The Yosemites and one or two other bands of Indians had refused
to surrender, and had retreated to their mountain strongholds,
where they proposed to make a last determined resistance. Active
preparations were accordingly made by the State authorities to
follow them, and either capture or exterminate all the tribes
involved. For this purpose a body of State volunteers, known as
the Mariposa Battalion, was organized, under the command of Major
James D. Savage, to pursue these tribes into the mountains; and,
after many long marches and some fighting, the Indians were all
defeated, captured, and, with their women and children, put upon
the reservations under strong military guard.
It was during this campaign that Major Savage and his men
discovered the Yosemite Valley, about the 21st of March, 1851,
while in pursuit of the Yosemites, under old Chief Teneiya, for
whom Lake Teneiya and Teneiya Canyon have appropriately been
named.
[Illustration: _Photograph by Foley._
THREE BROTHERS (WAW-HAW´-KEE), 3,900 Feet.
Named by the soldiers who discovered the Valley, to commemorate
the capture of three sons of Teneiya near this place. The Indian
name means "Falling Rocks."]
Chapter Two.