Hide Article Text (OCR)
ml-B at tie ol Pyramid Lake.The Bulletin, of Saturday last, contains an account of the battle in which Ilenry 01of Meredith and others lost their lives. It is;oid»eto23toisanthCftosobased on the statements of Capt. McDonald and Joe. Baldwin Jr., and is entitled to a great degree of credence. We condense it • for our columns.Nothing very remarkable accured to the party of Americans till they arrived within four miles of Pyramid Lake ad within m : sight of it. Indian signs had been discovered all along, but now scouts were sent out who returned and reported having seen ' thlt; two Indians. Orders were given to secureieil3-frcdiiS,e j the two as prisoners if possible. In fol-mssndrfrr-ra:wcapowlTaDi:olowing them the scouts came upon a body \j} of 150 Indians drawn up for a fight, allmounted and commanded by chiefs. The Americans proceeded in full view of the Indians to within 800 yards of them. A chief on horseback, had in his hand what | was at first supposed to be a white flag, but which on examination through the telescope of a rifle, proved to be a battle-ax ? which gleamed in the sun light as he rode backwards and forwards in front of his o men. The chief with the ax was fired on s by order of Major Ormsbv. The Indiana d advanced, jumped from their horses and fired. The Americans seeing two hundred other Indians on foot, made for a cluster Stiof trees. The firing then became general. nnc Some of the Americans broke and fled. The d remainder retreated to a ravine for protec- 1 e i tion and fought from that. The Indians ; I were held in check ten minutes, when three 1 or four hundred additional Indians were 1 J]* ; ofseen to approach in the rear. A panic —-then seized a majority of the Americans]InicecTohoifalna* and they broke for the river. The rcmain-1toe3der were obliged to follow as the Indians , ica! were closing very rapidly. No control over P™ the men existed. A partial rally of the cou men was effected by Capt. McDonald andMeredith, but after a few shots they brokeieveofmo* i again, perfectly panic stricken. The bul- dotrIan ior ] inal notlets flew thick, but as yet none of the Amer-t j icans were killed and but few wounded.—1 j The company retreated up the river two 7 hundred yards. Another rally was made,» w- and here among trees the main fight was 1 made. The Indians had completely sur-p rounded the party, and were within sixty r yards distance. The engagement here lasted ten or fifteen minutes. Major Ormsby f j leading the advance was wounded in cutting his way through the Indians. Ilenrv Meredith and young Baldwin, with Capt. McDonald's party, covered the retreat, the 1 two former on foot, their mules having escaped during the engagement. Meredith ^iwas wounded. One of the party offered to terep take him up behind him on his mule but he flueO ffirefused, with the remark, “ No, Sir, it would froJ1to XTwhoMp endanger your life. Meredith was soon I Ns j overtaken by the Indians, who fired on him \a volley and he fell. Raising himself on :his elbow he took deliberate aim and fired \both barrels of his gun, killing two Indians.He next felt for his revolver but it was lost.The Indians then fell on him and cut him to pieces. Baldwin was taken up by Lawrence, w3o had offered Meredith a place on his mule, and carried nine miles from the battle field.Major Ormsby was shot by a poisoned arrow in the mouth and was soon overtaken by the Indians and killed. No attempt to rally the men to protect the wounded and those on foot was successful. It was a wild rout. Arms were thrown away and every man looked out for himself.Baldwin and a Chileno crawled into the bushes and hid—the Indians passing withinIIAnlt;in tageCoiaOfa few feet of them all night. Wandering im. about in the mountains and subsisting on tele grass, they finally made Virginia City at 11 o'clock on Monday morning, some forty hours after the battle.
Newspaper Details
Nevada City Journal
Nevada City, California, US
Fri, May 25, 1860
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Cari S.
USA 22 Feb 2023
Other Publications Near Nevada City, California
Nevada City Journal
Nevada City Democrat
