America's "First" Chinese Tong War in 1856 was neither a Tong War nor was it First but it was Chinese-American, Part One
Greetings,
Thanks for coming back and please feel free to bring your friends. I feel like I have a core of solid readers. The next step is to make this grow.
In the meantime, this week, I return to the topic of Chinese Tong Wars in the Old West, or at least incidents alleged to be Tong Wars, but more on that later.
Up until Wednesday, I was planning to write more on Chinese Opera, last week’s topic. —and by the way, you will never understand Chinese Opera in any meaningful way unless you have actually watched and listened to some Chinese Opera. If you are not comfortable clicking links from this page, please consider using Google or your favorite search engine to find some and check it out. The problem was, I didn’t really have anything to say on Chinese Opera that you couldn’t find somewhere else. Therefore, I will come back to it, but only after I have something unique or hard to find to say about it.
So Thursday, I started doing more research on the Chinese run scam phone centers using human trafficking victims to make calls that are scattered throughout SE Asia. it’s a fascinating subject and I am starting to see the patterns and connections and flow of the items involved, and therefore will write about it inevitably, but not now, it’s just too dark and terrible.
But then, on Friday, a friend who is also a historian, a retired, museum curator, and a historical wargamer asked me if I thought there was much possibility of wargaming any of the Tong Wars fo the Old West. While most of these involve people sneaking through alleys trying to kill each other from hiding, I was aware of a couple that took place in open fields, went home and from about 9pm to 11:30 did enough research to discover that a lot of the reports I was finding were distorted or simplified and the underlying truth was much more interesting and opened itself to more analysis than had been previously done.
And therefore, today, I offer my first reporting on an outbreak of violence among Chinese Americans that took place in October of 1856, almost 168 years ago, in a place called Chinese Camp, California.
Thanks for coming along for the ride.
The facts about the 1856 incident in Chinese Mine, California, someties called “the First Tong War in California”
An 1854 illustration of the Weaverville California Tong War. Please note this article is on the 1856 Chinese “Tong War” in Chinese Mine, California, two years later and in a different place, but it’s such an interesting period illustration from roughly the same period that I had to share it.
After spending an evening reading claims of “ the first Chinese Tong War in California,” I have determined that it was not actually a Tong War at all, it was something more complex, and even if had been a Tong War, it was not the first one either. Which is quite an interesting thing to conclude.
THE CLAIM, THE REPORTS, AND THE SETTING
If one scours the internet, it is sometimes reported that the first Chinese Tong War in the USA took place in 1856 in a small mining town in California with the very appropriate name of “Chinese Camp.” Yes, the name of the town was, and still is, Chinese Camp. But there are flaws in this claim. But first some basic history and facts about the place.
It’s about 125 miles or approximatley 200 kilometers east of San Francisco Chinatown.
Source: Wikipedia, map created by Arkyan - My own work, based on public domain information. Based on similar map concepts by Ixnayonthetimmay, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2487012
—
It seems to be something of ghost town with a population of between one and two hundred people, a lot of empty buildings, and some history-oriented tourism and tourist attractions focusing on the area’s history of gold mining.
The town of Chinese camp is located in Tuolumne County, California, east of Stockton, in a region that is sometimes called “the Southern Mines.”
So what were the “Southern Mines”? According to a Library of Congress article:
“The gold mines that were the focus of these forty-eighters and forty-niners fell into three major regions. The first discoveries were along the American River and other tributaries to the Sacramento River. Not long thereafter, gold was found in the tributaries to the San Joaquin, which flowed north to join the Sacramento in the great delta east of San Francisco Bay. The Mokelumne River formed the boundary between the two areas, with the upper fields known as the Northern Mines, and those below the Mokelumne known as the Southern Mines. Other strikes occurred to the northwest around the Trinity, Klamath, and Salmon Rivers.” [ii]
According to a New York Times travel article on the town:
“Sucheng Chan, a retired historian and the author of more than 15 books on Asian American history, notes that this region, called the Southern Mines, was home to almost half of the Chinese in California in 1860, before the establishment of San Francisco’s Chinatown and other urban enclaves.” [iii]
For the record, while I think this article is well worth reading as there is so little available on this place and its history, I also think it’s deeply, deeply flawed and lacks any sort of depth. For example, its Asian American author spends a lot of time lamenting lack of Asian representation in the towns historical tourism, and lack of attention paid to the town’s Asian American history in its depiction of history, and discusses, correctly I will add, that many or most Whites who settled in California envisioned it becoming a well developed home for White people with non-Whites sort of tacked on the social periphery as would benefit a civilized and well developed White homeland, but then she compounds these very things she protest but not once mentioning the 1856 so-called Tong War that is, for better or worse, one of the most interesting things that the Chinese residents of this tiny place ever did. I am not saying it is good that a number of Chinese of equal or up to ten times the current population faced off with weapons and screamed and chased each other in 1856 in this California semi-ghost town, but I am saying it is historically significant and fascinating that they did, and one cannot lament and whine about lack of Asian American historical representation while simultaneously contributing to lack of Asian American historical representation in the same piece. Furthermore, it is my understanding that Chinatown in San Francisco had been established, by this time, but obviously many Chinese lived and worked outside of San Francisco often seeking their fortune in mining.
But writings on the facts on this place and its history are not widely distributed, making probing into its history a challenge.
So far, and I am not saying with any intent of irony or criticism, the best source for local history that I have found comes from a project done by the 2019 Chinese Camp Science Academy for children
Now for the record I am very impressed with this project. I do however disagree with the statement that the Chinese in California in the 1850s were seeking gold to help with an effort to modernize China. Not in the 1850s guys, perhaps 40 to 50 years later. And, oh my goodness, am I really arguing with 11 years olds in print in a public forum? Shame, shame on me . . .
And for a good description around the town during those days and its later history, the children learned (consider increasing the size of the image on your browser if you need to):
To download your own copy of this wonderful brochure you can go to the County Tourism Webpage: https://www.visittuolumne.com/The-History-of-Chinese-Camp-Brochure.pdf
THE SO-CALLED TONG WAR
In 1856 in this place, a bad thing happened and a large number of Chinese involved mostly in the mining industry started shouting threats, then faced off and prepared for violence. It was even reported in the newspapers.
From Daily Alta California, Volume 7, Number 294, 31 October 1856 1
As one can see a group called the Sam Yup was clearly, no bones about it, threatening a group called the Yan Wo, and announcing that it had put prices on their heads and advising them to run away and paint their faces with flour.
Now at some point in the back issues of Mostly Asian History, I know I wrote something about how in traditional Chinese warfare there was often more emphasis on trying to demoralize, intimidate, and scare your enemies than in European warfare, and here one can clearly see such an attempt. And it makes sense since, as we will see later, it appears that while the two groups arrived already as rivals and with tension among them due to factors that at least partially predated their arrival in the USA (more on that next week or soon) the end goal of the conflict was to gain control of mining territory that both sides wanted. Therefore scaring off the rival enemy faction would achieve the desired result.
Clearly, serious stuff, although for the record, and more on this later, it’s not clear what either of these groups were. What was the Sam Yup Company? What was the Yan Wo Company? Important question. Well, worth looking into.
Reports of the 1856 Event
Like a lot of obscure but fascinating history, the conflict has been written about in several places although there is no guarantee that any of these descriptions are correct.
According to the children’s science camp publication reproduced above:
Now I don’t claim to be an expert on this subject, despite being considered a good source for facts by at least one Wikipedia page (yes, I have been used in Wikipedia citations for years on this subject) but I find the description above to be quite believable except for the claim that they wore “full battle armor.” It agrees with what I think happened on that day, and it is quite clear that those kids and their teachers and mentors have done a really good job of researching local history and sharing their findings (but, hey guys, next time consider listing sources, please. okay? .
The United States Government’s Library of Congress has a large collection of digitalized photos of significant places and events available on line, along with brief descriptions and details on the photo. According to one such photo labelled Chinese Camp, a small settlement in Tuolumne County, California:
“Chinese Camp, now mostly a ghost town, is best known for its Tong wars that pitted hundreds of members of rival clans in 1856. Battles were fought with pitchforks, rakes, and other mining and farm tools. Despite its name, it was equally populated by Americans and European immigrants.” [iv]
There’s that term “Tong War” again. I dispute that and will explain why in an upcoming issue.
According to a California State Parks website:
“Reportedly founded about 1849 by a group of Englishmen who employed Chinese as miners, Chinese Camp was headquarters for stagelines in early 1850s and for several California Chinese mining companies. Much surface gold was found on hills and flats. The first Chinese tong war in the state was fought near here between the Sam Yap and Yan Woo Tongs. Stone and brick post office, built in 1854, is still in use. The St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, built in 1855, was restored in 1949, its first pastor was Father Henry Aleric.” [v]
Again, I don’t think it was a “Tong War.” Also, oddly enough, there was an earlier Tong War in 1854 in Weaverville, something else I hope to write about. Oddly enough, its site is also described in connection with a California State Park Site.
According to what at first glance appears to be a well-researched blog, the event occurred in 1854, but reading carefully he appears to have accidentally mixed together the 1854 tong War in Weaverville California and the 1856 tong war in Chinese Camp, California and mixed them into one event, and then determined the alternative date was a mistake, instead of a completely different but similiar event. Alas, these things happen sometimes when one writes, and I did gain insight from his piece once I realized his mistake and worked around to see what he had learned that I had not. [vi]
It references an article in an online “museum” though:
“ CHINESE TONG WAR – Near Chinese Camp, October 1856
The historic Gold Country was a violent land — claim jumping, murder, theft, cheating at cards, and much more was quite common.
In October 1856, a different type of violence occurred near Chinese Camp. It was a Chinese Tong War.
A Tong is defined as a Chinese secret society or fraternal organization. While many Tongs were mostly social, some organizations engaged in gang warfare or ethnic revenge.
The Tongs were often rivals for control in the Chinese communities and public challenges toward one another were not unusual. Along the Mother Lode in late Gold Rush California two Tongs were rivals for hegemony. They were the Tuolomne County Sam Yap Company and the Calaveras County Yan Wo Company, headquartered near Chinese Camp.
The disputatious name-calling between the two companies was often very direct. The Columbia Gazette reported an October 1856 comment directed toward the Yan Wo faction by the Sam Yap leadership: “There are a great many now existing in the world who ought to be exterminated.”
Fightin’ words. And preparations began immediately. James Hanley, a resident of Chinese Camp, provided the best description of the arrangements in a letter to the Sonora Union-Democrat.
The Sam Yap Company, Hanley wrote, had purchased 150 muskets and bayonets and muskets in San Francisco. They had employed fifteen whites as drill instructors. The instructors were paid ten dollars daily along with all the food and whiskey they could handle.
Before the battle the fifteen white mercenaries painted themselves yellow, put on Chinese costumes, and hung a yard of horsehair tail down their backs in a mocking depiction of a Chinese queue.
More than 2500 participants fought in the battle that followed. Most were armed in traditional fashion, carrying long pikes, butcher’s knives, and tridents.
After a hundred shots had been fired, the woefully underarmed Yan Wo beat a hasty retreat. Thousands had watched and dueled, but the casualties were light. Sources indicate a death toll of four.
The cost figures were much higher. The Sam Yap Company had expended $40,000 in pursuit of victory, while the Yan Wo Company had spent $20,000 in defeat. “ [vii]
According to a website describing state historical marker for a placed called The Crimea House in China Camp:
“Built in 1853 by James W. Kerrick. Having come over the emigrant trail, to Keystone District with nine covered wagons. This place originally housed a restaurant, bar rooms and stables. Located on the main road from San Joaquin and Bay Region into the Southern Mines sector and chief station for freight.
On Sept. 26, 1856 the Great Tongs War fought near by 2100 Chinese.
Burned down on Oct. 8, 1949.” [viii]
And according to an archived website on the history of the county which is referenced in the above historical marker data base:
“ The Tong War of 1856
Tensions between the Tuolumne County Sam Yap Company and the Calaveras
County Yan Wo Company, both headquartered near Chinese Camp erupted in
violence. In the Columbia Gazette of October 1856 a comment directed toward
the Yan Wo by the Sam Yap stated “There are a great many now existing in the
world who ought to be exterminated.” An estimated 2500 men fought in the
battle that followed. Most were armed in traditional fashion, carrying long pikes,
butcher’s knives, and tridents. The Sam Yap Company had purchased 150
muskets and bayonets in San Francisco in preparation for the confrontation and
after a hundred rounds or so The Yan Wo clan were forced to retreat.
Surprisingly there were only 4 fatalities were recorded.“ [ix]
Which is amazing, except that it does not seem to have actually been a “Tong War.” More on that next time.
The same historical marker website adds this additional commentary:
According to a list of state historical markers:
“ China Camp – Mark Twain Bret Harte Trail, Reportedly founded about 1849 by group of Englishmen who employed Chinese as miners. Much surface gold found on hills and flats. Headquarters for stage lines in early 1850’s, and for several California Chinese mining companies. First Chinese tong war in state fought near here between Sam Yap and Yan Woo tongs. Present stone and brick post office built 1854, still standing. St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church build 1855, restored 1949. First pastor, Father Henry Aleric.” [x]
And again we have that claim of it being not only a “Tong War,” something I deny and promise to explain later, but also being “the first Tong War” in the state despite there having been one two years earlier. Hmmm?
Now the following description is the most vivid and lively that I have read. However, it was written a full 99 years later or so as part of a book on travelling the region and exploring its history. I can’t claim that it is historically correct or anywhere near it, for instance it does not mention at all that one side purchased 150 muskets and trained its members in their use that others do (which actually I have not yet seen proven and don’t really know what happened - as stated several times here, rabbit holes, rabbit holes, endless rabbit holes waiting to be explored while little voices whisper “research me, research me, those dishes can sit unwashed for another day or two in the sink, don’t worry. This is much more interesting, Peter. Isn’t it?”)
Still it’s fascinating and deserves to be shared. It comes from the book, “Chapter IV, Chinese Camp” of “The Big Oak Flat Road (1955) by Irene D. Paden and Margaret E. Schlichtmann.
“As the Chinese were driven from other camps—notably from Sonora—they congregated here. Chinese Camp was the magnet that drew most of them. It was their “Little Pekin.” The diggings were rich but dry, with no water available for sluicing out the gold which may be one reason why the industrious and patient Chinese were able to make a success of their project at this location with, at first, but little interference from the Caucasians. Their colony grew until it is generally accepted that the Mongolian population was several thousand and that four out of the famous Chinese “Six Companies” had their agents on the spot.
At first the gold-bearing dirt was hauled to a creek on the Sims Ranch or, still farther, to Six Bit Gulch and there sluiced out. When it was evident that this process was paying, the white miners edged in but the Chinese were too numerous and too well established to be displaced with impunity, so they worked together amicably enough. The American miners brought more efficient methods. After paying $15.00 a cartload to have dirt hauled to the creeks, they decided to dig ditches and promptly did so, bringing the water from Woods Creek. The miners’ meeting in Chinese Camp on September 17, 1850, which decided on the size of claims and laid down the rules, was one of the first in the Southern Mines. They then worked the diggings—lightly once over—with precision and dispatch and, after a few years, moved out.
The Chinese, who had calmly waited for this to happen, panned out the tailings and reaped a fair harvest from the gold which the rough and hasty methods of the Americans had wasted. They continued many years in the town as merchants, cooks and laundrymen after the main bulk of the miners had taken their departure, until finally but one Chinese remained, Chee Quat, a character affectionately regarded in the settlement, whose tiny cabin stood to the right of the school house at the foot of Rocky Hill.
During the lusty, swashbuckling first years of gold the town of Chinese Camp (never, at its best, monotonous) was greatly enlivened by a Tong War—a battle somewhat like a wholesale feud that took place between opposing clans or families of Chinese.
There were other Tong battles in the California mines, notably the famous encounter at Weaverville. Old-timers admit that these conflicts were fomented by drunken white miners who enjoyed the excitement of the foray. But, although the death rate was by no means in proportion to the mighty cacophony of yells, tinny clashings of hand-made swords, and scattering revolver shots, enough deaths resulted to make the admission embarrassing.
The Tong battle proudly claimed by Chinese Camp took place on September 26, 1856, in the meadow opposite Crimea House at the junction of the Mound Springs Road with the modern road to La Grange. It was caused by a dispute between two companies of Chinese who were mining at Two Mile Bar on the Stanislaus River; one company having rolled a boulder onto the claim of the other company and refused to move it. Very few men were involved at the outset but it ended with over a thousand. One account says 1200 on one side and 900 on the other. History tells us that the Chinese invented gunpowder, but the Orientals who came to the gold mines neither owned nor knew how to use fire arms. Their weapon was the knife. While light-heartedly planning their battle they beseiged the blacksmiths with orders for swords and spears which the smith (apparently just as happily) forged for them out of wagon tires or what not. When all was ready the embattled Celestials went tearing off in hysterical exultation and had a fine, impersonal, clattering fight.
Captain Ayres, a resident of Tuolumne County, told of the spectacle when the thousand or so Chinese, accompanied by most of the miners of the vicinity, left Chinese Camp on the four-mile journey to Crimea House. “There was no discipline nor order,” he wrote. “Everybody marched as he pleased or ran about hooting and shouting. Chinamen on horseback hovered around the flock and it looked like a band of cattle being driven. One man was killed, one wounded who was bayonetted. He was carried from the field as they carry a hog. His (pig) tail and heels tied to a pole.”3
After it was over and the accidentally deceased had had an elaborate Chinese funeral, the blacksmith with his helpers went out to the battlefield and collected the debris. George Egling stated that the swords and other weapons stayed in their scrap heap at the smithy until he sold them for old iron at the time of the first World War.
At one time Chinese Camp had three Joss houses in town, large structures filled with carvings and images covered with gold leaf — rich and surprisingly luxurious; but, by a strange contrast, provided with no floor but the hard-packed earth. Ghee Quat faithfully frequented the last of these.
The Chinese made industrious residents of the settlement, kept to themselves and took care of their own indigent—if any. The white merchants appreciated them as customers, for, although frugal, they were scrupulously honest. The only drawback seemed to be that dozens of them had the same name. There were so many called Lim, Chew, Hoy or Hong that it became simpler to describe them; so the records in the accounting books show: Blind Chinaman, Squint Eye, Lame One, Flat Nose and many more.
However, freely granting the fundamental honesty and industry of the man from China, a large Oriental quarter in a mining town did not add to its moral tone. They were quick to establish gambling shacks; to bring prostitutes into the settlement and to house them comfortably in accessible spots; to bring opium along as a matter of course and to sell it openly. In short, they had a good many of the less presentable proclivities of a modern Chicago gangster tucked away behind their fat bland faces. And, when approached with opprobrium by reform-minded citizens, did not under any condition worth mentioning speak English.
One good thing, the Chinese did not particularly care for their American neighbor’s whiskey nor for their morphine which was equally easy to purchase; but fortunately neither did the Anglo-Saxon care for their sickly and outlandish-smelling opium.” [xi]
So as one can see, something fascinating yet violent occured in the gold mining regions of California.
Next issue I plan to dig a bit deeper, get into what exactly a “tong” is, why the Sam Yip Company and the Yan Wo Company were not Tongs, explain what exactly these organizations were instead, what that can teach us about Chinese American soldiers and social structure of the time, and perhaps shed some light on who all these people were and why they were all making so much noise about fighting each other on that day. In short, I will try to answer some questions about who all these people were and why were they fighting each other in this place? What motivated them? And I think I have some interesting answers waiting for you when we come back next week.
Thanks! See you then!
I share this video below with the understanding that I do not like it very much at all. I find it superficial, unfocused, Chinese words are mispronounced, the creators seem to have taken random illustrations of battles and slapped them into the video without much thought of accuracy, and I just am not a fan of it. But if you want to see what the region looks like today, or if you want to know what I think about this video, well, here it is.
Bibliography
[i] See https://pulpfigures.com/products/category/22 Yeah, they are stereotypical in several ways, but they are intended to represent pulp fiction characters and not necessarily be historically accurate representations of historical people. For more context, see https://pulpfigures.com/products/
[ii] Short and well worth reading. https://www.loc.gov/collections/california-first-person-narratives/articles-and-essays/early-california-history/mines/
[iii] From September, 15, 2021, “Looking for a Gold-Rush Town Named Chinese Camp,” by Nina F. Ichikawa.
This is a travel article and while one of the best sources out there on what it is like to visit the town of “Chinese Mine” today, it is also very superficial and does not get into much depth or give any real detailed history. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/15/travel/california-asian-history.html
[iv] Chinese Camp, a small settlement in Tuolumne County, California | Library of Congress (loc.gov) or https://www.loc.gov/item/2013634027/
[v] CHINESE CAMP or https://ohp.parks.ca.gov/ListedResources/Detail/423
Monday, September 12, 2011
History: The 1854 Tong War, California
Or History: The 1854 Tong War, California « Feral Jundi or https://feraljundi.com/history-the-1854-tong-war-california/
[vii] https://web.archive.org/web/20120121145230/http://www.sierranevadavirtualmuseum.com/docs/galleries/history/culture/tong.htm
[viii] History: The 1854 Tong War, California « Feral Jundi or https://feraljundi.com/history-the-1854-tong-war-california/
https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=53311
[ix] History of Tuolumne County CA (archive.org) or https://web.archive.org/web/20130729210959/www.tonykrieg.com/History-of-Tuolumne-County-CA.html
[x] Chinese Camp Historical Marker (hmdb.org) or https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=906
[xi] Excerpt from “Chapter IV, Chinese Camp” of “The Big Oak Flat Road (1955) by Irene D. Paden and Margaret E. Schlichtmann. Available on line at https://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/big_oak_flat_road/chinese_camp.html
Author bio details at https://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/big_oak_flat_road/
Daily Alta California 31 October 1856 — California Digital Newspaper Collection (ucr.edu)