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In 1849, Irataba and the Mohave head chief, Cairook, encountered a large group of ] led by Captain ], who was conducting an exploratory expedition up the Colorado River. Several Mohave assisted the expedition as it crossed, and Cairook and Irataba agreed to escort the group though the territory of the ] to the ] that would take them to southern California. | In 1849, Irataba and the Mohave head chief, Cairook, encountered a large group of ] led by Captain ], who was conducting an exploratory expedition up the Colorado River. Several Mohave assisted the expedition as it crossed, and Cairook and Irataba agreed to escort the group though the territory of the ] to the ] that would take them to southern California. | ||
In 1858, the Mohave committed a massacre against the ], the first European American emigrant ] to traverse Beale's Wagon Road though Mohave country. This elicited a stern response from the ], |
In 1858, the Mohave committed a massacre against the ], the first European American emigrant ] to traverse Beale's Wagon Road though Mohave country. This elicited a stern response from the ], which in 1849 established ] near the site of the massacre. They also imprisoned several Mohave leaders, including Chief Cairook. In June, following Cairook's death in captivity, Irataba was made principle chief of the Mohave Nation. | ||
In 1864, Irataba traveled to Washington, D.C. for an official visit with members of the United States military and its government, including President ]. During his stay he toured the US capital, New York City, and Philadelphia, and enjoyed great acclaim along the way; Americans lavished him with gifts of medals, swords, and photographs, and Lincoln gave him a silver-headed cane. When the tour ended, he returned home to report what he had seen, but the Mohave did not believe him, and they subsequently mocked him mercilessly. Although he died ten years later in relative disgrace, the Mohave never replaced Irataba as head chief; he was their last, and was given full traditional respect upon his death in 1874. | In 1864, Irataba traveled to Washington, D.C. for an official visit with members of the United States military and its government, including President ]. During his stay he toured the US capital, New York City, and Philadelphia, and enjoyed great acclaim along the way; Americans lavished him with gifts of medals, swords, and photographs, and Lincoln gave him a silver-headed cane. When the tour ended, he returned home to report what he had seen, but the Mohave did not believe him, and they subsequently mocked him mercilessly. Although he died ten years later in relative disgrace, the Mohave never replaced Irataba as head chief; he was their last, and was given full traditional respect upon his death in 1874. | ||
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] in the ]|thumb|left]] | ] in the ]|thumb|left]] | ||
Irataba or ''Yara tav'', from the Mohave ''eecheeyara tav'' |
Irataba or ''Yara tav'', from the Mohave ''eecheeyara tav'' (meaning "beautiful bird") also rendered as Irateba, Arateve, and Yiratewa, was born into the ''Neolge'', or Sun Fire clan of the ] Nation of Native Americans {{circa|1814}}.<ref>{{harvnb|Ricky|1999|p=100}}: born {{circa|1814}} to the Sun Fire clan; {{harvnb|Sherer|1966|p=6}}: Irataba's Mohave name was Yara tav, a shortened form of the Mohave ''eecheeyara tav'', but it has also been rendered as Irateba, Arateve, and Yiratewa.</ref> He lived in present-day Arizona, near the Nevada and California border, on the east bank of the ] in the ] near a group of sharply pointed rocks known as the ], located south of where the ] empties into the Mohave Canyon.{{sfn|Kroeber|1925|pp=725–7}} | ||
Irataba caught fish in the Colorado River and hunted game, such as rabbits and beaver, using a bow and arrow or traps.{{sfn|Johansen|Pritzker|2007|p=1019}} In the spring, when the Colorado River flooded the bottomlands, he helped his tribe cultivate corn, watermelons, beans, gourds, tobacco, and pumpkins.{{sfn|Wilson|2000|p=218}} The Mohave lived in groups of houses along the riverbank, but eschewed centralized villages. During the winter, they lived in semi-subterranean dwellings built with Cottonwood logs and arrow-weed covered in earth. In the summer they lived in open-air flat-roofed houses known as '']'', which provided sufficient shade.{{sfn|Moratto|2014|p=347}} Mohave who enjoyed higher status would cover their body in "goose grease" to help alleviate the summer heat.{{sfn|NYT|May 1864|p=1 |
Irataba caught fish in the Colorado River and hunted game, such as rabbits and beaver, using a bow and arrow or traps.{{sfn|Johansen|Pritzker|2007|p=1019}} In the spring, when the Colorado River flooded the bottomlands, he helped his tribe cultivate corn, watermelons, beans, gourds, tobacco, and pumpkins.{{sfn|Wilson|2000|p=218}} The Mohave lived in groups of houses along the riverbank, but eschewed centralized villages. During the winter, they lived in semi-subterranean dwellings built with Cottonwood logs and arrow-weed covered in earth. In the summer they lived in open-air flat-roofed houses known as '']'', which provided sufficient shade.{{sfn|Moratto|2014|p=347}} Mohave who enjoyed higher status would cover their body in "goose grease" to help alleviate the summer heat.{{sfn|NYT|May 1864|p=1}} | ||
==Adulthood== | ==Adulthood== | ||
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] | ] | ||
In 1849, Irataba, Cairook, and the Mohave people encountered a large group of ]s, including Captain ] and Lieutenant J.C. Ives, who were leading an exploratory expedition up the Colorado River.{{sfn|Woodward|1953|p=54}} Six hundred Mohave gathered near the explorer's camp, eagerly trading corn, beans, squash, and wheat for beads and ]. By the end of their commerce, Whipple's party had purchased six bushels of corn and two hundred pounds of flour. The Mohave taught the European Americans a traditional game played with a hoop and pole, and the two groups entertained themselves with target practice, the Mohave using bows and arrows and the whites shooting pistols and rifles.{{sfn|Whipple|1856|pp=112–9}} | In 1849, Irataba, Cairook, and the Mohave people encountered a large group of ]s, including Captain ] and Lieutenant ], who were leading an exploratory expedition up the Colorado River.{{sfn|Woodward|1953|p=54}} Six hundred Mohave gathered near the explorer's camp, eagerly trading corn, beans, squash, and wheat for beads and ]. By the end of their commerce, Whipple's party had purchased six bushels of corn and two hundred pounds of flour. The Mohave taught the European Americans a traditional game played with a hoop and pole, and the two groups entertained themselves with target practice, the Mohave using bows and arrows and the whites shooting pistols and rifles.{{sfn|Whipple|1856|pp=112–9}} | ||
When the expedition experienced difficulties crossing the Colorado River on February 27, several Mohave jumped into the water and helped salvage the supplies. They saved many sheep that had fallen into the river using rafts they had constructed in preparation for the crossing.{{sfn|Whipple|1856|pp=112–9}} Whipple then asked the Mohave to guide them across the desert, and Cairook and Irataba agreed. They escorted the group across the hostile territory of the Paiute to the ] that would take them to southern California.{{sfn|Whipple|1856|pp=119–28}}{{refn|group=nb|Irataba assisted Captain Lorenzo Sitgreaves during his 1851 ].{{sfn|Ricky|1999|p=100}}}} | When the expedition experienced difficulties crossing the Colorado River on February 27, several Mohave jumped into the water and helped salvage the supplies. They saved many sheep that had fallen into the river using rafts they had constructed in preparation for the crossing.{{sfn|Whipple|1856|pp=112–9}} Whipple then asked the Mohave to guide them across the desert, and Cairook and Irataba agreed. They escorted the group across the hostile territory of the Paiute to the ] that would take them to southern California.{{sfn|Whipple|1856|pp=119–28}}{{refn|group=nb|Irataba assisted Captain Lorenzo Sitgreaves during his 1851 ].{{sfn|Ricky|1999|p=100}}}} | ||
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By midnight, the Baley company had fallen behind and decided to stop and make a mountain camp while the Rose company continued to the Colorado, where they planned to water the train's combined stock and build a raft in preparation for the impending river crossing. There the emigrants encountered more Mohave, but unlike the friendly ones that greeted them at Sitgreaves Pass, these were decidedly unwelcoming.{{sfn|Baley|2002|p=61}} Several people were physically harassed, and many of the party's cattle were driven away and slaughtered. The group settled-in for the night at a spot two hundred yards from the river and {{convert|10|mi}} from the Baley company's mountain camp.{{sfn|Baley|2002|pp=61–2}} The following morning they moved closer to the river bank, where they could more easily water their stock. They were visited soon afterward by many Mohave warriors asking about their intentions in the region, including a sub-chief who heard their complaints and assured them that no further depravations would occur.{{sfn|Baley|2002|pp=63–4}} Around noon, they moved closer to where they planned to cross, near a patch of cottonwood trees that were suitable for building rafts.{{sfn|Baley|2002|pp=63–4}} | By midnight, the Baley company had fallen behind and decided to stop and make a mountain camp while the Rose company continued to the Colorado, where they planned to water the train's combined stock and build a raft in preparation for the impending river crossing. There the emigrants encountered more Mohave, but unlike the friendly ones that greeted them at Sitgreaves Pass, these were decidedly unwelcoming.{{sfn|Baley|2002|p=61}} Several people were physically harassed, and many of the party's cattle were driven away and slaughtered. The group settled-in for the night at a spot two hundred yards from the river and {{convert|10|mi}} from the Baley company's mountain camp.{{sfn|Baley|2002|pp=61–2}} The following morning they moved closer to the river bank, where they could more easily water their stock. They were visited soon afterward by many Mohave warriors asking about their intentions in the region, including a sub-chief who heard their complaints and assured them that no further depravations would occur.{{sfn|Baley|2002|pp=63–4}} Around noon, they moved closer to where they planned to cross, near a patch of cottonwood trees that were suitable for building rafts.{{sfn|Baley|2002|pp=63–4}} | ||
Around 2 p.m. on August 30, the emigrants working near the river were attacked by approximately three hundred Mohave warriors, who let out terrifying "war whoops" as they sent arrows flying into the camp.{{sfn|Baley|2002|pp=67–9}} The men quickly armed themselves as women frantically hurried their children to the protection offered by their covered wagons.{{sfn|Woodward|1953|p=69}} The onslaught continued for several hours, but Rose and others held off the assailants, who eventually retreated.{{sfn|Baley|2002|pp=70–2}} In all, eight members of the ] had been killed, including five children, and twelve wounded; of the train's livestock, only seventeen cattle and ten mules and horses remained.{{sfn|Baley|2002|pp=68, 71}} The emigrants managed to kill seventeen Mohave warriors.{{sfn|Zappia|2014|p=129}} With the wounded in one wagon, the children in another, and the healthy adults on foot, the party began the |
Around 2 p.m. on August 30, the emigrants working near the river were attacked by approximately three hundred Mohave warriors, who according to author Charles W. Baley let out terrifying "war whoops" as they sent arrows flying into the camp.{{sfn|Baley|2002|pp=67–9}} The men quickly armed themselves as women frantically hurried their children to the protection offered by their covered wagons.{{sfn|Woodward|1953|p=69}} The onslaught continued for several hours, but Rose and others held off the assailants, who eventually retreated.{{sfn|Baley|2002|pp=70–2}} In all, eight members of the ] had been killed, including five children, and twelve wounded; of the train's livestock, only seventeen cattle and ten mules and horses remained.{{sfn|Baley|2002|pp=68, 71}} The emigrants managed to kill seventeen Mohave warriors.{{sfn|Zappia|2014|p=129}} With the wounded in one wagon, the children in another, and the healthy adults on foot, the party began the difficult journey back to Albuquerque, {{convert|500|mi}} away.{{sfn|Baley|2002|p=72}}{{refn|group=nb|According to the author Arthur Woodward, while traveling back to Albuquerque the Rose-Baley Party observed a fiery comet that further upset the already frightened children.{{sfn|Woodward|1953|p=58}}}} According to cultural anthropologist A.L. Kroeber, "the event sealed the fate of the Mohave as an independent people."{{sfn|Kroeber|Kroeber|1973|p=53}} | ||
==Fort Mohave== | ==Fort Mohave== | ||
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] | ] | ||
When news of the massacre reached the west, the ] |
When news of the massacre reached the west, the ] established a military fort at Beale's Crossing to protect white travelers, and on December 26, 1858, ] and fifty ]s were dispatched from ] to cross the desert and confront the Mohave.{{sfn|Woodward|1953|p=58}} Irataba attempted to arrange a peaceful meeting, but Hoffman ordered his troops to fire on the warriors, who attacked and repelled the force.<ref>{{harvnb|Kroeber|Kroeber|1973|p=63}}: Irataba attempted to arrange a peaceful meeting; {{harvnb|Woodward|1953|p=58}}: the Mohave attacked and repelled the force.</ref> Hoffman returned in April 1859, by way of ], with four ] of the ].{{sfn|Woodward|1953|p=58}} When they arrived at Beale's Crossing, the Mohave decided against attacking the army of five hundred soldiers.{{sfn|Woodward|1953|p=58}} Hoffman immediately arranged for a meeting between he and his officers and Cairook and his sub-chiefs, with Pascual, chief of the ], translating from English to Spanish to Yuman and Mohave and vice versa.{{sfn|Woodward|1953|p=59}} | ||
Hoffman demanded that the Mohave agree to never again harm white settlers along the wagon trail, and he ordered that a fort be built at Beale's Crossing to enforce the decree. When he asked which chief was responsible for the Rose-Baley Party massacre, Cairook proudly admitted that he had ordered the attack. Hoffman declared that, as punishment, the Mohave were required to surrender six prominent leaders and three warriors who had taken part in the massacre. Cairook offered himself as a hostage, and he and the others were transported in the river steamer, ''General Jessup'', to Fort Yuma.{{sfn|Woodward|1953|p=59}} Many soldiers remained to begin construction on ].{{sfn|Kroeber|Kroeber|1973|p=24}} After its completion, Irataba and five to eight hundred of his most ardent supporters moved to the Colorado River Valley, where in 1865 the ] was established.<ref>{{harvnb|Griffin-Pierce|2000|p=246}}: Irataba moved to the Colorado River Valley, where in 1865 the Colorado River Indian Reservation was established; {{harvnb|Sherer|1966|p=8}}: Irataba relocated with five to eight hundred of his most ardent supporters.</ref> This marked the beginning of a rift between two rival factions of Mohave, the other led by a respected sub-chief named ''Homoseh quahote'', known by the whites as Seck-a-hoot.{{sfn|Sherer|1966|pp=8–9}} | Hoffman demanded that the Mohave agree to never again harm white settlers along the wagon trail, and he ordered that a fort be built at Beale's Crossing to enforce the decree. When he asked which chief was responsible for the Rose-Baley Party massacre, Cairook proudly admitted that he had ordered the attack. Hoffman declared that, as punishment, the Mohave were required to surrender six prominent leaders and three warriors who had taken part in the massacre. Cairook offered himself as a hostage, and he and the others were transported in the river steamer, ''General Jessup'', to Fort Yuma.{{sfn|Woodward|1953|p=59}} Many soldiers remained to begin construction on ].{{sfn|Kroeber|Kroeber|1973|p=24}} After its completion, Irataba and five to eight hundred of his most ardent supporters moved to the Colorado River Valley, where in 1865 the ] was established.<ref>{{harvnb|Griffin-Pierce|2000|p=246}}: Irataba moved to the Colorado River Valley, where in 1865 the Colorado River Indian Reservation was established; {{harvnb|Sherer|1966|p=8}}: Irataba relocated with five to eight hundred of his most ardent supporters.</ref> This marked the beginning of a rift between two rival factions of Mohave, the other led by a respected sub-chief named ''Homoseh quahote'', known by the whites as Seck-a-hoot.{{sfn|Sherer|1966|pp=8–9}} |
Revision as of 00:46, 23 February 2015
Irataba | |
---|---|
February 1864 | |
Mohave leader | |
Preceded by | Cairook |
Personal details | |
Born | c. 1814 Arizona |
Died | May 1874 Colorado River Indian Reservation |
Cause of death | Uncertain |
Known for | Irataba was the last independent head chief of the Mohave. |
Irataba (also known as Yara tav, from eecheeyara tav; c. 1814 – May 1874), was the last independent head chief of the Mohave Nation of Native Americans. He was born c. 1814 near the Colorado River in present-day Arizona.
In 1849, Irataba and the Mohave head chief, Cairook, encountered a large group of European Americans led by Captain Amiel Whipple, who was conducting an exploratory expedition up the Colorado River. Several Mohave assisted the expedition as it crossed, and Cairook and Irataba agreed to escort the group though the territory of the Paiute to the Old Spanish Trail that would take them to southern California.
In 1858, the Mohave committed a massacre against the Rose-Baley Party, the first European American emigrant wagon train to traverse Beale's Wagon Road though Mohave country. This elicited a stern response from the US War Department, which in 1849 established Fort Mohave near the site of the massacre. They also imprisoned several Mohave leaders, including Chief Cairook. In June, following Cairook's death in captivity, Irataba was made principle chief of the Mohave Nation.
In 1864, Irataba traveled to Washington, D.C. for an official visit with members of the United States military and its government, including President Abraham Lincoln. During his stay he toured the US capital, New York City, and Philadelphia, and enjoyed great acclaim along the way; Americans lavished him with gifts of medals, swords, and photographs, and Lincoln gave him a silver-headed cane. When the tour ended, he returned home to report what he had seen, but the Mohave did not believe him, and they subsequently mocked him mercilessly. Although he died ten years later in relative disgrace, the Mohave never replaced Irataba as head chief; he was their last, and was given full traditional respect upon his death in 1874.
Early life
Irataba or Yara tav, from the Mohave eecheeyara tav (meaning "beautiful bird") also rendered as Irateba, Arateve, and Yiratewa, was born into the Neolge, or Sun Fire clan of the Mohave Nation of Native Americans c. 1814. He lived in present-day Arizona, near the Nevada and California border, on the east bank of the Colorado River in the Mohave Valley near a group of sharply pointed rocks known as the Needles, located south of where the Grand Canyon empties into the Mohave Canyon.
Irataba caught fish in the Colorado River and hunted game, such as rabbits and beaver, using a bow and arrow or traps. In the spring, when the Colorado River flooded the bottomlands, he helped his tribe cultivate corn, watermelons, beans, gourds, tobacco, and pumpkins. The Mohave lived in groups of houses along the riverbank, but eschewed centralized villages. During the winter, they lived in semi-subterranean dwellings built with Cottonwood logs and arrow-weed covered in earth. In the summer they lived in open-air flat-roofed houses known as ramadas, which provided sufficient shade. Mohave who enjoyed higher status would cover their body in "goose grease" to help alleviate the summer heat.
Adulthood
—Daily Evening Bulletin, December 2, 1863is a big Indian, literally as well as figuratively ... granitic in appearance as one of the Lower Coast mountains, with a head only less in size to a buffalo's and a lower jar massive enough to crush nuts or crush quartz.
Mohave men were extraordinarily tall; Chief Cairook reached a barefoot height of nearly six and a half feet. By adulthood, Irataba had grown almost as tall as Cairook, becoming one of the tribe's sub-chiefs.
The Mohave were fierce warriors who were frequently the aggressor, and although they did not plunder their enemy's possessions, they took prisoners and scalps. Mohave war parties, which regularly battled against the Chemehuevi, Paiute, and Maricopa peoples, utilized bowmen tasked with inflicting damage on an approaching group and keeping them distracted in preparation for melee attacks by warriors brandishing war clubs capable of crushing their opponent's skulls.
Contact with European Americans
In 1849, Irataba, Cairook, and the Mohave people encountered a large group of European Americans, including Captain Amiel Whipple and Lieutenant J.C. Ives, who were leading an exploratory expedition up the Colorado River. Six hundred Mohave gathered near the explorer's camp, eagerly trading corn, beans, squash, and wheat for beads and calico. By the end of their commerce, Whipple's party had purchased six bushels of corn and two hundred pounds of flour. The Mohave taught the European Americans a traditional game played with a hoop and pole, and the two groups entertained themselves with target practice, the Mohave using bows and arrows and the whites shooting pistols and rifles.
When the expedition experienced difficulties crossing the Colorado River on February 27, several Mohave jumped into the water and helped salvage the supplies. They saved many sheep that had fallen into the river using rafts they had constructed in preparation for the crossing. Whipple then asked the Mohave to guide them across the desert, and Cairook and Irataba agreed. They escorted the group across the hostile territory of the Paiute to the Old Spanish Trail that would take them to southern California.
In October 1857, Edward Fitzgerald Beale led an expedition to establish a trade route along the 35th parallel from Fort Smith, Arkansas to Los Angeles, which ventured into Mohave country. His journey began at Fort Smith and continued through Fort Defiance, Arizona before crossing the Colorado River near Needles, California. This route became known as Beale's Wagon Road and the location where Beale crossed the river, Beale's Crossing.
In February 1858, Irataba and Cairook noticed a paddle steamer heading up the Mohave Canyon. When the boat stopped and its crew revealed themselves, Irataba quickly realized that their leader was his old friend, Lieutenant Ives. Ives was leading an expedition to the Grand Canyon in a steamship named the Explorer, and he asked Irataba to guide them into the canyon. Cairook agreed to the arrangement, and he and a Mohave boy named Nahvahroopa joined them.
Exploring the Grand Canyon
Irataba guided the party into the Mohave Canyon, indicating the location of sandbars and rapids and advising the Explorer's pilot regarding convenient places to anchor while camping for a night. As the expedition progressed, the rapids grew in strength and intensity, and the rock walls increasingly towered above them. When they reached the entrance to the Black Canyon of the Colorado, the ship crashed against a submerged rock, throwing several men overboard, dislodging the boiler, and severely damaging the wheelhouse.
Using their skiff, Ives towed the Explorer to shore, where they camped for three days while making repairs to the badly damaged vessel. The expedition had relied on beans and corn provided by the Mohave during the last several weeks; however, as their supplies dwindled they increasingly anticipated the arrival of the pack train from Fort Yuma. Irataba volunteered to hike towards the Mohave Valley in an attempt to locate the supplies that had been requested several days earlier. He also warned that the expedition was being watched by Paiutes. When he returned he informed Ives that he would not venture any deeper into the territory of the Hualapais, but agreed to help them locate friendly guides in the region before departing company. Irataba was reluctant to venture into the canyon because he feared the party would get ambushed by Paiutes aligned with Mormons. After enlisting three Hualapais guides, Irataba took his leave from the expedition and returned to the Mohave Villages.
Rose-Baley Party massacre
Main article: Rose-Baley PartyIn 1858, a wealthy farmer from Iowa, Leonard John Rose, formed a large emigrant wagon train after having sold most of his property in Iowa, amassing what was then a small fortune of $30,000, which enabled him to purchase an animal stock that included two dozen horses and two hundred head of red Durham cattle. The Rose party left Iowa in early April and were joined by the Baley family while traveling through Kansas in May. They reached Albuquerque, New Mexico on June 23, where several more families and their livestock joined them before traveling to the Colorado River by way of Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico, where they would become the first emigrant train to venture onto Beale's Wagon Road.
On August 27, the emigrants reached the Black Mountains and made their crossing at Sitgreaves Pass, elevation 3,652 feet. From the crest they could see the Colorado River in the distance, but having worked continuously during the morning and afternoon, they stopped to prepare their first meal of the day. While they were cooking, a small group of Mohave approached and asked, in a combination of broken English and Spanish, how many people the wagon train included and whether they intended to settle near the Colorado River. They told the Mohave that they were traveling through the region on their way to California, which seemed to appease them, many of whom helped the party during their decent to the Colorado.
By midnight, the Baley company had fallen behind and decided to stop and make a mountain camp while the Rose company continued to the Colorado, where they planned to water the train's combined stock and build a raft in preparation for the impending river crossing. There the emigrants encountered more Mohave, but unlike the friendly ones that greeted them at Sitgreaves Pass, these were decidedly unwelcoming. Several people were physically harassed, and many of the party's cattle were driven away and slaughtered. The group settled-in for the night at a spot two hundred yards from the river and 10 miles (16 km) from the Baley company's mountain camp. The following morning they moved closer to the river bank, where they could more easily water their stock. They were visited soon afterward by many Mohave warriors asking about their intentions in the region, including a sub-chief who heard their complaints and assured them that no further depravations would occur. Around noon, they moved closer to where they planned to cross, near a patch of cottonwood trees that were suitable for building rafts.
Around 2 p.m. on August 30, the emigrants working near the river were attacked by approximately three hundred Mohave warriors, who according to author Charles W. Baley let out terrifying "war whoops" as they sent arrows flying into the camp. The men quickly armed themselves as women frantically hurried their children to the protection offered by their covered wagons. The onslaught continued for several hours, but Rose and others held off the assailants, who eventually retreated. In all, eight members of the Rose-Baley Party had been killed, including five children, and twelve wounded; of the train's livestock, only seventeen cattle and ten mules and horses remained. The emigrants managed to kill seventeen Mohave warriors. With the wounded in one wagon, the children in another, and the healthy adults on foot, the party began the difficult journey back to Albuquerque, 500 miles (800 km) away. According to cultural anthropologist A.L. Kroeber, "the event sealed the fate of the Mohave as an independent people."
Fort Mohave
Main article: Fort MohaveWhen news of the massacre reached the west, the US War Department established a military fort at Beale's Crossing to protect white travelers, and on December 26, 1858, Colonel William Hoffman and fifty dragoons were dispatched from Fort Tejon to cross the desert and confront the Mohave. Irataba attempted to arrange a peaceful meeting, but Hoffman ordered his troops to fire on the warriors, who attacked and repelled the force. Hoffman returned in April 1859, by way of Fort Yuma, with four companies of the 6th Infantry Regiment. When they arrived at Beale's Crossing, the Mohave decided against attacking the army of five hundred soldiers. Hoffman immediately arranged for a meeting between he and his officers and Cairook and his sub-chiefs, with Pascual, chief of the Yumas, translating from English to Spanish to Yuman and Mohave and vice versa.
Hoffman demanded that the Mohave agree to never again harm white settlers along the wagon trail, and he ordered that a fort be built at Beale's Crossing to enforce the decree. When he asked which chief was responsible for the Rose-Baley Party massacre, Cairook proudly admitted that he had ordered the attack. Hoffman declared that, as punishment, the Mohave were required to surrender six prominent leaders and three warriors who had taken part in the massacre. Cairook offered himself as a hostage, and he and the others were transported in the river steamer, General Jessup, to Fort Yuma. Many soldiers remained to begin construction on Fort Mohave. After its completion, Irataba and five to eight hundred of his most ardent supporters moved to the Colorado River Valley, where in 1865 the Colorado River Indian Reservation was established. This marked the beginning of a rift between two rival factions of Mohave, the other led by a respected sub-chief named Homoseh quahote, known by the whites as Seck-a-hoot.
Death of Cairook
On June 21 1859, Cairook and several others were killed by soldiers while attempting to escape their incarceration at Fort Yuma, which had exposed them to the desert's harsh elements. Thus Irataba became the Mohave's head chief, known as an Aha macave yaltanack or hochoch, which designated him as the leader made, or elected, by the people.
European Americans living near the Colorado River viewed Irataba as the most important Native leader in the region. With a large army of Mohave warriors in his command, he quickly earned a reputation for just leadership. In 1862, he acted as a guide for the Walker Party Exploration, led by Joseph R. Walker and including Jack Swilling, who would later found Phoenix, Arizona. They came in search of gold and were brought to a river that Irataba called Hasyamp, later officially named Hassayampa River, where they found plentiful amounts of the precious metal. Arizona's first mining district was established there the following year, which led to the founding of Prescott, Arizona soon afterward. Relations between the Mohave and European Americans were positive during this period; however, as white emigration increased, gold seekers founded a town nearby named La Paz, stirring tensions among the Mohave and building fear of an uprising against further encroachment on their land. John Moss, an experienced guide and prospector, suggested they bring Irataba to Washington so that he could see firsthand the United States' military might.
Trip to Washington D.C.
In November 1863, Irataba traveled with Moss to San Pedro, Los Angeles, where they boarded a steamship named the Senator, bound for San Francisco. The Mohave Chief had been dressed in "the full civilized costume" typical of European Americans, which he soon preferred to traditional Mohave clothing.
In January 1864, they sailed for New York City, by way of the Isthmus of Panama, on the Orizaba. Here Irataba traded his suit and sombrero for the uniform and regalia of a major general, including a bright yellow sash and gold badge encrusted with precious stones. From it hung a medal that bore the inscription, "Irataba, Chief of the Mohaves, Arizona Territory". In February, when The New York Times asked him to explain the nature of his visit, he replied: "to see where so many pale faces come from". That same month, Harper's Weekly described him as "the finest specimen of unadulterated aboriginal on this continent". When journalist John Penn Curry asked him what he thought of Americans, he replied: "Mericanos too much talk, too much eat, too much drink; no work, no raise pumpkins, corn, watermelons – all time walk, talk, drink – no good." Irataba toured New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., and earned great acclaim at each stop; government officials and military officers lavished him with gifts of medals, swords, and photographs. While in Washington, he met with President Abraham Lincoln, who gave him a silver-headed cane "as a symbol of his chieftainship". He was the first Native American from the Southwestern United States to meet a US president. The tour ended in April, when he and Moss sailed to California, again by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and made their way back to Beale's Crossing, from Los Angeles, in a wagon.
Disgrace and death
Having returned from Washington, Irataba met with the Mohave dressed in his major general's uniform, which was covered in medals. He wore a European-style hat and carried a long Japanese sword, and he told the Mohave about all the things he had seen. He tried to convince the them that peace with European Americans was in their best interests, and that war against them was futile, stressing their dominant military capabilities. Nevertheless, the Mohave accused him of telling "tall tales", and Irataba was largely discredited.
—The Arizona Weekly Miner, February 5, 1870The old man is here now with his tribe, but he looks feeble, wan, and grief stricken. Age has come to Irataba, but it has brought to him no bright and peaceful twilight. Dark and cheerless appear the skies of his declining years.
Irataba continued to lead the Mohave in their ongoing conflicts with neighboring tribes. In March 1865, he helped defeat the Chemehuevi in response to their allies, the Paiutes, having killed two Mohave women in retaliation for the Mohave's killing of a Paiute medicine man after he failed to heal nine Mohave people inflicted with small pox. Irataba attacked the Chemehuevi first because they had disrespected the Mohave, and to avoid "a fire in the rear" when he turned their attention to the Paiutes, who were planning an attack on the Mohave farm and granary on Cottonwood Island. During a subsequent battle with the Paiutes, Irataba was taken prisoner while wearing his major general's uniform. They feared that killing him would invite repercussions from the soldiers stationed at Fort Mohave, so they instead stripped him naked and sent him home badly beaten. This defeat further eroded Irataba's influence over the Mohave people.
By the late 1860s a strong rift had developed between Irataba, who was sympathetic to white settlement, and the militant Mohave sub-chief, Homoseh Quahote, also known as Seck-a-hoot, who vehemently opposed white encroachment on Mohave lands. At one time, Seck-a-hoot briefly imprisoned Irataba in an effort to supplant him as head chief. Ashamed and disgraced, Irataba scorned Native and European Americans alike, and retired in near isolation to a small hut where he lived out his final days. As time went on the people softened in their disdain for him. The Mohave never replaced Irataba; he was their last independent head chief, and when he died at the Colorado River Indian Reservation in May 1874, they burned his body, hut, and belongings according to tradition.
References
- Ricky 1999, p. 100: born c. 1814 to the Sun Fire clan; Sherer 1966, p. 6: Irataba's Mohave name was Yara tav, a shortened form of the Mohave eecheeyara tav, but it has also been rendered as Irateba, Arateve, and Yiratewa.
- Kroeber 1925, pp. 725–7.
- Johansen & Pritzker 2007, p. 1019.
- Wilson 2000, p. 218.
- Moratto 2014, p. 347.
- NYT & May 1864, p. 1.
- Kroeber 1925, p. 728: Mohave men were extraordinarily tall; United States Army 1861, p. 69: Chief Cairook was nearly six and a half feet tall.
- Harte 1886, p. 492: Irataba's height was approximately 6'4"; United States Army 1861, p. 69: Irataba was one of Cairook's sub-chiefs.
- Stewart 1971, pp. 431–444.
- ^ Woodward 1953, p. 54.
- ^ Whipple 1856, pp. 112–9.
- Whipple 1856, pp. 119–28.
- ^ Ricky 1999, p. 100.
- Baley 2002, pp. 24–6.
- Utley 1981, p. 164.
- United States Army 1861, p. 69.
- Woodward 1953, pp. 54–5.
- Woodward 1953, p. 55.
- United States Army 1861, pp. 95–120.
- United States Army 1861, pp. 81–2.
- United States Army 1861, pp. 81–4.
- United States Army 1861, pp. 79–83.
- United States Army 1861, pp. 94–7.
- Zappia 2014, pp. 121, 138.
- Baley 2002, p. 4, 14, 28, 131–2.
- United States Army 1861, pp. 94–7, 102.
- Baley 2002, pp. 2–3, 5, 15.
- Baley 2002, p. 15.
- Baley 2002, pp. 24, 28–37, 39–40.
- ^ Baley 2002, p. 56.
- Baley 2002, p. 59.
- Baley 2002, p. 61.
- Baley 2002, pp. 61–2.
- ^ Baley 2002, pp. 63–4.
- Baley 2002, pp. 67–9.
- Woodward 1953, p. 69.
- Baley 2002, pp. 70–2.
- Baley 2002, pp. 68, 71.
- Zappia 2014, p. 129.
- Baley 2002, p. 72.
- ^ Woodward 1953, p. 58.
- Kroeber & Kroeber 1973, p. 53.
- Kroeber & Kroeber 1973, p. 63: Irataba attempted to arrange a peaceful meeting; Woodward 1953, p. 58: the Mohave attacked and repelled the force.
- ^ Woodward 1953, p. 59.
- Kroeber & Kroeber 1973, p. 24.
- Griffin-Pierce 2000, p. 246: Irataba moved to the Colorado River Valley, where in 1865 the Colorado River Indian Reservation was established; Sherer 1966, p. 8: Irataba relocated with five to eight hundred of his most ardent supporters.
- Sherer 1966, pp. 8–9.
- Woodward 1953, pp. 59–60.
- Sherer 1966, pp. 5–6.
- Woodward 1953, p. 60.
- ^ NYT & February 1864.
- Hanchett 1998, p. 9.
- Woodward 1953, pp. 60–1.
- ^ Woodward 1953, pp. 63–4.
- Woodward 1953, pp. 61–2.
- O'Brien 2006, p. 249: sailed by way of the Isthmus of Panama; Woodward 1953, p. 62: Moss and Irataba sailed on the Orizaba.
- ^ Woodward 1953, pp. 62–3.
- Woodward 1953, p. 53.
- Curry 1865, p. 360.
- Woodward 1953, p. 62.
- Ricky 1999, pp. 101–02.
- Harte 1886, p. 492.
- ^ Ricky 1999, p. 102.
- ^ Woodward 1953, p. 66.
- Woodward 1953, p. 67.
- Woodward 1953, pp. 64–5.
- ^ Daily Alta California 1865.
- Sherer 1966, pp. 9, 30.
- Kroeber & Kroeber 1973, p. 8: Irataba died at the Colorado River Indian Reservation; Devereux 1951, p. 34: Irataba was the last independent Mohave head chief; Woodward 1953, p. 67: Arizona press reported that Irataba died on May 3 or 4, 1874.
- Woodward 1953, p. 68.
Notes
- Irataba assisted Captain Lorenzo Sitgreaves during his 1851 exploration of the Colorado River.
- After two days, Cairook departed and returned home.
- Tensions between Mormons and European American emigrants reached their zenith during 1857–58, with several hostile encounters collectively known as the Mormon War.
- The combined Rose-Baley Party traveled with twenty wagons and numbered forty men, fifty to sixty women and children, and five hundred head of cattle.
- The pass was named after Lieutenant Lorenzo Sitgreaves, who led an expedition party to the region in 1851.
- According to the author Arthur Woodward, while traveling back to Albuquerque the Rose-Baley Party observed a fiery comet that further upset the already frightened children.
- The Paiutes gave Irataba's major general's uniform to Irataba's Mohave rival, Seck-a-hoot.
- Irataba's cause of death is unknown, but old age and smallpox are both cited as possible causes. The Mohave were so committed to Irataba's cremation ritual they burned their entire village.
Bibliography
- Baley, Charles W. (2002). Disaster at the Colorado: Beale's Wagon Road and the First Emigrant Party. Utah State University Press. ISBN 978-0874214376.
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(help) - Curry, John Penn (1865). "Gazlay's Pacific Monthly, Volume 1". The New York Public Library. D. M. Gazlay.
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(help) - "Latest from Irataba's Land". Daily Alta California. Vol. 17, no. 5707. California Digital Newspaper Collection (CDNC). October 22, 1865. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
- Devereux, George (1951). "Mohave Chieftainship in Action: A Narrative of the First Contacts of the Mohave Indians with the United States". Plateau. 23 (3). Northern Arizona Society of Science and Art; Museum of Northern Arizona.
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(help) - Griffin-Pierce, Trudy (2000). Native Peoples of the Southwest. University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 9780826319081.
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: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Hanchett, Leland J. (1998). Catch the Stage to Phoenix. Pine Rim Publishing LLC. ISBN 9780963778567.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Harte, Brett, ed. (1886). Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine. A. Roman.
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(help) - Johansen, Bruce E.; Pritzker, Barry M., eds. (2007). Encyclopedia of American Indian History (illustrated ed.). ABC-CLIO.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Kroeber, A.L.; Kroeber, C.B. (1973). A Mohave War Reminiscence, 1854-1880. Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0486281636.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Kroeber, Alfred Louis (1925). Handbook of the Indians of California. Courier Corporation. ISBN 9780486233680.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Moratto, Michael J. (2014). California Archaeology. Academic Press. ISBN 9781483277356.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - "Arrival of the Indian Warrior, Irataba". The New York Times. February 7, 1864. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
- "Return of Irataba: What he Thinks of New-York". The New York Times. May 4, 1864. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
- O'Brien, Anne Hughes (2006). Traveling Indian Arizona. Big Earth Publishing. ISBN 9781565795181.
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: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Ricky, Donald B. (1999). Indians of Arizona: Past and Present. North American Book Distributors. ISBN 9780403098637.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Sherer, Lorraine M. (March 1966). "Great Chieftains of the Mojave Indians". Southern California Quarterly. 48 (1). University of California Press.
{{cite journal}}
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(help) - Stewart, Kenneth M. (1971). "Mohave Warfare". In Heizer, Robert Fleming; Whipple, Mary Anne (eds.). The California Indians: A Source Book. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520020313.
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: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - United States Army (1861). Report upon the Colorado River of the West: explored in 1857 and 1858 by Joseph C. Ives. University of Michigan Library. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
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: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Utley, Robert Marshall (1981). Frontiersmen in Blue: The United States Army and the Indian, 1848-1865. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 9780803295506.
{{cite book}}
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(help) - Whipple, Amiel (1856). Reports of Explorations and Surveys to Ascertain the Most Practicable and Economical Route for a Railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. Beverley Tucker.
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: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Wilson, James (2000). The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native America. Grove Press. ISBN 978-0802136800.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Woodward, Arthur (January 1953). "Irataba: Chief of the Mohave". Plateau. 25 (3). Northern Arizona Society of Science and Art; Museum of Northern Arizona.
{{cite journal}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Zappia, Natale A. (2014). Traders and Raiders: The Indigenous World of the Colorado Basin, 1540-1859. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9781469615851.
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(help)
Further reading
- Brown, Dee (2007) . Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West. Holt McDougal. ISBN 978-0805086843.
- Deloria, Vine (2003) . God Is Red: A Native View of Religion. Fulcrum Publishing. ISBN 978-1555914981.
- Wiget, Andrew, ed. (1996). Handbook of Native American Literature. Taylor and Francis. ISBN 9780815325864.
- Woodward, Arthur (2012). Feud on the Colorado: Great West And Indian Series, No. 4. Literary Licensing, LLC. ISBN 978-1258430160.
External links
- Official Mohave Nation Website
- Page about the Mohave Reservation by NAU
- Fort Mohave Tribe, InterTribal Council of Arizona