Imagine strangers invading your neighborhood, burning your house to the ground, ransacking your local grocery store, and taking over your town.
Could you make a living in a foreign culture that invaded your world? Could you hold your family together?
Could you survive?
Miners by the thousands invaded the Sierra Nevada (Yosemite) foothills during the gold rush from 1849 to 1851. Some Indians struck back and raided a trading post, killing several miners. In 1851, a band of volunteers formed the Mariposa Battalion, sanctioned by the state of California, to rid the area of the perceived threat of Indians. When they entered Yosemite Valley, …