Juan Antonio (1783–1863), Cahuilla name: Cooswootna, Yampoochee, (He Gets Mad Quickly), was a major chief of the Mountain Band of the

Cahuilla The Cahuilla , also known as ʔívil̃uqaletem or Ivilyuqaletem, are a Native American people of the various tribes of the Cahuilla Nation, living in the inland areas of southern California.Mt. San Jacinto in 1783. In 1840, the

Ute Ute or UTE may refer to: * Ute (band), an Australian jazz group * Ute (given name) * ''Ute'' (sponge), a sponge genus * Ute (vehicle), an Australian and New Zealand term for certain utility vehicles * Ute, Iowa, a city in Monona County along ...

leader

Walkara Chief Walkara (c. 1808 – 1855; also known as Wakara, Wahkara, Chief Walker or Colorow) was a Shoshone leader of the Utah Indians known as the Timpanogo and Sanpete Band. It is not completely clear what cultural group the Utah or Timp ...

led a great raid through the

Cajon Pass Cajon Pass (; Spanish: ''Puerto del Cajón'' or ''Paso del Cajón'') is a mountain pass between the San Bernardino Mountains to the east and the San Gabriel Mountains to the west in Southern California. Created by the movements of the San Andreas ...

into

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

to capture a large number of horses from the Mexican ranchos. In some of these raids, his raiders clashed with Juan Antonio and the Cahuilla Mountain Band. In 1842, Juan Antonio greeted the explorer Daniel Sexton and gave him access to explore the area near the

San Gorgonio Pass The San Gorgonio Pass, or Banning Pass, is a elevation gap on the rim of the Great Basin between the San Bernardino Mountains to the north and the San Jacinto Mountains to the south. The pass was formed by the San Andreas Fault, a major trans ...

. Following Walkara's raid, Jose Carmen del Lugo invited New Mexican colonists to settle in

Politana Politana or Apolitana was the first Spanish settlement in the San Bernardino Valley of California. It was established as a mission chapel and supply station by the Mission San Gabriel in the a rancheria of the Guachama Indians that lived on the ...

to in exchange for defending his

Rancho San Bernardino Rancho San Bernardino was a Mexican land grant in present-day San Bernardino County, California given in 1842 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to José del Carmen Lugo, José María Lugo, Vicente Lugo, and Diego Sepulveda. The grant included a la ...

and its herds of horses and cattle from raids by bandits and Native American raiders. Following a dispute with the Lugo's the New Mexicans moved south to build the settlements of

Agua Mansa Agua Mansa ("gentle water") is a former settlement in an unincorporated area of San Bernardino County, near Colton, California, United States. Once the largest settlement in San Bernardino County, it is now a ghost town. Only the cemetery remain ...

and La Placita de Trujillo on the

Rancho Jurupa Rancho Jurupa was a Mexican land grant in California, United States, that is divided by the present-day counties of Riverside and San Bernardino. The land was granted to Juan Bandini by Governor Juan B. Alvarado in 1838. Located along both ba ...

. Chief Juan Antonio was then invited to move a group of his Cahuilla Mountain Band to

in their place. During the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

, Chief Juan Antonio led his warriors to join

Californios Californio (plural Californios) is a term used to designate a Hispanic Californians, Hispanic Californian, especially those descended from Spanish and Mexican settlers of the 17th through 19th centuries. California's Spanish language, Spanish-s ...

led by Jose Carmen del Lugo in attacking their traditional enemy, the

Luiseño The Luiseño or Payómkawichum are an indigenous people of California who, at the time of the first contacts with the Spanish in the 16th century, inhabited the coastal area of southern California, ranging from the present-day southern part of L ...

. Lugo led this action in retaliation for the Pauma Massacre, in which the Luiseno had killed 11 Californios. The combined forces staged an

ambush An ambush is a long-established military tactics, military tactic in which a combatant uses an advantage of concealment or the element of surprise to attack unsuspecting enemy combatants from concealed positions, such as among dense underbru ...

and killed 33–40 of the Luiseno

warrior A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have been p ...

s, an event that became known as the Temecula Massacre of 1847. Juan Antonio also lent support to a

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

expedition led by Lieutenant

Edward Fitzgerald Beale Edward Fitzgerald "Ned" Beale (February 4, 1822 – April 22, 1893) was a national figure in the 19th-century United States. He was a naval officer, military general, explorer, frontiersman, Indian affairs superintendent, California rancher, ...

, defending the party against attacks by Walkara and his band of Ute warriors. For his help Beale awarded him a pair of military

epaulets Epaulette (; also spelled epaulet) is a type of ornamental shoulder piece or decoration used as insignia of rank by armed forces and other organizations. Flexible metal epaulettes (usually made from brass) are referred to as ''shoulder scales'' ...

, which he wore thereafter. In the summer of 1851, Juan Antonio and a group of his fellow tribesmen pursued and destroyed the outlaw Irving Gang in

San Timoteo Canyon San Timoteo Canyon is a river valley canyon southeast of Redlands, in the far northwestern foothills of the San Jacinto Mountains in the Inland Empire region of Southern California. Geography The canyon runs from its southern inflow mouth in Bea ...

. This band of ruffians had stolen and robbed in the San Bernardino Valley including at the

, near Juan Antonio's village of

. Acting on the orders of the Jose Carmen del Lugo, Justice of the Peace and proprietor of the rancho, whose house the brigands were looting at the time, the Cahuilla pursued them into the canyon and in a running fight chased them into a box canyon, surrounded and killed eleven of them with arrows. Working on the ranchos and hunting down native raiders and bandits was a role that Juan Antonio's people had played in the

San Bernardino San Bernardino (; Spanish language, Spanish for Bernardino of Siena, "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a ...

region under the Mexican authorities. Under American rule, they believed themselves duly authorized by the Justice of the Peace to carry out their actions as before. However, the newly arrived American settlers in

resented the killing of white men by Indians and took it to be the beginning of an Indian uprising. A company of militia from

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

was sent against them. The Cahuilla fled to the mountains and discovering the truth of the matter, the leader of the militia, Major General Joshua H. Bean, restrained the militia from attacking the Cahuilla with difficulty, preventing a war. Judge

Benjamin Ignatius Hayes Benjamin Hayes, or Benjamin Ignatius Hayes, (1815–77) was an American pioneer who was the first judge of the district court that served Los Angeles, San Diego and San Bernardino counties in California. His seminal rulings are still cited in tha ...

held a hearing and subsequently found their actions had legal justification. However the resentment of local Americans at the killing of fellow Americans led Juan Antonio to move his people away from white settlements in the valley to the mountains. Closely following the outcome of the Irving Gang incident, in late 1851, Juan Antonio, his warriors and their families, moved eastward from Politana, toward the

and settled in a valley which branched off to the northeast from San Timoteo Canyon, at a village named

Saahatpa Saahatpa was a former Cahuilla settlement in Riverside County. It was a settlement of Juan Antonio's Mountain Cahuilla from 1851 to 1863. It was located in a valley that branched to the northeast from San Timoteo Canyon. The site is marked by Ca ...

. In November 1851, the

Garra Revolt The Yuma War was the name given to a series of United States military operations conducted in southern California and what is today southwestern Arizona from 1850 to 1853. The Quechan (also known as Yuma) were the primary opponent of the United ...

occurred, wherein the Cupeño leader Antonio Garra attempted to bring Juan Antonio into his revolt of native people in

. Juan Antonio, friendly to the Californios and Americans, was instrumental in capturing Antonio Garra and turning him over to authorities helping to end that revolt. Juan Antonio and his people remained in Saahatpa until he and many of his people died in the

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

epidemic that struck Southern California in 1862–1863. It reduced the once numerous Cahuilla to a minority of the population in the region. Juan Antonio was buried at Saahatpa. His body was discovered there in a 1956 archeological expedition, identified by his epaulets and reburied with military honors.Carole A. Barrett and Harvey Markowitz, Editors, ''American Indian Biographies'', Revised Edition, Salem Press, Pasadena, 2005, , p. 13

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Antonio, Juan Cahuilla people Native American leaders 19th-century Native Americans 1783 births 1863 deaths Cahuilla

See also

References