"The Indian is placed between the upper and nether millstones and must be crushed " Humanity may forbid, but the interest of the white man demands their extinction (Miner).
At what would later be known as the Bear Creek Massacre of Shoshone in Utah, the commander, Colonel Patrick Edward Connor sent word that:
"It was not my intention to take any prisoners" (Blackhawk).
After killing the 300 male warriors, Connor would leave about 160 women and children alive. However, he did make sure to destroy most of their supplies and provisions including shelter.
"I destroyed over seventy lodges, a large quantity of wheat and other provisions ... [and] left a small quantity of wheat for the sustenance of 160 captive [women] and children, whom I left on the field" (Blackhawk).
Colonel Connor's genocidal policy ordering the indiscriminate killing of Indian males was as follows:
"You will also destroy every male Indian whom you encounter in the vicinity of the late massacres " immediately hang them, and leave their bodies thus exposed as an example of what evil-doers may expect while I command in this district" (Blackhawk).
The Utah Governor at the time, James Doty, praised Connor's policies.
"It struck terror into the heart [of Shoshone] " They now acknowledge the Americans are the masters of this country" (Blackhawk).
Notably striking "terror" into the hearts of populations for political purposes is today known as the crime of terrorism. Such a policy would violate Category 2 of the Genocide Convention as it would cause "mental harm" to "members of the group."
Category 3
The third category of acts that qualify as genocide, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, is also evidenced repeatedly. As entire tribes were uprooted from their fertile ancestral lands and forced to march long distances to less productive lands less suitable for sustaining life, this category was breached in two ways.
The march itself was harsh and would cost the lives of significant numbers of forced marchers. This predictable consequence of forced marches across long distances cannot be considered accidental or natural, and it is therefore inflicting on the group conditions that will destroy some part of the group. The usual victims were children, the elderly and the sick. Numerous such marches were routinely inflicted on tribes as they were forcibly ejected from their homes and lands at gunpoint. The coercive nature of these "migrations" qualifies as genocidal under the Genocide Convention.
One such march occurred in Northern California and is known as California's Trail of Tears:
"In 1863, U.S. soldiers rounded up Indian tribes across Northern California at Chico Landing " Of 461 Indians who set out under guard, only 277 completed the 100-mile, 14-day trek. Many were abandoned, too sick to continue. Some escaped. Others were killed" (Roomney).
California State Chico historian Lisa Emmerich described this march bluntly:
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