Altogether Different

In 1932, Eastern Pomo William Ralganal Benson published “The Stone and Kelsey ‘Massacre’ on the Shores of Clear Lake in 1849: The Indian Viewpoint” in the California Historical Society Quarterly. While the subjects of Stone and Kelsey’s killings and the Army’s massacres that followed are well known, and many historians have used Benson’s essay as a primary source, no one has yet interpreted the article as the work of historical writing it was. The article traces Benson’s career as a basket maker, ethnographer, and political activist. It interprets these influences on his article, analyzes his historical argument, and reinterprets the events he investigated in light of his argument. Unlike other accounts that were more interested in the actions of settlers and soldiers and the story’s significance in this history of colonization, Benson primarily sought to explain Clear Lake Native societies’ actions to preserve their own security and independence in a critical moment in their longer histories.