Pyramid Lake Indian War of 1860
I'd like to share with you the tragic story of the Pyramid Lake Indian War of 1860.Scores of settlers were moving to Nevada in search of wealth and new beginnings. For the Indians this was the beginning of the end of a way of life. The new setters were not kind to the Indian tribes of Nevada.
The settlers completely disregarded land claims by the Indians; and took over the best lands for farms, ranches and mining. Besides taking Indian land, the settlers cut down the Indian's food supply, the pine nut groves, which were vital to the Indian's survival.
Some Indians were forced onto Indian reservations, others tried to find work in the white man's world and found that most settlers would not hire them, or if they did they gave them only the lowest of jobs. Many had to become beggars to survive.
Life for Indian women was even harder. Indian women were being raped without a chance of getting any justice, most ended up selling themselves to survive.
The poor treatment of the Indians came to a head when two prospectors along the Carson River kidnapped two young Indian children. The Indians had had enough and rode out from their camps and killed the prospectors and rescued the girls.
News of the killings spread. First to the white settlers and then to the Indians who were having a council at Pyramid Lake. The council was a Council of War that included Paiute, Shoshone, and Bannock Chiefs. The council was to decide if they should go to war with the white settlers. The Paiute Chief Numaga pleaded for peace, but when the news of the killing of the settlers came to the council Numaga knew the whites would retaliate, and decided with the other tribes that War was their only choice.
In Carson City over a hundred volunteers were brought together under the command of Major William Ormsby. The volunteers boasted that they would "teach the red devils a lesson." The over-confident and non-experienced volunteers quickly rode out to the vicinity of Pyramid Lake.
The Indians knowing that the whites would come for revenge, set an ambush. They didn't have to wait long. Ormsby rode right into the Indian's trap. The volunteers were riddled with arrows and bullets and then ridden down and killed. When the battle was over about seventy-six men had been killed including their leader, Major William Ormsby. The few men who were lucky enough to escape were wounded.
Unfortunately for the Indians their victory was short lived. When news of the battle traveled back to town, the whites organized a force of five-hundred, including four companies of Army U.S. Cavalry, brought in from California.
Together they killed or slaughtered 160 Indians. The Indians would never recover from this horrific slaughter. It would take decades before Indians in Nevada would be protected and treated as equals.