savages had murdered two innocent, hardworking, industrious, kind-hearted settlers.”68 “Doctor” Henry DeGroot, the Comstock romantic and correspondent, reported that the Virginia City citizens were in agreement that the Paiutes should be punished. Describing the armed force that would be sent against the Indians, he noted, however, a few men “… of ruffian proclivities, who believing that an Indian war would furnish them employment at public expense, and possibly afford opportunities for securing Pah Ute ponies at a cheap rate, did all that lay in their power to promote a scrimmage of this kind.”69
So a militia of about 750 vigilantes composed of volunteers from Virginia City, Silver City, Carson City, and Genoa was quickly formed with Carson City’s most prominent citizen, Major William Ormsby, as their nominal leader, and the troops—rascals and professionals—marched toward Pyramid Lake by way of Williams Station and the Truckee River. Some of the volunteers, unorganized and poorly armed, stupidly followed a small party of Paiutes up a ravine. Once in the ravine a few hundred Paiutes appeared and, closing off any escape routes, proceeded to kill 76 of the 105 members of the vigilante army, including Major Ormsby.70
When the remaining volunteers returned to Virginia City from the ambush at Pyramid Lake, they barricaded their houses and gathered their women and children into places of safety. They quickly dispatched couriers to California. In the meantime, Texas Ranger “Colonel” Jack C. Hayes organized his militia. His “Washoe Regiment” consisted of 500 volunteers, and they were soon joined by a detachment of US artillery and infantry from Fort Alcatraz, California. They met up with Numaga and perhaps as many as 600 Paiutes, first south of Pyramid Lake, and later in a skirmish northeast of the lake. Many of the Paiutes scattered, either east across the Great Basin or in the rugged terrain east and north of the lake to the Black Rock and Smoke Creek deserts. Indian sources say as few as four Paiutes were killed, while other “official” military reports claim 160 Paiutes were killed, with only four regiment members killed.71
While the casualty numbers were probably not large, the disruption of life at Pyramid Lake was great, especially food gathering activities and fishing. Starvation was the main problem for the remaining Paiutes that had not fled, although the non-Indian position was that the influx of whites who overran the country brought clothing and food that was an improvement on their previous habits of eating mice, ants, and grasshoppers.72
The federal forces returned to the Carson River near the site of Williams Station and constructed what became Fort Churchill in 1861. The desert outpost was designed to curtail hostile Paiutes at the Pyramid Lake and Walker River areas, as well as protect the Pony Express and other mail routes.73 When the “Washoe Regiment” returned to California, and the regulars withdrew to the Carson River, Old Winnemucca’s people, mostly peaceful, returned to Pyramid Lake. Other returnees were not so placid and would continue depredations for the next few years. The arrival of new farmers along the Truckee River and near Pyramid Lake only aggravated their situation. Along with the squatters, vigilantes, fishermen and miners, the army at Fort Churchill would now be a permanent feature in the lives of Pyramid Lake Paiutes.
By October 1860, the month when Chief Truckee died in the Pine Nut Mountains southeast of Carson City, the Pyramid Lake War of eastern Nevada was over. But other skirmishes and battles were to continue through 1865. During May 1861 over 1,500 Paiutes assembled at the mouth of the Walker River. They were led by Wahe, who claimed to be spirit chief of all Paiutes and the brother of Old Winnemucca. A spirit chief was a leader who was believed by his followers to be immune to the white man’s bullets.
Wahe and others conspired for several months. Their plan was to gain entry to Fort Churchill posing as friends of the white man, and then at a signal they would slaughter the small garrison of about forty men. The planned conspiracy was discovered by the Walker River Indian Agent, and Wahe was forced to flee to Oregon. He died upon his return to Nevada in May 1862.74
Other Indian troubles occurred in 1863 when E-zed-wa, chief of the Walker River Indians was killed, along with his horse, by a drunken white man outside of Fort Churchill. His body was later found in the Carson River by members of his band. Several prospectors were killed in Humboldt County in 1864 (although Indian responsibility has never been proven). Two other gold hunters were murdered by Paiutes near Walker Lake in the early months of 1865. In this instance the Indians were taking revenge on people who had recently flogged them. But the most grievous of events took place on March 14, 1865. This is known to history as the Mud Lake massacre.75
The killings at Walker Lake led the territorial governor, following the hysteria of Honey Lake residents who called for “exterminating the whole race,” to send for the troops. Answering the call, the Fort Churchill commanders sent the young and inexperienced Captain Almond B. Wells, and a contingent of Nevada volunteers, to Mud Lake (known as Lake Winnemucca today), where it was reported that Indian cattle thieves were camped. Unaware of any danger, 30 or more Kuyuidokado were camped east of Pyramid Lake at Mud Lake.
At the site Captain Wells divided his forces into three squads and attacked the Paiute encampment. At least 29 Paiutes were killed (other sources reported 32 Indian dead). Well’s report described hand-to-hand combat with no casualties among the volunteers.76 While the annals of the Civil War called the action a “skirmish,” it was reported by the leaders at Fort Churchill as an “Expedition to Pyramid Lake.”77 Only in hindsight has it been named a “massacre.”
The Paiute perspective of the event, as told by Sarah Winnemucca, differs from the official explanation. Her account was later substantiated by Numaga at a peace conference at Fort Churchill. First, as Numaga reported, with the exception of three or four men in the camp, all the dead were women and children. The cattle thieves had evidently left before the arrival of Well’s volunteers. Some women who tried to escape jumped into the water and were drowned, while others were shot while in the lake. The infants and babies that were still tied up in their baskets were burned alive as the camp was set on fire. At least two of Old Winnemucca’s wives were killed, including Sarah Winnemucca’s mother, Tuboitony.78
Finally, to speculate a bit, many Nevada volunteers had served time in Utah under General Connor’s command and were later transferred back to Nevada.79 It is likely that some of them knew of the Bear River Massacre of 1863 (see Chapter 8) and the follow-up campaign against Chief Pocatello, and were imbued with the kind of hatred that such actions produced. It is little wonder that the young and inexperienced officers with volunteer soldiers would take the cries for extermination literally, and while so doing make a name for themselves. As for Old Winnemucca, he would pursue his own spiritual quest in the Steens Mountains. After the Mud Lake massacre he, and many of his followers, refused to return to Pyramid Lake.80
Throughout the end of the 1860s the Northern Paiutes of Pyramid Lake and western Nevada had several concerns. Violence and conflict with whites was one of them, especially in 1866 after the soldiers shot “everything that wore paint” at Rock Canyon, north of Pyramid Lake and east of the Modoc area, killing 80 Indian men and 35 women.
A more persistent problem was the activity of Indian agents on many of the “de facto” reservations, including the Pyramid Lake Reservation. They often refused to give out rations, engaged in illegal transactions then arrested and sometimes killed the Indians for engaging in illegal acts, refused to educate their children, and most of all, they would not protect the Paiutes from white encroachments. In 1868 measles killed over 100 Pyramid Lake Paiutes while the agent did nothing to aid the sick Indians (similar numbers died at Walker Lake due to typhoid fever and consumption). By mid-summer hatred of the Indian agent led many citizens of Pyramid Lake to abandon the Paiute reservation and wander to other areas, including Camp McDermit in northern Nevada immediately south of today’s Oregon border. In July Old Winnenucca and 490 Paiutes came into Camp McDermit, and by the end of the year there were more than 800 Paiutes that were allocated food. There hopefully they could join the Quin River
