The naming of Yosemite Valley carries a historical irony born out of the 1851 Mariposa Indian War. The people who lived within the deep granite valley did not call themselves "Yosemite." They identified as the Ahwahneechee, and their ancestral home was known as Ahwahnee, translating roughly in the Miwok tongue to "a place like a gaping mouth."
During the 1851 punitive expedition into the Sierra foothills, state-sanctioned California militiamen known as the Mariposa Battalion entered the valley under the leadership of Major James Savage. A young volunteer physician named Lafayette Bunnell accompanied the force. When Bunnell inquired about the name of the band inhabiting the fortress of rock, neighboring Southern Sierra Miwok scouts referred to them as yohhe'meti or yoseti.
In Southern Sierra Miwok, yohhe'meti meant "they are killers" or "those who kill." The surrounding tribes viewed the Ahwahneechee people as dangerous rivals.
Bunnell, enamored with what he perceived as a romantic native moniker, advocated forcefully for naming the valley "Yosemite," mistakenly assuming it was the band's self-selected tribal name. Over 170 years later, the military label remains the permanent federal designation of the park, fossilizing a neighboring rival's warning inside the National Park Service directory.
