Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology

At the dawn of the American Civil War, southern California native people, including the Luiseino, Mountain Cahuilla, and Northern Dieguenio (Ipai), were beginning to slip into a marginal existence among the dominant white society. Although some native villages or settlements were sufficiently removed from white contact to avoid conflict and ill effects, most were clearly influenced by the spread of Anglo-American civilization. Native populations had been severely depleted by European-introduced diseases; settlements were abandoned to avoid contact with whites; lineages were fragmented or destroyed, and traditional lifeways were rapidly disappearing (Cook 1943o, 19436; Phillips 1975:20-69; Sutton 1964).