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At what point in history does heroism transform into a legend? The Life and Adventures
of Joaquin Murieta, by Yellow Bird aka John Rollins ridge, was published in 1854, was the first
novel published in California written by a Native American. This novel spawned the myth of
Joaquin Murieta which to some is referred to as a Mexican Patriot, and to others a bandit during
the California Gold Rush. Yellow Bird portrays Murieta throughout the novel as a hero. Is it because of Yellow Birds personal life/views during this era, or is it the constant rumors that traveled through communities that made this hero transform into a legend?

John Rollin Ridge a Cherokee Indian was born in New Echota (near the present city of
Rome, NorthWest Georgia) son of John Ridge and grandson of Major Ridge which lead the
Cherokee Treaty Party alongside his uncles Elias Boudinot (Buck Watie), and friend Stand
Weite. During the 1828 Jackson election and Indian Removal Act of 1830 practically laid the
groundwork for Georgias confiscation of Cherokee land and deepened the split between the
Ross and Ridge parties. Alongside John Ross, Yellow Birds grandfather Major Ridge, helped
establish Ross to achieve prominent positions, culminating in his election as principal chief of
the newly formed Cherokee Nation.As Ross took power of the Cherokee government in 1827,
white Georgians increased their lobbying efforts to remove the Cherokees from the Southeast.(1)
The discovery of gold on Cherokee land fueled their desire to possess the area, which was
marked with lucrative businesses and prosperous plantations like Rosss. Later on, Yellow Birds
family was executed (except Stand Weite) by the John Ross party in 1839, while twelve year old
John Rollin Ridge witnessed his fathers murder. During Ridge's childhood, tension grew within

the Cherokee Nation over the question of accommodation or resistance to white settlers' invasions on Cherokee territory. After the mass removal of 1838 (the Trail of Tears) brought John
Ridge and his widowed mother to Arkansas.During the 1840s he married a white woman Elizabeth Wilson, and studied law. n 1849, he killed Ross sympathizer David Kell, whom he thought
had been involved with his father's assassination,over a horse dispute. (2) Even though he had a
good argument for self-defense, he fled to Missouri to avoid prosecution.The next year (1850),
he joined the California Gold Rush, but despised being a miner.After an unsuccessful attempt at
gold mining, he found employment writing for various California newspapers.Ridge went on to
work as a newspaper editor and writer for the Sacramento Bee and the San Francisco Herald, and
other publications.
As an editor, he advocated assimilationist policies for American Indians as his father
had, placing his trust in the federal government to protect their rights.After the Civil War he
helped establish the peace treaty between the Southern Cherokee Nation and the United States,
even though the Cherokee region was not admitted into the Union.

In 1854 Yellow Bird published a fictional novel about Joaquin Murieta the celebrated
California bandit a year after Joaquins death. Thought to have been born in either Alamos,
Sonora, Mexico or Quillota, Chile in 1829; Joaquin Murieta traveled with his older brother, Carlos and his wife, Rosita, to California in 1850 to seek his fortune in the gold fields of California.
Around this time is when the Foreign Miners Tax (3) was imposed which sought to favor immigrants of European origin by enacting special taxes that targeted Mexican and Chinese miners.
The first incident that occurs in the book is the taking of Murietas minining land by a band of

lawless men, who beat Joaquin, and ravished his mistress before his eyes.Eventually as the
myth goes Joaquins brother was hung, because of the horse that he had stolen, leaving Murieta
bound to a tree, and lashed in front of the entire town. From there on the humble, caring Joaquin
declared revenge on everyone who took part in his lashing,and his bothers death.
Angry and unable to find work, Joaquin turned to a life of crime, along with other disposed foreign miners, who began to prey upon those who had forced them from their claims. Murrieta
soon became one of the leaders of a band of ruffians called The Five Joaquins, who were said to
have been responsible for cattle rustling, robberies, and murders that occurred in the gold rush
area of the Sierra Nevadas between 1850 and 1863. Comprised of Joaquin Botellier, Joaquin
Carrillo, Joaquin Ocomorenia, and Joaquin Valenzuela, and Murrieta's right hand man Manual
Garcia, known as "Three-Fingered Jack," the tales of their crime spree included stealing over 100
horses, making off with more than $100,000 in gold, and killing 19 men.When traveling through
the goldfields was made nearly impossible by the Five Joaquins, a bounty was placed on Murrieta's head for $5,000.(5) Finally having had enough of the Five Joaquins, its Governor, John
Bigler, created the "California Rangers in May, 1853. Lead by former Texas Ranger, Harry
Love, their first assignment was to arrest the Five Joaquins. According to the tale in July 1853
the rangers encountered a group of Mexican men near San Bandito County two of the men were
killed, one of whom was thought to have been Murrieta, and the other Manual Garcia. (As evidence of the outlaws deaths, they cut of Garcias hand and Murrieta's head and preserved them
in a jar. Seventeen people, including a priest, signed affidavits identifying the head as Murrieta's
and the Rangers involved received the $5,000 reward.

Through this fictional novel produced a legend for this period of time during the late 1800s and
early 19th century throughout California. As California became a part of the United States in
1848, there was still plenty of oppression afflicted on immigrants that were not of European decent, which caused plenty of hatred towards Americans. After the invasion of white settlers in
California attempted to pass legislation to limit Mexican (and other Spanish speaking residents)
rights, including the right to prospect for gold. (4) Although such a law was passed in the state, it
was later rescinded; however, tensions remained at a boiling point throughout the state. Both
John Rollin Ridge and Joaquin Murieta experienced the oppression of this era created by the
white man which made Joaquin a suitable candidate for this novel.
The prejudice of color; the antipathy of races, which are always stronger and bitterer with ignorant and unlettered, they could not overcome; or if they could, would not because it afforded them a convenient excuse for their
unmanly cruelty and oppression.(8)

Joaquin Murieta has been found to be a real person, but a person with a fabricated life which
turned him into a character, and just that. Joaquin had became the product of Ridges imagination, or maybe even a product of his own life. Regardless, a real person who is fictionalized is
still a person, and many people believe that if the person is real then so are the stories that are
written about them. Within the novel, Joaquin just so happened to have shared similar incidents
in his life like Ridge. Both of these men experienced a horrible tragedy early in life; Joaquin seeing his lover being raped, and Ridge witnessing his fathers murder. In 1849, John Rollin Ridge
entered into a dispute with a neighbor whom he accused of stealing and injuring his horse. During the argument, Ridge claimed that he had been threatened and had shot the man in self-defense. Soon rumors were circulating that the neighbor, who was part of the anti-Ridge faction of
the Cherokees, had set up the event in order to have an excuse to kill Ridge. Whatever the exact

circumstances, Ridge decided not to risk a trial and decided to flee to California. Encouraged by
news of gold strikes there, Ridge took out mortgages on his two slaves to finance the trip and
departed with his brother and one slave in April 1850. Around the same time in the Spring of
1850 Murieta embarked to Murphys diggings to become a minor in Calaveras County, and to
visit his half brother. When arriving in Calaveras County Murietas brother had given him a
horse that turned out to be stolen, consequently Murietas brother was hung, and Murieta was
whipped infront of the entire town, even though he had no idea the horse had been stolen.(7)
Ridge states in the novel that Murietas character had changed, from worthy citizen to bandit
who sought out revenge. Again, Murieta seems to depict Ridge because Murieta too had killed a
man who was a participant in the whipping, both murdering men who had done some injustice to
their life. As a writer John Ridge conveyed stories for a living usually on topics of Native American life.
Myths and legends are not authored by individuals ,but are evolved naturally and instinctively by an

unconscious process in oral traditions, which is popular in most cultures. Even if these myths/legends
started out as made-up or true stories, revelations or dreams, they still ended up for long periods of time.
The process went something like this: it began with a real or imagined incident or event that was worth
repeating, something so intriguing that we were compelled to repeat it. It was passed along by word of
mouth, from person to person and from generation to generation until it had been told and retold millions
of times and existed in a hundred different versions around the world. (6)

Maybe Ridge wanted to depict himself throughout the novel to show the injustices that were oc-

curring at this time making a legend of himself in disguise backed by somewhat true events that
he personally experienced. With the publishing of The Life and Adventures of Joaquin
Murieta,becoming an immediate success, and with republished and plagiarized books created
right after contributed to the transformation of this character into a legend.

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NOTES!
1.)
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ca-murieta.html

Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, updated December, 2013

2.) http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/john-rollin-ridge-1827-1867
Payne, David H. "John Rollin Ridge (1827-1867)." New Georgia Encyclopedia. 22 August 2013.
Web. 10 December 2014.
3.) http://immigrationinamerica.org/506-foreign-miner-taxes.html?newsid=506
4.)Brands, H. W. The Age of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream.
New York: Doubleday, 2002.
5.) http://www.cocohistory.com/essays-murrieta.html
Ridge, John Rollin, Introduction by Joseph Jackson, 1955, The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta, The Celebrated California Bandit, University of Oklahoma Press, 159 pages. In the books first chapter Jackson traces the
evolution of the Murrieta legend around the world. The book is important also for an interesting biography of John
Rollin and his bloody family tragedies by Joseph Jackson.

6.) http://www.writersstore.com/how-the-great-myths-and-legends-were-created/
7.) The Life & Adventures of Joaquin Murieta,John Rollin Ridge,1854 page 9, paragraph 3
8.) The Life & Adventures of Joaquin Murieta,John Rollin Ridge,1854 page 6 paragraph 2

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