[Washoe Indian War, from Hutchings' Illustrated California Magazine, June 1860]

 

Editor's Table.

_____

            Since our last issue, the entire State has been thrown into great excitement by the painful tidings of the massacre of several whites, at different points on the Carson River, Territory of Nevada, by the Indians, and their houses burned to the ground. As this was deemed the commencement of a protracted Indian war in that section, military companies were formed immediately and started out, one of which, numbering some 106 men, came upon the enemy near Pyramid Lake, who being well armed and in great numbers, forced the whites to retreat, with a loss of twenty-one men killed, besides others being wounded.

A number of horses, and all the supplies were taken by the Indians. As soon as this news was sent from one end of the State to the other, several military companies were called out and others formed, to march at once to the seat of war. Public meetings were convened and subscriptions raised to provide all the necessary supplies. At the request of Governor J. G. Downey, all the arms and ammunition required were placed by Gen. Clarke at the service of the State.

            Each of the Washoe mining districts were declared under martial law, and all the able bodied men to be found were ready to render assistance. Fearing an attack at Virginia City, all the women and children were gathered within a fire-proof building, and defenses erected around it. Much of this alarm was altogether unnecessary, as none of the hostile Indians were found to be within fifty miles.

            It would seem from the information at hand, that the Pah Utah, Pitt River, Shoe-hones and other Indians, to the number of about 1500, are in league together, instigated and commanded by some unprincipled whites, generally thought to be Mormons; but whether this is founded in fact or not has yet to be proved. Be that as it may, the peaceful settlements in Nevada Territory are harassed by Indian aggressions and excesses. It is rumored that a white man entered the hut of one of the principal chiefs of the Pah Utahs, and without the least provocation deliberately shot him down, and in revenge for this his people attacked the whites. We give this as rumor only, although it may be true.

__________

 

[The Indian Wars of Western Utah, from Hutchings' Illustrated California Magazine, July 1860]

 

Editor's Table.

_____

            Our readers will remember that mention was made in this department, last month, of the commencement of an Indian war on our eastern border, in Western Utah, and that twenty-one whites had been killed, and others wounded. Since that time the number killed has been ascertained to exceed forty.

            To repel and punish these Indian aggressors, fourteen companies of Volunteers marched to the scene of conflict, from different portions of the State. The following tables, furnished by a correspondent of the Evening Bulletin, will show the Companies, Captains, and numerical strength of each :

THE VOLUNTEERS.

                                    A, Spy Co., W. P. Fleeson                               15

                                    B, Sierra Guards Co., E. S. Smith                  46

                                    C, Truckee Rangers, L. Nightingale               38

                                    D, Sierra Guards, 2d Co., J. B. Reed              26

                                    E, Virginia Rangers, H. Clayton                     24

                                    F, Nevada Rifles, J. B. Van Hagan                  82

                                    G, Sierra Guards, 3d Co., R. Raymond          18

                                    H, San Juan Rifles, H. N. Miller                     26

                                    I, Sacramento Guards, G. Snowden                25

                                    K, Virginia Rifles, E. F. Storer [sic]                104

                                    L, Carson Co. J. Blackburn                             44

                                    M, Silver City Guards, M. Ford                       58

                                    N, Highland Rangers Spy Co., S. Wallace       15

                                    O, Sierra Guards 4th Co., F. F. Patterson       28

                                    Staff                                                                 11

                                                                                                           560

            To which should be added 50 teamsters and camp-followers, all well armed, making the total 610. About two hundred were well mounted, and the balance were infantry. They were officered as follows :

            Colonel—J. C. Hays. Lieut. Colonel—E. J. Sanders. Major—D. E. Hungerford. Acting Adjutant General—Lieut. Col. C. S. Fairfax. Commissary of Subsistence—Maj. R. W. Snowden. Asst. Commissary of Subsistence—Capt. H. T. Booraem [sic]. Quartermaster—Maj. B. S. Lippincott. Assistant Quartermaster—Capt. J. McNish. Surgeon —Dr. Perkins. Asst. Surgeon—Dr. Bell. Sergeant Major—R. Magill.

THE REGULARS.

            The United States troops in the Carson Valley expedition, number, at this date, 30th May, 1860, as follows :

                        Capt. J. Stewart, 3d Artillery, Commanding the Battalion.

            Surgeon C. C. Keeny.

            Capt. J. Moore, Assistant Quartermaster.

            Lt. H. G. Gibson, Assistant Commissary of Subsistence.

            E. Byrne, Asst'. Quartermaster's Clerk.

            Co. H, 3d Art., Capt. J. Stewart, Lt. A. G. Robinson             82

            Co. A., 6th Infantry, Capt. F. F. Flint,

EDITOR'S TABLE.    47

            Lieut. E. R. Warner                                                                62

            Co. H, 6th Inf., Lt. J. McCleary, (not yet arrived, but included in this statement, because immediately expected)                                                           53

            Co. I, 3d Art. Detachment, with two 12-pounder mountain howitzers, Lt. H. G. Gibson                                                                                                16

                                                                                                          213

            Other officers above mentioned                                               5

Total Regulars.                                                                                  218

            These Companies, though acting under two separate commanders, moved in concert, and made common cause against the enemy. As it was known that some three different tribes of Indians, to the number of about 3,000, were encamped at Pyramid Lake, the forces on the 31st of May took up their line of march across a desert of sand hills and sage brushes for that locality, encamping on the Truckee river, 20 miles distant from the Carson. Here the mutilated remains of several bodies were discovered, that belonged to Capt. Ormsby's party, before alluded to.

            On the morning of the 2d of June, a party of observation, numbering 40 men, went out in the direction of Pyramid Lake, leaving the others in camp, and arrived on the broad valley of the Lake, before they were discovered by the Indians. With a whoop and a yell a race was commenced, that was continued, with occasional firing, until our horsemen had nearly arrived back again into camp; when, supported by Capt. Storer's [sic] company, and shortly afterwards by the entire forces, an engagement ensued, which has since been alluded to as "the battle of Pinnacle Mount ;" where Capt. Storer, and a volunteer named Cameron were killed, and three regulars wounded. The loss of the Indians was estimated at about 50.

            On the following day a severe battle was anticipated, and arrangements were made for it; but when the eager and exultant troops had arrived in sight of Pyramid Lake, the enemy was no where visible, and, when they reached the valley they made the annoying discovery that the Indians had fled.

            Meanwhile, in San Francisco and other places, mass meetings were held and subscriptions raised with much enthusiasm for the volunteer army in Western Utah, to the extent of several thousand dollars in money, besides large supplies of provisions, which were immediately forwarded.

            While the subscription list was daily and rapidly augmenting, a telegram was received that told of the flight of the Indians ; and also, that the regulars were deemed sufficient for all future emergencies, and were fortifying themselves at Pyramid Lake —consequently the volunteers would disband and return. This threw cold water on the labors of the subscription committee, and obviated the necessity of prosecuting their well-meant exertions further.

            From newspaper correspondents it was ascertained that horse-feed in Virginia City was raised to $7 per night, and three prices were charged the little army for everything they needed ; and yet it was for the protection of this town, among others, that volunteers and regulars risked their lives. It is in this way that Indian War bills before Congress swell to such enormous dimensions; and it will be well that these facts should be borne in mind, and brought to light at some future day. We should like much to ascertain the names of all such ungrateful speculators, that we might chronicle them for future reference —especially when the "Washoe Indian War Bill" is before Congress.

            It may not now be out of place, to say, that if general report speaks truly, this Indian war originated in the disgusting maltreatment of the Indians by some white ruffians at Williams' Ranch ; the principal actors being the Williams brothers themselves, who enticed an Indian and his squaw into their house, and after binding the former, violated the person of the latter before his eyes. As soon as the Indians were liberated, they naturally told their humiliating story to their brethren, and the result was the killing of the perpetrators of the infamous deed—who well deserved

48        HUTCHINGS' CALIFORNIA MAGAZINE.

their fate—and the burning of their buildings to ashes. And where are the whites that would have done otherwise ?

            From this act of a few monsters in human shape, hundreds of valuable lives will be sacrificed, many thousands of dollars will be expended, and much valuable property destroyed, besides jeopardizing the lives of the incoming emigration, and the safety and speed of the Pony Express riders.

            Nearly every one of the Indian wars on this coast have originated from similar causes—the aggressions of the whites. As we possess most of the facts connected with the origin of all these wars, we may some day give them to the world; the only objection being their disgusting details. We will at present content ourselves by giving the following, from the Evening Bulletin :

SAN FRANCISCO, June 1, 1860.

            To the Editor of the San Francisco Bulletin :

            Having lately arrived here from Humboldt Bay, I take the opportunity to inform the public, through your columns, of a few of the recent instances of shameful and horrible crime committed upon the Indians in Humboldt county, by white men.

            Some time in February last, a man named L—, who has a stock ranch on Van Du-sen river, had an Indian boy, whose family lived within half a mile of his place. L—'s boy would occasionally run off to visit his relations. This incensed L— so much, that he went down one morning and slaughtered the whole family—of about six persons—boy and all. He then made a rude raft of logs, put the victims on it, marked it to W. H. Mills—who was known to be opposed to indiscriminate slaughter of the Indians—and started the bodies down the river.

            Messrs. Neil and Hood, two good men, who have a stock ranch on the outside and adjoining L—, had about their premises, for the last two years, an old Indian called Ukillaboy. He acted as a faithful guardian to the ranch, always giving timely warning of the approach of thieving Indians, and always being ready to assist in tracking them up, while he was ready to assist about the place, to the best of his abilities. Well, about the 26th of April last, the old Indian, feeling perfectly secure, paid L—a friendly visit, and was immediately tied up and shot in cold blood without any explanation. This so incensed Mr. Neil, that he drove off his cattle to the Matole, leaving L— on the outside ; since which time the Indians have literally feasted on L---'s cattle.

            Some time about the 18th of March last, three desperate ruffians, armed with hatchets, entered the hotel at Hydesville, and demanded of the proprietor by what authority be had written a letter to Lieut. Hardcastle, of the U. S. A., at Fort Humboldt; and if he had not convinced said ruffians that the letter was strictly private, and had no allusion to Indian affairs, and no communications for the Bulletin, he would have been assassinated on the spot. The names of these ruffians I shall withhold for the present.

            Society is completely demoralized on Eel river; and the Thugs are largely in the majority, led on by Wiley of the Humboldt Times, and by Van Nest the sheriff. Young men talk and think of nothing else but hanging and killing young Diggers and their mothers. The pulpit is silent, and the preachers say not a word. In fact, they dare not. It finally amounts to this—that where the Indians killed a "beef" occasionally, before the late grand massacre at Eureka, they now kill ten.

            All of the bucks who formerly lived around Eureka with their families, having ties that bound them to the Bay and the settlements here, have dispersed to the mountains, and are now seeking vengeance as thieves, for their kindred slain. It will cost not less than half a million dollars to dislodge the 300 thieving Indians from the Bald Hills. Men who detest and abhor the thugging system, from circumstances that surround them are silent. Two or three men who were on the last Grand Jury which sat at Eureka, were Thugs.

            The man L--- is the same person who boasted of having killed sixty infants with his own hatchet at the different slaughter grounds. This is the same man who peddled whiskey to the United States soldiers and the Indians not 18 months ago, and on the same ground that is now annoyed by the thieving savages. The Indians, since the recent grand massacre at Eureka, have done damage to L--- of not less than $1,000; in fact, he will be compelled to leave for some other range for his stock.

            I append my name, privately, to this record of some of the atrocious deeds that have recently been perpetrated in Humboldt county.[1] I have left that quarter for good ; but, as I have a few friends in the place, I do not wish that they should be molested for any doings of mine, and you had better, therefore, not communicate my name, except under such circumstances as you may consider necessary or proper for the public good.