John Sutter

John Sutter

John Sutter, c. 1850
Born Johann August Suter
23 February 1803 (1803-02-15)
Kandern, Margraviate of Baden, a German state in the Holy Roman Empire of Germanic States
Died June 18, 1880(1880-06-18) (aged 77)
Washington D.C., United States
Spouse(s) Annette D'beld

Johann Augustus Sutter (February 20, 1803[1] – June 18, 1880) was a German-born Swiss pioneer of California known for his association with the California Gold Rush by the discovery of gold by James W. Marshall and the mill making team at Sutter's Mill, and for establishing Sutter's Fort in the area that would eventually become Sacramento, the state's capital. Although famous throughout California for his association with the Gold Rush, Sutter saw his business ventures fail while those of his elder son, John Augustus Sutter, Jr., were more successful.[2]

Biography

Early years of his life

The birthplace of John Sutter in Kandern, Baden, Germany.

John Augustus Sutter was born Johann August Suter[3] on February 15, 1803 in Kandern,[4] Baden, Germany, and his father came from the nearby town of Rünenberg in Switzerland.

Johann went to school in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. At age 21, Johann married [5] the daughter of a rich widow. He operated a store but he was more interested in spending money than making it. Because of family and mounting debts, Johann faced charges that would have him placed in jail. So he decided to dodge trial and ventured to America; he styled his name to Captain John Augustus Sutter.

In May 1834, he left his wife and five children behind in Burgdorf, Switzerland, and with a French passport he boarded the ship Sully which travelled from Le Havre, France, to New York City where it arrived on July 14, 1834.

The New World

In North America, John Augustus Sutter (as he would call himself for the rest of his life) undertook extensive travels. Before he went to the U.S., he had learned Spanish and English in addition to Swiss French. Together with 35 Germans he moved from the St. Louis area to Santa Fe, New Mexico, a province of Mexico, then moved to the town of Westport, Oregon Territory. On April 1, 1838, he joined a group of missionaries, led by the fur trapper Andrew Drips, and traveled the Oregon Trail to Fort Vancouver in Oregon Territory, which they reached in October. Sutter originally planned to cross the Siskiyou Mountains during the winter, but acting chief factor James Douglas convinced him that such an attempt would be perilous.[6] Sutter was charged £21 by Douglas to arrange transportation on the British bark Columbia for himself and his eight followers.[6]

The Columbia departed Fort Vancouver on 11 November and sailed to the Kingdom of Hawaii, reaching Honolulu on 9 December. Sutter had missed the only ship inbound for the Alta California, and had to remain in the Kingdom for four months.[7] Over the months Sutter gained friendly relations with the Euro-American community, dining with the Consuls of the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, John Coffin Jones and Richard Charlton along with merchants such as American Faxon Atherton.[7] The brig Clementine was eventually hired by Sutter to take freight provisions and general merchandise for New Archangel (now known as Sitka), the capital of the Russian-American Company colonies in Russian America. Joining the crew as unpaid supercargo, Sutter, 10 Hawaiian laborers and several other followers embarked on April 20, 1839.[8] Staying at New Archangel for a month, Sutter joined several balls hosted by Governor Kupreyanov; who likely gave help in determining the course of the Sacramento River.[8] The Clementine then sailed for Alta California, reaching Yerba Buena on July 1, 1839 (now San Francisco), which at that time was only a small seaport town.

Beginnings of Sutter's Fort

Main article: New Helvetia
John Sutter, 1866

At the time of Sutter's arrival in California, Alta California was a province of Mexico, and had a population of only about 1,000 Europeans and an estimated 100,000-700,000 Native Americans. Sutter had to go to the capital at Monterey to obtain permission from the governor, Juan Bautista Alvarado, to settle in the territory. Alvarado saw Sutter's plan of establishing a colony in Central Valley as useful in "buttressing the frontier which he was trying to maintain against Indians, Russians, Americans and British."[9]

The governor stipulated however that for Sutter to qualify for land ownership, he had to reside in the territory for year and become a Mexican citizen, which he did on August 29, 1840.[9] Construction was begun in August 1839 on a fortified settlement which Sutter named New Helvetia, or "New Switzerland," after his homeland, "Helvetia" being the Latin name for Switzerland. Sutter often began to identify himself as 'Captain Sutter of the Swiss Guard'. Completed in 1841, on 18 June, he received title to 48,827 acres (197.60 km2) on the Sacramento River. The site is now part of the California state capital of Sacramento.

Contemporaneous illustration of Sutter's Fort

A Francophile, Sutter threatened to raise the French flag over California and place New Helvetia under French protection,[10] but in 1846 California was occupied by the United States in the Mexican-American War. Sutter at first supported the establishment of an independent California Republic but when United States troops under John C. Fremont briefly seized control of his fort, Sutter did not resist because he was outnumbered.

Relationship with Native Americans

Sutter had to make peace with the local native Maidu people. Over time, the Maidu and Sutter became friends, and they helped Sutter and his Kanakas build a fortified settlement. Sutter called the place New Helvetia or “New Switzerland.” Sutter’s Fort had a central building made of adobe bricks, surrounded by a high wall with protection on opposite corners to guard against attack. It also had workshops and stores that produced all goods necessary for the New Helvetia settlement.

Sutter employed or enslaved Native Americans of the Miwok and Maidu tribes, the Hawaiians (Kanakas) he had brought, and also employed some Europeans at his compound. He envisioned creating an agricultural utopia, and for a time the settlement was in fact quite large and prosperous. Prior to the Gold Rush, it was the destination for most immigrants entering California via the high passes of the Sierra Nevada, including the ill-fated Donner Party of 1846, for whose rescue Sutter contributed supplies.

Some Native Americans worked voluntarily for Sutter (e.g. Nisenans. Miwoks, Ochecames), but others were subjected to varying degrees of coercion that resembled slavery or serfdom.[11] Sutter believed that Native Americans must be kept "strictly under fear" in order to serve white landowners.[11] Sutter's Native American "employees" slept on bare floors in locked rooms without sanitation, and ate from troughs made from hollowed tree trunks.[12] There are written accounts by Sutter's contemporaries that indicate that Sutter raped Native American women as young as 12.[13]

Beginning of the Gold Rush

Main article: California Gold Rush
Sutter's Mill in 1850.

In 1848, gold was discovered in the area. Initially, one of Sutter’s most trusted employees, James W. Marshall, found gold at Sutter’s Mill. It started when Sutter hired Marshall, a New Jersey native who had served with John C. Frémont in the Bear Flag revolt, to build a water-driven sawmill in Coloma, along the American River. Sutter was intent on building a city on his property (not yet named Sacramento), including housing and a wharf on the Sacramento River, and needed lumber for the construction. One morning, as Marshall inspected the tailrace for silt and debris, he noticed some gold nuggets and brought them to Sutter's attention. Together, they read an encyclopedia entry on gold and performed primitive tests to confirm whether it was precious metal. Sutter concluded that it was, in fact, gold, but he was very anxious that the discovery not disrupt his plans for construction and farming. At the same time, he set about gaining legitimate title to as much land near the discovery as possible.

Sutter's attempt at keeping the gold discovery quiet failed when merchant and newspaper publisher Samuel Brannan returned from Sutter's Mill to San Francisco with gold he had acquired there and began publicizing the find. Large crowds of people overran the land and destroyed nearly everything Sutter had worked for. To avoid losing everything, Sutter deeded his remaining land to his son, John Augustus Sutter, Jr. The younger Sutter, who had come from Switzerland and joined his father in September 1848, saw the commercial possibilities of the land and promptly started plans for building a new town he named Sacramento, after the Sacramento River. The elder Sutter deeply resented this; he had wanted the town named Sutterville (for them) and for it to be built near New Helvetia.

Sutter gave up New Helvetia to pay the last of his debts. He rejoined his family and lived in Hock Farm (in California along the Feather River).

Land grant challenge

Camp Union, Sutterville (State Historical marker and fort pillar)
Camp Union, Sutterville (State Historical marker)

Sutter's El Sobrante (Spanish for leftover) land grant was challenged by the Squatter's Association, and in 1858 the U.S. Supreme Court denied its validity.

Sutter got a letter of introduction to the Congress of the United States from the governor of California. He moved to Washington D.C. at the end of 1865, after Hock Farm was destroyed by fire in June 1865.

Sutter sought reimbursement of his losses associated with the Gold Rush. He received a pension of US$250 a month as a reimbursement of taxes paid on the Sobrante grant at the time Sutter considered it his own. He and wife Annette moved to Lititz, Pennsylvania in 1871. The proximity to Washington, D.C. along with the reputed healing qualities of Lititz Springs appealed to the aging Sutter. He also wanted three of his grandchildren (he had grandchildren in Acapulco, Mexico, as well) to have the benefits of the fine private Moravian Schools.

Sutter built his home across from the Lititz Springs Hotel, the present-day General Sutter Inn. For more than fifteen years, John Sutter petitioned Congress for restitution but little was done. On June 16, 1880, Congress adjourned, once again, without action on a bill which would have given Sutter US$50,000. Two days later, on June 18, 1880, John Augustus Sutter died in the Made's Hotel in Washington D.C.. He was returned to Lititz and is buried in God's Acre, the Moravian Graveyard. Mrs. Sutter died the following January and is buried with him.

Legacy

General Sutter grave in Lititz, PA Moravian Cemetery

There are numerous California landmarks bearing the name of Sutter. Sutter Street in downtown San Francisco, California is named for John A. Sutter. Sutter's Landing, Sutterville Road, Sutter Middle School, Sutter's Mill School, and Sutterville Elementary School in Sacramento, California are all named after him. The Sutterville Bend of the Sacramento River is named for Sutter, as is Sutter Health, a non-profit health care system in Northern California. The City of Sutter Creek, California is also named after him. In Acapulco, Mexico, the property that used to belong to John Augustus Sutter, Jr. became the Hotel Sutter, which is still in service. The Sutter Buttes a mountain range in Yuba City, California (Sutter County) is named after him as well

The Johann Agust Sutter House in Lititz, Pennsylvania was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.[14]

The 'Sutter's Gold' rose, an orange blend hybrid tea rose bred by Herbert C. Swim, was named after him.[15]

Gov. Jerry Brown, elected to a third term in 2010, has a Welsh corgi named Sutter Brown, affectionately referred to as the First Dog of California.

In Pop Culture

Scholarly studies

Fiction

Films

Comics

Music

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Johann August Sutter.

References

  1. ↑ Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz
  2. ↑ Sutter, John A., Jr. & Ottley, Allan R. (Ed.). Statement: Regarding Early California Experiences. Sacramento Book Collectors Club. 1943.
  3. ↑ Bernard Degen: Sutter, John (General Sutter) in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, 2012-06-07.
  4. ↑ Eric Howard, John Sutter, California and Californians, Vol. 4.[database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 1998. Original data: Hunt, Rockwell D., ed. California and Californians. Vol. IV. Chicago, IL, USA: Lewis Publishing, 1932. pp. 36, 37.
  5. ↑ Owens, Kenneth N.; Sutter, John Augustus (November 1, 2002) [1st. Pub. 1994]. John Sutter and a Wider West. University of Nebraska Press. p. 78. ISBN 0-8032-8618-X.
  6. 1 2 Dillion, Richard. Fool's Gold, the Decline and Fall of Captain John Sutter of California. New York City: Coward-McCann. 1967, p. 66.
  7. 1 2 Dillion (1967), p. 70.
  8. 1 2 Dillion (1967), pp. 72-73.
  9. 1 2 Dillion (196&), pp. 76-77.
  10. ↑ Chalmers, Claudine (March–April 1998). "The French in Early California". Ancestry Magazine 16 (2). Retrieved 2007-10-08.
  11. 1 2 Hurtado, Albert (Spring 1990). "California Indians and the Workaday West: Labor, Assimilation, and Survival". California History 69 (1): 5. Retrieved December 25, 2014.
  12. ↑ "John Sutter and California's Indians". Historynet.com. Wild West Magazine. Retrieved December 25, 2014.
  13. ↑ Miller, Michelle (January 19, 2006). "Dark history spurs name debate". Auburn Journal. Retrieved December 25, 2014.
  14. ↑ Staff (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  15. ↑ 'Sutter's Gold' Rose

External links

John Sutter at Find a Grave


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