Juan Antonio (Cahuilla)

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

Biography

Juan Antonio was born somewhere in the vicinity of

However, the newly arrived American settlers in Southern California resented the killing of white men by Indians and took it to be the beginning of an Indian uprising. A company of militia from San Diego was sent against them.^[1] The Cahuilla fled to the mountains and discovering the truth of the matter, the leader of the militia, Major General Joshua H. Bean, restrained the militia from attacking the Cahuilla with difficulty, preventing a war.^[2] Judge Benjamin Ignatius Hayes held a hearing and subsequently found their actions had legal justification. However the resentment of local Americans at the killing of fellow Americans led Juan Antonio to move his people away from white settlements in the valley to the mountains.

Closely following the outcome of the Irving Gang incident, in late 1851, Juan Antonio, his warriors and their families, moved eastward from Politana, toward the

Juan Antonio and his people remained in Saahatpa until he and many of his people died in the smallpox epidemic that struck Southern California in 1862–1863. It reduced the once numerous Cahuilla to a minority of the population in the region. Juan Antonio was buried at Saahatpa. His body was discovered there in a 1956 archeological expedition, identified by his epaulets and reburied with military honors.^[3]

See also

• Cahuilla people
• San Timoteo Canyon
• Cabazon

References