Collection: Directories and Documents > Tanis Thorne Native Californian & Nisenan Collection

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Title: Treaty of Camp Union Notes from Senate Doc 4 1853 (from May 2021) Collection Type: Directories and Documents Collection Name: Tanis Thorne Native Californian & Nisenan Collection # of Pages: 5 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

Date Scanned: 2024-08-30 15:32:42 OCR Software Version #: tesseract 5.4.1 Item Sourced From: PDF First Created: 2025-03-17 05:54:07 Last Updated: 2025-03-17 05:54:07

Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

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5/20/21 1 of 4 — Treaty of Camp Union Note “N Primary source: Senate Document 4 (Special Session of Congress, 1853) 2 Main Secondary sources: Heizer, Robert 1972 The Eighteen Unratified Treaties of 1851-52... Berkeley, Archaeological Research Facility. ’ Johnson, Kenneth, 1966 K-344 or the Indians of California vs. The United States. Los Angeles: Dawson’s Book Shop \ ‘ Conducting Indian policy with eye to economy, the Whig administration sent treaty commissioners who ,, . “1, derstood job as a) averting expensive Indian war (so went to hot-spot first in March 1850), b) to get scattered Indians to agree to legally surrender homes in gold-rich areas and remove to reserves with little riculturalvalue c) to pacify hostiles in impregnable camps “mountain fastnesses,” used as bases for ck-stealing. nteresting sto ignominiously. ¢ Inthe spring 1851, the treaty commissioners traveled up San Joaquin “with an escort of one hundred and one picked men, ten officers, three six-mule covered wagons, and some one hundred and fifty pack-mules to carry our provisions, ammunition, and Indian goods, all under the command of Capt. E. D. Keyes.” (Doc 4). Captain Keyes left a first hand account, glowingly reporting the beauty of scenery with many wildflowers: flowers>200 infantry soldiers, mules, pack animals, horses, cattle, wagons, secretaries, drivers, interpreters, cooks. with “wines, hams, buffalo tongues and condiments, and a herd of fat steers;” though well-provisioned hunters brought in venison, antelope, and birds. Keyes never been happier. (Johnson 1966:52-53) ¢ The treaty-making was doomed from the start due to underfunding and local opposition to setting aside permanent reserves. Though the Commissioners pursued their task of averting warfare and providing a solution to the California Indian problem (Indian starvation and ensuing unrest; violent victimization at hands of settlers/miners/warmongers) fulfilling federal duty to extinguish Indian possessory rights, the treaty makers exceeded their authority in endorsing expenditures and were later smeared by charges of ~ graft. , * Oliver Wozencraft’s virtues and flaws, magnified in this highly partisan, doomed affair, came under intense scrutiny as chief negotiator of treaties in the thickly settled, mining country (including the Camp Union Treaty). A Whig and as such a lamb in Wolf territory, he was not incapable and sincerely worked for Indian welfare, but he was ignorant of the country and the Indians, and loved comfort. Initially buoyed with the authority of the federal government and its expense account, he was overconfident and expected praise. He thought his assignment as treaty commissioner would bring good pay and federal and California public support and ultimately gratitude and credit. When faced with the drastic reduction in the commissioners’ budget (slashed in May from $75 to $25 K though they learned of these cuts weeks later), he was slow to face the reality, convinced he could continue to travel in comfort and be lauded for his achievements. (340). Fatally resorting to improvisation when he encountered obstacles; he enjoyed power and was perhaps overconfident, but was not rigorous, and even careless: he was shipshod in his accounting. He embraced expediency, taking the easy route, or the only route, to accomplish the task before him . He readily gave into Indian demands, making promises he could not deliver and negotiating treaties impossible to enforce and including valuable mineral lands. The treaties he negotiated were most open to criticism. While the treaty commissioners acted in good faith, wrote Adam Johnson, they made treaties with “too limited a knowledge of the country, too great haste, and perhaps a want of due consideration.” Johnson makes a swipe at Wozencraft for making treaties then staying in San Francisco rather than supervising the beef issues he had authorized... Wozencraft is a man who dislikes inconvenience and discomfort of travel, said Johnson (. AJ Adam Johnston to Luke Lea, CIA,