 Accounts from this battalion were the first well @-@ documented reports of ethnic Europeans entering Yosemite Valley . Attached to Savage 's unit was Dr. Lafayette Bunnell , the company physician , who later wrote about his awestruck impressions of the valley in The Discovery of the Yosemite . Bunnell is credited with naming Yosemite Valley , based on his interviews with Chief Tenaya . Bunnell wrote that Chief Tenaya was the founder of the Pai @-@ Ute Colony of Ah @-@ wah @-@ nee . The Miwok , a neighboring tribe , and most white settlers considered the Ahwahneechee to be especially violent because of their frequent territorial disputes . The Miwok term for the Pai @-@ Ute band was yohhe 'meti , meaning " they are killers " . Correspondence and articles written by members of the battalion helped to popularize the natural wonders of the Yosemite Valley and the surrounding area . 
