[Fannie Mayer Bangs, A Faithful Account of the Last Indian Uprising in Nevada, Nevada Historical Society Papers 1913-1916 (1917)]

 

A FAITHFUL ACCOUNT OF THE LAST INDIAN UPRISING IN NEVADA

FANNIE MAYER BANGS

          This narrative is a true account. The writer is personally acquainted with all the characters and has written the story as she remembers it from early childhood and from what she has later learned from the lips of the old Pioneers herein mentioned. Her manuscript was presented to the Nevada Historical Society November 18, 1916.

          In 1875 at Fort Halleck, Nevada, was stationed one company of infantry and of cavalry U. S. soldiers. The Indians had been peaceable for a number of years, but still used war paint on their faces and the men wore their hair in long braids and wrapped themselves in large, gaily colored blankets. The young bucks would work some, but the older men did very little except to hunt and sleep and smoke their pipes for war or peace. The squaws did the rough housework for their

Fort Halleck, Nevada, which was abandoned in Cleveland's second administration

Capt. C. C. C. Carr, 1874; Gen. D. J. Craigie, 1876; Lieut. Wm. Allen, 1876; Col. J. N. Andrews, 1878. These pictures were saved by Fannie Mayer Bangs whose father, C. E. Mayer, was fort trader at Fort Halleck.

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white sisters and all the hard work of their own camps. At that time both squaws and bucks wore moccasins and never wore anything on their heads except a gay handkerchief or feather headdress.

          Among the officers then stationed at the Fort was a St. Yager from West Point—very young, very blonde—very dapper. He was regarded by the sturdy men at the Fort as a typical tenderfoot. However, this young officer had ambitions to do a thrilling act with the Indians. His zeal had not been tempered with actual encounter with these stalwart braves of the West, so his hopes ran high and his tongue gave free utterance to his ambitions.

          One evening Widow Hayes, noted for her good-heartedness but also for her extreme lack of beauty, announced she would give a party at her ranch ten miles below the Fort. St. Yager, of course, was among the invited guests. At the appointed time the young officer hied away on horseback to see the fair maidens of the surrounding country. After a few hours of frolic he started for the Fort. It was about 2 o'clock in the morning. He was leisurely riding along little dreaming of danger. All of a sudden he heard a war-whoop behind him and the firing of a gun, then realized that he was pursued by Indians. More war-whoops and shots followed in quick succession and for several miles there was a race for life. The Lieutenant at last reached the Fort enclosure where the guards having heard the shots and the horses' hoofs as they echoed through the still cold night air, ran to the big gate of entrance to open it for the Lieutenant, who as soon as he found himself safely inside the gate fell fainting into the arms of the sergeant of the guard. When he regained consciousness he said that about seventeen Indians had chased him from Widow Hayes's ranch. He told quite a thrilling story of the attack.

          In a few minutes a posse of soldiers were scouting the nearby country for warlike Indians. But the Indians had apparently escaped, for the only human beings encountered that night were three citizens riding quietly home to a neighboring ranch.

          A detachment of soldiers was immediately sent to Halleck Station to wire to the Presidio in California. In a day or so six companies arrived. The Indians at the Fort donned their war clothes and paint and smoked pipes and held midnight gatherings sufficiently to lead the officers to believe they had need of holding the troops as a precautionary measure. But the scouts scouring the country found no traces of warlike Indians, so after six weeks sojourn at the Fort the companies returned to the Presidio.

          Many years later the community learned the true facts concerning the " Indian Uprising." Three of the early settlers, near Fort Halleck were practical jokers. Their names were Jim Campbell, Hank Keith, and Ham McCain. J. J. Campbell was from Pennsylvania. He owned a ranch near Fort Halleck and had a large family of children, some of whom now reside in Elko. Hank Keith had charge of the Cross Roads at Lamoille, Nevada, then owned by C. E. Mayer. Like Campbell he was one of the jokers of the country and was always up to some mischief. Ham McCain came from Canada and was for many years the owner of the hotel at Halleck Station. He had a large family and some of them now reside in Elko. He was a jovial, hearty good fellow and was accounted one of the responsible men of the community.

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"The Three Culprits"

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          These old-timers longing for the excitement of the earlier pioneer days of Nevada decided to play a practical joke on the "tenderfoot" officer St. Yager. So it was arranged that the Widow Hayes should give the party on the eventful night heretofore mentioned. At its close the jokers secured three horses, one shotgun and some whisky, and proceeded to follow the Lieutenant. They decorated their heads with sagebrush for an Indian headdress and used saddle blankets for

A soldier named Powers, at Fort Halleck in the early days

the regulation Indian blanket. Thus arrayed they started after the Lieutenant. When sufficiently close to him Jim Campbell let out a war-whoop, fired the gun several times and all three men started on a gallop after the Lieutenant, and followed him to within a quarter of a mile from the Fort. They then proceeded to cut across the country

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to Campbell's ranch. At the firing of the gun, in the beginning of this scamper, Ham McCain's horse became frightened and. threw him off and ran away. Determined to see the fun to the finish he was compelled to ride behind Hank Keith. As they were thus riding homeward very slowly and speculating on what their joke might bring to them, suddenly a voice from the darkness demanded "Halt, hands up." They were willing to halt, for ten rifles were leveled at them by a squad of cavalry soldiers scouting from the Fort for the "Indians." They were questioned by the soldiers, but Campbell's quick wit came to their rescue and he explained to the soldiers how ten Indians that day had compelled his wife to cook them a meal and upon leaving had taken one of his horses and a saddle. Upon his arrival at home and learning of the facts he said that he had started out after the Indians. The story seemed plausible to the soldiers, so the culprits were allowed to pass on.

          When the troops were brought from California the Indians in the nearby country, seeing so many soldiers, were naturally suspicious that war was intended and they began preparations also.

          All the three old Pioneers lived to see the Fort abandoned and sold for ranches. But they were not the only ones who knew of the incident and who testified later to correctness of the story. C. E. Mayer was sutler at the Fort during this time and was taken into the confidence of the three old-timers and was told of the whole affair, but it was many years before the community learned the true facts of the uprising, and then the matter was regarded as a huge joke.

          But the young officer in the meantime enjoyed the military distinction of having had an actual encounter with the Indians.