Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology

The following sympathetic and remarkably balanced account of the events that embroiled the settlers and Native Americans living in the San Joaquin Valley in a series of armed confrontations in 1856 originally appeared in the overland Monthly in 1884 (Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 46 – 53). Although the author, George W. Stewart, was not born until 1857, a year after the events that he describes, his long involvement in the community as editor of the Visalia newspaper furnished him with an opportunity to compile a great deal of factual information on the topic from a wide variety of local sources while simultaneously maintaining a certain degree of objectivity. As recent scholarship has demonstrated, the kinds of misunderstandings and cultural biases that Stewart describes here triggered actions that were tragically replicated in many other parts of the state. Stewart was clearly sympathetic toward the local Yokuts people, and wrote a number of papers on their beliefs and customs; he also had a deep interest in the natural resources of the region, and is perhaps best known today for his pivotal role in the creation of Sequoia National Park