Chief Tenaya
Encyclopedia
Chief Tenaya was a Native American
chief of the Yosemite Valley
people in California
.
, the doctor of the Mariposa Battalion, wrote that "Ten-ie-ya was recognized, by the Mono tribe
, as one of their number, as he was born and lived among them until his ambition made him a leader and founder of the Pai-Ute colony in Ah-wah-ne."
The Ahwahneechee occupied Yosemite Valley until a sickness destroyed most of them.
The few Ahwahneechee left Yosemite Valley and joined the Mono Lake Paiutes in the eastern Sierra Nevada. Tenaya's father married a Mono Paiute woman and Tenaya was born from that union. Tenaya grew up amongst his mother's people and married a Mono Paiute woman and had three children.
The Ahwahneechee were a powerful tribe feared by the surrounding Miwok
tribes.
The surrounding tribes called them Yosemite meaning "they are killers." Others say the name is a corruption of the word "Uzumati" meaning "grizzly bear" which was the totem of the larger of the two main social subdivisions of the band.
By 1851, conflicts between the non-indigenous miners and the Native Americans in the Sierra started to increase. The state of California
decided to send the Natives to reservation
s. The Mariposa Brigade was formed to carry out the relocation. Chief Tenaya agreed to move to the Fresno Reservation, instead of the destruction of his entire band. Many of his 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.
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 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 chief the few remaining members dispersed between Mono Lake and to the near west.
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
chief of the Yosemite Valley
Yosemite Valley
Yosemite Valley is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada mountains of California, carved out by the Merced River. The valley is about long and up to a mile deep, surrounded by high granite summits such as Half Dome and El Capitan, and densely forested with pines...
people in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
Background
Tenaya's father was the chief of the Ahwahneechee (or Awahnichi), which means "people of the Ahwahnee" (Yosemite Valley). The Ahwahneechee had become a tribe distinct from the other tribes in the area. Lafayette BunnellLafayette Bunnell
Lafayette Houghton Bunnell was an American physician, explorer, author, and an explorer of Yosemite Valley, born in Rochester, New York.-Biography:...
, the doctor of the Mariposa Battalion, wrote that "Ten-ie-ya was recognized, by the Mono tribe
Mono tribe
The Mono are a Native American people who traditionally live in the central Sierra Nevada Mountains, the Eastern Sierra , the Mono Basin, and adjacent areas of the Great Basin.-Culture and geography:...
, as one of their number, as he was born and lived among them until his ambition made him a leader and founder of the Pai-Ute colony in Ah-wah-ne."
The Ahwahneechee occupied Yosemite Valley until a sickness destroyed most of them.
The few Ahwahneechee left Yosemite Valley and joined the Mono Lake Paiutes in the eastern Sierra Nevada. Tenaya's father married a Mono Paiute woman and Tenaya was born from that union. Tenaya grew up amongst his mother's people and married a Mono Paiute woman and had three children.
Leadership
Fifty years later a medicine man advised Tenaya that it was time to return to the beautiful Yosemite Valley because the sickness was gone. Tenaya took about 200 people back into Yosemite Valley.The Ahwahneechee were a powerful tribe feared by the surrounding Miwok
Miwok
Miwok can refer to any one of four linguistically related groups of Native Americans, native to Northern California, who spoke one of the Miwokan languages in the Utian family...
tribes.
The surrounding tribes called them Yosemite meaning "they are killers." Others say the name is a corruption of the word "Uzumati" meaning "grizzly bear" which was the totem of the larger of the two main social subdivisions of the band.
By 1851, conflicts between the non-indigenous miners and the Native Americans in the Sierra started to increase. The state of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
decided to send the Natives to reservation
Indian reservation
An American Indian reservation is an area of land managed by a Native American tribe under the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs...
s. The Mariposa Brigade was formed to carry out the relocation. Chief Tenaya agreed to move to the Fresno Reservation, instead of the destruction of his entire band. Many of his 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 prospectorProspecting
Prospecting is the physical search for minerals, fossils, precious metals or mineral specimens, and is also known as fossicking.Prospecting is a small-scale form of mineral exploration which is an organised, large scale effort undertaken by mineral resource companies to find commercially viable ore...
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 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 chief the few remaining members dispersed between Mono Lake and to the near west.
External links
- The Yosemite Indians
- Discovery of the Yosemite by Lafayette BunnellLafayette BunnellLafayette Houghton Bunnell was an American physician, explorer, author, and an explorer of Yosemite Valley, born in Rochester, New York.-Biography:...
contains most of what we know about Chief Tenaya - The Last Survivor by H. J. Taylor contains an account of the last survivor of Tenaya's original tribe.
- 1910 Miwok tribal area map Map of Miwok territory by noted California Anthropologist C. Hart Merriam.
- Historic Yosemite Indian chiefs - with photos
- Albert Tenaya, musician, songwriter, storyteller, descendant of Chief Tenaya
