CHAPTER 13: WALK HOME

Once when Hoavadunuki was sick…”…Birch Mountain, which saved me.”

Steward, Julian H. “Autobiography of Two Owens Valley Paiutes.” University of California Publications in American Archeology and Ethnography , vol. 33, no. 5, 3 Feb. 1934, pp. 423–438, https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/ucp033-006.pdf

In March 1863, eight months after the army made camp…loaded saddlebags with mail and rode east.

Cragen, Dorothy Clora. The Boys in the Sky-Blue Pants: the Men and Events at Camp Independence and Forts of Eastern California, Nevada, and Utah, 1862-1877. Pioneer Pub. Co., 1975, p. 51

MacGrath, Roger D. Gunfighters, Highwaymen & Vigilantes: Violence on the Frontier. Univ. of California Press, 1987, p. 36

MacGrath cites:

Visalia Delta, 2 Apr. 1863; San Francisco Daily Evening Post, 22 Nov. 1879; Inyo Register, 19 Feb. 1914

Days later a rancher saw a light…thirty-seven men walking single file, dressed for war.

ibid. (MacGrath and his same citations)

Cragen, Dorothy Clora. The Boys in the Sky-Blue Pants: the Men and Events at Camp Independence and Forts of Eastern California, Nevada, and Utah, 1862-1877. Pioneer Pub. Co., 1975, p. 51

Also:

Chalfant, Willie Arthur. The Story of Inyo: Revised Addition . W.A. Chalfant, 1933, p. 143

The post rider was headed for Aurora…and a handful of ranchers to act as guides.

Published letter from a soldier who participated in the events that followed. The soldier claims the men believed the war party was going after “Mr. White (our mailman).”

Visalia Delta, 2 Apr. 1863

Hours before the rider was expected to arrive…and sixteen fell.

Chalfant, Willie Arthur. The Story of Inyo: Revised Addition . W.A. Chalfant, 1933, pp. 143-144

Also:

MacGrath, Roger D. Gunfighters, Highwaymen & Vigilantes: Violence on the Frontier. Univ. of California Press, 1987, p. 37

(MacGrath repeats this story and does not give a source; presumably Chalfant is his source)

Their white assailants lost a horse and injured one of their own men.

Visalia Delta, 2 Apr. 1863

“We chased them toward the lake,” a soldier wrote. “Some of the Indians got within forty yards of it, a place of safety, so they thought.”

Cragen, Dorothy Clora. The Boys in the Sky-Blue Pants: the Men and Events at Camp Independence and Forts of Eastern California, Nevada, and Utah, 1862-1877. Pioneer Pub. Co., 1975, p. 51

Cragain cites (reproduces verbatim) a letter by a soldier in the party, published in the Sierra Democrat, 19 Aug. 1863, from the Downieville Archives. The author was not able to access this letter.

The Paiutes stood against the western lakeshore…pushing the swimmers back toward shore.

Chalfant, Willie Arthur. The Story of Inyo: Revised Addition . W.A. Chalfant, 1933, p. 144

MacGrath, Roger D. Gunfighters, Highwaymen & Vigilantes: Violence on the Frontier. Univ. of California Press, 1987, p. 37

(Macgrath does not give a source—hence: “as the story goes”)

But then, bright silver over the Inyo range—the moon.

ibid. (Cragan, Chalfant, and MacGrath describe a full moon, but that is contradicted by astrological data, which asserts new moon on 19 Mar. 1863.

Source for new moon:

Phases of the Moon: U.S. Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department

…silhouettes along the lakeshore…

As imagined by:

Chalfant, Willie Arthur. The Story of Inyo: Revised Addition . W.A. Chalfant, 1933, p. 144

A rancher is said to have shouted…and fired again.

Cragen, Dorothy Clora. The Boys in the Sky-Blue Pants: the Men and Events at Camp Independence and Forts of Eastern California, Nevada, and Utah, 1862-1877. Pioneer Pub. Co., 1975, p. 51

For her full story of the Owens Lake massacre, Cragan cites Chalfant, 1st edition, p. 144-145

The east wind pushed the bodies back to shore.

Chalfant, Cragan, and MacGrath reference items being taken off the bodies once they washed up on the western lakeshore.

…a slender, portable cannon that fired explosive shells almost a half mile…

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior. (n.d.). Fort Larned National Historic Sited: The U.S. Model 1841 12 Pounder Mountain Howitzer. http://npshistory.com/brochures/fols/howitzer-2.pdf

“…short work will be made of Mr. Indian.”

Visalia Delta, 2 Apr. 1863

At the same time a party moved north, led by Captain Moses A. McLaughlin.

Esmerelda Star, 11 Apr. 1863, as reprinted in the Visalia Delta, 23 Apr. 1863

Also:

The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series 1, Vol. 50, Part 1, THA New Media, LLC, p. 208-210

McLaughlin is said to have ordered soldiers to shoot two horses that were making too much noise in a corral.

Cragen, Dorothy Clora. The Boys in the Sky-Blue Pants: the Men and Events at Camp Independence and Forts of Eastern California, Nevada, and Utah, 1862-1877. Pioneer Pub. Co., 1975, p. 56

Cragan cites a “story told by John Henderson, Los Angeles County Librarian, Grandson of a soldier, William McCoy, who served under Captain M.A. Mc Laughlin at Camp Independence, to the author.”

…under McLaughlin’s command…

Citation for McLaughlin as ranking officer in Owens Valley at the time:

Chalfant, Willie Arthur. The Story of Inyo: Revised Addition . W.A. Chalfant, 1933, p. 147

…soldiers guarded streams…

Michael, William H. "At the plow and in the harvest field": Indian conflict and accommodation in the Owens Valley, 1860-1880,” masters thesis, Liberal Studies, University of Oklahoma, 1993, p. 51

…and sought out food stores, destroying three hundred bushels of nuts and seeds cached around Bishop Creek.

Chalfant, Willie Arthur. The Story of Inyo: Revised Addition . W.A. Chalfant, 1933, p. 148

The Paiutes abandoned…”carry water at least a day’s march.”

The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series 1, Vol. 50, Part 1, THA New Media, LLC, p. 210-211

Direct quotations from the report of Captain Moses A. McLaughlin, Second California Cavalry, Camp Independence, Owens River Valley, May 26, 1863

The Paiutes buried grandparents and children.

ibid.

Chief George, signer of the original peace treaty…his face drawn.

Chalfant, Willie Arthur. The Story of Inyo: Revised Addition . W.A. Chalfant, 1933, p. 149

In days he returned with three hundred half-starved people. Others followed.

Michael, William H. "At the plow and in the harvest field": Indian conflict and accommodation in the Owens Valley, 1860-1880,” masters thesis, Liberal Studies, University of Oklahoma, 1993, p. 64

A prospector shot…traveled with white flags.

ibid. p. 52-53

Also:

Chalfant, Willie Arthur. The Story of Inyo: Revised Addition . W.A. Chalfant, 1933, p. 150

Both of these sources cite a letter written by Captain Ropes for the Esmerelda Star, Aurora, NV, July 30, 1863

By July 10, 1863, more than a thousand people had gathered.

The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series 1, Vol. 50, Part II, THA New Media, LLC, p. 535-536

Specifically, a letter from Captain Moses A. McLaughlin, Second California Cavalry, Camp Independence, Owens River Valley, July 22, 1863

McLaughlin recommended…”putting to death every male Indian over twelve years of age.”

Michael, William H. "At the plow and in the harvest field": Indian conflict and accommodation in the Owens Valley, 1860-1880,” masters thesis, Liberal Studies, University of Oklahoma, 1993, p. 64

Also:

The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series 1, Vol. 50, Part 1, THA New Media, LLC, p. 212

Direct quotations from the report of Captain Moses A. McLaughlin, Second California Cavalry, Camp Independence, Owens River Valley, April 24 and May 26, 1863

He assembled the people on the parade grounds…their people would be taken out of the valley…

ibid. Part II p. 535-536

…that if they tried to run, they would be killed.

A letter from an “occasional correspondent” printed in the Daily Alta California, July 31, 1863, under the title “By State Telegraph”

…headed to an alleged reservation 225 miles southwest…

Cragen, Dorothy Clora. The Boys in the Sky-Blue Pants: the Men and Events at Camp Independence and Forts of Eastern California, Nevada, and Utah, 1862-1877. Pioneer Pub. Co., 1975, p. 62

…where the government promised to deliver food and farm equipment.

Michael, William H. "At the plow and in the harvest field": Indian conflict and accommodation in the Owens Valley, 1860-1880,” masters thesis, Liberal Studies, University of Oklahoma, 1993, p. 81

Michael cites Mary Harry, Big Pine Paute, SERA Papers

They could not have known that this land was owned by Edward F. Beale…”vicious Indians whom you have lately removed” from Owens Valley.

Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs (ARCIA) 1863, “California Superintendency” p.102-103

“We took a bath…some of our people escaped.”

Wagons held as many pregnant women…about seventy soldiers…

The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series 1, Vol. 50, Part II, THA New Media, LLC, p. 535-536

Specifically, a letter from Captain Moses A. McLaughlin, Second California Cavalry, Camp Independence, Owens River Valley, July 22, 1863

July is the hottest month in this valley, when temperatures surpass one hundred degrees.

Weather averages Inyokern, California. (n.d.). https://www.usclimatedata.com/climate/inyokern/california/united-states/usca0515

(near the ascent to Walker Pass)

…southern tail of the Sierra Nevada between the prickly, reaching arms of Joshua trees…

“Yucca brevifolia Engelm. Joshua tree.” Calflora. https://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-calrecnum=8375

…named by Mormon settlers for the prophet who led them west.

Joshua Tree National Park (U.S. National Park Service). https://www.nps.gov/jotr/index.htm

They crossed the mountains at Walker Pass…According to Captain McLaughlin, “The sufferings upon the route were intense.”

The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series 1, Vol. 50, Part II, THA New Media, LLC, p. 535-536

Specifically, a letter from Captain Moses A. McLaughlin, Second California Cavalry, Camp Independence, Owens River Valley, July 22, 1863

“I have the great and good news to tell you…that yesterday morning the Indians…were removed from our beautiful valley.”

A letter from an “occasional correspondent” printed in the Daily Alta California, July 31, 1863, under the title “By State Telegraph”

“Many of the young girls were assaulted and afterwards murdered,” a Paiute woman recalled

Mary Harry, “Biography of Mary Harry,” in Frederick Seymour Hulse, Big Pine Paiute Enthographic Notes: Books 15-17; and Mary Rooker, “Autobiography of Mary Rooker,” in Hulse, For Independence Paiute Ethnographic notes, book 18 (UC Berkely, 1935)

“Some went on bravely…I saw the white men with long knives stick the knife into their sides.”

Jennie Casbaugh, “Biography of an Old Woman,” in Hulse, Bishop Paiute Ethnographic Notes: Books 7-14, microfilm CU-23, I:2216, item 91, Casbaugh speaking, frames 374 and 375

Also:

Michael, William H. "At the plow and in the harvest field": Indian conflict and accommodation in the Owens Valley, 1860-1880,” masters thesis, Liberal Studies, University of Oklahoma, 1993

That woman escaped with her mother…The soldiers turned away, took another route, and we knew we were safe.”

ibid.

After a march that lasted eleven days, the soldiers left the Nuumu in the desert, where they remained for two months.

The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series 1, Vol. 50, Part II, THA New Media, LLC, p. 658

Specifically, correspondence from Captain Moses A. McLaughlin

“They gave us a big pile of flour”…Then they turned around and walked home.

…Owens, the name of a man from Ohio.

Hart, J. D. (1987).Â A companion to California. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, p. 369

Also:

Fremont, J. C., & Robinson, C. M. (2001). Memoirs of My Life. New York, NY: Cooper Square Press. Originally published in 1887. p. 455

“The boughs will never more bend…The sin is not ours.”

Parcher, Marie Louise. Dry Ditches. The Parchers, 1970, p. 4

“The art is not one of forgetting but letting go…you can be rich in loss.”

Solnit, R. (2006). A Field Guide to Getting Lost. New York, NY: Penguin, P. 23

Wovoka, a Nevada Paiute, had a vision…The ritual spread across the plains.

Moses, L. G. (1985). "The Father Tells Me So!" Wovoka: The Ghost Dance Prophet. American Indian Quarterly, 9 (3), 335. doi:10.2307/1183834, p. 336-341

In some accounts, Wovoka…hovered.

Treuer, A. (2017). National Geographic the Indian Wars: Battles, Bloodshed, and the Fight for Freedom on the American Frontier. National Geographic Society.

Em GallagherApril 3, 2020