John Sutter

Johann Augustus Sutter
Born	February 28 1803 Kandern, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Died	June 18 1880 Washington D.C.

Johann Augustus Sutter (February 28 1803 – June 18 1880) was a Swiss pioneer of California known for his association with the California Gold Rush. After the discovery of gold by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill, he established Sutter's Fort in the area that would eventually become Sacramento. Although famous throughout California for his association with the Gold Rush, Sutter ironically died almost penniless, having seen his business ventures fail while those of his elder son, Augustus Sutter, prospered.

Biography

Early years

File:Sutter Birthplace.jpg

The birthplace of John Sutter in Kandern, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

Johann Augustus Sutter was born on February 23 1803 in Kandern, Baden, Germany. His father was from the nearby town of Rünenberg in Switzerland. As a boy Sutter went to school in Neuchâtel, Switzerland and later joined the Swiss army, and rose the rank of captain in the artillery. Debts incurred in business dealings, however, compelled Sutter to leave Europe for the United States. In May 1834, he left his wife and seven year old child in Burgdorf, Switzerland, and with a French passport sailed on the ship Sully which traveled from Le Havre, France, to New York City where it arrived on July 14, 1834.

The New World

In the United States, Sutter undertook extensive travels. Before coming to the United States, he learned to speak Spanish and English. Together with 35 other immigrants from Germany he went from St. Louis to Santa Fe, then moved to the town of Westport. On April 1, 1838, he joined a group of missionaries, led by the fur trapper Andrew Dripps, and went along the Oregon Trail to Fort Vancouver in Oregon Territory, which he reached in October. With a few companions, he sailed on the British bark HMS Columbia from Fort Vancouver in November, 1838.They arrived at Honolulu, Hawaiion December 9. Sutter, at the limit of his wanderlust, wanted to settle in California, but the only vessel available was the brig HMS Clementine. Sutter managed to sign on as an unpaid supercargo of this brig freighted with a cargo of provisions and general merchandise for the Russian colony of New Archangel, now known as Sitka, Alaska. The Clementine hoisted anchor on April 20 1839, with Sutter together with 10 Kanakas, two of them women, a few companions, and a Hawaiian bulldog. From the Russian colony at Sitka, where he stayed one month, Sutter traveled by sea to Yerba Buena, now San Francisco, at that time a tiny and poor mission station. The Clementine arrived in Yerba Buena on July 1, 1839.

New Helvetia

John Sutter

At the time of Sutter's arrival in California, the territory had a population of only 1,000 Europeans, in contrast with 30,000 Native Americans. It was at that point a part of Mexico and the governor, Juan Bautista Alvarado, granted him permission to settle; in order to qualify for a land grant, Sutter became a Mexican citizen on August 29 1840 - the following year, on 18 June, he received title to 48,827 acres. Sutter named his settlement New Helvetia, or "New Switzerland," after the homeland of his father. Sutter employed variously Native Americans of the Miwok and Maidu tribes, Kanakas and Europeans at his compound, which he called Sutter's Fort; he envisioned creating an agricultural utopia, and for a time the settlement was in fact quite large and prosperous. It was for a period the destination for most California-bound immigrants, including the ill-fated Donner Party, whom Sutter attempted to rescue.

19th century illustration of Sutter's Fort

A Francophile, Sutter threatened to raise the French flag over California and place New Helvetia under French protection, but in 1847 the Mexican land was handed over to the United States. Sutter at first supported the establishment of an independent California Republic but when United States troops briefly seized control of his fort, Sutter did not resist because he was outnumbered.

In 1848 gold was discovered near his sawmill in Coloma, along the American River. Sutter's attempt at keeping this quiet failed when merchant and newspaper publisher Samuel Brannan returned from Sutter's Mill to San Francisco with gold he had acquired there and began publicizing the find. Masses of people overran the land and destroyed nearly everything Sutter had worked for. In order to keep from losing everything, however, Sutter deeded his remaining land to his son, Augustus Sutter. The younger Sutter, who had come from Switzerland and joined his father in September 1848, saw the commercial possibilities of the land and promptly started plans for building a new city he named Sacramento, after the Sacramento River. The elder Sutter deeply resented this because he had wanted the city to be named Sutterville and be built near his New Helvetia domain.

Land grant challenge

Camp Union, Sutterville (State Historical marker and fort pillar)

Sutter's El Sobrante land grant was challenged by the Squatter's Association, and in 1858 the U.S. Supreme Court denied its validity. Sutter sought reimbursement of his losses associated with the Gold Rush. He received a pension of US$250 a month not as a reimbursement of taxes paid on the Sobrante grant at the time Sutter considered it his own. He and wife Nanette moved to Lititz, Pennsylvania. The proximity to Washington, D.C. along with the reputed healing qualities of Lititz Springs appealed to the aging Sutter. He also wanted his three grandchildren to have the benefits of the fine private and Moravian Schools. Sutter built his home across from the Lititz Springs Hotel; the present day General Sutter Inn.

For more than fifteen years, John Sutter, the undisputed founder of California, petitioned Congress for restitution but little was done. On June 16 1880, Congress adjourned, once again, without action on a bill which would have given Sutter US$50,000. Two days later on June 18, 1880 John Augustus Sutter died in a Washington D.C. hotel. He was returned to Lititz and is buried in the Moravian Cemetery. Mrs. Sutter died the following January and is buried with him.

Legacy

General Sutter Grave in Lititz Moravian Cemetry

Sutter Street in downtown San Francisco, California is named after him. Sutter's Landing, Sutterville Rd., Sutter Middle School, and Sutterville Elementary School in Sacramento are all named after him. The Sutterville Bend of the Sacramento River is also named after him. Sutter Medical Foundation, a non-profit medical system in Northern California also takes its name in honor of Sutter.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Cendrars, Blaise. Gold Being the Marvellous History of General John Augustus Sutter. New York: M. Kesend Pub, 1984. ISBN 9780935576085
• Dillon, Richard H. Fool's gold the decline and fall of Captain John Sutter of California. Santa Cruz: Western Tanager, 1981. ISBN 9780934136150
• Hurtado, Albert L. John Sutter A Life on the North American Frontier. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006. ISBN 9780806137728

External links

• His account of the discovery of gold Retrieved October 19, 2007.
• Collection of John Sutter Journal Entries Retrieved October 19, 2007.
• Street names in San Francisco Retrieved October 19, 2007.
• General Sutter Inn Lititz, PA Retrieved October 19, 2007.

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