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The Tule River War of 1856 was a conflict where American settlers, and later, California State Militia, and a detachment of the U. S. Army from Fort Miller, fought a six week war against the Yokut in the southern San Joaquin Valley. ==Prelude== The Native Americans living in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains were relatively undisturbed by early Spanish colonization. During the late 1840s and into the 1850s, once gold was discovered in California, miners began encroaching on traditional lands. In late 1850, a trader named James Woods settled on the south bank of the Kaweah River along with a party of approximately fifteen men. According to a contemporary account, the entire party of settlers was killed by Native Americans the following spring. After the Kaweahs had imposed a deadline of ten days to clear out, when the settlers missed the deadline, they were attacked and Woods was skinned following the battle.〔〔Menefee & Dodge (1913), pp. 7–8〕 Other accounts come from survivors who state Woods was the lone victim, although the various accounts all agree Woods was skinned.〔Menefee & Dodge (1913), p. 8〕 Although a treaty was signed with the local tribes in 1851 (one of eighteen such treaties signed state-wide, setting aside seven and a half percent of California's land area), defining a proposed reservation and two hundred head of cattle per year, the US Senate failed to ratify any of the eighteen treaties in a secret vote cast on July 8, 1852, with every member either abstaining or voting no.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=ON ADOPTION OF THE RESOLUTION TO ADVISE AND CONSENT TO THE RATIFICATION OF EACH OF THE 18 TREATIES WITH THE INDIAN TRIBES OF CALIFORNIA. (P409 417) )〕 The result of the vote was not made public until 1905.〔 In the fall of 1851, the Wingfield brothers settled and claimed the land near the cabin built by Woods. The Wingfields did not initially experience any trouble with the Native population.〔Menefee & Dodge (1913), p. 10〕 On April 20, 1852, Mariposa County was subdivided, creating Tulare County, with the temporary county seat to be near the Woods cabin. Creating a new county brought new government positions, and during the preparation for elections to be held in July 1852, the Wingfield brothers were taken captive by Native Americans. They were later released when an armed expedition under Major James Savage approached the encampment.〔Menefee & Dodge (1913), p. 12〕 In 1851, William Campbell and John Poole set up a ferry across the Kings River on land reserved for the Choinumni in one of the un-ratified 1851 treaties. The nearby Choinumni village was raided in July 1852 by the newly elected Judge Walter Harvey. After the skirmish, Judge Harvey shot and killed Major James Savage. Throughout the 1850s, settler-led militias would attack Native American villages, justifying their actions as retaliation for raids of cattle and horses. Although the Native Americans did steal horses and cattle, they were often motivated by subsistence, as their normal means of living were often cut off by settlers, and these raids generally did not threaten settler lives. In contrast, the militias would often indiscriminately slaughter Native people. In 1853, some of the Yokuts-speaking population were relocated to the Sebastian Indian Reservation by California's first Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Ned Beale.〔 Beale's vision was similar to the Spanish Missions, and he intended the Sebastian Reservation to be self-sustaining. Since the Sebastian Reservation was not located close to traditional Yokuts territories, though, the majority of the Yokuts population stayed in the newly-formed Tulare County.〔 In August 1855, citizens of Visalia petitioned Beale's successor, Superintendent Thomas Henley to prevent starvation amongst the Native populace.〔 The settlers reasoned that potential raids could be averted by establishing an agency to ensure Native welfare. Henley's plan was similar to Beale's: establish self-sufficient reservations. In preparation, Henley delegated scouts to identify suitable locations in the Tule Lake region.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Tule River War」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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