Discovery of the Yosemite, and the Indian War of 1851, Which Led to That Event

by Lafayette Houghton Bunnell

The question of a transfer of the Indian Bureau to the War Department, has been for some time agitated, but it seems to me that some facts bearing on the subject have not been, sufficiently discussed or understood. These are that the various tribes are warlike in their habits and character, and have been engaged in wars of conquest among themselves ever since they first became known to the white settlers of the country. Their immediate right to the territory they now occupy is derived from the dispossession of some other tribe. They recognize the lex talionis as supreme, and their obedience to law and order among themselves is only in proportion to their respect for the chief, or power that controls them. Hence, for the Sioux and other unsubdued tribes, military control, in my opinion, would be best suited to their war-like natures and roving habits. The objection that their management by the War Department had proved a failure, is not a valid one, as when formerly the Bureau was under its nominal control, all appointments of agents were made from civil life, as political rewards from those in power. The political kites, scenting the fat things hidden away in the office of an agent, pounced down upon them, exclaiming: “To the victors belong the spoils.” The title of “Major” given the agent was due to courtesy and the legitimate pay afforded, being that of a major in the army.

The duties of the office are anything but agreeable to an officer who has been educated for the profession of a soldier. Few are disposed to do the incessant drudgery required of an effective agent. As a rule, the permanency of office, the education and amour propre of military life, raises the army officer above the temptations of the ordinary politician; therefore, the chances of an honest administration of affairs are very much in favor of the War Department. To make that management more effective, reasonable pay should be given competent men, as the expenses of frontier life are usually considerable. Years are required to comprehend and order, a practical management of people who are, in one sense, but overgrown, vicious children. Such agents should be retained as long as they remain honest and effective, regardless of church or political creeds.

As the wild tribes recognize no authority but that of the lex-taliones; by this law they should be governed. Any attempt to govern or civilize them without the power to compel obedience, will be looked upon by barbarians with derision, and all idea of Christianizing adult Indians, while they realize the injustice done them by the whites, will prove impracticable. The children may be brought under some moderate system of compulsory education and labor, but the adults never can be. Moral suasion is not comprehended as a power, for the Indian’s moral qualities seem not to have been unfolded.

The savage is naturally vain, cruel and arrogant. He boasts of his murders and robberies, and the tortures of his victims very much in the same manner that he recounts his deeds of valor in battle, his prowess in killing the grizzly, and his skill in entrapping the beaver. His treachery, is to him but cunning, his revenge a holy obligation, and his religion but a superstitious fear. The Indians that have resorted to labor as a means of future support, should be encouraged and continued under the care of civilians. Their religious instruction, like that of the whites, may safely be left to their own choice; but for the wild savage a just and humane control is necessary for their own well-being, as well as that of the white people; for even in this nineteenth century, life is sometimes sacrificed under some religious delusion.

The war between different tribes is a natural result of their efforts to maintain independent sovereignties. The motives that influence them are not very unlike those that operate upon the most highly favored Christian nations, except that religion, as a rule, has but little to answer for, as they are mostly of one religious faith. All believe in the influence of and communion with departed spirits. The limited support afforded by the game of a given territory, frequently compels encroachments that result in war. Ambition for fame and leadership prompts young aspirants for the honors awarded to successful warriors, and they bear an initiatory torture in order to prove their fortitude and bravery, that would almost seem beyond human endurance. After a reputation has been acquired as a successful leader, old feuds must be maintained and new wars originated to gratify and employ ambitious followers, or the glory and influence of the successful chieftain will soon depart or be given to some new aspirant for the leadership of the tribe. In their warlike movements, as in all their private affairs, their “medicine men” are important personages. They are supposed to have power to propitiate evil spirits or exorcise them. They assume the duties of physicians, orators and advisers in their councils, and perform the official duties of priests in their religious ceremonies. In my inquiries concerning their religious faith, I have sometimes been surprised, as well as amused, at the grotesque expressions used in explanations of their crude ideas of theology. With their mythology and traditions, would occasionally appear expressions evidently derived from the teachings of Christianity, the origin of which, no doubt, might have been traced to the old Missions. The fugitive converts from those Missions being the means of engrafting the Catholic element on to the original belief of the mountain tribes. Their recitations were a peculiar mixture, but they vehemently claimed them as original, and as revealed to them by the Great Spirit, through his mediums or prophets (their “medicine men”), in visions and trances. These “mediums,” in their character of priests, are held in great veneration.

They are consulted upon all important occasions, let it be of war, of the chase, plunder or of marriage. They provide charms and amulets to protect the wearer from the evil influence of adverse spirits and the weapons of war, and receive for these mighty favors donations corresponding to the support afforded Christian priests and ministers. The sanctification of these relics is performed by an elaborate mysterious ceremony, the climax of which is performed in secret by the priestly magnate. The older the relic, the more sacred it becomes as an heirloom.

Marriage among the Indians is regarded from a business standpoint. The preliminaries are usually arranged with the parents, guardians and friends, by the patriarch of the family, or the chief of the tribe. When an offer of marriage is made, the priest is consulted, he generally designates the price to be paid for the bride. The squaws of these mountain tribes are not generally voluptuous or ardent, and notwithstanding their low and degraded condition, they were naturally more virtuous, than has been generally supposed.

Their government being largely patriarchal, the women are subjects of the will of the patriarch in all domestic relations. The result is, that they have become passively submissive creatures of men’s will. Believing this to be the natural sphere of their existence, they hold in contempt one who performs menial labor, which they have been taught belongs to their sex alone.

The habits of these mountain tribes being simple; their animal passions not being stimulated by the condiments and artificial habits of civilized life; they, in their native condition, closely resembled the higher order of animals in pairing for offspring. The spring time is their season of love. When the young clover blooms and the wild anise throws its fragrance upon mountain and dell, then, in the seclusion of the forest are formed those unions which among the civilized races are sanctioned by the church and by the laws of the country.