AFTER GOLD--THE PAH-UTE AND WASHO INDIANS--RUNNING OFF
STOCK--PAYING TRIBUTE--THE OATH OF VENGEANCE--SOME SILVER
BULLETS--"KNOWING DEM VELLERS"--AN UNGIRTHED SADDLE--THE UNBALANCED
ACCOUNT--RECRUITING--THE BUCKSKIN RANGERS--A LITTLE BIOGRAPHY--MY
NEW HORSE--A STORM IN THE MOUNTAINS--UNINTENTIONAL FIRING--OUT OF
THE TEMPEST.
It is unnecessary for me to detail the events of my campaign for gold
during the following year and a half. At this moment, wealth seemed
within my grasp, and in the next I might be mourning over or cursing my
unrealized hopes. However, in 1857, wearied out with my apparently vain
battle with Fortune, chance called me to another field of adventure.
There were in that year, all told, very certainly no more than seventy
or seventy-five persons living in the Valley of Honey Lake. Of these,
the larger proportion were engaged in ranching and stock-raising. Among
them, the leading men were, after Governor Roop, Peter Lassen, W. T. C.
Elliott, more familiarly known as Ruff Elliott, the Bass Boys, David
Titherington, Tom Harvey, the Spencers, Captain W. Hill Naileigh, David
Blanchard, Albert Smith, Orlando Streschley, Ed Mulrooney, Laninger,
Storff, Watson, Kingsberry, Doc. Slater, and a few others.
At this time, the Washo and Pah-ute Indians were in the neighborhood.
Occasionally, they appeared quite friendly, and would do a spell of work
for the settlers, taking provisions in payment for such labor as they
might choose to do.
No sooner, however, had they a good supply on hand than they would
indulge in their natural propensity for stealing stock, frequently
running off thirty or forty head of cattle at a time. It made no
difference to them whether these were working oxen or milch cows, so
long as they had horns. As none of the settlers were wealthy men, this
unscrupulous appetite for marauding upon their stock was exceedingly
disgusting. Treaty after treaty had been made with the Indians, and were
equally worthless, whenever they had a fair show for stealing cattle
with the chance of escaping retributive justice.
At length, the matter came to a head. The red robbers had run off nearly
the whole of the stock belonging to a particular friend of mine. The
nearest neighbors held an immediate meeting and determined, if possible,
upon tracking the rascals and bringing them to book.
Arming ourselves, we started at once in pursuit. Striking their trail,
which was very plain, we continued after them for the best part of two
days.
In the noon of the second day, discovering that they were pursued, the
Indians resorted to the cowardly expedient of killing the whole of the
cattle. They cut open their sides, and let out their intestines,
afterwards scaling the side of the mountain, to the north-east of the
valley in which we had sighted them.
It was a lamentably pitiable spectacle to see the poor brutes moaning
their moan of death, with their glazing eyes turned upon those who had
come too late to save them.
Out of gun-shot, the Pah-utes--for the cruel scoundrels belonged to
this tribe--taunted us in no very heroic style. This was effected by
extending their hands in front of their noses, as well as by a most
expressive and insulting pantomimic slap on a very significant portion
of their bodies. Blackguardism seems confined to no special race or
country. So, at least, it appears to me.
After a brief council of war, pursuit was decided upon, and we began to
mount the precipice. Harry Arnold was with me, and we managed to delude
the Indians into the belief that they were beyond the range of our
rifles, by letting the few shots we considered it advisable to fire,
fall short of them. This ruse tempted one of them on an eminence at some
distance, to repeat his aggravating gesture.
"I believe I can pick that scamp off with my old Kentucky rifle, Harry!"
"He's more than three hundred and fifty yards off, Mose!"
"I don't think he is."
"If any man can fetch him, you or I can. It's worth trying."
He had scarcely concluded when the crack of my rifle was heard.
The Pah-ute, who had been standing up in a more defiantly noble position
than previously, uttered a loud yell, bounding into the air and rolling
over the edge of the cliff, on to the rocks below.
His mashed and mangled body furnished me with his scalp. The shot,
however, fair as it was, had been an ill-advised one. Its result was,
that when we reached the bluff on which he had been standing, not
another of the red scoundrels was visible. Nor did any of them show
themselves after this, even at double the distance which had tempted
him to indulge in such an insulting gesticulation.
On returning home, we found the whole of the valley, or, rather, those
of its inhabitants who had not formed part of our party, in a state of
intense excitement. The Indians had threatened a general massacre of the
whites in it, if they refused immediately to leave it. It may be readily
imagined, the death of the Pah-ute brave was ill-adapted to mollify such
a determination. Under these circumstances, it was decided, should the
affair come to the worst, on giving the red-skins as warm a reception as
was in our power. But, in the meantime, Peter Lassen and one or two of
the older settlers, with Governor Roop, were despatched to Pyramid Lake
to hold a conference with Win-a-muc-ca, the Pah-ute chief, and, if they
could do so, make a treaty with him.
This was effected. We had to give a certain number of head of cattle,
several thousand pounds of flour, sugar, and tobacco, as well as many
other small articles, in order to remain unmolested. It was neither more
nor less than tribute.
It is said that years bring wisdom. In any case Age had decided against
an Indian war in the neighborhood of Honey Lake Valley. Youth
necessarily had to submit.
The demands of this treaty were a severe drain upon the settlement, the
more especially as the winter set in early, with unusual severity. We
were for more than four months shut in from the outer world, not even
being able to reach Indian Valley, where we had been accustomed to have
our wheat ground. It was ground during this time in a coffee-mill, and
being out of coffee, we were compelled to use roasted barley as a
substitute. In addition to this, we had robbed ourselves of blankets to
supply the Indians; and in this comparatively destitute condition, it
was at times a difficult matter to supply the wants of the women and
children.
Towards the close of the following year the Indians again became
troublesome, until, in 1859, another treaty was patched up with them.
During this period one of the most popular and estimable men in the
settlement, named Painter, was shot by a party of Pah-utes, who were in
ambush at the head of Surprise Valley. Intelligence of this was brought
us, by two or three companions who had been with him.
Painter's brother Ben applied to myself and some others to accompany him
and bury the body. When we reached the spot, we found it cut and
mutilated in the most frightful manner. Ben, with the rest of us,
kneeling beside it, took a solemn oath to be avenged, whenever the
opportunity was afforded us. Having then buried the body, we named the
valley Painter's Cañon. It holds this name to the present day.
In the fall of the same year, a report spread that a man called Foreman
had struck a valuable silver-mine in the vicinity of Black Rock. This
was the same place, in which one of the settlers had discovered a large
lump of silver ore. His name was Harding. Being on a hunting expedition
at the time, and out of lead, he had run it into bullets.
A tolerable degree of excitement was caused amongst us, by the
confirmation of previous suppositions, we presumed was thus given. But
Black Rock was more than a hundred and twenty miles beyond Susanville,
on the north-west side of Queen's River Desert. Its distance prevented
many from going to prospect the place. However, after two or three days'
talk over the matter, old Pete Lassen, with a man named Clapp, myself,
and two other of the boys, determined upon verifying this report. On the
following day, therefore, striking the old Emigrant Road, and continuing
it as far as Granite Creek, our little party followed the Granite range
of mountains up to Stove-pipe Springs. Thence, we crossed them to the
Black Rock range. On the whole of the way, recently, we had encountered
wandering Indians. They had seemed very friendly. We were, however, in a
section of the country which the red-skins evidently considered their
rightful property.
The place of encampment this night, selected by Uncle Peter, was very
unfavorably situated. But when I advised him to allow me to select a
more defensible location, on higher ground than that adjoining the small
creek which he had chosen, the old German was obstinate.
"Tamn it, my poy! Don't you 'spose I know dem vellers. Dey von't hurt
old Pete. You must give dem some crub, my poy! Dat ish all dey vants."
"That may be, Uncle Peter," I replied; "but I wouldn't trust the last
three or four lots of red devils we have met, out of the range of my
rifle."
Just at this moment a party of some dozen Indians approached the little
camp, and the peaceful Peter motioning them with his hand, shouted out:
"Comes t'here!"
Understanding his inviting action, if not his words, they flocked around
him. The old Dutchman gave them some bread, meat, and tobacco. Before
they left us, he added to these things some powder and caps.
"A very dangerous gift," as I grumbled out in a low tone of voice.
When, after having got all they could, they quitted us, I expressed my
wish to Uncle Pete to stand on guard during the night.
"Don't be a tamned vool!" was his reply. "I dink you ar' scared of dem
Injins. If you vants, go on de hill, and leaff old Pete by himself. I
hafe no vear."
Irritated by his answer, I blurted out:
"As you are determined to stay here, Uncle Peter, we'll not leave you."
But although, shortly after, the rest who were with him followed the old
Dutchman's example, and after a smoke--the usual night-cap of the scout
or trapper, spread out their blankets and prepared for rest, I was
unable to do so. The unerring presentiment, which, without inspiring
terror, tells us to be prepared for danger ahead, kept me on the watch.
It was, therefore, at an early hour I aroused the camp.
"I'll pet," exclaimed the Dutchman, wrathful at what he considered his
untimely wakening, turning to Clapp, "dat Mose vas not sleep all night."
"I tell you," was my sharp reply, "we had better get out of this place,
cursed quickly!"
All of them, the old man excepted, turned out. In spite of Clapp's
remonstrances, he, however, re-rolling himself in his blanket,
petulantly exclaimed:
"Vell! I shleeps, some more."
It was scarcely a quarter of an hour after this, when we were fired upon
from the craggy rocks which commanded our position. This volley
slaughtered two of our doomed band. With very pardonable anger, although
I have since regretted this ebullition of temper, I administered a
sharp kick to the form of Uncle Peter, who was rolling out of his
blankets.
"Get up, at once," I sung out. "I suppose you'll follow my advice, now."
"Dey von't hurt old Pete," he responded, "so I vill get my plankets."
Thoroughly out of patience with him, I leaped into my saddle, and it was
none too soon. Another volley took down Clapp, who was just mounting.
Thinking, at last, there might be some danger, the Dutchman made a
spring for Clapp's horse. In consequence of the saddle not being
properly girthed, it slid round with him, and he fell to the ground.
Before he could spring to his feet, the concealed Indians had put two
bullets through his body. Then, quitting their hiding-place, they rushed
upon me. One ball from my rifle settled the foremost of them. With a
vigorous thrust from my heels to the flanks of the horse I was mounted
on, I shook out my bridle and fled, in the midst of a perfect shower of
bullets and arrows. All but one of the last missed me. This inflicted a
scalp-wound, and for a moment I reeled in my saddle.
Turning immediately after, I once more raised my rifle, and had the
satisfaction of wiping out one more Indian life, as a partial payment
for the four they had taken.
Fairly out of danger of pursuit, I groaned over the death of Peter
Lassen and my three companions.
No longer, my anger (the results had amply proved its justice)
reproached him for the obstinate hardihood with which he had so
untowardly ended our silver-hunting expedition.
Nevertheless, I was in no position to indulge either in wrath or
sorrow. My present course was to be determined on. After a brief counsel
with myself, I decided on continuing my flight through that part of the
country settlers called the Desert. Few trees or rising hills marked
this. Consequently I should here have less chance of risking a second
Indian ambuscade. Indeed, on approaching Granite Creek, surrounding
indications betrayed the presence of red-skins in the neighborhood, and
although in want of water for myself and the animal I was mounted on, I
preferred taking my chances on the comparatively barren plain.
[Illustration: "The monument erected to Peter Lassen in Honey Lake
Valley."--_Page 103._]
Providentially, about nightfall I reached a spring. Here I dismounted,
and gave my horse some two hours' rest.
Remounting, I then continued my way, piloting myself by the stars, as a
fugitive on the Plains has frequently to do, if, as in the present case,
although there was no moon, the night is clear enough to afford such a
series of guide-posts to the wanderer.
Sunrise brought me to Smoke Creek. After another short rest, I again
pulled out for Susanville.
The last fifty miles was hard work for the worn-out and jaded animal,
whose enduring bottom had so largely contributed to my escape.
All in Susanville and around it were struck with horror, when I detailed
the circumstances of the slaughter, from which I was the sole survivor.
A large portion of the prominent settlers, amongst which Governor Roop
was the most influential, coincided with me in denouncing all further
treaties with the treacherous Indians, whether Pah-utes or of any other
tribe.
However, some who had families, and were not unreasonably apprehensive
for their safety in the event of a continuous struggle, warmly opposed
our views. At this time, they believed that the red-skins around us
numbered some eight or ten thousand.
In the face of their opposition, with the co-operation of Governor Roop,
I determined upon a plan of action.
The first man I spoke to about joining me was Harry Arnold. He was a
good shot, and a man of dauntless courage--not knowing what an
impossibility might be. Not only did he consent to work with me, but
gave me invaluable assistance in drawing together such tough and
determined fellows as each of us could rely upon. Amongst these was Ben
Painter, Luther Spencer, David Blanchard, my old friend Brighton Bill,
Butch' Hasbrouck, and a number of others, as good men as ever rammed a
ball down a rifle. In all, on the succeeding day, when we compared
notes, we found twenty-four men had signed the roll, and pledged
themselves to readiness at twenty minutes' notice. Both agreeing these
were enough, we met on the following day in Willow Creek Valley, some
fourteen to sixteen miles north of Susanville, where we completed our
organization. The company was to take the name of the BUCKSKIN RANGERS,
of which I was to be the captain. Harry Arnold and Ben Painter were
chosen as my first and second lieutenants, while every one else was to
act as an orderly sergeant, as well as his own commissary. Our agreement
was that we should all dress in buckskin, at our own expense. Indeed,
every man was to furnish his entire fit-out, complete for active
service.
It will afterwards be seen, what this active service actually meant.
The next thing we had to do, was to select our horses. Jack Bird,
settled at the lower end of Honey Lake, owned a large stock. Besides
presenting me with one of his own special favorites, to which he had
given the name of the Tipton Slasher, he contributed to mounting the
Rangers, most liberally.
The animal he gave me was a dapple iron-gray, partly of Spanish stock,
with fine clean limbs, and of great speed and endurance. When Jack gave
it to me, he said:
"Look here, Mose! if you ever let a darned red-skin catch you, it will
be when you are not on Tip's back."
So much for the horse. Now, for myself.
Here was another change in my life. Circus-rider, pop-corn merchant,
actor, detective, enlisted in an emigrant-train, gold-digger, and
engaged with stock, I was now a ranger, and about to start in a new
avocation. Hitherto, the red men I had come across had been looking
after me and mine. Now, I was about to look after them.
The wild, dense forest, the gigantic mountains, the untrodden
wilderness, sweeping beneath the sky with its varying swell, the
unbroken waste and desert with the savage dwellers in it, whose crimson
hands were against all civilization and gory with the uncounted murders
of the white man, were now to furnish me with all the delight my nature
could crave from a life of constant excitement. If I thought of my home
and my friends, hundreds upon hundreds of miles away from me, I fear, at
this time, it was with no inconsolable feelings of regret. In truth, I
was about to become the veritable pioneer and protector of the
scarcely-rooted civilization in which my lot had lately been cast. What
chance was there I could over-much think of the past, in the absolute
toil and the positive demand for vital activity of the present?
I was now about twenty-four years of age. My frame always promising
strength, had become robust and powerful. Nature had gifted me with a
sufficiently good constitution, as well as some considerable amount of
energy. In addition to this, I possessed self-confidence enough to
render me equal to the position in which fortune and adventure had
placed me.
By the bye, it may be as well for me here to say a few words respecting
Jack Bird, who was commonly called by his acquaintances "the" Captain.
About fifty-five years of age, and rather above the medium height, he
possessed a powerful frame. Of dark complexion, and with piercing hazel
eyes; he was a Mississipian, or, as he was used to say, he "came from
old Massisip." In a word, a native, as he himself told me, of Arkansas,
he was a splendid specimen of the class of men raised between civilized
life and the extreme frontier of that civilization. Thus he had been
made a backwoodsman by nature and predisposition, as well as necessity.
With an active and energetic mind, he had carved out for himself in this
wild country, a comparative fortune.
Had he been reared in New York State, he might have grown to the
proportions of a Vanderbilt.
As, however, he had neither ferries to cross, nor railways to lay out,
he occupied himself in traversing mountains, and in creating
settlements. Not having legislatures to buy up, his restless energy had
occupied itself in the control of savage life. An emigrant to California
in 1849, he had engaged at first in mining. Afterwards, he went into
stock-raising. It had been in 1857 that he settled on the boundaries of
Honey Lake. Here he remained, until the close of the late war. Then, he
decided upon returning for a brief period to his old homestead. He was,
however, doomed never to reach it. Starting overland by stage, he was
slaughtered, with the driver and other of the passengers, by the
Indians, and never reached the place of his birth. He was one of the far
too numerous victims, thrust forward by the restless progress of the
day, in the face of the red savages, who have up to the present time
been sheltered under the protecting ægis of our Government. A nobler,
kinder-hearted, and franker man, perhaps, I have never met with.
It was somewhat previous to the formation of the Buckskin Rangers, to
whose efficiency he had so largely and liberally contributed, that new
silver-mines had been discovered, near what is now known as Virginia
City, as well as in Gold Hill near Carson City, in Nevada. This
discovery had created considerable excitement, and a large number of
fortune-seekers were already flocking to the mines. The Indians,
however, were quite as active as the searchers after wealth. Scarcely a
day passed which was unmarked by the murder of some poor prospector, in
that vicinity.
Their scalped remains invariably attested the means by which they had
met their death.
The red-skins seemed almost as ubiquitous as devils. Wherever they
passed, the trail of blood was left behind them.
In order to put a stop to their murderous depredations, Major Ormsby, at
that period, well known throughout the country, in the neighborhood of
Carson City, formed a company. Another smaller company, which had
organized in Virginia City, for the same purpose, and already started
out for the Pyramid Mountains, near the Reservation, had also joined
him. Altogether, this party numbered something over one hundred and
fifty men.
Large as this body was, it was destined to meet with ill-luck, or,
probably, I should give it a much graver name.
Finding that the Indians had retreated into the mountains, Ormsby
determined on advancing upon them, and driving them from their
stronghold.
In doing so, he probably counted upon punishing them with a severity,
which should free the neighborhood for some length of time from their
murderous presence.
Whether it arose from his ignorance of the mode of warfare pursued by
the red-skins, or from his over-confidence in his own numbers, it would
be impossible now to determine. All I know is, that Ormsby's command was
met with a terrific fire, which drove them back.
Whilst they were in full retreat, their enemies broke from their cover,
and created a thorough panic in their ranks.
This resulted in a frightful disaster. Out of the hundred and fifty men,
barely nineteen made their escape, the Major himself being among the
slain.
The news of this terrific slaughter spread from settlement to settlement
in the vicinity, like wildfire. But, previously, having heard of Major
Ormsby's intended movement, the Rangers had decided upon lending him a
helping hand. I had consequently moved with them from Honey Lake, upon
the opposite side of Pyramid Mountains. On our way there, we had picked
up a considerable number of volunteers, and counted some forty-five or
fifty men in all. On reaching the base of the mountains, I found that it
would be impossible to use our horses in any farther advance. We
consequently decided upon leaving our four-footed companions, and I
detailed half a dozen of our party to look after their safety.
After carefully examining our weapons, we then cautiously commenced
ascending the rocky declivity.
Scarcely had we counted upon the almost immediate result of this step.
Some three quarters of an hour after, we entered on a heavy mist or fog,
which gradually became thicker and more dense, until it almost felt like
a wet and sodden blanket, actually saturating us to the skin.
Suddenly, from the midst of this sheet of gloom, burst a spear of
lightning. No! not a spear. It was, or seemed to be, one broad sheet of
flame, which actually enveloped us, for the moment, blinding our eyes,
and rendering us unable to see any of our companions.
This flash was followed by another and another, with incredible
rapidity, until their scathing glow seemed almost continuous, while the
roll of the unintermittent thunder made the mountain-side tremble
beneath our feet.
By the first effect of this fearful storm, all our rifles had been
instantly and involuntarily discharged. Stalwart men, who would have
kept their feet in any ordinary commotion of the elements, were
prostrated on the earth. Brave men, who had faced danger of almost every
description, trembled like the veriest children. Their bronzed cheeks
whitened with fear, and when able to stand, their knees quivered under
them with terror. Perhaps none of us expected to escape from that
shroud of living light alive. Very certainly I did not, and am not
ashamed to own, that, in the midst of the rolling thunder, a cry to God
for mercy, which none but the Almighty One Himself could possibly have
heard, broke from my panting lips.
Possibly, that unpremeditated appeal was listened to. Soon after the
flashes relaxed their continuity, and in its occasional pauses the
thunder might have allowed the voice of any who had spoken to be heard.
Gradually, the tempest passed away, and I heard a rough male voice say:
"The Lord be thanked!"
There was, in all probability, not one of us, un-churchgoing and
reckless as we had all for many years been, who did not, within his own
heart, re-echo that solitary thanksgiving.