In March 30, 1846, then-Army Captain John C. Fremont arrived at Peter Lassen's ranch, where he received information regarding plans by 1000 indigenous individuals to launch attacks on white settlements. Fremont was requested to address this issue. Accompanied by seventy-six armed men, they approached the location near present-day Redding, where they encountered a group of Indians estimated to be between 400 to 1000 individuals, predominantly women and children, situated on a piece of land between bends of the river, on or about April 5, 1846.

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The Indians found themselves surrounded, and Fremont ordered his men to attack. One participant recalled “the order was given to ask no quarter and to give none.” As Kit Carson recalled, “it was a perfect butchery”.  

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Many of those who were not gunned down drowned in the flowing river while trying to escape. 

 

Once up close, Fremont would order his men to kill at point blank range with their pistols and hack and stab to death with their butcher knives and sabers – again, this was mostly women and children at Strawberry Fields. 

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While many attempted to escape, the swollen river caused by melting snow made it difficult to cross, resulting in an estimated 200 to 300 deaths in the water. No members of Fremont's party were killed during the encounter.

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Extensive archaeological studies suggest that this massacre occurred approximately 2 miles south of Yonotŭmnomsono, which has been identified as “Curtin's village.” Today it is known as “Strawberry Fields”.. This area held significance for fishing, as various Wintu groups would gather there twice a year to acquire spawning Chinook salmon for winter processing. This same area is today listed as critical habitat for salmon by the federal government. 

Following the massacre, Fremont made note of the abundant salmon in the area, and his party camped there, consuming the available food stores left behind by the Indians. It is probable that Wintu individuals from the six villages within and near Strawberry Fields, as described earlier, were assembled in this section of the Sacramento River, south of Redding, where the river was narrow, cold, fast-flowing, and supported a twice-yearly salmon run.

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This "first" Fremont massacre, viewed by some as genocidal, which took place in 1846, may have been “one of the largest yet least-known massacres in the history of the United States”. More would follow. After this incident, Fremont ordered that any Indian should be killed on sight, and many Indian scalps were taken for pay by “killing squads”

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The history of this event – and brutal campaign it initiated – cannot be forgotten. This site is an effort to gather historical and archaeological information about the Sacramento River Massacre. It seeks to promote awareness of the tragedy, and the perpatrators who included a future US Senator and Presidential Candidate John Fremont, as well as a "hero" of the old west -- Kit Carson.