Chief Tenaya

Tenaya (died 1853) was a leader of the Ahwahnechee people in Yosemite Valley California.

Tenaya's father was a leader of the Ahwahnechee people (or Awahnichi). The Ahwahneechee had become a tribe distinct from the other tribes in the area. Lafayette Bunnell, the doctor of the Mariposa Battalion, wrote that "Ten-ie-ya was recognized, by the Mono tribe, as one of their number, as he was born and lived among them until his ambition made him a leader and founder of the Paiute colony in Ah-wah-ne."

The Ahwahneechee occupied Yosemite Valley until a sickness destroyed most of them. The few Ahwahneechee left Yosemite Valley and joined the Mono Lake Paiutes in the eastern Sierra Nevada. Tenaya's father married a Mono Paiute woman and Tenaya was born from that union. Tenaya grew up amongst his mother's people.

An Ahwahneechee medicine man and friend of his Father persuaded a young Tenaya to return. Tenaya took the few remnants of the Ah-wah-nee-chees that had been living with the Monos and Paiutes and reestablished themselves in Yosemite Valley with him as their leader. Tenaya had four wives.

The Ahwahneechee were a powerful tribe feared by the surrounding Miwok tribes. The surrounding tribes called them Yosemite meaning "they are killers." Others say the name is a corruption of the word "Uzumati" meaning "grizzly bear" which was the totem of the larger of the two main social subdivisions of the band. By 1851, conflicts between the non-indigenous miners and the Native Americans in the Sierra started to increase. The state of California decided to send the Natives to reservations. The Mariposa Battalion was formed to carry out the relocation. Tenaya agreed to move to the Fresno Reservation, instead of the destruction of his entire band. Many of his band left Yosemite Valley instead of following Tenaya. As they approached the Fresno reservation, they fled back to the Yosemite Valley. The Brigade then re-entered the Valley, captured Tenaya's sons, and killed his youngest son. Tenaya then agreed to go back to the reservation.

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