Jim savage dominion
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Jim Savage
American explorer
For the New Zealand Paralympic athlete, see Jim Savage (athlete).
James D. Savage (1823–1852) was a California pioneer. He was a 49er, businessman, American soldier in the Mexican–American War, and commander of the California Militia, Mariposa Battalion in the Mariposa War and the first alleged non-Native American visitor to the Yosemite Valley.
Early life
James D. Savage was born in Jacksonville, Illinois in 1823, soon after moving to Jacksonville of Morgan County, Illinois, to Peter Savage and Doritha Shaunce (née) and was named after his paternal grandfather.[1] In the fall of 1833, Savage's mother died of unknown causes. In 1836, Savage's father relocated the family to Princeton, Illinois and remarried. Savage was thirteen at the time.
Receiving little in the way of formal education, Savage quickly took to the outdoors, where he honed his gift for languages with local Fox and Sac Native Americans—a skill which would prove critical in his later dealings. Little is known of his life during this period. In 1840s, Savage m
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Left; History of Merced County by Corwin Radcliffe, Right; biography of James Savage called "Big Jim Savage; Blonde King of the Indians and Discoverer of Yosemite" by Ben T. Traywick
Recently I found this old book called “History of Merced County” by Central Valley historian Corwin Radcliffe. The book was published by A.H. Cawston in Merced, California in 1940.
On page 58 is a biography of the first recorded discoverer of Yosemite Valley, James Savage. James Savage was given the title of Major. Savage was the man who led the Mariposa Battalion into Yosemite Valley to clear out and force Chief Tenaya and the Ahwahneechees to move to a military guarded reservation in the Central Valley. He was the bane of existence to Tenaya and the original Indian people of Ahwahnee. Savage’s men had captured Tenaya and in the second expedition led by Boling the Mariposa Battalion murdered Tenaya’s youngest son by shooting him in the back.
But James Savage had another title besides Major and the first discoverer of Yosemite Valley. He was also called “The White Chief of the Foothills”
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One Hundred Years in Yosemite (1947) by Carl P. Russell
Next: Pioneers • Contents • Previous: Mariposa Hills
CHAPTER III
WHITE CHIEF OF THE FOOTHILLS
| Woodcut from the first edition (1931) |
The entire story of very early events in the Yosemite region is pervaded by the spirit of one individual. In spite of the fact that no historian has chronicled the events of his brief but exciting career, the name of James D. Savage is legendary throughout the region of the Southern Mines. It has been the ambition of more than one writer of California history to pin down the fables of this pioneer and to establish his true life story on stable supports of authentic source. Scattered through the literature of the gold days are sketchy accounts of his exploits, and rarely narratives of firsthand experiences with his affairs may be found. Before relating Savage definitely to Yosemite itself we shall do well to consider his personal history.
During the beginning years of the gold excitement, his fame spread throughout the camps and to the ports upon which
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