Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1860-06-15

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Correspondents Of the San Francisco Bullstin-
srATEllEST OF CAPTAIN ARCHIBALD lf'DoNAID, JOE
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Pony Express station after sunrise were told there
was no danger reached Williams at 10 O'Clock, |
where the murder was committed found two /
bloody axes found tracks Of Indian ponies. The !
two Williams and another man were buried that
morning by Ormsby's party. Found dog who had
had an arrow in him, which he had pulled out. The
Indians had taken all the good guns from the place,
and left those that worthless. They also took
all goods that were Of any use to them; everything
was scattered around. Stopped all Of Thursday,
and camped there. Found Ornsby party, 40 men,
late in the evening. Judge Cradiebaugh came with
IA men from Carson.
Next morning. Friday May the llth left early; fol-
lowed the trace Of Indians over sandy plains, find
ing articles scattered all over, evidently deeoy;
also tracks Of large number Ct cattle and horses
which they drove of. Reached the lower crossing
about half-past l2-distanee twenty miles. Met
with heavy wind and snow storm, and were short Of
Silver City, and other stragglers which sweiled our
party to lO7. Made an attempt to get some provls-
ions by sending our party up some on the river
got there IN heavy snow storm. The settlers
agreed to be down in the morning with provisions
and we therefore concluded to camp, and moved
down the river to where the grass was supposed to
be, and camp there. That evening all the parties
reported themselves to Major Ormsby, with the excep-
ton of McDonalds Virginia volunteers, which were
then reduced to twenty-six men, the others having
returned.
1t was IL O'Clock on Saturday morning before we
had the provisions across the river and the three
men who were afraid Of the Indians, and VINO were
on foot were left behind. Started out Maj. Ormsby
having about so men and Mcdonald g. Snow had
fallen three inches in depth on the night before. We
waited till it had melted, as to be able to follow
Indian and cattle tracks. Followed an Indian trail
North, on a narrow bench Of the mountains; sent
out a scouting party of FIVE, under VIM. Marley, Of
San Francisco, in advance. They kept at distance
ahead of from to five miles; got within four
miles of Pyramid Lake, when the scouts returned
and reported two Indians in sight previous to this,
discovered pony tracks where the Indians had been
| accommodating. Maj. 0Fmsby ordered the scout
party to capture the two Indians if possible. They
started out after Them and followed them down two
miles, when they came upon body Of Indians, who
at once charged upon our scouts, who returned rap
/ idly to the main party. We were then some i've
hundred feet above the river with that and the lake
both in sight.
We kept advancing until we reached point from
/ where Pyramid lake and valley were in full view.
On a low sandy ridge to our right we discovered
party of Indians, numbering about 49, all mounted
I drawn up in a solid body, with four five chiefs
charging forward and backward in front of the In
/ dians They showed great skill in the handling Of
their horses So soon they perceived US they ras-
| ed their war-whOOp. From their position they were
/ able to count us man by man, as we marched down
/ the deep trail We marched down into a narrow
valley some 500 to 500 yards in width, the Indians
being all the time in sight We Travelled about three
quarters of mile in this valley untwe came with
in 500 yards of the Indians. One Of the chiefs who
/
ly battle axe, symbol Of war, which he held in an
upright position. Changing backwards and forwards,
as he would turn his horse it glittered in the sun
| light and was probably taken for white flag by
| those further of Here we halted, when one of our
| party sung out that they had a white flag. Capt.
| Mcdonald ordered of his men with tele-
scope rifle to examine this object and became salts
fed it was a battle axe The Indians continued to
| veil like demons. Captain Mcdonald ordered the
man with the gObesighted rife, named A. K. Elliott
= IL hTo-,o rrnao Of Tho n1Tnf
| holding the battle axe, who was mounted on an ele-
CANT black charger He fired, and the chief instant
! ly wheeled and ran over to the main body.
| The Indians then advanced in a body TO the brow
of the hill they were then distant 5OO or 6OO YARDS
| They Jumped off their horses, who stood perfectly
still apparently well trained for an engagement, and
| instantly after they fired. At the same moment
| some two hundred Indians on foot made their APP
J pearance few hundred yards between them. Maj.
| Ormsby suggested to Capt. Mcdonald to charge on
the Indians but Capt Mcdonald thought it were ad-
visable to make for a cluster Of cottonwood trees,
| where they would be protected on one side by the
river and an open plain on the other.
Major Ormsby then gave the command to charge;
all joined in and charged up to the point where we
first saw them stationed and drove them from their
position firing being done all along by single
! individuals. After charging them about q mile in
the deep sand, different direction, they being in
small squads in all directions, running and return
iLg our horses got very much fatlgued The Indians
on foot who also had scattered in squads, and who
/ could run faster than our horses, now commenced
! firing on us from all directions We took up posi-
ton nearer to the lake, where the Indians were first
seen, and returned their fire for a short time. 1t
/ was now near five O'Clock. and the engagement had
lasted three-quarters of an hour; no one had been
wounded OF killed yet but some of the horses were
hit. Just before our firing last five of our party
! fed from the field, and those were the ones who
! first came into Virginia and reported our men all
! killed.
After a few words between the two commanders,
] it was agreed to retreat some 500 yards to some
! timber on the bank Of the river. When. we came
within 800 yards of the timber, we found deep
gucE, which well adapted to shelter our horses
| Orders were given to dismOUnt and fire from that
/ gulch. We commenced firing on the advancing In
| dians and held them in check some ten minutes.
They all had rifles and muskets, which reached sure
| " further than our shot guns. At this moment
Few party of Indians, OF foot, numbering about 300
or 400 supposed to be Pitt river Indians, were seen
to advance from the river below us, evidently to at
tack US in the rear Then a great panic seized our
| men, and majority of them broke for the river the
others saw that they had to follow, as the Indians
were closing in very rapidly No more control over
| the men existed. Major 0rmsby displayed great
courage but had lost some of his presence Of mind
! Capts Mcdonald and Henry Meredith made an at
| tempt to rally the men, and succeeded to make
| partial halt A portion of them dismOunted and
commenced to fire again, but after few shots the
men commenced to run once more, perfectly panic
stricken. The Indians closed in very fast, and the
a few of our men wounded as yet and none killed.
We made rapidly up the river amongst some trees,
| for about 200 yards. The Indians had now sur
rounded entirely, the main body Of them advanc-
! ing from below US, under cover Of trees. We then
! succeeded in rallying men at spot about one
! hundred yards from the Truckee river, and got
them to dsmount. As soon as they were dismOunted
some tried to mount again, but were threatened to
be shot by Captain Mcdonald if they would attempt
! To run Here the main fight took place, the Indians
| in nd 1gN vt W
! firing all the time. This part Of the engagement
lasted ten fifteen minutes. We killed some Of the
| Indians and here it was where some Of our men
/ were wounded, amongst whom was Henry Mere
| dith HIS mule, and that of young Baldwin broke
loose during the firing, and they were left foot.
! All our men then commenced retreatng rapidly up
the river, Capt McDOnald's party covering the re-
| treat and keeping up an occasional firing. A man
| named B. Lawrence, from SOEona county, offered,
during the retreat allow Henry Meredith to mount
! his mule behind him, but he declined nobly, with
the remark No, sir it would endanger your life"
| Five minutes after this, Meredith was Overtacen
by the Indians, he being the hindmost-young Bald
win and a few others being some sixty yards ahead
of him. Some fifty Indians fred on him one charge,
and he fell He raised himself on his elbow, took
aim and fred both barrels Of his gun, and killed two
| Indians He next felt for his revolver, but it was
lost The Indians then closed in upon him and cut
him to pieces. Young Baldwin was on foot for some
| distance, when Lawrence took him up behind him
| on his mule and carried hun some nine miles from
the battlefield. In the meanwhile, the advance of
the retreating party, under Major Ormsby, came on
| to a party of Indians, through whom they broke,
fighting their way. In this engagement the Major
was badly wounded by several shots, but still kept
| on his mule for three or four miles, when the In
| dams overlook him and killed him and DR.. Jader
! So soon as this last line Of Indians was broken
| through. the route commenced, and every one fed
| on his own hook, the men throwing away their arms
On our fight we came to several deep canOns, the
| Indians firing on US while men were perfectly
helpless and quite a number of our people thus got
killed We attempted to rally the at several of
these points, to protect the wounded and those on
foot or broken down, but they would not stop, but
/ fed in wild excitement. The Indians followed us
about Is miles, when darkness set in. All who
were well mounted got out Of danger, the others
! crawled into bushes to hide themselves.
Young Baldwin and a Chilean lay hid in the
bushesNthe Indians passing by them all night some
times within twenty or thirty steps Of their hiding
| nlaee-but they did not discover them. They kept
| 80 and motionless till midnight when they GOT