John Augustus Sutter (February 23, 1803 – June 18, 1880), born Johann August Sutter and known in Spanish as Don Juan Sutter, was a
Swiss immigrant of Mexican and American citizenship, known for establishing
Sutter's Fort in the area that would eventually become
Sacramento, California
)
, image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
, the
state's capital. Although he became famous following the discovery of gold by his employee
James W. Marshall and the mill-making team at
Sutter's Mill
Sutter's Mill was a water-powered sawmill on the bank of the South Fork American River in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in California. It was named after its owner John Sutter. A worker constructing the mill, James W. Marshall, found gol ...
, Sutter saw his own business ventures fail during the
California Gold Rush. Those of his elder son,
John Augustus Sutter Jr., were more successful.
[Sutter, John A. Jr. & Ottley, Allan R. (Ed.). ''Statement: Regarding Early California Experiences''. Sacramento Book Collectors Club. 1943.]
Early life
Johann August Sutter was born
on February 23, 1803, in
Kandern
Kandern is a town in southwestern Germany in the state of Baden-Württemberg, in the '' Kreis'' (district) of Lörrach. During the Battle of Schliengen, in which the French Revolutionary army fought the forces of Austria, the battle lines of both ...
,
Baden
Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine.
History
The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden i ...
(present-day Germany), to Johann Jakob Sutter, a
foreman
__NOTOC__
A foreman, forewoman or foreperson is a supervisor, often in a manual trade or industry.
Foreman may specifically refer to:
*Construction foreman, the worker or tradesman who is in charge of a construction crew
* Jury foreman, a head j ...
at a
paper mill, and Christina Wilhelmine Sutter (née Stober). His father came from the nearby town of
Rünenberg, in the
canton of Basel
Basel was a canton of Switzerland that was in existence between 1501 and 1833, when it was split into the two half-cantons of Basel-City and Basel-Country.
Background
Before the Protestant Reformation, Basel was ruled by prince-bishops (see ...
in
Switzerland, and his maternal grandfather was a pastor from
Grenzach
Grenzach-Wyhlen is a municipality in the district of Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, 7 km east of Basel, and 8 km south of Lörrach. It has borders to Inzlingen and Rheinfelden ...
, on the
Swiss-German border Swiss-German may refer to:
*pertaining to Germany–Switzerland relations
*variously, used ambiguously:
**Germans in Switzerland, see German immigration to Switzerland
**Swiss in Germany, see Swiss_abroad#Germany
**the Swiss German language
**Germa ...
.
[
After attending school in Kandern, Sutter studied at Saint-Blaise between 1818 and 1819, then worked as an ]apprentice
Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...
at the Thurneysen printing and publishing house in Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
until 1823. Between 1823 and 1828, he worked as a clerk at clothing shops in Aarburg and Burgdorf.[ At age 21, he married][
]
the daughter of a rich widow. He operated a store but showed more interest in spending money than in earning it. Because of family circumstances and mounting debts, Johann faced charges that would have him placed in jail and so he decided to dodge trial and fled to America. He styled his name as Captain John Augustus Sutter.
In May 1834, he left his wife and five children behind in Burgdorf, Switzerland
Burgdorf (french: Berthoud; High Alemannic: ''Bùùrdlef'') is the largest city in the Emmental in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It was the capital of the district of the same name until 2010, when it became part of the new Emmental dist ...
, and with a French passport, he boarded the ship ''Sully'', which travelled from Le Havre, France, to New York City, where it arrived on July 14, 1834.
The New World
In North America, John Augustus Sutter (as he would call himself for the rest of his life) undertook extensive travels. Before he went to the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, he had learned Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
and English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
in addition to Swiss French. He and 35 Germans
, native_name_lang = de
, region1 =
, pop1 = 72,650,269
, region2 =
, pop2 = 534,000
, region3 =
, pop3 = 157,000
3,322,405
, region4 =
, pop4 = ...
moved from the St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
area to Santa Fe, New Mexico, then a province of Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
, then moved to the town of Westport, now the site of Kansas City. On April 1, 1838, he joined a group of missionaries, led by the fur trapper Andrew Drips, and traveled the Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of what is now the state of Kans ...
to Fort Vancouver
Fort Vancouver was a 19th century fur trading post that was the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company's Columbia Department, located in the Pacific Northwest. Named for Captain George Vancouver, the fort was located on the northern bank of th ...
in Oregon Territory
The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. O ...
, which they reached in October. Sutter originally planned to cross the Siskiyou Mountains
The Siskiyou Mountains are a coastal subrange of the Klamath Mountains, and located in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the United States. They extend in an arc for approximately from east of Crescent City, California, northea ...
during the winter, but acting chief factor James Douglas convinced him that such an attempt would be perilous.[Dillion, Richard. ''Fool's Gold, the Decline and Fall of Captain John Sutter of California.'' New York City: Coward-McCann. 1967, p. 66.] Douglas charged Sutter £21 to arrange transportation on the British bark ''Columbia'' for himself and his eight followers.[
The Columbia departed Fort Vancouver on November 11 and sailed to the Kingdom of Hawaii, reaching ]Honolulu
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...
on December 9. Sutter had missed the only ship outbound for Alta California, and had to remain in the Kingdom for four months.[Dillion (1967), p. 70.] Over the months Sutter gained friendly relations with the Euro-American community, dining with the Consuls
A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...
of the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Grea ...
, John Coffin Jones
John Coffin Jones Jr. (1796 – December 24, 1861) was the first United States Consular Agent to the Kingdom of Hawaii.
Early life
John Coffin Jones Jr. was born in 1796 in Boston, Massachusetts, and baptized on June 26, 1796, by the minister of ...
and Richard Charlton
Richard Charlton (1791–1852) was the first diplomatic Consul from Great Britain to the Kingdom of Hawaii (1825–1843). He was surrounded by controversies that caused a military occupation known as the Paulet Affair, and real estate claims tha ...
, along with merchants such as American Faxon Atherton
Faxon Dean Atherton (1815–1877) was an American businessman, trader and landowner; initially successful in Valparaíso, Chile, he became a prominent citizen of San Mateo County, California. He is the namesake of Atherton, California.
Early ...
.[ The brig ''Clementine'' was eventually hired by Sutter to take freight provisions and general merchandise for ]New Archangel
russian: Ситка
, native_name_lang = tli
, settlement_type = Consolidated city-borough
, image_skyline = File:Sitka 84 Elev 135.jpg
, image_caption = Downtown Sitka in 1984
, image_size ...
(now known as Sitka), the capital of the Russian-American Company
The Russian-American Company Under the High Patronage of His Imperial Majesty (russian: Под высочайшим Его Императорского Величества покровительством Российская-Американс ...
colonies in Russian America
Russian America (russian: Русская Америка, Russkaya Amerika) was the name for the Russian Empire's colonial possessions in North America from 1799 to 1867. It consisted mostly of present-day Alaska in the United States, but a ...
. Joining the crew as unpaid supercargo
A supercargo (from Spanish ''sobrecargo'') is a person employed on board a vessel by the owner of cargo carried on the ship. The duties of a supercargo are defined by admiralty law and include managing the cargo owner's trade, selling the merchand ...
, Sutter, 10 Native Hawaiian
Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, First Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians) ( haw, kānaka, , , and ), are the indigenous ethnic group of Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands.
Hawa ...
laborers, and several other followers embarked on April 20, 1839.[Dillion (1967), pp. 72–73.] Staying at New Archangel for a month, Sutter joined several balls hosted by Governor Kupreyanov, who likely gave help in determining the course of the Sacramento River
The Sacramento River ( es, Río Sacramento) is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento ...
.[ The ''Clementine'' then sailed for Alta California, arriving on July 1, 1839, at ]Yerba Buena
Yerba buena or hierba buena is the Spanish name for a number of aromatic plants, most of which belong to the mint family. ''Yerba buena'' translates as "good herb". The specific plant species regarded as ''yerba buena'' varies from region to regi ...
(now San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
), which at that time was only a small seaport town.
Beginnings of Sutter's Fort
At the time of Sutter's arrival, Alta California was a province of Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
and had a population of Native Americans estimated at 100,000–700,000. Sutter had to go to the capital at Monterey
Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bot ...
to obtain permission from the governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
, Juan Bautista Alvarado
Juan Bautista Valentín Alvarado y Vallejo (February 14, 1809 – July 13, 1882) was a Californio politician that served as Governor of Alta California from 1837-42. Prior to his term as governor, Alvarado briefly led a movement for independe ...
, to settle in the territory. Alvarado saw Sutter's plan of establishing a colony in Central Valley as useful in "buttressing the frontier which he was trying to maintain against Indians, Russians, Americans and British."[Dillion (1967), pp. 76–77.] Sutter persuaded Governor Alvarado to grant him 48,400 acres of land for the sake of curtailing American encroachment on the Mexican territory of California. This stretch of land was called New Helvetia and Sutter was given the right to “represent in the Establishment of New Helvetia all the laws of the country, to function as political authority and dispenser of justice, in order to prevent the robberies committed by adventurers from the United States, to stop the invasion of savage Indians, and the hunting and trading by companies from the Columbia (river).”
The governor stipulated however that for Sutter to qualify for land ownership
In common law systems, land tenure, from the French verb "tenir" means "to hold", is the legal regime in which land owned by an individual is possessed by someone else who is said to "hold" the land, based on an agreement between both individual ...
, he had to reside in the territory for a year and become a Mexican citizen, which he did to assuage the governor on August 29, 1840.[ However, shortly after his land tract was granted and his fort was erected, Sutter quickly reneged on his agreement to discourage European trespass. On the contrary, Sutter aided the migration of whites to California. “I gave passports to those entering the country… and this (Bautista) did not like it… I encouraged immigration, while they discouraged it. I sympathized with the Americans while they hated them.”
Construction was begun in August 1839 on a fortified settlement which Sutter named ]New Helvetia
New Helvetia (Spanish: Nueva Helvetia), meaning "New Switzerland", was a 19th-century Alta California settlement and rancho, centered in present-day Sacramento, California.
Colony of Nueva Helvetia
The Swiss pioneer John Sutter (1803–1880) a ...
, or "New Switzerland," after his homeland. In order to elevate his social standing, Sutter impersonated a Swiss guard officer who had been displaced by the French Revolution and identified himself accordingly as 'Captain Sutter of the Swiss Guard'. When the settlement was completed in 1841, on June 18, he received title to on the Sacramento River
The Sacramento River ( es, Río Sacramento) is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento ...
. The site is now part of the California state capital of Sacramento
)
, image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
.
Relationship with Native Americans
Sutter's Fort had a central building made of adobe bricks, surrounded by a high wall with protection on opposite corners to guard against attack. It also had workshops and stores that produced all goods necessary for the New Helvetia settlement.
Sutter employed or enslaved Native Americans of the Miwok
The Miwok (also spelled Miwuk, Mi-Wuk, or Me-Wuk) are members of four linguistically related Native American groups indigenous to what is now Northern California, who traditionally spoke one of the Miwok languages in the Utian family. The word ...
and Maidu tribes, the Hawaiians (Kanakas) he had brought, and also employed some Europeans at his compound. He envisioned creating an agricultural utopia
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book '' Utopia'', describing a fictional island societ ...
, and for a time the settlement was in fact quite large and prosperous. Prior to the Gold Rush, it was the destination for most immigrants entering California via the high passes of the Sierra Nevada, including the ill-fated Donner Party
The Donner Party, sometimes called the Donner–Reed Party, was a group of American pioneers who migrated to California in a wagon train from the Midwest. Delayed by a multitude of mishaps, they spent the winter of 1846–1847 snowbound in th ...
of 1846, for whose rescue Sutter contributed supplies.
In order to build his fort and develop a large ranching/farming network in the area, Sutter relied on Indian labor. Some Native Americans worked voluntarily for Sutter (e.g. Nisenan
The Nisenan are a group of Native Americans and an Indigenous people of California from the Yuba River and American River watersheds in Northern California and the California Central Valley. The Nisenan people are classified as part of the lar ...
s, Miwoks, Ochecames), but others were subjected to varying degrees of coercion that resembled slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
or serfdom
Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which deve ...
. Sutter believed that Native Americans had to be kept "strictly under fear" in order to serve white landowners. Housing and working conditions at the fort were very poor, and have been described as "enslavement", with uncooperative Indians being "whipped, jailed, and executed." Sutter's Native American "employees" slept on bare floors in locked rooms without sanitation, and ate from troughs made from hollowed tree trunks. Housing conditions for workers living in nearby villages and ranchería
The Spanish word ranchería, or rancherío, refers to a small, rural settlement. In the Americas the term was applied to native villages or bunkhouses. Anglo-Americans adopted the term with both these meanings, usually to designate the resident ...
s was described as being more favorable. Pierson Reading, Sutter’s fort manager, wrote in a letter to a relative that “the Indians of California make as obedient and humble slaves as the Negro in the South". If Indians refused to work for him, Sutter responded with violence. Observers accused him of using "kidnapping, food privation, and slavery" in order to force Indians to work for him, and generally stated that Sutter held the Indians under inhumane conditions. Theodor Cordua, a German immigrant who leased land from Sutter, wrote:
“When Sutter established himself in 1839 in the Sacramento Valley, new misfortune came upon these peaceful natives of the country. Their services were demanded immediately. Those who did not want to work were considered as enemies. With other tribes the field was taken against the hostile Indian. Declaration of war was not made. The villages were attacked usually before daybreak when everybody was still asleep. Neither old nor young was spared by the enemy, and often the Sacramento River was colored red by the blood of the innocent Indians, for these villages usually were situated at the banks of the rivers. During a campaign one section of the attackers fell upon the village by way of land. All the Indians of the attacked village naturally fled to find protection on the other bank of the river. But there they were awaited by the other half of the enemy and thus the unhappy people were shot and killed with rifles from both sides of the river. Seldom an Indian escaped such an attack, and those who were not murdered were captured. All children from six to fifteen years of age were usually taken by the greedy white people. The village was burned down and the few Indians who had escaped with their lives were left to their fate.”
Heinrich Lienhard, a Swiss immigrant that served as Sutter's majordomo, wrote of the treatment of the enslaved once captured: “As the room had neither beds nor straw, the inmates were forced to sleep on the bare floor. When I opened the door for them in the morning, the odor that greeted me was overwhelming, for no sanitary arrangements had been provided. What these rooms were like after ten days or two weeks can be imagined, and the fact that nocturnal confinement was not agreeable to the Indians was obvious. Large numbers deserted during the daytime, or remained outside the fort when the gates were locked.”
Lienhard also claimed that Sutter was known to rape his Indian captives, even girls as young as 12 years old. Despite the procurement of fertile agriculture, Sutter fed his Native American work force in pig troughs, where they would eat gruel with their hands in the sun on their knees. Numerous visitors to Sutter’s Fort noted the shock of this sight in their diaries, alongside their discontent for his kidnapping of Indian children who were sold into bondage to repay Sutter's debts or given as gifts. American explorer and mountain man James Clyman
James Clyman (February 1, 1792 – December 27, 1881), also known as Jim Clyman, was a mountain man and an explorer and guide in the American Far West.
Early life
James Clyman was born on a farm that belonged to George Washington in Fauquie ...
reported in 1846 that:
“The Capt. utter
In spoken language analysis, an utterance is a continuous piece of speech, often beginning and ending with a clear pause. In the case of oral languages, it is generally, but not always, bounded by silence. Utterances do not exist in written langu ...
keeps 600 to 800 Indians in a complete state of Slavery and as I had the mortification of seeing them dine I may give a short description. 10 or 15 Troughs 3 or 4 feet long were brought out of the cook room and seated in the Broiling sun. All the Labourers grate icand small ran to the troughs like so many pigs and fed themselves with their hands as long as the troughs contained even a moisture.”
Dr. Waseurtz af Sandels, a Swedish explorer who visited California in 1842-1843, also wrote about Sutter's brutal treatment of Indian slaves in 1842:
“I could not reconcile my feelings to see these fellows being driven, as it were, around some narrow troughs of hollow tree trunks, out of which, crouched on their haunches, they fed more like beasts than human beings, using their hands in hurried manner to convey to their mouths the thin porage icwhich was served to them. Soon they filed off to the fields after having, I fancy, half satisfied their physical wants.”
These concerns were even shared by Juan Bautista Alvarado
Juan Bautista Valentín Alvarado y Vallejo (February 14, 1809 – July 13, 1882) was a Californio politician that served as Governor of Alta California from 1837-42. Prior to his term as governor, Alvarado briefly led a movement for independe ...
, then Governor of Alta California, who deplored Sutter's ill-treatment of indigenous Californians in 1845:
“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.”
Despite his promises to the Mexican government, Sutter was hospitable to American settlers entering the region, and provided an impetus for many of them to settle there. The hundreds of thousands of acres which these men took from the Native Americans had been an important source of food and resources. As the White settlers were ranching two million head of livestock, shooting wild game in enormous numbers, and replacing wilderness with wheat fields, available food for Indians in the region diminished. In response, some Indians took to raiding the cattle of White ranchers. In August 1846, an article in '' The Californian'' declared that in respect to California Indians, "The only effectual means of stopping inroads upon the property of the country, will be to attack them in their villages." On February 28, 1847 Sutter ordered the Kern and Sutter massacres The Kern and Sutter massacres refer to a series of massacres on March 23, 1847, in which men led by Captain Edward M. Kern and rancher John Sutter killed twenty California Indians.
History Background
In 1839 John Sutter, a Swiss immigrant of Germ ...
in retaliation.
Much of Sutter's labor practices were illegal under Mexican law. However, in April 22, 1850, following the annexation of California by the United States, the California state legislature passed the "Act for the Government and Protection of Indians," legalizing the kidnapping and forced servitude of Indians by White settlers. In 1851, the civilian governor of California declared, "That a war of extermination will continue to be waged ... until the Indian race becomes extinct, must be expected." This expectation soon found its way into law. An 1851 legislative measure not only gave settlers the right to organize lynch mobs to kill Indians, but allowed them to submit their expenses to the government. By 1852 the state had authorized over a million dollars in such claims.
In 1856, a ''San Francisco Bulletin'' editorial stated, "Extermination is the quickest and cheapest remedy, and effectually prevents all other difficulties when an outbreak f Indian violenceoccurs." In 1860 the legislature passed a law expanding the age and condition of Indians available for forced slavery. A ''Sacramento Daily Union'' article of the time accused high-pressure lobbyists interested in profiting off enslaved Indians of pushing the law through, gave examples of how wealthy individuals had abused the law to acquire Indian slaves from the reservations, and stated, "The Act authorizes as complete a system of slavery, without any of the checks and wholesome restraints of slavery, as ever was devised."
'Red Star' and 'Bear Flag' revolts
=Lone star rebellion
=
In 1844–45, there was a revolt of the Mexican colony of California against the army of the mother country.[Salomon, Carlos Manuel. ''Pio Pico: The Last Governor of Mexican California,'' pp. 73–75, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma, 2010. .][Engstrand, Iris and Owens, Ken. ''John Sutter: Sutter’s Fort and the California Gold Rush,'' pp. 59–61, Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., New York, 2004. .]
Two years earlier, in 1842, Mexico had removed California Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado, and sent Brigadier General Manuel Micheltorena to replace him. It also sent an army.
The army had been recruited from Mexico’s worst jails, and the soldiers soon began stealing Californians' chickens and other property. Micheltorena’s army was described as descending on California “like a plague of locusts, stripping the countryside bare.” Californians complained that the army was committing robberies, beatings and rapes.
In late 1844, the Californios revolted against Micheltorena. Micheltorena had appointed Sutter as ''commandante militar.'' Sutter, in turn, recruited men, one of whom was John Marsh John Marsh may refer to:
Politicians
* John Marsh (MP fl. 1394–1397), MP for Bath
* John Marsh (MP fl. 1414–1421), MP for Bath
*John Allmond Marsh (1894–1952), Canadian Member of Parliament
* John Otho Marsh Jr. (1926–2019), American c ...
, a medical doctor and owner of the large Rancho los Meganos
Rancho or Ranchos may refer to:
Settlements and communities
*Rancho, Aruba, former fishing village and neighbourhood of Oranjestad
*Ranchos of California, 19th century land grants in Alta California
**List of California Ranchos
*Ranchos, Buenos Ai ...
. Marsh, who sided with the Californios, wanted no part of this effort. However, Sutter gave Marsh a choice: either join the army or be arrested and put in jail.
In 1845, Sutter’s forces met the Californio forces at the Battle of Providencia (also known as the Second Battle of Cahuenga Pass). The battle consisted primarily of an artillery exchange, and during the battle Marsh secretly went over to parley with the other side. There was a large number of Americans fighting on both sides. Marsh met with them and convinced the Americans on both sides that there was no reason for Americans to be fighting each other.[Lyman, George D. ''John Marsh, Pioneer: The Life Story of a Trail-blazer on Six Frontiers,'' pp. 254–261, Chautauqua Press, Chautauqua, New York, 1931.]
The Americans agreed and quit the fight, and as a result, Sutter’s forces lost the battle. The defeated Micheltorena took his army back to Mexico, and Californian Pio Pico
Pio may refer to:
Places
* Pio Lake, Italy
* Pio Island, Solomon Islands
* Pio Point, Bird Island, south Atlantic Ocean
People
* Pio (given name)
* Pio (surname)
* Pio (footballer, born 1986), Brazilian footballer
* Pio (footballer, born 1 ...
became governor.
=Mexico's loss of the Mexican American War
=
Mexico's control of '' Alta California'' having become especially tenuous during the United States' war against Mexico, Sutter, as a self-professed citizen of France, threatened to muster British, Canadian and American immigrants and indigenous and again declare New Helvetia a republic under French protection. Sutter wrote to U.S. Counsel Jacob Leese in Yerba Buena
Yerba buena or hierba buena is the Spanish name for a number of aromatic plants, most of which belong to the mint family. ''Yerba buena'' translates as "good herb". The specific plant species regarded as ''yerba buena'' varies from region to regi ...
: "Very curious reports come to me from below but the poor wretches do not know what they do. The first French frigate that comes here will do me justice. The first step they do against me I will make a declaration of Independence and proclaim California a Republic independent of Mexico."
On July 7, 1846, commodore (US naval captain) John B. Montgomery, in the aftermath of the renegade Bear Flag Revolt's Battle of Monterey
The Battle of Monterey, at Monterey, California, occurred on 7 July 1846, during the Mexican–American War. The United States captured the town unopposed.
Prelude
In February 1845, at the Battle of Providencia, the Californio forces had ous ...
, raised the American flag there. Montgomery sent a messenger with an American flag to Sutter, who, on July 11, 1846, hoisted the same,
completing formal transition of his fort to U.S. command the next month upon his own commission as a lieutenant under US Army Captain John C. Fremont. Command of the fort reverted to Sutter in March of the next year.
Beginning of the Gold Rush
In 1848, gold was discovered in the area. Initially, one of Sutter's most trusted employees, James W. Marshall, found gold at Sutter's Mill. It started when Sutter hired Marshall, a New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
native who had served with John C. Frémont in the Bear Flag revolt, to build a water-driven sawmill in Coloma, along the American River
, name_etymology =
, image = American River CA.jpg
, image_size = 300
, image_caption = The American River at Folsom
, map = Americanrivermap.png
, map_size = 300
, map_caption ...
. Sutter was intent on building a city on his property (not yet named ), including housing and a wharf on the Sacramento River
The Sacramento River ( es, Río Sacramento) is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento ...
, and needed lumber for the construction. One morning, as Marshall inspected the tailrace for silt and debris, he noticed some gold nuggets and brought them to Sutter's attention. Together, they read an encyclopedia entry on gold and performed primitive tests to confirm whether it was precious metal. Sutter concluded that it was, in fact, gold, but he was very anxious that the discovery not disrupt his plans for construction and farming. At the same time, he set about gaining legitimate title to as much land near the discovery as possible.
Sutter's attempt at keeping the gold discovery quiet failed when merchant and newspaper publisher Samuel Brannan
Samuel Brannan (March 2, 1819 – May 5, 1889) was an American settler, businessman, journalist, and prominent Mormon who founded the '' California Star'', the first newspaper in San Francisco, California. He is considered the first to publici ...
returned from Sutter's Mill to San Francisco with gold he had acquired there and began publicizing the find. Large crowds of people overran the land and destroyed nearly everything Sutter had worked for. To avoid losing everything, Sutter deeded his remaining land to his son John Augustus Sutter Jr.
When Sutter's oldest son arrived from Switzerland, Sutter Sr. asked his fellow Swiss majordomo Heinrich Lienhard to lend him his half of the gold he had mined, so that Sutter could impress his son with a large amount of the precious metal. However, when Lienhard later went to the Fort, Sutter, Jr., having taken charge of his father's debt-ridden business, was unable to return his share of the gold to him. Lienhard finally accepted Sutter's flock of sheep as payment.
The younger Sutter, who had come from Switzerland and joined his father in September 1848, saw the commercial possibilities of the land and promptly started plans for building a new town he named Sacramento
)
, image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
, after the Sacramento River
The Sacramento River ( es, Río Sacramento) is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento ...
. The elder Sutter deeply resented this; he had wanted the town named Sutterville (for them) and for it to be built near New Helvetia.
Sutter gave up New Helvetia to pay the last of his debts. He rejoined his family and lived in Hock Farm (in California along the Feather River
The Feather River is the principal tributary of the Sacramento River, in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California. The river's main stem is about long. Its length to its most distant headwater tributary is just over . The main stem Feather ...
).
In 1853, the California legislature made Sutter a Major General in the California Militia.
Land grant challenge
Sutter's El Sobrante (Spanish for leftover) land grant was challenged by the Squatter's Association, and in 1858 the U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
denied its validity.
Sutter got a letter of introduction to the Congress of the United States from the governor of California. He moved to Washington D.C. at the end of 1865, after Hock Farm was destroyed by fire in June 1865.
Sutter sought reimbursement of his losses associated with the Gold Rush. He received a pension of US$250 a month as a reimbursement of taxes paid on the Sobrante grant at the time Sutter considered it his own. He and wife Annette moved to Lititz, Pennsylvania
Lititz is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States, north of the city of Lancaster. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 9,370.
History
Lititz was founded by members of the Moravian Church in 1756 and was named a ...
in 1871. The proximity to Washington, D.C. along with the reputed healing qualities of Lititz Springs appealed to the aging Sutter. He also wanted three of his grandchildren (he had grandchildren in Acapulco, Mexico, as well) to have the benefits of the fine private Moravian Schools. After having prospectors destroy his crops and slaughter cows leaving everything but his own gold, John Sutter spent the rest of his life trying to get the government to pay him for his losses, but he never had any luck.
Sutter built his home across from the Lititz Springs Hotel (renamed in 1930 to be the General Sutter Inn and subsequently renamed to be the Lititz Springs Inn & Spa). For more than fifteen years, Sutter petitioned Congress for restitution but little was done. On June 16, 1880, Congress adjourned, once again, without action on a bill which would have given Sutter US$50,000. Two days later, on June 18, 1880, Sutter died in the Made's Hotel in Washington D.C. He was returned to Lititz and is buried adjacent to God's Acre, the Moravian Graveyard; Anna Sutter died the following January and is buried with him.
Legacy to the region
There are numerous California landmarks bearing the name of Sutter. Sutter Street in San Francisco is named for John A. Sutter. Sutter's Landing, Sutterville Road, Sutter Middle School, Sutter's Mill School, and Sutterville Elementary School in Sacramento
)
, image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
are all named after him. The Sutterville Bend of the Sacramento River
The Sacramento River ( es, Río Sacramento) is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento ...
is named for Sutter, as i
Sutter Health
a non-profit health care system in Northern California. The City of Sutter Creek, California and Sutter, California are also named after him. In Acapulco, Mexico, the property that used to belong to John Augustus Sutter Jr. became the Hotel Sutter, which is still in service. The Sutter Buttes
The Sutter Buttes (Maidu: ''Histum Yani'' or ''Esto Yamani'', Wintun: ''Olonai-Tol'', Nisenan: ''Estom Yanim'') are a small circular complex of eroded volcanic lava domes which rise as buttes above the flat plains of the Sacramento Valley in Su ...
, a mountain range near Yuba City, California
Yuba City (Maidu: ''Yubu'') is a city in Northern California and the county seat of Sutter County, California, United States. The population was 70,117 at the 2020 census. Yuba City is the principal city of the Yuba City Metropolitan Statistic ...
, and Sutter County, California
Sutter County is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 99,633. The county seat is Yuba City. Sutter County is included in the Yuba City, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the Sacr ...
(of which Yuba City is the seat) are named after him as well.
The Johann Agust Sutter House in Lititz, Pennsylvania
Lititz is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States, north of the city of Lancaster. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 9,370.
History
Lititz was founded by members of the Moravian Church in 1756 and was named a ...
was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 1982.
The 'Sutter's Gold' rose, an orange blend hybrid tea rose
Hybrid tea is an informal horticultural classification for a group of garden roses. The first hybrid tea roses were created in France in the mid-1800s, by cross-breeding the large, floriferous Hybrid Perpetuals with the tall, elegant Tea roses. ...
bred by Herbert C. Swim, was named after him.
Gov. Jerry Brown
Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of ...
, elected to a third term in 2010, had a Welsh corgi named Sutter Brown, affectionately referred to as the First Dog of California. Sutter died in late 2016 from cancer.
On June 15, 2020, amid the Black Lives Matter protests and the removal of many statues deemed to be racist, the statue of John Sutter outside the Sutter Medical Center in Sacramento, CA
)
, image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
, was removed, "out of respect for some community members' viewpoints, and in the interest of public safety for patients and staff."
Popular culture
Scholarly studies
* Albert L. Hurtado, ''John Sutter: A Life on the North American Frontier'' (2006) University of Oklahoma Press, 416 pp. .
Films
*'' Days of '49'' (1924, serial), with Charles Brinley
Charles Brinley (November 15, 1880 – February 17, 1946) was an American actor of the silent era. He appeared in 140 films between 1913 and 1939. He was born in Yuma, Arizona and died in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, ...
as Sutter
*'' California in '49'' (1924), with Charles Brinley
Charles Brinley (November 15, 1880 – February 17, 1946) was an American actor of the silent era. He appeared in 140 films between 1913 and 1939. He was born in Yuma, Arizona and died in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, ...
as Sutter
*'' The Kaiser of California'' (1936), with Luis Trenker as Sutter
*''Sutter's Gold
''Sutter's Gold'' is a 1936 American Western film. It is a fictionalized version of the aftermath of the discovery of gold on Sutter's property, spurring the California Gold Rush of 1849. Edward Arnold plays John Sutter. The supporting cast i ...
'' (1936), with Edward Arnold as Sutter
*''Kit Carson
Christopher Houston Carson (December 24, 1809 – May 23, 1868) was an American frontiersman. He was a fur trapper, wilderness guide, Indian agent, and U.S. Army officer. He became a frontier legend in his own lifetime by biographies and ...
'' (1940), with Edwin Maxwell as Sutter
*" The Pathfinder" ('' The Great Adventure'', 1964), with Carroll O'Connor
John Carroll O'Connor (August 2, 1924 – June 21, 2001) was an American actor, producer, and director whose television career spanned over four decades. He became a lifelong member of the Actors Studio in 1971. O'Connor found widespread fame a ...
as Sutter
*' (1969), with Pierre Michael as Sutter
*'' Donner Pass: The Road to Survival'' (1978), with Royal Dano
Royal Edward Dano Sr. (November 16, 1922 - May 15, 1994) was an American actor. In a career spanning 46 years, he was perhaps best known for playing cowboys, villains, and Abraham Lincoln. Dano also provided the voice of the Audio-Animatronic L ...
as Sutter
*''The Chisholms
''The Chisholms'' is a CBS western miniseries
A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used inter ...
'', CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
miniseries, role of Sutter played by Ben Piazza
Ben Piazza (July 30, 1933 – September 7, 1991) was an American actor.
Life and career
Piazza made his film debut in Sidney J. Furie's Canadian film ''A Dangerous Age'' (1959) followed by his Hollywood debut in '' The Hanging Tree'' (1959). T ...
(1980)
*'' California Gold Rush'' (1981), with John Dehner
John Dehner (DAY-ner) (born John Dehner Forkum, also credited Dehner Forkum; November 23, 1915February 4, 1992) was an American stage, radio, film, and television actor. From the late 1930s to the late 1980s, he amassed a long list of performan ...
as Sutter
*''Dream West
''Dream West'' is a 1986 American television miniseries starring Richard Chamberlain and directed by Dick Lowry.
Development
The seven-hour miniseries was broken into three parts (2 hours, 2 hours, and 3 hours). Part 1 aired on Sunday, April 13 ...
'' (1986), with Jerry Orbach
Jerome Bernard Orbach (October 20, 1935 – December 28, 2004) was an American actor and singer, described at the time of his death as "one of the last'' bona fide'' leading men of the Broadway musical and global celebrity on television" and a " ...
as Sutter
*'' General Sutter'' (1999), with Hannes Schmidhauser as Sutter
Comics
*'' Tex Willer Special#9: La Valle del Terrore'' (1996) by Claudio Nizzi
Claudio Nizzi (born 9 September 1938 in Sétif, Algeria) is an Italian comic author.
He started his career as comic scriptwriter in 1963, writing for the comics magazine '' Il Vittorioso''. During 1969 he started working for ''Il Giornalino'' ...
and Magnus
Magnus, meaning "Great" in Latin, was used as cognomen of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in the first century BC. The best-known use of the name during the Roman Empire is for the fourth-century Western Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus. The name gained wid ...
Music
*"Sutter's Mill", a song by Dan Fogelberg
Daniel Grayling Fogelberg (August 13, 1951 – December 16, 2007) was an American musician, songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist. He is known for his 1970s and 1980s songs, including " Longer" (1979), " Same Old Lang Syne" (1980), and ...
(1985)
Literature
*, a novel by Blaise Cendrars
Frédéric-Louis Sauser (1 September 1887 – 21 January 1961), better known as Blaise Cendrars, was a Swiss-born novelist and poet who became a naturalized French citizen in 1916. He was a writer of considerable influence in the European mo ...
(1925). A character sketch, it portrays his life as more tragic than it really was.
* Stefan Zweig narrates Sutter's story in one of his (1927) called ("The Discovery of Eldorado").
* Luis Trenker , 1961 novelization of his 1936 screenplay, in turn based on
*"John Sutter", a poem by Yvor Winters
Arthur Yvor Winters (October 17, 1900 – January 25, 1968) was an American poet and literary critic.
Life
Winters was born in Chicago, Illinois and lived there until 1919 except for brief stays in Seattle and in Pasadena, where his grandparen ...
(1960)[Yvor Winters, “John Sutter” from The Selected Poems of Yvor Winters, edited by R. L. Barth. Used by permission of Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio]
/ref>
See also
*Kern and Sutter massacres The Kern and Sutter massacres refer to a series of massacres on March 23, 1847, in which men led by Captain Edward M. Kern and rancher John Sutter killed twenty California Indians.
History Background
In 1839 John Sutter, a Swiss immigrant of Germ ...
*Fort Ross, California
Fort Ross ( Russian: Форт-Росс, Kashaya ''mé·ṭiʔni''), originally Fortress Ross ( pre-reformed Russian: Крѣпость Россъ, tr. ''Krepostʹ Ross''), is a former Russian establishment on the west coast of North America i ...
References
External links
His account of the discovery of gold
Captain Sutter's account of the first discovery of the gold (illustrated lithograph)
Collection of John Sutter Journal Entries
Guide to the John Augustus Sutter Papers
at The Bancroft Library
The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...
Finding Aid to the Sutter/Link Family Papers, 1849–1992 (bulk 1849–1964)
The Bancroft Library
The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...
Street names in San Francisco
John A. Sutter Jr. Marker. Spanish (Acapulco) / English (Sacramento)
*
*Scientific American
''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it ...
,
Gen. John A. Sutton
, 1880-07-10, pp. 21
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutter, John
California pioneers
Land owners from California
People of the California Gold Rush
1803 births
1880 deaths
American city founders
Ranchers from California
American people of the Bear Flag Revolt
Military personnel from California
German explorers of North America
Explorers of California
History of Sacramento County, California
Naturalized citizens of Mexican California
People of the Conquest of California
People from Lörrach (district)
People from Lititz, Pennsylvania
People from the Margraviate of Baden
Namesakes of San Francisco streets
Businesspeople from Sacramento, California
American people of Swiss-German descent
German emigrants to Mexico
Swiss emigrants to Mexico
German people of Swiss descent
German emigrants to Switzerland
People from Neuchâtel
American slave owners