Wild West – June 2019

4 8 WILD WEST JUNE 2019

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Williams Station

Virginia City

Big Bend of the Truckee River

(near present-day Wadsworth, Nevada)

Pyramid

Lake

The main body of 300 Paiutes and other

Great Basin warriors ambush Ormsby’s

volunteers, who flee south in a general

rout. During the pursuit back to the

Big Bend of the Truckee the Indians

kill Ormsby and some 75 of his men.

After camping overnight, Ormsby

continues to trail the Indians north

toward their Pyramid Lake home.

On May 9 several dozen vigilantes ride from

Virginia City for Williams Station in pursuit

of Indians who days earlier had killed several

whites and burned the station to the ground.

On May 11 the reinforced group of 106 men

follows the trail north under the leadership

of prominent settler Major William Ormsby.

0 25 50 75 miles

Paiute Ambush at Pyramid Lake

May 12, 1860

the great immigrant road.” He ventured a guess

that the present Indian difficulty had “originated

in the gross outrages of the whites.” He and others

further noted the Paiutes wouldn’t have confined

their aggression to an insignificant trading post had

they intended a general campaign.

Nothing pacified the growing body of vigilan-

tes. The reprisal raid against Williams Station had

touched off what would become known as the

Paiute War. According to one Virginia City corre-

spondent, the town passed May 8 in “a vast deal

of talk, noise and confusion, collection of rifles,

muskets, revolvers and knives, and an immense

punishment of whiskey.”

On May 9 several dozen Virginia City vigi-

lantes trotted out of town dragoon-style—spurs jan-

gling, shotguns and ropes lashed to their saddles,

brandishing knives and pistols. Prominent among

them rode Henry Meredith, a black-haired, goateed

lawyer who’d recently emigrated from California.

Looking ahead to what many expected would be

the creation of a new territory and state carved from

western Utah Territory, Meredith nurtured politi-

cal ambitions. Prominent citizens would fill the

gubernatorial and legislative seats of a new state,

and Indian-fighting heroes did well in American

politics. Whatever Meredith’s ambitions, a rigorous

inspection would have found the volunteers much

more liberally supplied with whiskey than provi-

sions, ammunition and adequate long-range rifles.

Riding mules and horses of middling quality, they

reached the charred remains of Williams Station

on the morning of the 10th.

They found exactly three corpses, blood and

brains staining the blade of an ax, the tracks of

Indian ponies and a wounded dog. As they buried

the dead and tended the dog, William Ormsby, who

bore the honorary title of major, trotted in at the

head of a force from the Carson and Eagle valleys.

Like Meredith, Ormsby also hoped for the political

benefits of a successful Indian-punishing expedition.

The next morning, under Major Ormsby’s lead-

ership, the volunteers followed the Indian trail

northwest nearly 20 miles through heavy wind and

snow. Just past noon they reached the Big Bend of

the Truckee (near present-day Wadsworth, Nev.),

where the eastward-flowing river curves north to-

ward Pyramid Lake. There they encamped, letting

their animals graze on the abundant grass and re-

gain strength. A few late arrivals raised Ormsby’s

force to 106 men.

Path to Disaster
Ormsby’s force followed
the Truckee River (see
aerial photo at right)
north toward the lake,
the Paiute stronghold.