36 Facts About John Sutter

John Sutter's father came from the nearby town of Runenberg, in the canton of Basel in Switzerland, and his maternal grandfather was a pastor from Grenzach, on the Swiss-German border.

John Sutter then worked as an apprentice at the Thurneysen printing and publishing house in Basel until 1823.

At age 21, John Sutter married the daughter of a wealthy widow.

John Sutter briefly operated a store but spent more time indulging his interests than managing the business.

John Sutter originally planned to cross the Siskiyou Mountains during the winter, but acting chief factor James Douglas convinced him that such an attempt would be perilous.

John Sutter had missed the only ship outbound for Alta California, and had to remain in the kingdom for four months.

The brig Clementine was eventually hired by John Sutter to take freight provisions and general merchandise for New Archangel, the capital of the Russian-American Company colonies in Russian America.

John Sutter had to go to the capital at Monterey to obtain permission from the governor, Juan Bautista Alvarado, to settle in the territory.

The governor required John Sutter to meet certain conditions to qualify for land ownership.

Construction began on August 1839 on a fortified settlement which John Sutter named New Helvetia, or "New Switzerland," after his homeland.

John Sutter's Fort had a central building made of adobe bricks, surrounded by a high wall with protection on opposite corners to guard against attack.

John Sutter employed or enslaved Native Americans of the Miwok, Maidu, Nisenan, and Ohlone tribes, the Hawaiians he had brought, and employed some Europeans at his compound.

John Sutter envisioned creating an agricultural utopia, and for a time the settlement was in fact quite large and prosperous.

John Sutter believed that Native Americans had to be kept "strictly under fear" in order to serve white landowners.

Observers accused him of using "kidnapping, food privation, and slavery" in order to force Indians to work for him, and generally stated that John Sutter held the Indians under inhumane conditions.

Heinrich Lienhard, a Swiss immigrant that served as John Sutter's majordomo, wrote of the treatment of the enslaved once captured:.

John Sutter has sent these little Indian children as gifts to people who live far from the place of their birth, without demanding of them any promises that in their homes the Indians should be treated with kindness.

Note: In early 1846, John Sutter hoisted perhaps the above version if not another in red, white, and green.

However, John Sutter gave Marsh a choice: either join the army or be arrested and put in jail.

In 1845, John Sutter's forces met the Californio forces at the Battle of Providencia.

The Americans agreed and quit the fight, and as a result, John Sutter's forces lost the battle.

John Sutter, who identified himself as a French citizen, reportedly considered organizing muster British, Canadian, and American immigrants, along with Indigenous peoples, to declare New Helvetia an independent republic under French protection.

Four days later, on July 11,1846, John Sutter raised an American flag at his fort after receiving it from a messenger sent by Montgomery.

John Sutter was intent on building a city on his property, including housing and a wharf on the Sacramento River, and needed lumber for the construction.

John Sutter concluded that it was, in fact, gold, but he was very anxious that the discovery not disrupt his plans for construction and farming.

Large crowds of people overran the land and destroyed nearly everything John Sutter had worked for.

The younger John Sutter saw the commercial possibilities of the land and promptly started plans for building a new town he named Sacramento, after the Sacramento River.

John Sutter gave up New Helvetia to pay the last of his debts.

John Sutter rejoined his family and lived on Hock Farm.

John Sutter got a letter of introduction to the Congress of the United States from the governor of California.

John Sutter moved to Washington, DC at the end of 1865, after Hock Farm was destroyed by fire in June of that year.

John Sutter sought reimbursement of his losses associated with the Gold Rush, and received a pension of US$250 a month as a reimbursement of taxes paid on the El Sobrante grant at the time that John Sutter considered it his own.

John Sutter wanted three of his grandchildren to have the benefits of the fine private Moravian Schools.

John Sutter built his home across from the Lititz Springs Hotel.

John Sutter continually petitioned Congress for restitution but little was done.

Two days later, John Sutter died in the Mades Hotel in Washington.