The California Gold Rush and State-Sanctioned Genocide

California's wealth and prosperity were built on state-sanctioned genocide and land theft from Indigenous peoples, a violent legacy that continues to fuel disparities today.

When it comes to social inequality and quintile disparity, plenty has been written about the descendants of slave owners, those entitled recipients of the privilege upon which the ideological framework of American white supremacy subsists.

However, not every white person in early America was a slave owner, and thus, not every white American today descended from slavery profiteers. So what about those with ancestors who weren’t of the slave-owning class?

What about those whose ancestors, for instance, scalped and decapitated Indigenous people in California during the Gold Rush, when government-sanctioned violence was rewarded with land and wealth?

These descendants walk among us, too—descendants of settlers who believed that mutilating Indigenous bodies in exchange for land and riches was justified.

Just like those descended from slave owners, or any other privileged lot who rose to prominence on the backs of other humans, many of these individuals continue to benefit from the original sin of genocide, perpetrated by their ancestors.

Yet, the legacy of the California state-sanctioned genocide is often overshadowed by other narratives in history.

Settlers framed homesteading as Manifest Destiny for whites, not so much for natives.

State-Sanctioned Militia Campaigns

The discovery of gold in California in 1848 ignited a frenzy of settlers flooding the region, driven by the dream of striking it rich.

However, for white settlers to fully access the wealth, Indigenous communities had to be removed. In response, the California government took a leading role by funding local militias to carry out violent raids against Native American communities.

These militias were tasked with either killing or forcibly removing Indigenous populations from their land. The state allocated over $1.5 million between 1850 and 1861 to fund these operations—an immense sum in that era.

This wasn't just a state effort, not in the least—the federal government subsidized these expenses, indicating a clear endorsement of these genocidal campaigns.

Bounties for Native Scalps

In some parts of the state, local governments took the violence further by reportedly placing bounties on Native American scalps and heads.

This system incentivized settlers to kill Indigenous men, women, and children for financial gain. The gruesome practice commodified Native lives, reducing people to mere obstacles to wealth.

The monetary rewards offered for scalps turned the act of killing into an economic opportunity, encouraging settlers to view the mass murder of Indigenous people as just another step toward acquiring land and gold.

This sanctioned violence was not only cruel but deeply profitable for those seeking to expand their fortunes.

Legislated Violence against Natives

State-sponsored violence against Indigenous people wasn't limited to physical brutality; it was also deeply embedded in the legal system.

The Act for the Government and Protection of Indians (1850) legalized the forced labor and virtual enslavement of Indigenous people, particularly children, under the guise of 'apprenticeship.'

This law facilitated the widespread kidnapping and trafficking of Native Americans. Far from being a rogue practice, this exploitation was a deliberate and calculated strategy supported by the government, ensuring that white settlers maintained their economic dominance at the expense of Indigenous communities.

Not just California: Indigenous land was taken from natives and sold to invading settlers across the country. 

Federal Endorsement of Genocide

Beginning in 1851, the federal government reimbursed California for the costs associated with militia attacks on Native American communities.

This financial backing made it clear that the eradication of Indigenous peoples was not only tolerated but encouraged at the highest levels of power.

These acts of genocide weren’t random outbursts of violence—they were a coordinated and deliberate effort, fully endorsed by the federal government, to clear the way for white expansion across the West.

Massacres and the Destruction of Indigenous Populations

While the California Gold Rush is often romanticized through the quaint lens of Americana folklore, the brutal, coordinated attacks on Native communities paint a much different reality.

This violence resulted in the loss of life, culture, and land on an unimaginable scale. Among these gratuitously barbaric acts, some massacres stand out in particular, showcasing the ruthless nature of this campaign of extermination.

The Bloody Island Massacre (1850)

The Bloody Island Massacre was one of the earliest and most vicious attacks against Indigenous peoples in California. In retaliation for the killing of two white settlers, a detachment of the U.S. Cavalry, joined by local militias, launched an assault on the Pomo people, a peaceful community living near Clear Lake.

Most of the Pomo men were away, leaving behind women, children, and elders who were brutally slaughtered. Accounts suggest that between 60 to 100 Pomo people were killed, with bodies left to rot in the waters of Clear Lake.

The massacre effectively decimated the local Pomo population and sent a clear message to other Indigenous groups in the area: resist and face extermination.

The Yontocket Massacre (1853)

Another atrocity occurred in 1853, when settlers attacked a sacred prayer ceremony of the Tolowa people near Yontocket, in the far northern region of California. The Tolowa were gathered in their village to perform traditional rituals, unaware that their lives were about to be destroyed.

Without provocation, settlers ambushed the gathering, killing over 450 Tolowa men, women, and children. Sacred sites were desecrated, and the entire village was burned to the ground, marking one of the largest single massacres in California's dark history of violence against Native people.

The Bridge Gulch Massacre (1852)

The Bridge Gulch Massacre was yet another horrific example of retaliatory violence. In 1852, after a Wintu person allegedly killed a white man, a group of miners decided to exact revenge on the entire Wintu community. Rather than seeking justice for the crime in any lawful manner, the miners took it upon themselves to raid a Wintu village near Bridge Gulch.

In an indiscriminate slaughter, more than 150 Wintu people—many of whom had no connection to the initial incident—were massacred. The justification for the violence reveals the settlers' deeply ingrained disregard for Indigenous life, viewing mass murder as a suitable response to the death of one white man.

The inclination to frame any aggression by the invader as protection, or defense is one of the oldest tricks in the book.

Wealth Built on Genocide: Legacy of Disparity

The wealth generated from these atrocities didn’t disappear—just like the wealth amassed by slave owners, it has been passed down through generations, helping to perpetuate the imbalance between the descendants of natives and settlers.

The descendants of settlers who participated in, or otherwise benefited from, these violent campaigns, these pogroms, as they were, continue to profit from the land and wealth their ancestors gained through state-sponsored genocide.

The land, cleared of Indigenous peoples, became the foundation for generational wealth in many white settler families. This wealth did not come from hard work and gumption; it was built on the backs of murdered Indigenous people, a dark truth that explains many of the disparities we still see today.

Indigenous communities, on the other hand, were left impoverished and displaced, their ancestral lands stolen and their populations decimated.

More than an accident of history, the economic divide between the descendants of settlers and Indigenous peoples is the direct result of the state-subsidized murder that took place during the Gold Rush.

The trauma of these events, compounded by the loss of land, culture, and autonomy, has left many Indigenous communities struggling to recover, with some relegated to government-imposed cycles of poverty and marginalization.

Questioning the Nation’s Foundation

To put it mildly, this brutal chapter in California’s history raises profound questions about the nation’s foundation. How can a country that was built on genocide and land theft ever claim to be just and equitable?

The myth of American prosperity is deeply intertwined with a violent, savage barbarianism, and recognizing this fact is crucial to understanding the wealth inequality and social injustices that persist today.

The narrative of settler success often ignores the dark reality that much of the wealth accumulated during the nation’s westward expansion was gained through the extermination of entire populations. This foundation of violence and exploitation is intrinsic to the founding of America.

Descendants of those settlers who participated in or benefited from these acts continue to enjoy generational privilege that is directly tied to the land and wealth their ancestors acquired through genocide.

Meanwhile, Indigenous peoples inherited the obverse of that reality. The descendants of those mercilessly subjugated continue to live under the ongoing consequences of that destruction, struggling to maintain what is left of their communities in hopes of reclaiming their history.

Reckoning with a Violent Legacy

The violent campaigns against Indigenous people during the California Gold Rush are one of many grim reminders that American prosperity is not built on ambition and opportunity. Far from it, much of this land’s supposed prosperity was built on the land and bodies of Indigenous people.

True reconciliation with America’s past means confronting not only the legacy of violence but also the disparities that continue to arise from it.

Until this reality is fully confronted, the inequities that divide us will persist, and any promise of justice and equality will remain unfulfilled.