S2 E8 John Sutter Part 2 Arrives in California 1837 - forward

 In the last episode, we covered the early United States related history of John Sutter. Today, I pick up where I left off in John Sutter’s timeline.

 This episode will be longer than my usual episodes, and, frankly, took more research than my other episodes, to ensure I had a solidified story to tell, but, it’s John Sutter … so, it’s hard to tell what’s fact from a creation of his mind. 

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Transcript

Welcome back, dear listeners. In the last episode, we covered the early United States related history of John Sutter. We covered a lot, but, there’s a lot I left out for the sake of time. Today, I pick up where I left off in John Sutter’s timeline. But, I will very quickly, recap the last episode:

Born in Germany in 1803 as Johann August Suter. In 1826, Suter moves to Switzerland, gets married, has five children, starts a business, joins the volunteer reserve corps of Banton, and runs up debt he can’t repay. 

In 1834, with a warrant for his arrest, and a desire to avoid debtor’s prison, Suter flee Switzerland in the middle of the night, and boards a ship in France, headed for the United States, leaving his debt, for his wife and children to deal with…

In 1835, Suter finds himself in Missouri, the unofficial German and Swiss capital of the United States, becomes John Sutter, and creates a persona, as an ex-captain of the elite Royal Swiss Guard of King Charles X of France. This is certainly a lie, as Switzerland did not have its own army during this time. Thirty-five years of backstory … done.

This episode will be longer than my usual episodes, and, frankly, took more research than my other episodes, to ensure I had a solidified story to tell, but, it’s John Sutter … so, it’s hard to tell what’s fact from a creation of his mind. 

Are you ready? Here we go. 

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We left off in May 1835 with Sutter traveling between Missouri and Santa Fe, New Mexico, to begin his career in the trading business, based on real advice he received from a fake Prussian Colonel. Sutter raises $40,000 from individual investors in Missouri “…for those who are brave enough to invest in me”.

And, Sutter returns to St. Louis with $200,000 in silver coins, some horses, seven mules, and a barrel of wine! Success!  This part of Sutter’s life in the United States is captured by his onetime closest friend and business partner, John A. Laufkotter in his book, “John A. Sutter, Sr. and His Grants.” It’s an interesting read. And, I’ll say more about this friendship, and the nature of the book, in a moment.

Sutter uses his investment money, from his Santa Fe trading expeditions, to create a livestock business, some real estate ventures, and a dry goods store in Westport Missouri. He also uses this investment money to start in the illicit world of horse selling with the Shawnees. The Shawnees travel to California, steal horses, you buy the stolen horses at a discount, and keep them, or, turn around, and sell them, at full price, to unsuspecting, or suspecting, buyers, far away from where the horses were stolen, like Westport Missouri. 

Sutter will coordinate more of these trading caravan trips between St. Louis and Santa Fe. Laufkotter, in his book, tells of a difficult time for Sutter, based on his firsthand experience. The idea of Sutter moving alcohol as part of his trading caravan was … disastrous, because the alcohol was always consumed before they could be traded in Santa Fe. And, Sutter’s drinking takes a turn from the jolly to the tragic. It’s early in Sutter’s trading career, so his life’s complications, due to drinking, as well as his womanizing, are just starting to be capture for posterity.

By no surprise, the money Sutter was supposed to be holding for his investors … disappeared. On one trading expedition, to Santa Fe, Sutter’s caravan, which included some of his investors, joins forces with another caravan. Now 120 wagons in total, the caravan company, also traveling with investors, begins to grows suspicious of Sutter, and start to grow disdain, and lose faith in his military skills, when Sutter refuses to join in the cavalry exercises with the other caravan. Laufkotter writes, “We saw that our captain was not accustomed to weapons and had probably never handled any.”  Ooops.

That’s interesting insight, as … Sutter probably had very little experience with guns, considering his military career as an ex-captain of the elite Royal Swiss Guard was a complete fabrication. Based on the wording, it seems Laufkotter was not yet aware of Sutter’s fabricated military career.

It was on this same trip, some of Sutter’s traveling investors become so disillusioned with their leader, that they drop off the caravan expedition, and ask to be reimbursed for their investment. But, the money was gone. Money always slipped through Sutter’s hands, whether he had 5, or 500 dollars. 

Rather than admit the money was gone, he promised to pay them back, if they could wait. He had an incoherent story for why this money wasn’t available right away, but, was guaranteed if they could wait. 

Sidenote: Sutter was known for easily making friends. But, once the shine wore off, he was also known for losing friends. 

 Laufkotter, once a close friend, and business partner, was now a Sutter skeptic, and was no longer “one of those brave enough to invest in Sutter”. Laufkotter demanded the return of his $400 investment, and, was not interested in that guaranteed delayed repayment Sutter was offering his deserting traveling investors. Ultimately, Sutter could only pay his “friend” 35 cents on the dollar, if Laufkotter wanted his money right away. What a friend … Laufkotter decided it was better to walk away with something, than wait and end up with nothing.

Laufkotter was obviously bitter after this experience, and, spends a modest amount of time, for the rest of his life, making it known, to anyone who would listen, that Sutter’s claims to fame and fortune are based on “… pretended historical achievements that Sutter continued to repeat”. But, some people loved Sutter. 

Sutter was complicated.

Before the gold rush, these claims against Sutter were scattered, mostly unknown, undocumented, unprovable, and Laufkotter’s words were mostly received as bitter grapes.

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In 1838, Sutter finds himself, once again, hold for it … bankrupt, threatened with lawsuits, and with a summons to appear in a Missouri court, after he swindled his business partners, purchased stolen horses, and, overextended his credit … again. 

Sutter is extremely upset about his situation, and, in a depressed state, he tells his friend, and creditor, John G. McCoy, of his plan to end his life. McCoy takes pity on Sutter, and gives him money. I’ll tell you why in a moment.

Sutter’s personality presented as a mix of grandiose entertaining and spending, (an act he picked up from the fake Prussian Colonel), to establish himself as ‘very wealthy and that’s why you can trust me, if you give me a loan”. But, Sutter is also known for being generous to those in desperate need of help. Several months earlier, Sutter had financially helped McCoy’s father when he fell on hard times, so the son felt obligated to return the favor to the man who kindly helped his father. 

Sutter was complicated

With money in his hands, Sutter makes a quick plan to leave the United States, his business, his debt, and his unpaid investors. Recall, Sutter abandons Switzerland, and his family, to avoid debtor’s prison, and now plans to abandon the United States under similar circumstances. 

It turns out, Laufkotter was wise to leave with what he could get out of Sutter than wait on repayment. In retrospect, he was right about Sutter, and was trying to warn people. 

Quick recap, in under four years, Sutter burns $200,000, societal bridges, and, his business reputation in the United States. On April 1st, 1838, Sutter figuratively jumps ship on Missouri, and the United States, with the intention of starting over in Mexico’s Alta California. 

By the way, that $200,000 in 1838 is the equivalent of $6,200,000. Also, John Sutter hasn’t seen his wife and children in four years. 

From “Sutter’s Own Story” by Erwin G. Gudde, a collection of Sutter’s own diaries, Sutter writes, “My first intention had been to get to California via Sonora. But, Sir William Drummond Stewart, a Scotchman, advised me to take the route over Fort Hall, a station of the Hudson Bay Company, on the road to Oregon. At Fort Hall, I should be able to find men who would be willing to accompany me to California. On account of the war-like Indians, I could not think of going directly to California.”

Sutter’s voyage to California will involve a few different stops along the way, so, let’s get into those.

Sutter arrives at Fort Hall, and then quickly leaves Fort Hall, to join travel with the American Fur Company. Skipping over a lot of story, Sutter makes a dangerous trip to Fort Vancouver, where he finds a vessel about to leave to the Sandwich Islands/Hawaii, “…as there were frequently vessels crossing from the Islands to California, I could hope to reach my destination at an earlier date. “ An earlier date. Hold onto that.

One step closer to California, Sutter departs Vancouver, onboard the Columbia, of the Hudson Bay Company, which is carrying lumber for the islands and fur for England. Sutter takes with him two Germans and a Native boy. Sutter, in his diary, writes, “I paid $130, more than the going rate for an Indian boy, but this boy spoke very good English, so he was worth more”. Sutter purchased the boy from Bill Brown, who had purchased the boy from Kit Carson. …  (Yes, that Kit Carson.) That’s the equivalent of today’s $4,085, for a native boy, who speaks very good English.

The buying, and selling, of native children isn’t unique to Sutter, Brown, and Carson. This theme will come up, again, later in this episode.

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On December 9, 1838, Sutter and company arrive in Honolulu, planning to quickly get on the next outgoing ship to California … that they missed by just a few days.  <sad horn> That plan to get to California ahead of schedule didn’t work out. Sutter settles in, and gets used to sunshine, taro, breadfruit and fish. There are worse places to spend a Christmas, and a few extra months. 

Sutter spends four months in Honolulu, waiting for the next ship, and does rather well, during his time. His fabricated military persona, fancy clothes, his charm; He is a hit with the other businessmen. Sutter, in his diary, states John Coffin Jones, the American consul at Oahu wrote to Colonel Mariano Vallejo in Sonoma Alta California, “This Swiss gentleman is a first-class man, honored for his talents and reputation”. (Sutter has specific talents, that’s true. And, he has a reputation with creditors in Switzerland and Missouri.)  These are Sutter’s reminisces … about himself. Sutter said Jones wrote that, and, perhaps Jones did in fact write that. But, with Sutter, you never know. He consistently created his life story, and sold it as the truth.

Sutter presents his first set of letters of recommendation in Honolulu, and uses them to acquire additional letters of recommendation for his growing collection.

In a ‘it’s a small world’ scenario, John Coffin Jones, the man who says, Sutter a first class man… is the step father of 17 year old William Heath Davis Junior. There, in Honolulu, Sutter meets Davis for the first time. Davis moved to Yerba Buena in this same year, 1838, so Davis likely hadn’t yet moved to Yerba Buena when he meets Sutter, for the first time. In a previous episode I mentioned Nathan Spear, Davis’ uncle, has Davis escort Sutter from Yerba Buena, to Sacramento in 1839, so they do meet again, in Yerba Buena, in less than a year.

Sutter, while enjoying Hawaii, never meant to spend four months, there. He was growing impatient and looking for creative opportunities to get to California. 

In May 1839, Sutter finds his first opportunity to go to California, but the details around the situation are murky. Let me see what I can pick apart from what I found. The ship Clementine was currently for sale, in Hawaii, but no one was interested in buying her. The ship was currently only being used to move cargo between islands, and, was no longer sailing in the open sea.  The Clementine, was built in 1832, in the Seychelles, and eventually sold to Captain Jules Dudoit, which is when the Clementine started her commercial open seas career. She sailed to Australia, and either did, or didn’t, sail to Signapore, and to Hawaii, and other places.

Interestingly, the Clementine had previously sailed to Monterey in 1835 and was part of a strange situation where Alta California Governor Colonel Mariano Chico, and his affiliates, took refuge on the Clementine while hiding from their citizens. They didn’t take refuge on the Clementine, with Dudoit’s permission. They forced their way on the ship for hiding. 

William French, a merchant trader, and a new friend of Sutters’, approaches the ship’s owner, Jules Dudoit, with an opportunity to make money with the Clementine, which was sitting idle, without offers. French thinks of a plan to make money, while helping Sutter get to California. 

The idea was French would charter the ship for a trading voyage to California, via an initial trading stop at Sitka, Alaska, and have Sutter act as the supercargo, without pay, (that’s the person responsible for selling the goods on the ship). The traveling merchandise, in this case, clothes and other goods, would be mostly French and Dudoit’s merchandise, but Sutter did purchase $3,000 of merchandise from French … <ding> on credit, so Sutter has some means to make money in Alaska and California while he’s trading goods for other people, without pay. 

If French was willing to pay to charter the ship, and Sutter willing to trade on his behalf, Dudoit was willing. Sutter to trade merchandise on French and Dudoit’s behalf, and send Dudoit the money, and also sell his own merchandise.

Sutter is one step closer to California!

Sutter leaves for Sitka on April 20th, 1839. Once in Sitka, he speaks Spanish to the Chief Clerk, German with the storekeeper, and French with Governor and his officers. Sutter is, once again, a hit, this time, in Sitka. This is my opinion, but, Sutter sounds like a natural politician, more than a businessman.

In Sitka, Sutter acquires more letters of recommendation, in preparation for California. And, more importantly, he solidifies his plan to establish a colony, not a land grant, a colony, along the Sacramento River.

Sidenote: Sutter and his prized collection of letters of recommendation. The amazing part is his collection of letters is that the first letter, in France, was created on the impression of being an accomplished businessman, that is now propagated in future letters of recommendation.

20. Sutter, “Reminiscences,” 4, Bancroft Library, Berkeley. These reminiscences
 consist of a bound volume of dictation taken down by Hubert Howe Bancroft in 1876.

After a month in Sitka, Sutter finally sets sail for …  this is kind of confusing based on what Sutter himself wrote in his diaries. He either is, or isn’t, intentionally setting sail first for Yerba Buena, with the ultimate goal of landing in Monterey. But, for certain, it’s been a year of travel, trading, and cunning, to make it from Missouri, to this point. Sutter finally sets sail for his intended final destination, Alta California.

From Sutter’s somewhat confusing memoirs, confusing, because it conflicts with firsthand accounts from other people, he writes “As we were sailing down the northwest coast, the weather turned so bad that is seemed almost impossible to make our way through the narrows, later known as the Golden Gate. Had I not had a copy of Belchers’s survey, which the Governor had been kind enough to order for me, we should not have been able to find the entrance. On the second day of July, 1839, we finally entered the Bay of San Francisco and anchored off Yerba Buena. “

What happens next is a bit of a surprise, all things considered. Hold for it.

Again, from Sutter’s diaries, “An officer and about fifteen Mexican soldiers came on board and asked me what I wanted. “This is not a port of entry. You cannot land here; you must go to Monterey.” I told him that I knew this very well and that I had not entered the port intentionally but had been driven into the bay by the stress of the weather and because I was out of provisions. Fortunately, I had letters from Mr. French and from other gentlemen from the Islands and from Sitka, and … “ . He lists the names of over twenty prominent men. I’ll save you from reading the list. 

So, Sutter receives an icy reception and states he anchored in Yerba Buena, because of the weather, the ship’s dire need of repairs, and his starving and sick crew, and just happens to have a map to enter Yerba Buena. Interestingly, International Maritime law, allowed ships to anchor in forbidden ports if their ship was badly beaten, out of drinking water, or provisions. People would claim emergency rights to anchor, and then smuggle, in Yerba Buena and avoid Monterey’s Custom House, where you paid taxes and duties on your merchandise. Maybe Sutter’s story about landing in Yerba Buena is real, or maybe it isn’t? It’s hard to tell with Sutter. 

Sidenote, the Pueblo de Yerba Buena doesn’t have a Customs House until 1844. 

The officer ultimately takes pity on Sutter, and his crew, allowing him 48 hours to anchor in Yerba Buena, purchase provisions, fix his ship, Clementine, then leave. 

Sutter immediately hires carpenters and sail makers during his two-day stay. 

There is no documentation or oral history saying smuggling, or any trading, happened during Sutters’ 48 hour stay. But, why would they stop Sutter from smuggling, when smuggling in Yerba Buena was a well-known secret to many whaling and merchant ships? Maybe Sutter ran out of merchandise to smuggle with, and he really did need to claim the emergency rights to anchor in Yerba Buena? That would explain the icy reception.

Keep in mind, Sutter said he arrived in Yerba Buena on July 2, and, is allowed to stay for two days.  Also, keep in mind that Monterey is a little over 100 miles from Yerba Buena, and, in 1839, that’s an entire day’s journey by ship.

From the book “Sutter’s Own Story” Sutter writes, “And, on the morning of July 4th, I was ready to set sail.  A few Americans who had settled in Yerba Buena were very anxious for me to remain, and join in the celebration for the day, but the authorities would not permit it. The next day (that’s July 5th) I arrived at Monterey and stopped at the house of David Spence, the most influential foreigner at the capital.” 

Monterey, at that time, was the capital of Alta California, no dispute there, but, I would say, Thomas Larkin was the most influential foreigner in Monterey. But, Sutter and I can agree to disagree, as much as I can with a person who is not alive… 

In conflict with what Sutter writes in his memoirs, Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado, in his five-volume manuscript, “Historia de California” wrote that Sutter arrived in Monterey, just in time to celebrate the 4th of July as a guest of … Thomas Larkin, along with the elite class of Californios. (See? Alvarado agrees with me.) 

If Alvarado is correct, that would mean Sutter actually landed in Yerba Buena on July 1st, stayed until July 3rd, and arrived in Monterey on July 4th.

But, Sutter says he arrived in Monterey on July 5th and makes no mention of the 4th of July celebration. You be the judge of who was correct; A man who rewrites his history, or, a governor who might have mixed up his details.

And, speaking of this holiday, it’s 1839, and, the 4th of July is being celebrated in Monterey, Mexico’s Alta California. The United States doesn’t take possession of California until 1846.

The Mexican military in Monterey is immediately impressed by this charismatic, well dressed, spoken, and mannered man, with his piercing light blue eyes and his high forehead, (code for receding hairline). It seems Sutter had a harder time impressing the Yerba Buena miliary than Monterey’s military. 

I really do wonder if Sutter’s icy reception in Yerba Buena would have been less ‘icy’ if he was there to grease palms and conduct business? We’ll never know. But, his reception in Monterey is very different.

Mexico’s explicit bias towards Spanish, and other European countries, gives Sutter’s multilingual, Swiss heritage, his fictitious military career, and a history of conducting business in two countries, the appearance of being sophisticated, and from a fine family. All of this looks fancy, to a distant and isolated Alta California, where being Spanish/European held socio-political and economic capital. And, this bias was also very true among Californio’s who inherited a yearning towards appearing, and acting, more Spanish than they were, and downplaying any mixed blood.

Along with Sutter’s inherent privilege, he uses his dynamic personality which historically convinced everyone, removing the need for evidence to prove his stated pedigree, stature, and story. Sutter presents his collection of over twenty letters of recommendation, which, in that quantity, should have been suspicious, but he’s John Sutter, so …

Sutter asks Governor Alvarado for land to start a colony along the Sacramento River, which, out of context, and at the time, seemed like good news to Alvarado, since Alvarado’s idea was to strategically establish this exact area, to minimize the local Native raids, and hopefully reduce the power of his very ambitious uncle, General Mariano Vallejo.

Sidenote: Sutter was aware of the animosity between Uncle Vallejo and Nephew Alvarado, before arriving in Monterey. Well played, Sutter.

Ah, and remember the ship Clementine? Later in life, Sutter told people he had purchased Clementine with the money he made on this voyage, but that was untrue, proven, by documentation, and, indicative of how Sutter created his history. 

And, that, dear listener, is how Johann August Suter, known in history as John Sutter, found his way to California. Obviously, Sutter’s history in California starts where I leave off, and, he goes on to live a colorful life in California, with a direct touchpoint to the California gold rush.

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I want to break format for a moment, and, acknowledge John Sutter as a controversial figure in California history. I’ve intentionally decided to tell Sutter’s story before the unsavory parts begin. I was conflicted about discussing Sutter, in my podcast, in depth. But love him or hate him, Sutter becomes a huge part of Yerba Buena, San Francisco, and California, history. 

I can’t escape that he’s intricately tied to the ‘gold’ in my podcast’s tagline, … San Francisco’s golden past. But, the purpose of my podcast is “retelling the forgotten stories from San Francisco’s golden past”. 

Some topics are delicate, and I have to put my personal opinion aside, to tell history, and this is one of them. My overall objective with my podcast is to provide enough information with the cited sources, to make you curious enough to do research, and form your own opinions.  

And, now I return to my normal format. 

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Sutter’s legacy has tarnished with time, as perspective on his history, has more recently been re-evaluated. In 2020, Sutter Health Park, in Sacramento, (I had no idea Sutter Health was named after him), removed their statue of John Sutter after it was defaced. They said it was “…out of respect for some community members’ viewpoints.” 

Those viewpoints are regarding Sutter’s well documented time in Sacramento, regarding the enslavement of, and cruelty toward, Native people, including kidnapping native children and selling them to pay his debt, and, the manner by which he had children with Native women. 

These ‘viewpoints’ are captured in several personal diaries, from those who visited the fort, or worked with him at the fort, by choice, and, some, not by choice. I’ll remind you that Sutter’s wife and children remained mostly penniless, in Switzerland, for 15 years, before bringing them to California. 

I’ll close this episode with two historical takes on Sutter, from two people who really did their research, in different ways, and came to different conclusions. It highlights the complexity of the Sutter legend.

James Peter Zollinger's well-known biography, Sutter: The Man and His Empire, describes Sutter’s legacy as “A truly remarkable triumph of one man over the wilderness and its Indian inhabitants.” To be fair, Zollinger does touch on Sutter’s shortcomings, but, his ultimate take away is what I just read. …his greatest achievement was his ability to triumph over the people and the land.

Hubert Howe Bancroft personally knew Sutter, and, spent five days, capturing Sutter’s reminiscences directly from Sutter, at Sutter’s home. 

In 1876 Bancroft released the memoirs and summed up Sutter in his "Pioneer Register” (these are snippets of what Bancroft wrote, and not written in one paragraph):

“His wealth was won by good luck, without business ability. None of the pioneers named in this Register has received so much praise from so many sources; few have deserved it so little.” 

“Of principal, of honor, or respect for others, we find but slight trace in him. His apparent success in 1839 – 1845 was in a sense wonderful, but it rested almost entirely on a fortunate combination of circumstances.” “A heroic figure he was not, although his romantic position as pioneer in the great valley made him seem so, to many travelers and historians .... he remained, to the end, a figure more picturesque, than manly, in our California life.” That was published in 1876.

I am curious if Bancroft came into the project with this impression of Sutter, or if he walked away with this impression, after the Sutter interviews.

https://archive.org/details/californiapionee00banc/mode/2up?q=Pioneer+Register

I invite you to do your own research on John Sutter, based on personal accounts of people who experienced Sutter, as a benefactor, or as a victim, or, a benefactor turned victim, to get a holistic view through other people’s eyes. Then, compare those accounts with Sutter’s written word, and see where you end up in your opinion.

Sutter, the man, and his legacy, were complicated then, and controversial, today. With history, and a lot of things, hindsight has 20/20 vision. 

You can read today’s transcript and locate the cited sources at monkeyblocksf.buzzsprout.com. 

You can visit Monkey Block, at facebook.com/MonkeyBlockSF, or twitter.com/monkeyblocksf, or email me directly at monkeyblocksf@gmail.com. 

Thank you for listening. This is Monkey Block, retelling forgotten stories from San Francisco’s golden past.