At the corner of I and 11th Streets in downtown Modesto stands a monument to Chief Estanislao of the Yokuts. With his head held high, he looks out over what used to be his home on the Stanislaus River. What is ironic about his statue is that it is directly in front of the Stanislaus Superior Court and Municipal Court and faces the county clerk's office. Let me explain.Estanislao was born in what is now Modesto in 1798 as Cucunuchi. The Lakisamni tribe that he was a part of lived along the river from the valley where it met the San Joaquin east to around modern Knights Ferry. They were just one tribe of the Yokut people, a nation at one time stretching from the delta region to Bakersfield. Ever since Gabriel Moraga first led an expedition up the Central Valley in 1806-1808, the Lakisamni had fought against the Spanish. By 1821, the padres at Mission San Jose were tired of trying to win the Lakisamni over to Christianity and started taking members of the tribe by force. They took Cucunuchi, his wife and daughters, and his mother to the mission to receive a crash course in Catholicism and baptize them. Cucunuchi was baptized and named Estanislao after St. Stanislaus. The young native flourished at the mission, conquering Spanish and Latin and learning to read and write. His instilled hatred of the Spanish, though, did not disappear.
By 1827, he had been appointed alcalde of the mission Indians, a position that allowed him to put together a small army of 400. When he thought that his band was strong enough, Estanislao and his men raided the mission and disappeared into the night. Later, they raided Missions Santa Clara and Santa Cruz. Returning to Lakisamni territory, he plundered the few Mexican settlers along the Stanislaus River. Estanislao's men were well-trained soldiers using Spanish and Mexican techniques and going into battle in formation and armed with rifles. Their raids were organized but swift, taking everything of value and leaving behind Estanislao's characteristic mark, an S. The Mexican governor sent four different expeditions to quell the Indian revolt but to no avail. After two years of raids, Alférez Mariano Vallejo met Estanislao on the banks of the Stanislaus west of Ripon. The Indians had just finished battling with another Mexican unit and had forced them back. Now Vallejo and his men came, routed the Indians, and caught them by surprise. The battle really was the tipping point for both Estanislao and the Mexicans. Both had had enough and were ready to give everything they had to win. Vallejo's military genius and the exhausted native soldiers caused the Indians to run for refuge at Mission San Jose, a brilliant victory and one that propelled Vallejo on to be one of the most powerful men in California. Shortly thereafter, Estanislao showed up at Mission San Jose and begged a padre there to forgive him and his men for their sins. The padre did so and asked the new governor to grant Estanislao a pardon for his crimes. This was secured, and Estanislao was free to go.
Did I mention that Estanislao was deceitful? By the way, he was deceitful. Not even a year after his "conviction of his sins", he began to raise another army, this time partering with another disgruntled mission Indian, Yoscolo. Together, they killed every Mexican settler within reach of their headquarters.
In 1833, some trappers from the Hudson's Bay Company wandered down into California from Oregon, bringing with them malaria and smallpox. Thousands died in the ensuing epidemic. Estanislao again went back to Mission San Jose for safety and spent the next few years there teaching the Yokut language and traditional culture. In 1838, he died of smallpox.
The Californios oddly came to have a respect for Estanislao, and their American successors have inherited that. And so, ironically as can be, a rebel Indian is memorialized in front of the courthouse of the county named in his honor.
