The California Genocide
The California genocide (1846–1873) was a series of genocidal massacres, enslavement, and systematic displacement of the Indigenous peoples of California by United States governments, soldiers and settlers during the 19th century.
It began following the American conquest of California in the Mexican–American War and the subsequent influx of American settlers to the region as a result of the California gold rush.
In 1851, California's first governor, Peter Hardeman Burnett, explicitly declared, "that a war of extermination will continue to be waged between the races until the Indian race becomes extinct."
Demographic Collapse
The catastrophe wiped out over 80% of California’s Native American population, causing it to plummet from approximately 150,000 to just 30,000 survivors.
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Timeline
The following is a rough timeline of some of the key events and policies of the state-sponsored and settler-driven campaign that contributed to the California genocide.
John C. Fremont
During 1845–1846 John C. Frémont lead US Attacks against Native Americans in California and Oregon Country. Frémont was employed by US Senator Thomas Hart Benton and US President Andrew Jackson to explore land routes to California and prepare to conquer the territory from Mexico. Frémont traveled Northern California, committing several Native massacres along the way.
Frémont's legacy has been shrouded in considerable polarizing controversy. He played a major role in opening up the American West to settlement by white American pioneers, and did so in large part by ordering and engaging in attacks on Native Americans that killed indigenous men, women, and children, driving them from their land.
Throughout the course of his career, Frémont became a major advocate for what would later be referred to as Native American Genocide, and his actions within California positioned him as a key player in the waging of the California Genocide.
Discovery of Gold
The 1848 discovery of gold in California led to the influx of a massive horde of settlers, who formed militias to kill and displace Indigenous peoples.
Killings
From 1846 to 1873 it is estimated that settlers killed between 9,492 and 16,094 Californian Natives. Up to several thousand were also starved to death or worked to death.
"Protecting The Settlers" Illustration by JR Browne for his work "The Indians Of California" 1864 Portraying a massacre by militia men of an Indian camp.
State-Funded Massacres
The California government financed local militias (such as the "Eel River Rangers") to hunt, massacre, and clear Indigenous populations.
Following the California Gold Rush, the state and federal governments spent over $1.7 million (a massive sum at the time) to finance local militias, deploy the U.S. Army, and issue bounties for killing Native Americans.
Bounties for Scalps
Bounty hunting of Indians was common in the early days of California statehood and cash rewards are paid for each scalp, head or body of Indian man, woman or child. This practice is not "outlawed" for more than 70 years when Indians are granted US Citizenship and it becomes illegal to kill them.
Poisoning
White miners and settlers hosted a feasts under the guise of a peace offering for the Native Californians. Settlers laced the food with strychnine, killing an hundreds of Indigenous people in a single event.
In 1853, documented accounts show that white settlers intentionally left out poisoned flour and beef in areas where starving, displaced Native Californians would find and consume it.
Formation of Reservations
In the 1860s the federal government began a policy of forced removal of Native Americans peoples to reservations, which led to violence and displacement.
American Indian Boarding Schools
Through the late 1800s and early 1900s, Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families by the California government and placed in boarding schools, where they were subjected to abuse and forced assimilation.
Forced Sterilization
In 1909 the California state government established the California Eugenics Record Office, which promoted the forced sterilization of people declared by the government to be "unfit", including "Black, Latino and Indigenous women who were incarcerated or in state institutions for disabilities.
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The California Act for the Government and Protection of Indians
The California Act for the Government and Protection of Indians (nicknamed the Indian Indenture Act) was enacted April 22, 1850.
Despite its protective name, this law had nothing to do with the "protection" of Indians. It served as a legal framework for widespread abuse and the California genocide during the Gold Rush era. It was a disguise for slavery, separation of families, and loss of rights.
Slavery by Another Name
 This law provided for apprenticing or indenturing Indian children to white settlers. It also punished vagrant Indians by hiring them out to the highest bidder at a public auction if the Indian could not provide sufficient bond or bail. This legalized a form of slavery in California. Settlers took 10,000 to 27,000 California Native Americans as forced laborers, including 4,000 to 7,000 children.
Forced labor, kidnapping, rape, child separation, and forced displacement were widespread during the genocide, and were encouraged, tolerated, and even carried out by California government officials, American government officials, and military commanders.
Abolition
In April 1863, after the declaration of the Emancipation Proclamation, the California legislature abolished all forms of legal indenture and apprenticeship for Native Americans.
Illegal slave raiding and holding continued afterwards but died out around 1870. The end came due to the increase in European and Chinese immigrants that served as cheap laborers, and the massive reduction of California's Indigenous population.
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Recognizing Genocide
Since the 2000s, historians have characterized the period immediately following the conquest of California as one in which U.S. miners, farmers, and ranchers on the American frontier engaged in the systematic genocide of Californian Indians.
 On June 18, 2019, the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, declared "It’s called a genocide. That’s what it was. A genocide. There’s no other way to describe it and that’s the way it needs to be described in the history books.”
Governor Newsom also apologized for the "violence, discrimination and exploitation sanctioned by state government throughout its history". In a 2019 executive order, Newsom announced the formation of a "Truth and Healing Council" to better understand the genocide and inform future generations of what occurred.
“California must reckon with our dark history. California Native American peoples suffered violence, discrimination and exploitation sanctioned by state government throughout its history. We can never undo the wrongs inflicted on the peoples who have lived on this land that we now call California since time immemorial, but we can work together to build bridges, tell the truth about our past and begin to heal deep wounds.”
“This moment is long overdue, it begs the question, where have we been for decades?"
Governor Gavin Newsom,
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