Tag: chetco

colonization, General History, Native Issues, Oregon Coast, Oregon indians1 Comment

Persistence of Genocide Upon the Chetco People

David G. Lewis, PhD

The Chetco Indians, perhaps more than nearly any other tribe on the Oregon coast, were repeatedly attacked by racist white settlers before their removal. In a previous set of essays I presented the story of the Tolowa and Chetco massacres by a group of paid vigilante militia, perhaps members of the famous Red Caps who committed similar atrocities to the Yurok, and other tribes on the Klamath river. They were certainly the same men who committed genocide at the Tolowa village of Yontocket. On the Chetco river the two villages at Chit were burned, more than twenty people killed on … Continue reading Persistence of Genocide Upon the Chetco People

coos bay, General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Oregon Coast, Oregon indians, Rogue Valley, Siletz Reservation, treaties, Umpqua Valley3 Comments

The Gateway on the Central Oregon Coast, Fort Umpqua and the Umpqua Sub Indian Agency

David G. Lewis, PhD

The southern and central Coast of Oregon is a relatively unknown area in Native American history. As the area is not well researched it is generally assumed to have been vacated during the Indian removals of 1856. However, federal records show us that this is not the case at all. That there were tribes and bands living on the central coast, even below the southern border of the Coast Reservation, and there was quite a lot of traffic of Native groups moving up and down the coast as they were either forced into the reservation and its encampments, or tried … Continue reading The Gateway on the Central Oregon Coast, Fort Umpqua and the Umpqua Sub Indian Agency

California Natives, General History, Native Issues, Oregon Coast, Oregon indians, Uncategorized12 Comments

The Most Persistent Attempt to Exterminate the Tribes, Beginning with the Yontocket Massacre 1853

David G. Lewis, PhD

As related in my previous essay about the Chetko Massacre, there was a massacre of the Tolowa in 1853. The Palmer account suggest the previous massacre was the work of the same 8 or 9 men who destroyed the two Chetko villages in March of 1853. Annette Reed, a Tolowa descendant (Tolowa Dee-ni Nation),  and Professor of Ethnic Studies at Sacramento State University, suggests that the way in which the history was written is suspicious. The pioneer account from the History of Del Norte County (Bledsoe), suggests that it was the Tolowa’s own fault that the massacre happened. In the … Continue reading The Most Persistent Attempt to Exterminate the Tribes, Beginning with the Yontocket Massacre 1853

General History, Native Issues, Oregon Coast, Oregon indians, Uncategorized12 Comments

Massacre at the Chetko Villages, 1853

David G. Lewis, PhD

The following is a direct transcription of a report from Joel Palmer of the Chetco Massacre of 1853. This is a well-known massacre on the southern Oregon Coast, and referenced in many of the ethnographies and Native histories of the area. In the account Palmer describes a grisly scene of a successful attack on two Chetko villages, burning the men in their houses, shooting many, and completely destroying both villages over a period of two days. Some people survive this account but life for them will never be the same. Palmer references an attack and massacre of the Tolowa villages … Continue reading Massacre at the Chetko Villages, 1853