Massacre on Bloody Island: Cavalry Slaughter Pomo People
U.S. Army cavalry under Nathaniel Lyon attacked a Pomo encampment on an island in Clear Lake, California, slaughtering an estimated 60 to 200 men, women, and children who had killed two abusive ranchers. The massacre went largely unreported for decades and exemplified the systematic violence against California's Indigenous peoples during the Gold Rush era.
May 15, 1850
176 years ago
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