Juan Antonio (Cahuilla)

Juan Antonio
Cooswootna, Yampoochee (He Gets Mad Quickly)
Chief of the Mountain Band of the Cahuilla leader
Personal details
Born	1783 Near Mt. San Jacinto
Died	1863 Saahatpa
Resting place	Saahatpa, CA

Juan Antonio (1783–1863), Cahuilla name: Cooswootna, Yampoochee, (He Gets Mad Quickly), was a major chief of the Mountain Band of the Cahuilla from the 1840s to 1863.

Juan Antonio was born somewhere in the vicinity of Mt. San Jacinto in 1783. In 1840, the Ute leader Walkara led a great raid through the Cajon Pass into Southern California to capture a large number of horses from the Mexican ranchos. In some of these raids, his raiders clashed with Juan Antonio and the Cahuilla Mountain Band. In 1842, Juan Antonio greeted the explorer Daniel Sexton and gave him access to explore the area near the San Gorgonio Pass.

Following Walkara's raid, Jose Carmen del Lugo invited New Mexican colonists to settle in Politana to in exchange for defending his Rancho San Bernardino and its herds of horses and cattle from raids by bandits and Native American raiders. Following a dispute with the Lugo's the New Mexicans moved south to build the settlements of Agua Mansa and La Placita de Trujillo on the Rancho Jurupa. Chief Juan Antonio was then invited to move a group of his Cahuilla Mountain Band to Politana in their place.

During the Mexican-American War, Chief Juan Antonio led his warriors to join Californios led by Jose Carmen del Lugo in attacking their traditional enemy, the Luiseño. Lugo led this action in retaliation for the Pauma Massacre, in which the Luiseno had killed 11 Californios. The combined forces staged an ambush and killed 33-40 of the Luiseno warriors, an event that became known as the Temecula Massacre of 1847.

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