The battles at Pyramid Lake
'Quintus Hopper of Nevada' series: It was 1860 and white men rallied to rout the Northern Paiute. Everything about their attack was wrong - and many paid for it with their lives.
Quintus Hopper of Nevada, published in January 2022, is a historical novel that follows the epic and peculiar life of a frontier newspaper typesetter. As part of my research I made extensive use of newspaper archives and, in this series, I’ll share some of my often surprising findings. Here are history, commentaries and contemporary newspaper articles as they relate to my latest novel. This time a deeper look at what actually happened at Pyramid Lake, what led to the escalation - and how newspapers reported on it.
In early May of 1860, the Williams brothers had kidnapped two twelve-year old Indian girls, raped them and kept them locked away in the cellar. When the Paiute found the missing girls, the punishment was swift – they killed the culprits and burned down their station. While settlers knew about the Williams brothers and were quietly certain that they had received just punishment, the very idea that Indians could kill white men could not be tolerated. And so the settlers cried foul and Major Ormsby assembled over one hundred men from Carson City, Gold Hill, Virginia City and Genoa. None of those men had any military training, but then they also thought they would simply ride to scare and shoot a few ‘digger Indians’.
Ormsby was a key figure in early Nevada times. To get a sense of what life was like in Carson and Eagle Valley before the Comstock Lode let to the creation of the territory and then statehood, here’s an article that highlights what Orsmby stood for, and what many others wanted - freedom to do as they pleased, no rules, no laws, no taxes. Ormsby manouvered nicely - but it took the hanging of Lucky Bill Thorington to turn the tide toward a place of law.
What they didn’t know was that the Northern Paiute chiefs had been meeting. Their bands were starving, and some of the chiefs called for war against the usurpers. Some, like Chief Numaga, argued for peace. But after the actions of the Williams brothers, the war cries drowned out any notion of peace. When Ormsby and his men rode against the Indians, they were met by a small number who pretended to ride off in fear. Gleefully, Ormsby and his men charged after them and galloped straight into an ambush. As the Daily Alta California article mentions, Ormsby himself was among the many dead.
The battle was the first of two in what would become remembered as the Pyramid Lake War. It wasn’t a war. The first battle was a simple routing of white man’s arrogance. And it was that loss that had to be erased from memory. A month after the first battle, the military was called in and a much larger force attacked the Northern Paiute once more. That time, the balance was more or less equal. The Indians eventually decided to leave out of sheer common sense – with no side having the advantage, why continue? White man’s reporting, of course, portrayed the second battle as a great victory.
Surprisingly, perhaps, I’m incorporating in this post an episode of Bonanza. The iconic show was set right then, right there, and episode 4 was all about what white man’s history later called the ‘Paiute War’. Released in 1959, the show naturally inserted the Cartwrights into the story, but despite the fictional weavings it, overall, portrayed what happened with considerable sensitivity to what actually happened. Here’s the episode:
Below article is also interesting for the mention of the telegraph. A first telegraph line had been installed in late November of 1859 between Genoa and Placerville. With the coming of the telegraph, news in frontier lands began to travel a great deal faster.
May 14, 1860
Daily Alta California San Francisco
BY MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH.
Per Alta, Placerville, and Carson Valley Line.
Desperate Indian Fight near Carson Valley – Two Thousand Indians in the Field – One Hundred White Men in the Fight – Seventy-five Supposed to be Killed – Spear, Meredith, Ormsby, and Snowden among the Slain.
VIRGINIA CITY, May 13 – 10:40 A.M.
Mr. C. T. Lake – belonging to the Company that left Silver City to fight the Indians who committed the late outrages – has just arrived here. The force, one hundred strong, struck camp between three and four o’clock P.M., on the bend of the Truckee, yesterday morning, and advanced on the trail towards Pyramid Lake.
The Indians, judged to be two thousand strong, came upon the Company and opened fire upon them from ambush. By order of Major Ormsby, the troops charged upon the Indians, who opened right and left, surrounding the troops, who fired occasionally. Their ammunition soon gave out. The Indians, seeing this, closed in upon them, pouring volley after volley.
Lake was ordered to guard the pass to the east, to secure an avenue of retreat. He succeeded in this, and was followed by six men.
Lake thinks a few escaped across the river, but no others came through the pass.
Major Ormsby was shot, and Mr. Lake thinks the greater part of the force were left dead upon the field.
Among those who went out to fight, and who are supposed to be killed, are William S. Spear and Richard Snowden, of San Francisco; Major Ormsby, of Carson Valley, and Henry Meredith, of Nevada. Mr. Spear is a brother of Edward S. Spear, of San Francisco.
[The above was the extent of the general dispatch received yesterday morning. We immediately telegraphed to our correspondents in Carson Valley to make up a full dispatch containing all that was known of the fight, but the line broke between Strawberry Valley and Carson in the afternoon, and up to a late hour last night had not been put in working order. Several private dispatches were received, of which we give the following. – EDITORS ALTA.]
[Private Dispatch to Benj. Halladay.]
Seventy-five Whites Killed – Stock Killed by Indians.
Marley [Halladay’s agent] was among the party who went out to fight and were massacred by the Indians. Marley escaped and will be here tonight. Seventy-five white men are supposed to have been killed. No arms or ammunition in the territory. A large number of your stock have been killed by the Indians on Carson River, near Miller’s Station.
[Private Dispatch to J. R. West.]
VIRGINIA CITY – 2 P.M
Virginia City Safe.
We are all safe. Virginia City cannot be taken by the Indians.
[Private Dispatch to Edward S. Spear.]
VIRGINIA CITY, May 13.
W. S. Spear Killed.
Your brother William went out to fight the Indians. A man who came in states he saw him fall, shot by the Indians.