Historia Americana S1 E1: The Clear Lake Massacre

The first episode of a new series about rarely talked about events and people in American History. Today's show will be about The Clear Lake Massacre which occurred on May 15, 1850 A.D. when the U.S. Army 1st Dragoons Regiment led by future Civil War Generals Nathanial Lyon and J.W. Davidson massacred several hundred Pomo natives in retaliation for the deaths of Charles Stone and Andrew Kelsey. The two were slave masters who captured the Pomo and used them for labor on their nearby land which was owned by one of California's head honchos Benjamin Kelsey.
Settlers from the east coast have been invading the Pomo land for the past several years since Mexico lost California during the Bear Flag Revolt of 1846 and during the Gold Rush of 1848. New arrivals brought their families along with diseases which decimated the local native population. The California government allowed the settlers to occupy the land by giving them acreage and removed the native people into reservations where they lived in poverty. The massacre lasted for several days as the dragoon regiment led by Lt. Nathanial Lyon pursued the surviving Pomo into the nearby Russian River where they were shot dead in their tracks or drowned attempting to escape.
Lyon would eventually be promoted to Union General and later the Commander of the Department of the West during the first year of the Civil War but his grandstanding and hot dogging in battle led to an early death. Benjamin Kelsey became an Indian Killer and personally hunted down and killed local natives in revenge for the death of his brother. He would be arrested and tried for the crimes before the Supreme Court of California but his case was dismissed. Kelsey got into into all kinds of shenanigans later in life before dying in poverty at the age of 75.
Listen to The Illustrious Narrator talk about "The Clear Lake Massacre."

[@sirnik84]

Thanks for making this video. I grew up in Lake County and not many people outside of Lake County know this story.

[@FFFNetwork]

You're welcome. I've always been intrigued about this little known talked about piece of California history.

[@sirnik84]

@@FFFNetwork A video about Native American relocation to Round Valley would be another story I don't think most people know.

[@FFFNetwork]

Thanks for the tip. I am going to do one about the Act for the Government and Protection of Indians which coincides with Round Valley Massacres in the future.