Howdy, While browsing my newly received 49erRobert ECCLESTON diaries of Mariposa Mines - Mariposa Indian War - Discovery of Yo Semite (thanx again CindyLadyBug), I ran across an excellent description of Major James D. SAVAGE, one of the most colorful & central figures of the CA gold rush era. I have previously posted a couple of shorties on Maj.SAVAGE. And one of his relatives, a gggdaughter- I think, gave us an excellent biography. As I recall, she said(and I agree) that if Savage had not been killed in 1852, he would unquestionably have later become Governor of California. Our 49erdiarist, Robert ECCLESTON was a private in Company C of the Mariposa Battalion, which was under the command of Major James D. SAVAGE. Captain William DILL was Company C commander and S. A. BISHOP was its First Sargeant. At the conclusion of the Mariposa Indian War of 1850/51 and after, as many claim, the discovery of Yo Semite(setting aside Joe WALKER's claim for the moment) in March, 1851, our recently mustered out[July1,1851] diarist Robert ECCLESTON writes: "Tues. July8th[1851] "Left the Agua Frio early this morning & reached SAVAGE's CAMP on the Friseno at evening. Major Savage is on his way to San Francisco. " A description of Major Jas. D. SAVAGE "Major Jas. D. SAVAGE Emmigrated to this country from [blank] with Col. Chas. C. FREEMONT on his expedition of survey to this country. He fought here during the revolution acting in the capacity of an officer. He ingratiated himself with the Indians and traded with them, took the contract for collecting the Freemont stock of cattle & afterwards took the contract for digging the Race for Capt. SUTTER in which Mr. MARSHALL discovered the gold. He however gave it up & continued trading with the Ind[ians] till the Gold was discovered when he worked his Indians, which business he has continued up to the time of breaking out of the war, & which business he has again Resumed on the Fresno. "He[Savage] is Man of about 28[???] yrs of age, Rather small but very muscular & extremely active. His features are regular, & his hair light brown which hangs in a neglige[:-)] manner over his shoulders. He, however, generally wears it tied up;. His skin is dark tanned by the exposure to the sun. He has, I believe, 33 wives[:-)] among the mountain females of California, 5 or 6 only, however, of which are now living with him. They are from the ages of 10 to 22 & are generally sprightly young squaws. They are dressed neatly, their white chemise with low neck & short sleeves, to which is appended either a red or blue skirt. They are mostly low in stature & not unhandsome. They always look clean & sew neatly. The Major has a little house built for their accomodation. Major SAVAGE is now connected with Col. FREEMONT & Capt. HALER in the contract for supplying the Indians with provisions." NOTE: For you folks who missed/forgot my prior posting of 49er Robert Brownlee's 1850 description of Maj. SAVAGE, I exerpt it BELOW. Take care, Bob Norris in Dallas <BNorris166aol.com> FROM MY PRIOR POSTING: "Howdy, <snip> " For our purposes Savage, reportedly a native New Yorker, was about 34 years old when he met(1850?) our diarist/49er Robert BROWNLEE. Soon after coming to CA in 1846, Savage joined Fremont's California Battalion in the War of 1846. After gold was discovered in 1848, he moved around alot in the diggins. And that's where Brownlee and Savage met. Later Major Savage lead the Mariposa Battalion in the Indian Wars {1850/51?), which group among others(Joe Walker in 1833?) claim discovery of Yosemite - but that's another story:-) So, let's join 49er Brownlee in 1850: "Before the war[1850/51 Indian?], Major Savage who commanded the[Mariposa] battalion, lived with the Indians just as much as any of the bucks, even though Indiana[NY birth?] was his native state. When I first saw him, he was traveling in a very unbecoming manner. All he had on was a coarse cotton sheet which came to his knees, was bare headed and bare footed, with three wives following him, one after another a little distance apart, and an equal distance in advance of the oldest of the three, who was about 16 years of age. The other two being about 12 or 14 near as I could judge. " When he came to the store first, I thought him crazy; but soon found out different as his address was good when he asked for something to eat as his squaws were hungry. He bought the best I had, and gave them plenty of it. It was mid-day and my place was empty, so they remained for several hours, he buying largely cloth for himself and squaws. I had on hand a great many bolts of print some good, others not so much so, also some red blankets which took their eyes. All they fancied he bought for them; his bill I think was $75. I could not see that he had any place to carry gold dust as all could see was his cotton shirt, but sure enough, when he put his hand in his bosom, out came a well filled purse, and he never disputed an item. When they started[out] ..I gave each [girl] a bolt of cheap but highly colored print, which pleased them very much.... "He invited me kindly to make him a visit to his camp, which I did so as at this place was reported good diggings could be found. He treated me kindly and I slept in his tent, the sleeping apartments of which I will describe. I was very "green" as [to how] a man could get along with three wives but he showed me:-) Two large logs formed two sides of his bed, two more the ends, and as he had those red blankets and sheet, this was cover enough for [FIVE] of us .Of course my modesty made me shut my eyes....." THE END:-)))))))))))" <snip>