Spectacular California Gold Rush-era document. $500 Bond of the State of California for War Indebtedness incurred in "Expeditions against the Indians." Approved May 3rd, 1852. No. 420, issued July 15th, 1854 to John E. Lockwood (signs on reverse). Signed by Treasurer Selden A. McMeans, Comptroller Sam. Bell, Governor John Bigler (on reverse), and Secretary of State James W. Denver (on reverse). Stamp and punch cancelled. Black border and print with unusual red underprint design and vignettes of George Washington and a Native American warrior. Fishbourne's Litho., SF. 6.5 x 11.5" Hole at center fold (which affects Bigler's autograph). _x005F
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The California Indian Wars were a series of wars, battles, and massacres between the United States Army (or often the California State Militia, especially during the early 1850s), and the Indigenous peoples of California. The wars lasted from 1850, immediately after Alta California, acquired during the Mexican-American War, became the state of California, to 1880 when the last minor military operation on the Colorado River ended the Calloway Affair of 1880. On April 22, 1850, the Act for the Government and Protection of Indians was passed by the legislature of California. This allowed settlers to continue the Californio practice of capturing and using Native people as forced workers. It also provided the basis for the enslavement and trafficking in Native American labor, particularly that of young women and children. Raids on villages were made to supply the demand, the young women and children were carried off to be sold, the men and remaining people often being killed. This practice did much to destroy Native tribes during the California Gold Rush._x005F
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John E. Lockwood is listed as working for a grocer firm in the 1854 SF directory. He appears to have also established the first trading post at Petaluma in 1850._x005F
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Selden A. McMeans served as state treasurer from 1854-56. In the fall of 1859, McMeans moved to Virginia City, Nevada at the beginning of Comstock Lode Rush. When the news of the firing on Fort Sumter reached Virginia City in 1861, McMeans announced that he would capture Fort Churchill for the Confederacy, but gave up when he heard about a detachment of Union soldiers heading from Fort Churchill to Virginia City. After the Civil War, he organized the Democratic Party in Nevada. _x005F
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James W. Denver was an American politician and lawyer. He served in the California State Government (as Secretary of State from 1853-55), was an officer in the United States Army, and was Governor of the Kansas Territory during the struggle over whether or not Kansas would be open to slavery. The town of Denver, Colorado is named for him._x005F
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John Bigler was the third governor of California, serving 1852-56. While he enacted anti-Chinese policies, he was also part of the Free Soil Party that was against the spread of slavery into the Western US. Lake Tahoe was also originally named Lake Bigler in his honor._x005F
Date: 1854Country (if not USA): State: CaliforniaCity: Provenance: