Paiute War 1860
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The Paiute War, also known as the Pyramid Lake War, Washoe Indian War and the Pah Ute War, was an armed conflict between Northern Paiutes allied with the Shoshone and the Bannock against the United States. It took place in May 1860 in the vicinity of Pyramid Lake in the Utah Territory, now within present day Nevada. The war was preceded by a series of increasingly violent incidents, culminating in two pitched battles in which approximately eighty settlers were killed. The number of Paiutes killed in action is unrecorded.[citation needed] Smaller raids and skirmishes continued until a cease-fire was agreed to in August 1860; there was no treaty.
Background

Early settlement of what is now northwestern Nevada had a tremendously disruptive effect on the Northern Paiute people. The fragility of the Great Basin ecosystem magnified this disruption despite the relatively low density of the settlers. These disruptions included the felling of single-leaf pinyon groves, a major food source for the Paiute, for the mining industry and monopolization of water sources. In addition, settlers and Paiutes competed for grazing lands. Several murders were committed by both Paiutes and the settlers. The lack of effective government in the area meant that there was no formal judicial response to these incidents, leading to private retribution and a general atmosphere of fear and distrust. The winter of 1859-1860 was particularly cold and snowy in the Great Basin, creating great hardship for the Paiute. Chief Winnemucca died in the winter of 1859. He had been influential among the Paiute, widely liked by the settlers, and therefore served as an ambassador and keeper of an uneasy peace. Paiute bands from across the Great Basin gathered at Pyramid Lake for the spring fish run due to monopolization and destruction of local food supplies by the settlers.
War
Williams Station Massacre
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Main article: Williams Station Massacre

Williams Station was a combination saloon, general store and stagecoach station located along the Carson River at the modern-day Lahontan Reservoir. On May 6, 1860 Williams Station was raided by Paiutes. This raid was in retaliation for the kidnap and rape of two young Paiute girls by the proprietors of the station. Three Americans were killed and the station was burned.One victim managed to escape to Virginia City, and his story caused a general panic in the region. A militia was quickly formed from volunteers from Virginia City, Silver City, Carson City and Genoa with the purpose of apprehending the perpetrators. This force consisted of about 105 men and was under the overall command of Major William Ormsby. It was organized as follows:[1]

Genoa Rangers - Captain F. F. Condon
Carson City Rangers - Major William Ormsby
Silver City Guards - Captain R. G. Watkins
1st Virginia City Company - Captain F. Johnston
2nd Virginia City Company - Captain Archie McDonald

First Battle of Pyramid Lake
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Main article: First Battle of Pyramid Lake

Ormsby's command assembled at the ruins of Williams Station, and then proceeded north to the Truckee River, and then along that river towards Pyramid Lake. On May 12 it was ambushed and routed by Paiute forces under the command of Numaga approximately five miles south of the lake. Seventy-six of the 105 militiamen were killed, including Ormsby,[2] and many of the others were wounded. The number of Paiute killed is not recorded, but thought to be quite small in comparison.[3]

Accounts indicate that the volunteer militia of 105 were poorly armed, badly mounted, and almost completely unorganized. They met at Williams Station and finding no natives, they headed towards Pyramid Lake, a known settlement of the previously friendly Paiute Indians whose chief had recently died. Along the way they encountered a small party of Paiutes on a rocky hill. The whites attacked the Indians who fled after returning a few shots. The Indians continued firing sporadically as they fled into the ravine with the 105 militia pursing them. Once in the ravine 200 to 300 Paiute warriors appeared and began shooting. They closed off the route of escape and fired on the militia from all sides. The civilian militia headed for a patch of woods as their only escape and some of the survivors of the battle were pursued twenty miles. Up to 500 Paiutes are thought to have participated in the battle. The total of dead was seventy-six civilian militia members. It is unknown how many Paiutes were killed. [4]
Organization of U.S. Forces

In response to the first battle of Pyramid Lake, settlers called upon legendary Texas Ranger Colonel John C. Hays. Hays organized a force of local volunteer militia dubbed the "Washoe Regiment". The Washoe Regiment was composed of 13 companies from the areas surrounding Carson City NV, Virginia City NV, Nevada City, CA and Sacramento CA.[5] In addition to the volunteers under Hays, the U.S. Army responded by sending a detachment of U.S. artillery and infantry from Fort Alcatraz, California. This contingent known as the "Carson River Expedition" was led by Captain Joseph Stewart. Hays' volunteers went into action at the Battle of Williams Station and were then joined by Stewart's regulars.

Washoe Regiment
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Field & Staff

Colonel John C. Hays
Lt. Colonel J. Saunders
Major Daniel E. Hungerford

Companies

Company A “Spy Company” – Captain L. B. Fleeson
Company B “Sierra Guards” – Captain E. J. Smith
Company C “Truckee Rangers” – Captain Alanson W. Nightingill
Company D “Sierra Guards” – Captain J. B. Reed
Company E “Carson Rangers” – Captain P. H. Clayton
Company F “Nevada Rifles” – Captain J. B Van Hagan (CA)
Company G “Sierra Guards” – Captain F. F. Patterson
Company H “San Juan Rifles” – Captain N. C. Miller
Company I “Independent City Guards of Sacramento” – Captain A. G. Snowden (CA)
Company J “from Sacramento” – Captain Joseph Virgo (CA)
Company K “Virginia Rifles” – Captain Edward Farris Storey
Company L “Carson Rifles” – Captain J.L. Blackburn
Company M “Silver City Guards” – Captain Ford
Company N “Highland Rangers/Vaqueros” – Captain S. B. Wallace
Company O “Sierra Guards” – Captain Creed Haymond

Carson River Expedition
Field & Staff

Captain Joseph Stewart
Captain T. Moore, Quartermaster
Lieutenant Horatio G. Gibson, Asst. Commissary of Substance

Companies

Company G, 3rd U.S. Artillery - Captain Joseph Stewart
Company I, 3rd U.S. Artillery - Lieutenant Horatio G. Gibson
Company A, 6th U.S. Infantry - Captain F. F. Flint
Company H, 6th U.S. Infantry - Lieutenant J. McCreary

Second Battle of Pyramid Lake
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Main article: Second Battle of Pyramid Lake

In late June, Stewart and Hays retraced the steps of Ormsby's command and met Numaga's Paiutes at the same location as Ormsby's fight. Hays and Stewart defeated Numaga and the Paiute forces scattered across the Great Basin. After a minor skirmish in the Lake Range north-east of Pyramid Lake, the volunteer forces were disbanded. Stewart's regulars stayed in the field for a little while longer before returning to the Carson River near Williams Station to construct Fort Churchill. Four regiment members were killed in the second battle of Pyramid lake, and 160 Paiutes were claimed to have been killed.[6]
Aftermath

After the second battle of Pyramid Lake, the federal forces built a small fort at the southern end of Pyramid Lake to deny that area to the Paiutes. Small skirmishes and raids continued until August, when an informal cease-fire between Numaga and white surveyors working in the area north of Pyramid Lake was achieved. In 1861 the fort at Pyramid Lake was abandoned in favor of Fort Churchill, which was further south, along the Carson River. While the number of Paiutes killed in action during the Pyramid Lake War was probably quite small[citation needed], the disruption to food gathering activities, especially fishing in Pyramid Lake, may have killed more from starvation. The Bannock War of 1878 may be viewed as a continuation of the Pyramid Lake War, as some Paiutes and Bannock fought in both wars. The war is of particular note because of its effect on the famed Pony Express. Several stations were ambushed and the service experienced its first and only delays in delivery. A few riders distinguished themselves during this time, especially Robert "Pony Bob" Haslam, who accomplished (out of necessity) a 380-mile round trip between Lake Tahoe (Friday's Station) and Fort Churchill and back with only nine hours of rest around May 10 of 1860.

Fort Churchill
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Fort history

In 1860 a band of Paiutes and Bannocks attacked Williams Station along the Carson River in retaliation for the kidnap and rape of two young Paiute girls by the proprietors of the station.[3] In retaliation a small group of volunteer soldiers and vigilantes led by Maj. William Ormsby attacked the Native Americans, starting the so-called Pyramid Lake War. Ormsby's force was defeated and in response Colonel John C. Hays and Captain Joseph Stewart led a larger force of volunteers and U.S. Regulars to defeat the Natives at the Second Battle of Pyramid Lake.[4]

Captain Stewart, leading the Regular contingent, afterward established a permanent U.S. Army fort along the Carson River near the location of where the hostilities began at Williams Station. The post was named Fort Churchill for Sylvester Churchill, Inspector General of the U.S. Army. Construction on the fort began on July 20, 1860 and was completed in 1861. Built to provide protection for early settlers and the mail route along the Pony Express, the fort became an important supply depot for the Union Army during the American Civil War. Average strength during this time was 200 soldiers, but the post was abandoned in 1869 shortly after the conclusion of the Civil War. The abandoned buildings were sold at an auction for $750 after the state of Nevada declined to take possession of the property.[5]

John Coffee Hays
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Biography

Hays was born at Little Cedar Lick, Wilson County, Tennessee. Rachel Jackson and Andrew Jackson were his Aunt and Uncle, Jack spent much time with them growing up at the Hermitage prior to the Jackson presidency. His father Harmon Hays named his son after longtime family friend and Jackson protégé Colonel John Coffee.[1] His brother was Confederate General Harry T. Hays of New Orleans. His sister, Sarah Hays Lea, was the mother of John Hays Hammond.[2]

In 1836, at the age of 19, Hays migrated to Texas. Sam Houston appointed him as a member of a company of Texas Rangers because he knew the Hays family from Tennessee.

In the following years, Hays led the Rangers on a campaign against the Comanche and other tribes in Texas, and succeeded in weakening their power. In 1840 Tonkawa Chief Placido and 13 scouts joined with the Rangers to track down a large Comanche war party,[3] culminating at the Battle of Plum Creek.[4] Later, Hays commanded the force against the invasion from Mexico of 1842. During the Mexican-American War (1846–1848), Hays commanded again. The Rangers excelled during this conflict, gaining nationwide fame.

Washoe Indianer people
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Territory

Washoe people have lived in the Great Basin for at least the last 6000 years.[1] Prior to contact with Europeans, the territory of the Washoe people was roughly bounded by the southern shore of Honey Lake in the north, the west fork of the Walker River in the south, the Sierra Nevada crest in the west, and the first range east of the Sierra Nevada in the east. The Washoe would generally spend the summer in the Sierra Nevada, the fall in the ranges to the east, and the winter and spring in the valleys between them.
History
Washoe woman

Washoe people are the only Great Basin tribe whose language is not Numic, so they are believed to have inhabited the region before neighboring tribes. The Kings Beach Complex that emerged around 500 CE around Lake Tahoe and the northern Sierra Nevadas are regarded as early Washoe culture. The Martis complex may have overlapped with the Kings Beach culture, and Martis pit houses gave way to conical bark slab houses of historic Washoe culture.[2]

The Washoe people and the neighboring Northern Paiute people were culturally and linguistically very different, and they sometimes came into conflict. The Washoe were confined to the area south of Carson City, and they were deprived from owning horses.[3]

Washoe people may have made contact with Spanish explorers in the early 19th century, but the Washoe did not sustain contact with people of European culture until the 1848 California Gold Rush.[1] Washoe resistance to incursions on their lands proved futile, and the last armed conflict with the Washoes and non-Indians was the "Potato War" of 1857, when starving Washoes were killed for gathering potatoes from a European-American farm near Honey Lake in California.[4]

Loss of the valley hunting grounds to farms and the Piñon pine groves to feed Virginia City's demand for lumber and charcoal drove most Washoe to dependency on jobs in white ranches, farms and cities. The areas where they settled became known as Indian colonies.
Culture
Louisa Keyser (Dat So La Lee), Washoe basketweaver

Piñon pine nuts gathered in the fall provided much of the food eaten in the winter. Roots, seeds, berries and game provided much of the food eaten in the rest of the year.[5]

The Pine Nut Dance and girls' puberty rites remain very important ceremonies.[6]