 Chief Tenaya and his Ahwahneechee were eventually captured and their village burned ; they were removed to a reservation near Fresno , California . The chief and some others were later allowed to return to Yosemite Valley . In the spring of 1852 they attacked a group of eight gold miners , and then moved east to flee law enforcement . Near Mono Lake , they took refuge with the nearby Mono tribe of Paiute . They stole horses from their hosts and moved away , but the Mono Paiutes tracked down and killed many of the Ahwahneechee , including Chief Tenaya . The Mono Paiute took the survivors as captives back to Mono Lake and absorbed them into the Mono Lake Paiute tribe . 
