Читать книгу Lost Worlds of 1863. Relocation and Removal of American Indians in the Central Rockies and the Greater Southwest онлайн
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The killings at Walker Lake led the territorial governor, following the hysteria of Honey Lake residents who called for “exterminating the whole race,” to send for the troops. Answering the call, the Fort Churchill commanders sent the young and inexperienced Captain Almond B. Wells, and a contingent of Nevada volunteers, to Mud Lake (known as Lake Winnemucca today), where it was reported that Indian cattle thieves were camped. Unaware of any danger, 30 or more Kuyuidokado were camped east of Pyramid Lake at Mud Lake.
At the site Captain Wells divided his forces into three squads and attacked the Paiute encampment. At least 29 Paiutes were killed (other sources reported 32 Indian dead). Well’s report described hand-to-hand combat with no casualties among the volunteers.76 While the annals of the Civil War called the action a “skirmish,” it was reported by the leaders at Fort Churchill as an “Expedition to Pyramid Lake.”77 Only in hindsight has it been named a “massacre.”
The Paiute perspective of the event, as told by Sarah Winnemucca, differs from the official explanation. Her account was later substantiated by Numaga at a peace conference at Fort Churchill. First, as Numaga reported, with the exception of three or four men in the camp, all the dead were women and children. The cattle thieves had evidently left before the arrival of Well’s volunteers. Some women who tried to escape jumped into the water and were drowned, while others were shot while in the lake. The infants and babies that were still tied up in their baskets were burned alive as the camp was set on fire. At least two of Old Winnemucca’s wives were killed, including Sarah Winnemucca’s mother, Tuboitony.78