The Mud Lake massacre
'Quintus Hopper of Nevada' series: Captain Wells and his men of Company D were tasked with teaching the Northern Paiute a lesson - they massacred everyone at Mud Lake - then spun lies.
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. The situation for the Paiute Indians remained dire - and white people purposely exaggerated stories to force the military to come and essentially “remove the problem,” i.e. annihilate the Northern Paiute … The message was received and action was taken at Mud Lake. To this day, the massacre carries the misnomer ‘battle’ on Wikipedia.
It was in early 1865 when, at a place called Granite Creek Station, man named Puck Walden asked a Paiute Indian to look down the barrel of his rifle. The Indian complied, and Walden pulled the trigger. A few days later Paiute attacked the station, killed the inhabitants and burned it to the ground. The governor of the newly created state of Nevada was informed and soon the military leadership passed on a message to their troops in the field: ‘If the Indians have not come to terms, take the force yourself and give them a lesson which they will not forget.’ Reinforcements were sent, settlers were armed. There had been stories of Indian uprisings on the Plains and it was common knowledge that much of it was either exaggerated or simply made up. But the stories kept coming, by miners, by settlers, by station managers – proclaimed in the papers with captivating titles, in capital letters and punctuated by exclamation marks for good measure. For some it was their way of justifying the killing of the savages, as they called them, for others a plain necessity to finally get the military to come and tame the land that they had made their home.
Captain Wells and his men of Company D left Fort Churchill to deliver an unforgettable message to the Indians, as they had been instructed to do. On March 14, 1865, they descended on a camp of Paiute Indians and killed them all. Captain Wells returned victorious and with scalps to prove it, and his official record commended his men for their valor in the battle against veteran Indian fighters. His men had been, the captain wrote, as cool and collected as though on an ordinary skirmish drill. From the start, there were questions. If there had been veteran Indian fighters, how was it possible that all were dead and the men of Company D had only suffered one minor injury? It became soon abundantly obvious that there had been no battle, but instead a massacre of a peaceful band of men, women and children. Among the dead had been two of Chief Winnemucca’s wives and a baby son.
In the novel, the Mud Lake massacre leads to major changes in the lives of both Chief Winnemucca and Quintus Hopper. Their time together becomes one of solace and, eventually peace of mind. The following article of the Virginia Daily Union, one of the Territorial Enterprise’s rival papers, shares insights into not only the massacre and the many questions it gave rise to, it also beautifully shows how these newspapers played off each other. By taking opposing views, each paper had ever more exciting material that stirred and increased readership for both papers.
End of March, 1865
Virginia Daily Union, Virginia City
As the Enterprise and its correspondents appear exceedingly anxious that we shall condemn Captain Wells, we will now say more than we have heretofore said in regard to the ‘desperate hand-to-hand’ fight he recently had with the Indians at Mud Lake. Thus far, the extent of our charges against Captain Wells have consisted in giving publicity to assertions made by the Indians. We never vouched for the truth of those assertions; but we will now say that we believe they are, in the main, too true for the future welfare of the Captain, if the matter undergoes that thorough investigation which it merits and which we sincerely trust it will receive. We now call upon Gov. Blasdel and Major McDermit to sift this affair to the bottom, and place Captain Wells before the public in his true position. If he performed his duty, and nothing more, a thorough investigation will suit him exactly. If he murdered a band of innocent Indian men, women and children, let him suffer the consequences, and lose his epaulets. It is our opinion that Major McDermit’s and Captain Wells’ friends desire to hush this matter up. If they succeed in doing so, they will doubtless again hear from us and some of their Pi-Ute friends.
The Enterprise ‘trusts the Union will require no additional evidence in proof of the injustice of its charges against Captain Wells and his company.’ Previous to this time, we have made no charges against Captain Wells and his company; but from the evidence before us now, we must say that it looks to us just as if he made a most egregious blunder when he attacked those Indians at Mud Lake, and that time will prove it.
“The above dispatch, from Major McDermit, says Gilson, sub-agent on the Truckee, reports thirty-two Indians killed, all men but two – that a large number were from Smoke Creek, and that it was the right stroke in the right place, from what he can learn. This is where we differ with the Major. We have had access to as much information on the subject as he has, and from what we can learn, it was a stroke in the wrong place.
We had a conversation with Gilson after he visited Fort Churchill and made his report to Major McDermit, and he stated to us that twenty-nine Indians were killed, among them two of old Winnemucca’s wives; that not a single white man had been on the battle-ground since the fight; that the fight was a desperate one; that probably half those killed were Smoke Creek Indians, and that his information was derived from Indians whom he sent out to bury the dead. Why did Gilson not go with the Indians to bury the dead? Was it because he expected to find a number of women and children among the slain, and did not wish to place himself in a position to testify against Capt. Wells and his company? It seems to us that it was his duty to superintend the interment of the bodies, and then make a report to headquarters based upon what he knew from personal observation, and not upon what the Indians told him, unless we are going to settle the whole matter by Indian testimony, which, when it comes through Gilson, appears to be acceptable to Major McDermit and our contemporary; but when it comes from one of the same Indians, directly through one of our reporters, it is worthless.
Our readers will remember that this was represented as a ‘desperate hand-to-hand fight.’ When Gilson admitted to us that two women were killed, we asked him what excuse there was for killing them, when he replied that they were shot at so great a distance – a half a mile or more – that it was impossible to distinguish the squaws from the bucks. Now, that must have been a very desperate hand-to-hand fight, where the combatants were so far apart that it was impossible to distinguish men from women. When we asked Gilson what Winnemucca’s wives were doing in a camp of the Smoke Creeks, he did not pretend to claim that all of the Indians were Smoke Creeks, but he thought that probably half of them were, for the Indians told him so.
We have heard it rumored that, in addition to the murder of several children in that ‘desperate’ fight, two or three little ones were thrown into the river and allowed to drown, and the Enterprise recently stated that fourteen or fifteen scalps were taken. Now, those are stories that need looking into, and after so much has been said, not half of which has been published, there is only one way in which this affair can be settled to the credit or discredit of Capt. Wells and that is by the Governor, and Major McDermit giving it a thorough investigation, which we shall insist upon until it is had.”
Despite the calls for further investigation by the Virginia Daily Union, no such inquires followed. Instead, Captain Wells and his men were given orders to continue the good work. As the below Gold Hills Daily News article shows, what was reported by the Humboldt Register was incendiary – and everything that was actually going on, was caused in its entirety by those further fanning the flames. Those they called ‘red-skinned devils’ were living under dire conditions, their children starving – and they had to fight to stay alive on the very land that had always been theirs. The article clearly shows how white men, with the help of frontier papers, shaped the story. With hindsight, we can see the utter disregard of white men that simply wanted the red man out of the way at all cost.
August 8, 1865
Gold Hill Daily News, Gold Hill
INDIANS ON THE HUMBOLDT.
The Register of last Saturday contains the following article about the Indians in that section. A telegraphic dispatch from the scene of their depredations will be found in another column, and by which it will be seen that Lieut. Wolverton, with a portion of Captain Wells’ cavalry company, are after the red-skinned devils. It is to be hoped that while the soldiers are out there they will inflict such punishment upon them as they certainly merit.
Captain Wells yesterday passed through Dayton with the balance of his company, on his way to the Humboldt. He went as far as Fort Churchill last night, and this morning started out to the field of operations. A large number of emigrants are now on their way to the Boise and Owyhee countries, and their route lies direct through the country where the Indians have been committing their depredations. Six months ago, some friendly Indians informed Governor Nye and several other officials that a war would be brought about between the Indians and the whites, and recent occurrences show plainly that the time has now come when the authorities must either exterminate the Indians or make them learn to behave themselves, (we are strong believers in the former proposition). Read the following, from the Register:
“Indian thieves have taken advantage of the supposed confusion as to identity of tribes, to rob houses and corrals up the river. All the facts best known point to a conviction that all the Indians had an understanding that about these days a big time was to be inaugurated by their warriors and thieves. We do not assert that all the Indians meant to take part. The plan was deeper than that: their cripples, squaws, old men and children; were to constitute for each tribe a sufficient representation of anti-belligerence to back up the pretense of each that they were not the bad Indians – ‘Heap bad Injun just a few miles off.’ All the dusky pests knew the program. Some may have objected to it – but none posted their dear white friends as to the danger. The Mud Lake affair was as McDermit characterized it on evidence – ‘the right blow at the right time.’ It was early and decisive. All sympathy with the brutes is mawkish and undeserved. So late as this week, marauding bands of Piutes, and perhaps some Shoshones, have been stealing stock and other property at the head of the Humboldt Canal. At the dam, two men occupy a house, acting as a guard for the Canal Company’s property. A few days ago the house was entered while the men were out at work, and all their blankets and provisions packed off by these poor, dear, misused ‘red men.’ Catch the dirtiest cut-throat that runs wild, and he can tell you a pretty story of his early training and steady progress in the ways of peace, and how many ‘bad injuns’ there are over on the ‘Tluckee.’ They’re all alike when they think the signs are right.”
Below a brief article published in the Gold Hill Daily News, with a report from the Reese River Reveille – it highlights that Chief Winnemucca joined the war effort by joining with the other warring bands. In the novel, this man of peace first seeks clarity and reflects with the war chiefs Paulina, Howluck and Weahwewa.
August 3, 1866
Gold Hill Daily News, Gold Hill
REPORTED FIGHT WITH INDIANS. – There is a rumor in town that a large band of Piute Indians under Winnemucca had attacked the prospectors at the copper mines on the Humboldt, and were worsted. The fighting is reported to be going on. – Reese River Reveille, July 30th.
Daniel have you seen the series, ‘The English’ about the cruelty towards the native Americans at that time. It’s really good.