Bitterness Road: The Mojave: 1604 to 1860

The Mojave, though a people who welcomed visitors as long as the visitors posed no apparent threat to them and did no damage, successfully defended themselves when the Spaniards, the fur traders, the explorers, and the emigrants destroyed their crops, vandalized their building materials, and in other ways imposed on their hospitality. their defensive measures repeatedly won them long periods of peace and sovereignty, but they were finally overwhelmed and lost their autonomy in 186 when the United States Army, its guns, and its seagoing ships arrived.

What stands out in the final tragic episodes that preceded and very shortly followed the establishment of Fort Mojave at the site of the Mojave Villages is the courage of the young Mojaves who voluneered as hostages in place of their elders, and chief Cairook's sacrifice of his own life in order that the young Mojaves might escape.