Note 7 — Chapter IX · WOVOKA THE MESSIAH

This battle, probably the most important conflict that ever occurred between the Paiute and the whites, was fought in April, 1860, near the present agency at Pyramid lake and about 8 miles from Wadsworth, Nevada. Some miners having seized and forcibly detained a couple of Indian women, their husbands raised a party and rescued them, without, however, inflicting any punishment on the guilty ones. This was considered an “Indian outrage” and a strong body of miners collected and marched toward Pyramid lake to wipe out the Indian camp. The Paiute, armed almost entirely with bows and arrows, surprised them in a narrow pass at the spot indicated, with the result that the whites were defeated and fled in disorder, leaving nearly fifty dead on the field. The whole affair in its causes and results was most discreditable to the whites.