Tenaya (died 1853) was a leader of the

Ahwahnechee people The Ahwahnechee are a Native American people who traditionally lived in the Yosemite Valley and still live in surrounding area. They are the seven tribes of Yosemite Miwok, Northern Paiute, Kucadikadi Mono Lake people. As one of the most docum ...

Yosemite Valley Yosemite Valley ( ; ''Yosemite'', Miwok for "killer") is a U-shaped valley, glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California. The valley is about long and deep, surroun ...

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 ...

Background

Tenaya's father was a leader of the

(or Awahnichi). The Ahwahneechee had become a tribe distinct from the other tribes in the area.

Lafayette Bunnell Lafayette Houghton Bunnell (March 13, 1824 – July 21, 1903) was an American physician, author, and explorer. He is most well known for his involvement with the Mariposa Battalion, the first non-Indians to enter Yosemite Valley, and his book Dis ...

, the doctor of the Mariposa Battalion, wrote that "Ten-ie-ya was recognized, by the

Mono tribe The Mono ( ) are a Native American people who traditionally live in the central Sierra Nevada, the Eastern Sierra (generally south of Bridgeport), the Mono Basin, and adjacent areas of the Great Basin. The Eastern mono is often grouped under th ...

, as one of their number, as he was born and lived among them until his ambition made him a leader and founder of the

Paiute Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three groups do not form a single set. The term "Pai ...

colony in Ah-wah-ne." The Ahwahneechee occupied Yosemite Valley until a sickness destroyed most of them. The few Ahwahneechee left

Yosemite Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...

Valley and joined the

Mono Lake Paiutes The Kucadikadi are a band of Northern Paiute people who live near Mono Lake in Mono County, California. They are the southernmost band of Northern Paiute.Fowler and Liljeblad 437Arkush, Brooke S"Historic Northern Paiute Winter Houses in Mono Basi ...

in the eastern

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

. Tenaya's father married a Mono Paiute woman and Tenaya was born from that union. Tenaya grew up amongst his mother's people.

Leadership

An Ahwahneechee medicine man and friend of his Father persuaded a young Tenaya to return. Tenaya took the few remnants of the Ah-wah-nee-chees that had been living with the Monos and Paiutes and reestablished themselves in Yosemite Valley with him as their leader. Tenaya had four wives. The Ahwahneechee were feared by the surrounding

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 ' ...

tribes, who called them ''yohhe'meti'', meaning "they are killers" By 1851, conflicts between the non-indigenous miners and the Native Americans in the Sierra started to increase. The state of

decided to send the Natives to reservations. The

Mariposa Battalion Mariposa Battalion was a California State Militia unit formed in 1851 to defeat the Ahwahnechee and Chowchillas in the Mariposa War, a part of the California genocide. After a force under Mariposa County Sheriff James Burney was found unequal to ...

was formed to carry out the relocation, marching Tenaya and his people to the Fresno Reservation. Many of Tenaya's band left Yosemite Valley instead of following Tenaya. As they approached the Fresno reservation, they fled back to the Yosemite Valley. The Brigade then re-entered the Valley, captured Tenaya's sons, and killed his youngest son. Tenaya then agreed to go back to the reservation.

Death

By the summer of 1851, Tenaya grew tired of the reservation. He gave his pledge that he would not disturb any non-indigenous people. However, in 1852, a group of

prospector Prospector may refer to: Space exploration * Prospector (spacecraft), a planned lunar probe, canceled in 1962 * '' Lunar Prospector'', a NASA spacecraft Trains * Prospector (train), a passenger train operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Western ...

s were killed in the Valley. Tenaya and his band fled to join the Mono Paiutes. He returned to the Valley in 1853. He was

stoned to death Stoning, or lapidation, is a method of capital punishment where a group throws stones at a person until the subject dies from blunt trauma. It has been attested as a form of punishment for grave misdeeds since ancient times. The Torah and Ta ...

in a dispute with the Mono Paiutes over stolen horses. The remaining survivors who were not killed were taken back to Mono Lake and absorbed into the Mono Lake Paiute population. Another version of the story says that in the spring of 1852, a party of eight prospectors entered the Valley. One of the prospectors had lured his comrades there to kill them and take possession of a mine they held in partnership. He had incited the Yosemites to kill the intruders, arranging his escape and letting the blame fall on them. Late in the summer of 1853, Tenaya and some of the men of his band were playing a hand bone game with some Mono Indians. The gambling became tense and a fight broke out which ended with Tenaya being struck in the head with a rock crushing his skull along with several others of his band killed as well. As was their custom, they were cremated and wailing was heard for two weeks. After the death of their leader, the few remaining members dispersed between Mono Lake and to the near west.

Legacy

Tenaya Lake was named after Tenaya. Tenaya Middle Schools in

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, makin ...

and

Merced, California Merced (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Mercy") is a city in, and the county seat of, Merced County, California, Merced County, California, United States, in the San Joaquin Valley. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 86,333, up ...

are named after him. An elementary school in

Groveland, California Groveland is a census-designated place (CDP) in Tuolumne County, California. Groveland sits at an elevation of . The 2020 United States census reported Groveland's population was 540. Groveland was created as a CDP prior to the 2010 census; previo ...

is also named after Chief Tenaya.

References

External links

The Yosemite Indians

''Discovery of the Yosemite''
by