Yuma War

Yuma War
Part of the American Indian Wars
Yumans along the Colorado River by William Emory, circa 1857.
Date 1850-1853 Location Arizona, California Result United States victory
Belligerents
United States Cupeno (1852-1853) Cocopah (1853) Paipai Halyikwamai Mountain Cahuilla(1851)	Yuma Mohave Cocopah (1850-1853) Cahuilla Cupeno (1851)
Commanders and leaders
Samuel P. Heintzelman George Stoneman Delozier Davidson Edward H. Fitzgerald Frederick Steele Juan Antonio (Cahuilla)	Huttami Cavallo y Pelo Santiago Vicente Macedon Jose Maria Irataba Antonio Garra † Chipule † Cecili †

The Yuma War was the name given to a series of United States military operations conducted in southern California and what is today southwestern Arizona from 1850 to 1853. The Yumans were the primary opponent of the United States Army, though engagements were fought between the Americans and other native groups in the region. Conflict generally took the form of guerrilla warfare and over the course of three years, the army engaged in pursuing unfriendly natives, protecting American settlers crossing the Colorado River and preventing conflict between the native tribes. A peace treaty in summer of 1853 was signed, ending hostilities between the Yuma and the United States, but it sparked a short war between the Yuma and the Cocopah. During the conflict, the historic Fort Yuma was constructed and became an important outpost on the frontier.

The Yuman tribe was small compared to many other North American groups. On average a Yuman village consisted of around eighty to 250 men and women spread out along the far western Gila and southern Colorado Rivers. Following the Mexican Cession and the California Gold Rush, American settlers headed west and many crossed the southern portion of the Colorado River, through Yuman territory. To exploit this opportunity, the Yumas established a ferry near the confluence of the Gila and the Colorado Rivers to transport American settlers from Arizona to California. In early 1850, Texian scalphunter John Joel Glanton and his gang of twelve men attacked their Yuma ferry and occupied the area. They then robbed and murdered both Americans and natives as they traveled around and across the river. In response a Yuman war party attacked and massacred Glanton's gang, killing nine, only four escaped. Those killed were scalped and burned in a large bonfire. California responded with the Gila Expedition, raising a militia of 142 men, only raised when they were paid six dollars a day, to fight the Yuma instead of panning gold. Setting off on April 16, the Gila Expedition entered what is today Arizona only to be defeated in September after a series of skirmishes. The expedition was a failure and due to the inflated prices caused by the gold rush, cost the State of California 113,000 dollars, a sum which nearly bankrupted the state.

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