American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846-1873, An
From the Introduction... This book sheds new light on the conquest of California and on US history. At a local level, it provides the first rigorously documented chronological account of the extent, mechanics, and systematic nature of genocide in California. It explains how federal decision makers often appeared to abdicate responsibility to state officials but in fact provided legislative, military, and financial support that made this genocide possible. These pages also narrate how--particularly during the Civil War--the US Army waged genocidal campaigns against California Indians. Major new findings that change our understanding of the catastrophe include the central roles played by state and federal governments, the bureaucratic nature of the killing machine, the major role played by the US Army, the fact that non-Indians killed many more California Indians (at least 9,492–16,094) than had previously been estimated (4,556), and the fact that genocide was inflicted upon more California Indian peoples than existing studies have suggested.