Vulnerable settler colonialism: Oliver Baker, ‘Embattled Settler Colonialism in John Rollin Ridge’s Joaquín Murieta’, ESQ: A Journal of Nineteenth-Century American Literature and Culture, 71, 4, 2025, pp. 443-481 | settler colonial studies blog

Vulnerable settler colonialism: Oliver Baker, ‘Embattled Settler Colonialism in John Rollin Ridge’s Joaquín Murieta’, ESQ: A Journal of Nineteenth-Century American Literature and Culture, 71, 4, 2025, pp. 443-481

15Dec25

Excerpt: Settler colonialism was never inevitable in North America. It was always vulnerable to defeat at the hands of the colonized who waged anticolonial wars in defense of their territories and governance. Anticolonial war was the reminder of settler colonialism’s limits and weaknesses that its narratives of conquest disavowed. When US settlers invaded Indigenous lands of the western seaboard following the United States’ imperial war that seized Mexico’s northern territories in 1848, they confronted erupting anticolonial wars with the potential to upend US rule. One of the most formidable anticolonial war campaigns during this period was the Garra Uprising of 1851. Antonio Garra, a leader of the Cupeño nation, united and led the Cupeños, Cahuillas, Cocopahs, Kumeyaay, Luiseño, and Quechan in armed rebellion to rout US settlers from southern California. Garra’s forces seized settlers’ livestock, destroyed enemy infrastructure, and killed in battle those who tried to repress the uprising. Garra specifically targeted settlers known for anti-Indigenous abuse and violence. US military forces and state militias scrambled to contain the uprising. It only came to an end due to internal disunity. Garra was betrayed by a fellow leader, Juan Antonio of the Chuillas, who used a coalition meeting with Garra as a trap to capture and deliver him to US authorities. Joshua Bean, the Major General of California’s state militia, formally arrested Garra and charged him with treason against the United States. Despite arguing that he had never pledged loyalty to the United States as the leader of a sovereign Indigenous nation fighting to end unjust US rule over Cupeño lands, Garra was found guilty and executed by firing squad.

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