Peaceful valley with a violent past

The Snake War was fought from 1864 to 1868 in the mountains and deserts of Oregon, Idaho, California, and Nevada.  This conflict is not particularly well known, perhaps because it overlapped the US Civil War.  During this span nearly 1800 people were killed or wounded in recorded battles.  An unknown number of other casualties occurred in small raids and engagements.

The conflict had its origins in the cholera epidemic of 1852, which destabilized the leadership of the Shoshoni nation by killing prominent leaders.  This leadership void resulted in the nation splitting into two units.  Weahwewa assumed control of the peoples of the Great Basin.  By 1864 Weahwewa and Ocheho were the main leaders of the Paviotso Confederacy a group of tribes created in the treaty of 1851.  Paulina and Winnemucca were the two leading war chiefs.  Weahwewa and his brother Paulina served the people in Oregon, while Winnemucca the people in Nevada.

Just as the war was starting it seemed as if it might end.  On October 18, 1864, a detachment of the 1^st Washington Territory Infantry under Lieutenant James Halloran captured Paulina’s wife and son.  Since Paulina was the primary hostile chief opposing the Americans at this time, the capture of his wife and son resulted in Paulina suing for peace in November.  It seemed as if the conflict was at an end.

During the year, the army had not hurt the Indians much in battle.  There were few casualties on either side.  But the army’s hounding of the Paiute made it hard for them to gather sufficient supplies to overwinter.  As a result, many fled to the more peaceful region of northern Nevada.

In the winter of 1864, the Civil War was consuming the attention of the top US Army brass.  The Oregon territory was far away and low on the priority list for troops and supplies.  As such, few supplies were available to the troops in Oregon.  This meant that both sides were going to be hungry if the battles continued over the winter.

At the same time the Paiute were fleeing Oregon for northern Nevada, new mineral discoveries in that area were attracting more miners and settlers.  Nevada Governor James W. Nye saw this as a toxic mix.  He asked the territorial government for more posts in the area and more troops to man them.  Here too, lack of interest in the security of the west resulted in no appreciable change in the number of troops or in their supply.

In Oregon, General Alvord had lost the confidence of his superiors and was recalled to Washington DC in December.  The command of the territorial troops fell to Colonel Reuben Maury.  With the change in command came a change in priorities.  During 1864, Alvord had pushed a two-pronged strategy; send out diplomats to solicit treaty signatures and follow this by sending troops to harass the groups that refused to sign.  Maury was more interested in military action than diplomatic outreach, so he abandoned the diplomatic mission.

In light of the tight supply situation, abandonment of the diplomatic approach had predictable results.  Instead of coming to the poorly supplied reservations, the Indians stole livestock from the settlers.  These depredations increased to the point where, by summer, tensions between the Indian tribes and settlers in eastern Oregon were tense. 

It was with this as a backdrop that an April attack on a remote ranch by a suspected Paiute band led to retaliation by civilians who felt disenfranchised by the military.  In early April 1865, a band of perhaps five Indians raided the ranch of an unnamed settler.  The raiders captured three horses and a mule driving them off.  As they were fleeing, a shot from the Indians struck and killed one of the ranchers.  At this point, the ranchers abandoned pursuit and rode north to Cottonwood House for help.  A party was quickly formed, setting off in pursuit of the raiders.

This party came across a small village of Paiutes.  While there was no sign of the stolen stock an attack was planned.  In the early morning they rode down on the village scattering the occupants and burning the shelters and food stores.  It is likely that some Paiutes were killed in the raid but no body count was reported.

I found the probable location of this massacre in Gregory Michno’s book The Deadliest Indian War in the West.  I believe that the village was located on Bulger Creek. 

Just ahead of a June snow storm I loaded up the truck for a trip to eastern Oregon.  I camped near an existing fire ring in the general location of where I believe the village was located.  I didn’t find any artifacts from the period, but I wasn’t expecting to find any. 

According to the accounts, some of the shelters were right up against the rocks on the hillside behind my truck.  I found old soot stains on some of the rocks but that in no way connects the site to the event.

The raiders rode down into the village from the north, crossing the creek somewhere near here.  The creek is very small, at its widest maybe 4 feet.  It was running only inches deep.  The stream bed has not been significantly altered.  The steep banks are still intact and vegetation holds the soil up against the narrow winding course.

According to the account the Paiutes scattered with one group fleeing downstream.  I explored this region and it’s beautiful.  The creek valley is quite narrow, flanked by large red-stemmed Ponderosa pines and lush green Junipers.

I didn’t find much evidence of human occupation in the area.  There is an old road following the creek for a bit that climbs out of the valley.  Near the road are some plants and stones that might indicate the presence of an old homestead.  If so, then the road likely dates from the 19^th century.  

There are stumps from past logging scattered through the forest. 

I found a few obsidian discards with fractures indicating the possibility of being worked by human hands.  The soot stains on the interiors of some of the rock shelters might indicate campfires.  But those fires might have been built anytime over the last 150 years.  There was no charcoal so they weren’t from the last ten years.   many of the rock shelters had debris piles at their entrance.  I was left with the impression they had been dug in the past; perhaps by pot hunters.

This is a beautiful area with a very unsavory history.  Studying the history of this region really does illustrate how far our ancestors have come to improving life for everyone. 

I spent a day and a half exploring the countryside before heading for the desert to avoid the coming snow.  But that’s a story for next time.