a dangerous impetment to the acquisition of wealth. In 1849 attacks on california indians increased in frequency. Particularly in the northern clans where the northern mines were already booming. One 1849er explained and i quote, oregon people had been used to shooting indians and they did shoot them freely. That april, Theodore Johnson entered the epicenter of this local genocide. And people murdered by heights in and around 1849 and early 1850s. And its clear to contemporary observers is the nature but in their intent and in their impact. The slaying of two anglo ranchers in december 1849 marked the turning point toward a larger statewide genocide in response to this double homicide vigilantes and United StatesArmy Soldiers killed as many as 1,000 indian people or more between december 1849 and may 1850. First murdered and massacred large numbers of Indigenous People in the napa and sonoma valleys. Then after they were arrested californias Supreme Court let them go on bail. It was in fact our states first Supreme Court case. They also sought to avenge the deaths of these two white ranchers. In an article titled horrible slaughter of indians one described a massacre committed by the u. S. Army clearly using information provided by an army captain. Upon men, women and children they fell, said the informant as grasp before the sweep of the side. Little or no resistance was encountered and the work of butchery was of short duration. Neither age nor sex was spared. It was the order of extermination fearfully obeyed. Other killings followed and the officers involved were promoted. A new factor was important. Large scale extended vigilante and u. S. Army killing campaigns tolerated by both state and federal authorities. They counted over 360,000. They came primarily in search of wealth. In seeking to access and acquire labor and satisfy their sexual desires immigrants place immense pressure on the california indian communities. They triggered an explosion of ranch hunting, mining and perhaps slave labor. They generated shockwaves with a devastating impact upon california indians. U. S. Army officers made them into second class citizens. Californias 1849 constitution then made it nearly impossible for california indians to vote. In 1850 californias First Legislature banned all indians from voting, barred indians with 1half of indian blood or more from getting evidence for or against whites in criminal cases and ban indians from serving as jurors. They later barred indians from serving as attorneys. In combination these laws shut indians out of participation in and protection by the states legal system. Abduction played a major role in the decline. The government and protection venues which legalized white custody of indian minors while allowing koucourts and jurors t reject indian system. Indians could thus be forced into unpaid work on trumped up charges. Here we see an ad. A 16yearold Southern California indian female at the price of a pound of gun powder and a bottle of brandy. In 1860 legislators legalize indenture whether children or grown persons including prisoners of war. These laws triggered a boom in violent kidnappings of ibd juans while separating men and women during peak reproductive years. Both of which accelerated the california indian population some indians were treated as disposable laborers. One los angeles lawyer recalled los angeles had its slave mart and thousands of honest useful people were absolutely destroyed in this way. The population fell from 3,693 to 219. Escape was one way that california indian people defied servitude but whites sometimes responded with legal force. For example, lieu i can young here that escaped servitude many times. She would tie up with cotton dress. Others were less fortunate. After one california indian fled her, woquote, lord and master, whites massacred an entire village of some 15 california indians. 15 years later a rancher became so incensed that he quote slaughtered the whole family of six persons boy and all. Despite such reports state and federal policy makers failed to intervene while almost all Law Enforcement officials turned a blind eye. Congress made california indians vulnerable. In 1851 and 1852 federal agents signed 18 treaties with 119 california indian communities. However, u. S. Senators in washington d. C. Repuniated these treaties. They authorized military operations and no legal recognition or land titles on california indian nations. The results, first, reservations were not patented and jurisdiction over indian reservation land was left uncertain. Second they did not become explicit wards of the federal government. Third because jurisdiction remained uncertain confusion and conflict between and among state and federal authorities prevail. Finally the United StatesArmy Major General 1857 interpretation of california reservations legal status denied them full Army Protection and i quote until these reservations are perfected United States troops have no right to exclude whites from entering and occupying the reserves or even to prevent them from taking indians. Federal officials made california indian people particularly vulnerable to kidnapping slavery assault and masked murder. The establishment of the state m militia system. 3,414 militia men enrolled in 24 separate volunteer state militia expeditions killing at least 1,342 california indians. However, their impact transcended these numbers. They served as a widely publicized state endorsement of indian wran killing. A public grant for indian killing and inspiring many more vigilante killings. In january of 1851, california governor Peter Burnett declared that a war of extermination will continue to be waged until the indian race becomes extingt. Soon there after state legislatures put the power of the purse behind antiindian militia campaigns. In february they voted to borrow 500,000. A great deal of money at that time. And meanwhile, the state began building you an arsenal of arms donated by the United States army. Then in may of 1852 following anticalifornia operations, even as killings of indians multiplied. And what we see here is a copy of one of the bonds issued and this is a investment guaranteed by the state of california. And the pattern of discriminatory attacks was now all too clear after attacks by militia men in the year 1854 one announced we have lived here in peace but we cant get along with these white people. They come and they kill my people for nothing. Not only men but they kill our wives and children. He concluded they will hunt us down like we hunt the deer and the antelope. Provided a rare california indian eyewitness account of a massacre that took place in the 1850s. Theyll remember and i quote about 10 00 in the morning some white men came. They killed my grandfather and my mother and my father. I saw them do it. They killed my baby sister and cut her heart out and threw it in the brush where i ran and hid. Just crawling around. I did not know what to do. I was so scared. I guess i just hid there a long time with my Little Sisters heart in my hands. It was a terrifying time to be a california indian. United States Congress endorsed such killings. They allocated 924,000,000 and a new surge of killings followed even as state leaders and pictured here a book of tactics and distributed to his militia officers that became increasingly efficient indian killers. And then state legislators appropriated an additional 410,000 for militia operations with predictable results. Finally in 1861 congress appropriated an additional 400,000 to pay the expenses of nine state militia expeditions that killed at least 766 california indian people. U. S. Congressmen indirectly sanctioned the masked murder of california indian people. Although indians resisted civilians and officials carried out operations to con seb trait california indians on federal reservations. They massacred 55 indian people in the process of forcibly removing one group to the california. During the forced removal of her people to fresno reservation soldiers killed a dozen indians. Andrew freeman explained when they took the indians to Round Valley Reservation they drove them like stock and shot the peel that couldnt make the trip. They would shoot children who are getting tired. And encountered institutionalized malnutrition. They recollected that after volunteers had forcibly removed his people from the reservation we were very hungry. And reservations were a little better. They relocated to the roubd valley reservation where he explained that there was even less to eat. Indeed, in 1860 officials provided 480 to 910 calories per day to working Round Valley Reservation indians. Daily rations fell to 160 to 390 calories per person per day. Those that did not work were infrequently fed if at all. And according to one official the indians were allowed no meat. If some california reservation inmates died malnutrition weakened the immune systems of others making them more susceptible to diseases. Starvation and malnutrition increased miscarriages and still births. According to one columnist about 300 died on the reservation during the winter of 1856 to 1857 from the effects of packing through the mountains and the snow and mud. They were generally naked and packed 50 pounds if able. Willful negligent took an untold number of lies. Its also pulled large numbers at 4 27 a. M. April 12th, 1861, shells exploded in the darkness over the stars and stripes at fort sumpter in south carolina. U. S. Civil war begun. By the wars end 15,725 californians would enlist in the union army dwarfing all previous military organizations in history. Many of these men remained in california and soon transformed the states killing machine. As u. S. Troops, these socalled california volunteers we placed relatively small shortterm militia campaigns with longer, larger u. S. Army on asians. They then flourished along side them but the genocide was now primarily a federal project. U. S. Army forces killed substantial numbers. The first California Army campaign in the year 1862 killed at least 120 california indian people. Hundreds more would die in succeeding campaigns directed by men like colonel henry m. Black. California volunteers also killed prisoners in mass on multiple occasions. The u. S. Captain proudly reported how in 1863, quote, i had all the bucks collected together and 35 were either shot or savored. None escaped. He concluded with a statement of genocideal intent. They will soon either be all killed off or push so far into the surrounding area of desert that they will perish by famine. The u. S. Army continued killing california indians through the late 1860s and con lewded large scale operations against them with the close of the 18721872 war. It fits the two part Legal Definition set forth in the convention. First perpetrators demonstrate in word and deed their intent to destroy in whole or in part a national ethnical racial or religious group as such. Second examples of all five genocidal crimes. It occurred in 370 separate massacres as well as hundreds of smaller killings. Individual homicides and executions they killed at least 9,492 to 16,094 california indians and probably more. By way of contrast sources indicate that california indians killed puer than 1,500 nonindians during this same period. And the policy of driving surviving indians into inhospitable Alpine Regions mounting to and inflicting on the Group Conditions of life calculating to bring about its fiscal destruction in whole or in part. Some u. S. Office of Indian Affairs and employees administering in california which one scholar at least called concentration camps committed the same crime. Further, because mal nutrition and exposure predictably lowered it some state and federal policy makers appear guilty