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A Case Study of a Northern California Indian Tribe - Cultural Change to 1860 (1977) (109 pages)
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Page: of 109
Indian laborers at the fort were fed "in a manner reminiscent of feeding pigs". They
huddled in rows on their knees before long troughs filled with boiled mush made from
wheat bran and the offal of slaughtered animals .>°
In the mid 1840's Sutter's forces continued to attack Indian villages (some
probably Nisenan) and kidnap Indian children. Sutter's Indian "slave trade" operation
became so successful that the supply exceeded the demand.>’ Sutter discussed a shipment
of kidnapped Indians (possibly Nisenan) that he sent to Antonio Sunol, a rancher on
the coast.
Today I send 30 Indians. These are gentiles and have never worked with mission Indians. Therefore, keep them as long as you
want, but provide a shirt for each of them and deduct its value
from their wages.°8
Governor Alvarado finally exposed Sutter's immoral "'slave trade" operation.
The public can see how inhuman were the operations of Sutter
who had no scruples about depriving Indian mothers of their
children. Sutter has sent these little Indian children as
gifts to people who live far from the place of their birth,
without demanding of them any promises that in their homes
the Indians should be treated with kindness. Sutter's conduct
was so despecable that if I had not succeeded in persuading
Sutter to stop the kidnapping operations it is probable that
there would have been a general uprising of Indians within the
Northern district under Sutter's jurisdiction as a Mexican
official. °9
In 1846, California became a military territory of the United States as a
result of the Mexican War ©9 Governor Kearny, head of the new military government,
appointed Sutter Indian sub-agent for the Sacramento and San Joaquin River areas,
61
which included Nisenan territory. (See Population Estimate of Some Valley Nisenan
Tribes. 1846, p. 52.)
The government now had a dual task. It had to guard the whites
who pressed in upon the territory against outrages by the Indians
and it had to protect the Indians against the rapacity and cruelty
of the whites. 62
,Major J. J. B. Kingsbury, commander of the California state militia force stationed
at Sutter's Fort, was given the following instructions.
-...unauthorized interferences with the Indian by the whites must,
if possible, be prevented; and, on the other hand, the Indians
through the agent (Sutter) will receive assurances of protection
if their conduct be such as to warrant it.©5
11