Mendocino Indian Reservation, a former

Indian reservation An Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...

Mendocino County Mendocino County (; ''Mendocino'', Spanish language, Spanish for "of Antonio de Mendoza, Mendoza) is a County (United States), county located on the North Coast (California), North Coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United Sta ...

, one of the early Indian reservations to be established in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

by the Federal Government for the resettlement of

California Indians The indigenous peoples of California (known as Native Californians) are the indigenous inhabitants who have lived or currently live in the geographic area within the current boundaries of California before and after the arrival of Europeans. ...

. It was established in the spring of 1856, in the vicinity of modern Noyo. Its area was 25,000 acres (100 km2) and its boundary extended north from what is now Simpson Lane at to Abalobadiah Creek and east from the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

to a north–south line passing through the summit of Bald Hill. Report of the commissioner of the General Land Office, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1870, pp.43-44
/ref>

History

The area of the reservation was home to Native Americans, most of whom belonged to the

Pomo The Pomo are an Indigenous people of California. Historical Pomo territory in Northern California was large, bordered by the Pacific Coast to the west, extending inland to Clear Lake, and mainly between Cleone and Duncans Point. One small grou ...

tribe. They were hunter-gatherers who lived along the northern coast of California. In 1855 an exploration party from the

Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and A ...

visited the area looking for a site on which to establish a reservation and, in the spring of 1856, the Mendocino Indian Reservation was established at Noyo. Yuki, (Ukiah or Yokiah),

Wappo The Wappo ( endonym: ''Micewal'') are an indigenous people of northern California. Their traditional homelands are in Napa Valley, the south shore of Clear Lake, Alexander Valley, and Russian River valley. They are distantly related to the Yu ...

, Salan Pomo,

Southern Pomo Southern Pomo is one of seven mutually unintelligible Pomoan languages which were formerly spoken and is currently spoken by the Pomo people in Northern California along the Russian River and Clear Lake. The Pomo languages have been grouped to ...

(Kianamaras or Gallinomero),

Whilkut The Whilkut (variants: ''Whiylqit, Hwil'-kut, Hoilkut, Hoilkut-hoi'') also known as "(Upper) Redwood Creek Indians" or "Mad River Indians" were a Pacific Coast Athabaskan tribe speaking a dialect similar to the Hupa to the northeast and Chilula ...

(Redwood) and others lived on this reservation. In the summer of 1857,

First Lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a s ...

Horatio G. Gibson, then serving at the

Presidio of San Francisco The Presidio of San Francisco (originally, El Presidio Real de San Francisco or The Royal Fortress of Saint Francis) is a park and former U.S. Army post on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, and is part o ...

, was ordered to take Company M,

3rd Regiment of Artillery The 3rd Air Defense Artillery Regiment is an air defense artillery regiment of the United States Army, first formed in 1821 as the 3rd Regiment of Artillery. History Constituted 1 June 1821 in the Regular Army as the 3rd Regiment of Artillery and ...

to establish a military post one and one-half miles north of the

Noyo River The Noyo River (Pomo: ''Chemli-bida'') is a river on the north coast of California in Mendocino County. The river's headwaters are in the steep Mendocino Range, but downstream the river flows through gently sloping marine terraces before drain ...

on the Mendocino Indian Reservation. The official date of the establishment of

Fort Bragg Fort Bragg is a military installation of the United States Army in North Carolina, and is one of the largest military installations in the world by population, with around 54,000 military personnel. The military reservation is located within Cum ...

was June 11, 1857. Its purpose was to maintain order on the reservation, and subjugate the Indians and reservation lands. In January 1859 Gibson and Company M, 3rd Regiment of Artillery left Fort Bragg to be replaced by Company D,

6th Infantry Regiment The 6th Infantry Regiment ("Regulars") was formed 11 January 1812. Zachary Taylor, later the twelfth President of the United States, was a commander of the unit. The motto, "Regulars, By God!" derives from the Battle of Chippawa, in which Brit ...

. They stayed for two years and continued to build up the post. Following the 1858–1859 ''Wintoon War'', the defeated

people were sent to the Mendocino Indian Reservation. Over the next year they deserted the reservation to return to their homeland in the Bald Hills and the escalating hostilities of the

Bald Hills War Bald Hills War (1858–1864) was a war fought by the forces of the California Militia, California Volunteers and soldiers of the U.S. Army against the Chilula, Lassik, Hupa, Mattole, Nongatl, Sinkyone, Tsnungwe, Wailaki, Whilkut and Wi ...

. Anthony Jennings Bledsoe, Indian wars of the Northwest: A California sketch, Bacon & Company, San Francisco, 1885, pp.228-280
/ref> In June 1862, Federal troops had been withdrawn to the East to fight in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, being replaced by Company D, 2nd California Infantry, that was ordered to garrison the post and remained until 1864. That year, following the end of the Bald Hills War, the Indians who resided on the reservation were moved to the

Round Valley Indian Reservation Round or rounds may refer to: Mathematics and science * The contour of a closed curve or surface with no sharp corners, such as an ellipse, circle, rounded rectangle, cant, or sphere * Rounding, the shortening of a number to reduce the numbe ...

. In October the Fort Bragg garrison was loaded aboard the steamer "Panama" and completed the evacuation and abandonment of Mendocino County's first military post. The Mendocino Indian Reservation was discontinued in March 1866 and the land opened for settlement three years later.

References

External links

Mendocino Indian Reservation (California)
from www.familysearch.org.
1869 map of Mendocino Indian Reservation
{{authority control 1856 establishments in California Former Native American populated places in California Former settlements in Mendocino County, California American Indian reservations in California Former American Indian reservations

History

See also

References

External links