Research Catalog

Title

An American genocide : the United States and the California Indian catastrophe, 1846-1873 / Benjamin Madley.

Author

Madley, Benjamin

Publication

New Haven : Yale University Press, [2016]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xv, 692 pages : illustrations, maps; 25 cm

Summary

Between 1846 and 1873, California's Indian population plunged from perhaps 150,000 to 30,000. Benjamin Madley is the first historian to uncover the full extent of the slaughter, the involvement of state and federal officials, the taxpayer dollars that supported the violence, indigenous resistance, who did the killing, and why the killings ended. This deeply researched book is a comprehensive and chilling history of an American genocide. Madley describes pre-contact California and precursors to the genocide before explaining how the Gold Rush stirred vigilante violence against California Indians. He narrates the rise of a state-sanctioned killing machine and the broad societal, judicial, and political support for genocide. Many participated: vigilantes, volunteer state militiamen, U.S. Army soldiers, U.S. congressmen, California governors, and others. Ultimately, the state and federal governments spent at least $1,700,000 on campaigns against California Indians. Besides evaluating government officials' culpability, Madley considers why the slaughter constituted genocide and how other possible genocides within and beyond the Americas might be investigated using the methods presented in this groundbreaking book.

Series Statement

The Lamar series in Western history

Uniform Title

Lamar series in western history.

Subjects

• Indians of North America > California > History > 19th century
• California > History > 19th century
• Genocide > California > History > 19th century

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 629-666) and index.

Contents

Introduction -- California Indians before 1846 -- Prelude to genocide : March 1846-March 1848 -- Gold, immigrants, and killers from Oregon : March 1848-May 1850 -- Turning point : the killing campaigns of December 1849-May 1850 -- Legislating exclusion and vulnerability : 1846-1853 -- Rise of the killing machine : militias and vigilantes, April 1850-December 1854 -- Perfecting the killing machine : December 1854-March 1861 -- The Civil War in California and its aftermath : March 1861-1871 -- Conclusion -- Appendixes. 1: Reports of nonspecific numbers of California Indians killed, 1846-1873 ; 2: Reports of fewer than five California Indians killed, 1846-1873 ; 3: Reports of five or more California Indians killed, 1846-1873 ; 4: Reports of non-Indians killed by California Indians, 1846-1873 ; 5: Selected massacres with contested death tolls, 1846-1866 ; 6: Major volunteer California state militia expeditions, 1850-1861 ; 7: Reports of California Indians killed by US army soldiers and their auxiliaries, 1846-1873 ; 8: The United Nations Genocide Convention.

Call Number

JFE 16-7558

ISBN

• 9780300181364
• 0300181361

LCCN

• 2015955528
• 9780300181364

OCLC

930798100

Author

Madley, Benjamin, author.

Title

An American genocide : the United States and the California Indian catastrophe, 1846-1873 / Benjamin Madley.

Publisher

New Haven : Yale University Press, [2016]

Type of Content

text

cartographic image

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

The Lamar series in Western history

Lamar series in western history.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 629-666) and index.

Other Standard Identifier

9780300181364

Research Call Number

JFE 16-7558