THE SACLAN REBELLION – East Bay Hill People

THE SACLAN REBELLION

Not being a trained academic i cannot accurately cite all the sources of information I have; real, imagined, or just plain wrong.

Still, the story of Saclan tribal resistance to European intrusion was an early tale I was told, without knowing any of the details, which are now starting to seep out.

Roughly speaking the Saclans were flourishing for hundreds if not thousands of years in the Walnut Creek / Lafayette area, then and now one of the most habitable places on earth.

By the early 1790s the native Saclans had been herded into the Mission San Francisco where conditions were unpleasant, and getting worse.

In 1795 a small group was granted permission to visit their ancestral homeland. When they did not return when they wrere supposed to, a detachment of soldiers from the Mission was sent out to retrieve them.

They were found at a large dance across the Carquinez Straights and a pitched battle ensued. Seven of the Mission posse were killed and the rest driven off.

Word of the Saclan victory spread and there was suddenly a mass exodus of natives from Mission Dolores in San Francisco in the summer of 1795. By 1797 the problem was so severe the Spanish Governor directed Sergeant Pedro Amador to pull together a force and go after the rebellious Saclans.

On July 15th a major battle took place in Lafayette at the village of Jussent, (just one of several villages known to have been in Lafayette) and a large number of locals were rounded up and returned to the Missions.

More conflicts continued until 1800 at which point the settled life was over for all the East Bay tribes, except the Volvons on Mount Diablo who finally succumbed in 1806 when Kaaknu the Volvon moved to Mission Dolores.

One of our ardent followers is now trying to ascertain the exact location of the Jussent Village, buried somewhere in the modern world.