page_title: Joaquin Murrieta
section_title: 1849 Migration to California
hierarchical_section_title: Joaquin Murrieta / 1849 Migration to California
caption_attribution_description: English: Joaquin Murietta (1868) by Charles Christian Nahl
context_page_description: Joaquin Murrieta Carrillo, also called The Robin Hood of the West or the Robin Hood of El Dorado, was a figure of disputed historicity associated with the novel The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta: The Celebrated California Bandit by John Rollin Ridge and subsequent legends about a famous outlaw in California during the California Gold Rush of the 1850s. Evidence for a historical Joaquin is scarce. Contemporary documents record testimony concerning a minor horse thief by the same name in 1852. Bandidos with the name 'Joaquin' involved in the robbery and murder of several Chinese were reported by newspapers during the same time. A California Ranger by the name of Harry Love was tasked with and eventually brought in a human head claimed to be that of Murieta.
  The popular legend of Joaquin Murrieta was that he was a Sonoran forty-niner, a vaquero and a gold miner and peace-loving man driven to seek revenge when he and his brother were falsely accused of stealing a mule. His brother was hanged and Joaquin horsewhipped. His young wife was gang raped and in one version she died in Joaquin's arms. Swearing revenge, Joaquin hunted down all who had violated his sweetheart.
context_section_description: Murrieta reportedly went to California in 1849 to seek his fortune in the California Gold Rush. His older Carrillo stepbrother Joaquin Carrillo, who was already in California wrote back about the 1848 gold discovery and told Joaquin to come to California. Like many Sonorans, Murrieta and a party including his new wife Rosa Feliz, came to California across the Altar and Colorado Deserts in 1849. This party included Joaquin's younger brother (Jesus Murrieta), Jesus Carrillo Murrieta his other Carrillo stepbrother, three Feliz brothers-in-law (Claudio, Reyes and Jesus), two Murrieta cousins (Joaquin Juan and Martin Murrieta), four Valenzuela cousins (including Joaquin Theodoro and Jesus Valenzuela), two Duarte cousins (Antonio and Manuel Duarte), and a few other men from Pueblo de Murrieta or nearby.
caption: Joaquin Murietta (1868) by Charles Christian Nahl
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