1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,720 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. 3 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:16,520 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. 4 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:20,280 Speaker 2: Today we are going to talk about Sarah Winnemucca, who 5 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:24,400 Speaker 2: was Northern Paiute and was born not long before her 6 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:28,320 Speaker 2: band had their first contact with people of European descent. 7 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:31,800 Speaker 2: That happened in the middle of the nineteenth century, which 8 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:35,479 Speaker 2: means that she lived through a lot, and a lot 9 00:00:35,479 --> 00:00:39,519 Speaker 2: of what she lived through was violent and horrifying. She 10 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:42,880 Speaker 2: spent a lot of her adult life trying to advocate 11 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:46,559 Speaker 2: for the Northern Piute. Although her legacy in that regard 12 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:51,680 Speaker 2: has some complexities, there's enough that happened and enough complexities 13 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:56,360 Speaker 2: that this blossomed into a two part episode. Sarah Winnemaka's 14 00:00:56,440 --> 00:01:00,360 Speaker 2: name in the Northern Paiute language was Tony Tonige and 15 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:03,760 Speaker 2: that means shellflower, and she published her book under the 16 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:07,200 Speaker 2: name Sarah Winnemaca Hopkins, which was her married name at 17 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:11,760 Speaker 2: the time. The name Winnamacca means giver, and in addition 18 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:14,720 Speaker 2: to her use of it as a surname, it was 19 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:19,560 Speaker 2: also used by multiple men in her family, including her grandfather, father, 20 00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:24,320 Speaker 2: and brother. So to try to avoid confusion, we are 21 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:28,440 Speaker 2: going to refer to her mostly as Sarah, to her 22 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:33,400 Speaker 2: father as Winnemacca, and to her grandfather and brother as 23 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:35,680 Speaker 2: other names that they were also known by, and those 24 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:39,160 Speaker 2: are Trucky for her grandfather and Natchez for her brother. 25 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:43,120 Speaker 2: Both of those are probably nicknames that were given to 26 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:47,039 Speaker 2: them by white people. Trucky probably came from a Northern 27 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:50,640 Speaker 2: Payte word meaning alright, was something that they heard him 28 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:54,440 Speaker 2: say a lot, and the Natchez came from the northern 29 00:01:54,480 --> 00:01:57,800 Speaker 2: Payete word for boy, because that was how his father 30 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:00,040 Speaker 2: would refer to him in front of white people and 31 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:02,520 Speaker 2: be like, Okay, you can talk to my boy about that. 32 00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 2: They are also though names that Sarah used for them 33 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:11,160 Speaker 2: in her book and other writings. The term Piute is 34 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:15,640 Speaker 2: used to describe multiple distinct Numic speaking peoples from the 35 00:02:15,639 --> 00:02:19,920 Speaker 2: Great Basin region of western North America. That's the watersheds 36 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:23,120 Speaker 2: surrounded by mountains and plateaus that includes most of what 37 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 2: is now Nevada, as well as adjacent parts of Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, California, 38 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:34,760 Speaker 2: and northwestern Mexico. The name Piute comes from Spanish, possibly 39 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:37,519 Speaker 2: from the same origins as the word Ute, which is 40 00:02:37,639 --> 00:02:40,640 Speaker 2: used for another Numic speaking people of this region and 41 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:44,560 Speaker 2: is also the origin of the name Utah. The Northern 42 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:48,320 Speaker 2: and Southern Piute are two distinct peoples, and multiple Northern 43 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:53,760 Speaker 2: and Southern Pyute bands still exist today. Although Piute isn't 44 00:02:53,919 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 2: the name these bands and tribes chose for themselves, it 45 00:02:56,680 --> 00:03:00,960 Speaker 2: is one that many of them use. The Northern Piute 46 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:06,080 Speaker 2: referred to themselves as Nimah, meaning the People. Their ancestral 47 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:12,160 Speaker 2: homeland includes what's now eastern California, western Nevada, and southeastern Oregon. 48 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:16,480 Speaker 2: Sarah Winnemucca was born near Humboldt Lake in what's now 49 00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:20,960 Speaker 2: Nevada around eighteen forty four, although she wasn't sure exactly when. 50 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:26,440 Speaker 2: At that time, Mexico claimed most of the territory where 51 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:30,440 Speaker 2: her people lived. In her book Life among the Piutes, 52 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:34,440 Speaker 2: Their Wrongs and Claims, she describes the Northern Piute as 53 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:37,520 Speaker 2: scattered all over what is now known as Nevada before 54 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:40,600 Speaker 2: she was born. Much of the beginning of the book 55 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:44,160 Speaker 2: is about the Northern Piute's first encounters with white people, 56 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:47,640 Speaker 2: which started when she was still a baby. These were 57 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:50,280 Speaker 2: not the first white people ever to arrive in the 58 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:53,240 Speaker 2: Great Basin that had happened at least twenty years before, 59 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:56,760 Speaker 2: but they were the first ones her grandfather, known as 60 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:01,120 Speaker 2: Tracy mentioned earlier as Trucky or Old Winnemucca, personally saw. 61 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:05,400 Speaker 2: In her words quote, my grandfather was chief of the 62 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:09,160 Speaker 2: entire Piute nation and was camped near Humboldt Lake with 63 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 2: a small portion of his tribe when a party traveling 64 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:16,159 Speaker 2: eastward from California was seen coming. When the news was 65 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:18,599 Speaker 2: brought to my grandfather, he asked what they looked like. 66 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:21,680 Speaker 2: When told that they had hair on their faces and 67 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:25,040 Speaker 2: were white, he jumped up and clasped his hands together 68 00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:28,800 Speaker 2: and cried aloud. My white brothers, My long looked for 69 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:33,480 Speaker 2: white brothers, have come at last. This description of her 70 00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:37,839 Speaker 2: grandfather as the chief of the entire Piute nation doesn't 71 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:41,480 Speaker 2: really capture the full story. The Northern Piute were made 72 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:44,919 Speaker 2: up of bands of families, with each band having a headman. 73 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:49,320 Speaker 2: The headman made some decisions along with a council of elders, 74 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:53,520 Speaker 2: but often the consensus of the entire band was involved. 75 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:58,520 Speaker 2: Different people also served as leaders for different specific functions, 76 00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:01,080 Speaker 2: like being the leader of a h hunting party, or 77 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:04,400 Speaker 2: in the time of war. Sometimes, if there was a 78 00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:07,880 Speaker 2: reason for multiple bands to come together, someone might act 79 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:11,479 Speaker 2: as the primary mediator and counselor among them, but that 80 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:15,120 Speaker 2: responsibility lasted only as long as it needed to. It 81 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:19,520 Speaker 2: was not a permanent situation. White newcomers to the area, 82 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:22,400 Speaker 2: on the other hand, expected there to be some kind 83 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:27,320 Speaker 2: of centralized leadership governing an entire tribe, so they assumed 84 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:31,080 Speaker 2: Trucky was chief or king of all the Northern Piutes. 85 00:05:31,839 --> 00:05:34,839 Speaker 2: That fed into white people seeing Trucky and his whole 86 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:39,880 Speaker 2: family as authority figures, which then affected their relationship with 87 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:43,200 Speaker 2: the rest of their tribe. So we don't fully know 88 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:47,720 Speaker 2: Sarah Winnemucka's thought process behind describing her grandfather in this 89 00:05:47,839 --> 00:05:51,440 Speaker 2: way like he was important, she gave him a different 90 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:54,320 Speaker 2: degree of importance than really he would have had among 91 00:05:54,360 --> 00:05:58,000 Speaker 2: the Northern Piute, And there were definitely people who thought 92 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:01,719 Speaker 2: it was really self serving and self for grandizing. But 93 00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:05,479 Speaker 2: this book, along with all of Sarah Winnemucca's other writing 94 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:09,120 Speaker 2: and speeches, was created with the goal of getting white 95 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:13,440 Speaker 2: people's support to help her tribe. Describing herself and her 96 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:16,719 Speaker 2: family in this way suggested to her audience that she 97 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:20,279 Speaker 2: deserved their respect and their admiration, or at the very least, 98 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:24,160 Speaker 2: their interest, and it suggested that she had the kind 99 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:27,160 Speaker 2: of status that would allow her to speak on her 100 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:28,080 Speaker 2: people's behalf. 101 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:31,840 Speaker 1: To return to what Tracy read just a moment ago, 102 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:36,479 Speaker 1: Trucky saw the newcomers not only as brothers, but brothers 103 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:41,680 Speaker 1: whose arrival he had been eagerly anticipating. Sarah described him 104 00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:45,400 Speaker 1: telling a story about their people's origins involving two boys 105 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:49,720 Speaker 1: and two girls, one of each dark and the other white. 106 00:06:49,760 --> 00:06:52,560 Speaker 1: In the context of this story, Trucky thought the arrival 107 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:55,520 Speaker 1: of white people to what's now Nevada was going to 108 00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:59,799 Speaker 1: heal an ancient wound between the descendants of these two pairs. 109 00:07:00,839 --> 00:07:04,320 Speaker 1: Trucky met and made friends with people like Captain John Fremont, 110 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:08,000 Speaker 1: who was on an expedition to map the Great Basin region. 111 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:12,360 Speaker 1: Trucky and eleven other Payute men went with him into 112 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:16,400 Speaker 1: Mexican Territory to support a group of Americans in a 113 00:07:16,440 --> 00:07:20,600 Speaker 1: rebellion against Mexican authorities, which came to be known as 114 00:07:20,640 --> 00:07:24,880 Speaker 1: the Bear Flag Revolt. He returned to Pyute Territory after 115 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:29,520 Speaker 1: the Mexican American War with stories of how beautiful California was, 116 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:33,880 Speaker 1: and he also carried a letter of introduction from Fremont, 117 00:07:33,880 --> 00:07:37,040 Speaker 1: which he used to basically open doors for himself and 118 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:40,520 Speaker 1: his people when he encountered white authority figures. Later on 119 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:44,800 Speaker 1: in her book, Sarah described this as a talking paper 120 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:49,360 Speaker 1: and Trucky called it his rag friend. Not long after 121 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:54,080 Speaker 1: rejoining his band, Trucky returned to California with about thirty families. 122 00:07:54,960 --> 00:07:57,600 Speaker 1: While he was gone, words started to spread among the 123 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:00,640 Speaker 1: Northern Pyute and other tribes about grit groups of white 124 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:04,120 Speaker 1: people who were coming through and killing anyone who got 125 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:08,600 Speaker 1: in their way. Indigenous people started fleeing into the mountains 126 00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:12,679 Speaker 1: to try to stay safe. At one point, Trucky's band 127 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:16,440 Speaker 1: heard that there were white people coming, and Sarah described 128 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:19,440 Speaker 1: trying to run away with her mother and her aunt, 129 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:23,120 Speaker 1: along with her baby sister and a cousin. But Sarah 130 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:26,080 Speaker 1: and her cousin just couldn't keep up. Sarah really was 131 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:30,000 Speaker 1: too terrified to even move, so her mother and aunt 132 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:32,960 Speaker 1: decided to bury the girls up to their necks and 133 00:08:33,040 --> 00:08:36,400 Speaker 1: cover their faces with sagebrush to hide them and protect 134 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:40,520 Speaker 1: them from the sun. And Sarah's words quote, oh can 135 00:08:40,559 --> 00:08:44,680 Speaker 1: anyone imagine my feelings, buried alive, thinking every minute that 136 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:47,080 Speaker 1: I was to be unburied and eaten up by the 137 00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:52,160 Speaker 1: people that my grandfather loved so much. Eventually, they thought 138 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:55,240 Speaker 1: the danger had passed, and Sarah's mother and aunt came 139 00:08:55,280 --> 00:08:58,600 Speaker 1: back to retrieve her and her cousin. But then they 140 00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:03,319 Speaker 1: learned that white people had found and burned their winter supplies. Quote. 141 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:05,880 Speaker 1: My father took some of his men during the night 142 00:09:05,960 --> 00:09:08,120 Speaker 1: to try and save some of it, but they could not. 143 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:11,959 Speaker 1: It had burnt down before they got there. These were 144 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:15,240 Speaker 1: the last white men that came along that fall. My 145 00:09:15,360 --> 00:09:18,520 Speaker 1: people talked fearfully that winter about those they called our 146 00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:22,280 Speaker 1: white brothers. My people said they had something like awful 147 00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:25,920 Speaker 1: thunder and lightning, and with that they killed everything that 148 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:30,880 Speaker 1: came in their way. In Sarah's account, her father, Winnemucca, 149 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:34,800 Speaker 1: was filling the role of chief in Trucky's absence, and 150 00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:38,440 Speaker 1: he started to have prophetic dreams about white people coming 151 00:09:38,520 --> 00:09:41,840 Speaker 1: and killing them all. A lot of people were afraid 152 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:45,280 Speaker 1: not just of being killed, but also, as I alluded 153 00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:49,280 Speaker 1: to earlier, of being eaten. That possibly came from stories 154 00:09:49,320 --> 00:09:52,480 Speaker 1: of the Donner Party, which had become stranded in the 155 00:09:52,520 --> 00:09:57,920 Speaker 1: Sierra Nevada in October of eighteen forty six. Eventually, Winnemaca 156 00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:01,320 Speaker 1: recommended that their band moved the mountains where they would 157 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:04,720 Speaker 1: usually go in the spring and summer to gather pine nuts, 158 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:08,360 Speaker 1: and they would wait there until Trucky returned. When Trucky 159 00:10:08,440 --> 00:10:11,520 Speaker 1: got back, he continued to insist that the white people 160 00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:15,080 Speaker 1: were their brothers, even after a group of white men 161 00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:19,480 Speaker 1: killed several of their tribe while they were fishing. Eventually, 162 00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:23,960 Speaker 1: Trucky decided to return to California, this time taking most 163 00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:27,680 Speaker 1: of his family with him. Sarah was probably about seven 164 00:10:27,880 --> 00:10:30,760 Speaker 1: at that point. This was a time when a lot 165 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:33,920 Speaker 1: more white people were coming to and through the area, 166 00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:37,640 Speaker 1: thanks in part to the California Gold Rush. By her 167 00:10:37,679 --> 00:10:41,480 Speaker 1: own account, Sarah was absolutely terrified of all the white 168 00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:44,960 Speaker 1: people they encountered along the way. In addition to the 169 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:49,520 Speaker 1: traumatic experiences she'd already had, She thought their wide eyes 170 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:53,880 Speaker 1: and facial hair made them look like owls. Her feelings 171 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:56,120 Speaker 1: on this only started to change a little after she 172 00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:59,040 Speaker 1: got very sick and was nursed back to health by 173 00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:02,640 Speaker 1: a white woman. At first, Sarah thought that her illness 174 00:11:02,679 --> 00:11:05,760 Speaker 1: came from eating a sugary bread that some white people 175 00:11:05,800 --> 00:11:08,000 Speaker 1: had given to her, but it turned out that she 176 00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:10,880 Speaker 1: had gotten into some poison oak. This was something that 177 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:13,640 Speaker 1: did not grow where she was from, but it's native 178 00:11:13,679 --> 00:11:16,160 Speaker 1: to the part of California that they were traveling through. 179 00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:20,880 Speaker 1: She was really miserable and her eyes were swollen shut. 180 00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:24,360 Speaker 1: Sarah never really trusted white people in the way that 181 00:11:24,440 --> 00:11:28,280 Speaker 1: her grandfather did, but after this experience, she did start 182 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:32,319 Speaker 1: to become more comfortable around them. At this point, there 183 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:36,120 Speaker 1: is a six year gap in Sarah's account. Then, in 184 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:39,240 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty seven, she and her sister went to work 185 00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:42,160 Speaker 1: for Major William Ormsby, who was an agent of the 186 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:46,720 Speaker 1: Carson Valley Stage Company in Genoa in what is now Nevada. 187 00:11:46,840 --> 00:11:49,240 Speaker 1: She doesn't say which sister this was, but it was 188 00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:53,480 Speaker 1: probably her younger sister, Elma. Sarah would have been about 189 00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:57,240 Speaker 1: thirteen and her sister a couple of years younger. They 190 00:11:57,280 --> 00:12:01,000 Speaker 1: were hired to be companions for William's daughter, Lizzy, and 191 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:04,840 Speaker 1: they probably also did some domestic work. They may have 192 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:07,520 Speaker 1: been allowed to sit in with Lizzie on her lessons, 193 00:12:07,559 --> 00:12:09,839 Speaker 1: which would mean that this was when Sarah learned to 194 00:12:09,960 --> 00:12:13,200 Speaker 1: read and write. This also may have been when she 195 00:12:13,280 --> 00:12:16,480 Speaker 1: started going by the name Sarah rather than Tony Taniga, 196 00:12:16,679 --> 00:12:19,440 Speaker 1: although it's not really clear when that happened. 197 00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:24,560 Speaker 2: In her book, Sarah describes this as a community in 198 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:27,800 Speaker 2: which white and Indigenous people loved one another without any 199 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:32,240 Speaker 2: violence or theft. Sarah considered Ormsby and his family to 200 00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:35,599 Speaker 2: be friends, especially after her parents joined the rest of 201 00:12:35,640 --> 00:12:39,400 Speaker 2: the family at Pyramid Lake, Nevada, which is northeast of 202 00:12:39,440 --> 00:12:43,480 Speaker 2: what's now Reno. The Bureau of Indian Affairs had set 203 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:47,120 Speaker 2: aside land for a reservation for the Northern Piute at 204 00:12:47,160 --> 00:12:50,880 Speaker 2: Pyramid Lake. This happened a few years after the reservation 205 00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:55,200 Speaker 2: system was first established under the Indian Appropriations Act of 206 00:12:55,240 --> 00:12:59,800 Speaker 2: eighteen fifty one, although the reservation wasn't formally surveyed or 207 00:12:59,880 --> 00:13:03,120 Speaker 2: like formally established until much later than this. 208 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:07,400 Speaker 1: But that piece she described did not last, and we 209 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:10,280 Speaker 1: will get to that after we pause for a sponsor break. 210 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:22,880 Speaker 1: While Sarah Winnemucca and her sister were living with Major 211 00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:27,480 Speaker 1: William Ormsby, two white men from Genoa were robbed and 212 00:13:27,679 --> 00:13:30,560 Speaker 1: murdered while they were on their way to California to 213 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:35,600 Speaker 1: buy supplies for the winter. The culprits stuck arrows into 214 00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:37,920 Speaker 1: the victim's wounds to try to make it look like 215 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:42,080 Speaker 1: indigenous people had done it. Because Major Ormsby had a 216 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:47,079 Speaker 1: trusting relationship with Trucky's Northern Paiute band, he summoned several 217 00:13:47,120 --> 00:13:51,559 Speaker 1: of them, including Sarah's brother and her cousin, to identify 218 00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:55,760 Speaker 1: the arrows. Sarah's account describes her cousin as war chief 219 00:13:55,840 --> 00:13:59,480 Speaker 1: and her brother as peace chief. During this time, her 220 00:13:59,520 --> 00:14:02,079 Speaker 1: cousin said the arrows were a type that was used 221 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:05,120 Speaker 1: by the Washows, which is a tribe whose homelands are 222 00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:08,640 Speaker 1: in the region around Lake Tahoe. The Washo leader, who 223 00:14:08,679 --> 00:14:11,920 Speaker 1: spoke on their behalf, said that these were the Washo's arrows, 224 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:14,520 Speaker 1: but that no one from his tribe could have killed 225 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:17,400 Speaker 1: the two men because he knew where they all were 226 00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:21,680 Speaker 1: and no one was unaccounted for. But after this, three 227 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:25,080 Speaker 1: Washo men were taken prisoner and then were shot by 228 00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:28,440 Speaker 1: white men as they tried to flee. Two of them 229 00:14:28,520 --> 00:14:32,480 Speaker 1: died of their injuries. Later on, after Sarah and her 230 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:35,680 Speaker 1: sister had returned to their family, they learned that the 231 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:39,120 Speaker 1: actual white perpetrators had been caught and hanged. 232 00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:43,960 Speaker 2: This whole situation led to conflict between Sarah's band and 233 00:14:44,040 --> 00:14:47,200 Speaker 2: the Washos. As the Washos tried to get some compensation 234 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:52,080 Speaker 2: for the Piute's involvement in those two men's deaths. Sarah's 235 00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:55,480 Speaker 2: brother Natchez, said that they hadn't had anything to do 236 00:14:55,560 --> 00:14:59,000 Speaker 2: with the white people's actions, but he did eventually give 237 00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:03,280 Speaker 2: the washos All horse. In June of eighteen fifty nine, 238 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:07,600 Speaker 2: a rich deposit of silver was discovered near Virginia City, Nevada, 239 00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:11,320 Speaker 2: which came to be known as the Comstock Load. This 240 00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:14,800 Speaker 2: led to a huge influx of white people into and 241 00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:21,560 Speaker 2: through Northern Pyute territory and increasing tensions and violence. Newcomers 242 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:24,840 Speaker 2: also started clearing the native pinion trees to use them 243 00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:28,400 Speaker 2: for lumber and fuel. The nuts from these trees were 244 00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:31,800 Speaker 2: a staple food for the Northern Pyute and other indigenous 245 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:35,880 Speaker 2: people of the region. White farmers also brought in pigs, 246 00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:39,000 Speaker 2: which ate root vegetables that the Northern Pyute and other 247 00:15:39,040 --> 00:15:43,600 Speaker 2: indigenous peoples depended on. The Winter of eighteen fifty nine 248 00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:46,680 Speaker 2: to eighteen sixty was brutal for the indigenous peoples of 249 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:50,120 Speaker 2: the region, both because of the weather and because of 250 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:54,200 Speaker 2: the loss of those critical food sources. Then, in May 251 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:58,280 Speaker 2: of eighteen sixty two, Piute people were attacked by white 252 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:01,800 Speaker 2: men at Williams Station, which was one of the Nevada 253 00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:05,800 Speaker 2: stops for the Pony Express. The Piutes rallied a force 254 00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:09,480 Speaker 2: to retaliate, which led Major Ormsby to muster a force 255 00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:13,320 Speaker 2: of his own in response. This was later known as 256 00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:17,320 Speaker 2: the Pyramid Lake War, and on May twelfth of eighteen sixty, 257 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:22,360 Speaker 2: the Piutes defeated Ormsby's force, and Ormsby himself was killed. 258 00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:26,560 Speaker 2: Additional Federal forces were sent into the area, but the 259 00:16:26,600 --> 00:16:29,520 Speaker 2: Piute bands were able to hide in the desert canyons 260 00:16:29,560 --> 00:16:32,360 Speaker 2: and other places they were familiar with that the white 261 00:16:32,360 --> 00:16:36,200 Speaker 2: soldiers didn't really know how to reach. The Pyramid Lake 262 00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:40,440 Speaker 2: War temporarily forced the Pony Express to suspend service between 263 00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:44,880 Speaker 2: Carson City and Salt Lake City. In October of eighteen sixty, 264 00:16:45,200 --> 00:16:49,400 Speaker 2: Sarah's grandfather, Truckee, got sick and died, possibly as the 265 00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:53,840 Speaker 2: result of a tarantula bite. At his request, his funeral 266 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:58,040 Speaker 2: and burial rights combined both Pyute and White Christian practices. 267 00:16:58,960 --> 00:17:01,640 Speaker 2: One of his final wish was also for Sarah and 268 00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:04,560 Speaker 2: her sister Elma to be sent to a convent school 269 00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:09,280 Speaker 2: in San Jose, California. They went briefly, but after a 270 00:17:09,320 --> 00:17:12,720 Speaker 2: few weeks, they were sent home because white parents complained 271 00:17:12,760 --> 00:17:16,639 Speaker 2: about their children being in school with two Indigenous girls. 272 00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:20,840 Speaker 2: It's possible that around this time Sarah got married to 273 00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:24,040 Speaker 2: a white man known as Snyder, who was the person 274 00:17:24,119 --> 00:17:27,520 Speaker 2: Truckie had entrusted with escorting her and her sister to 275 00:17:27,560 --> 00:17:31,680 Speaker 2: the convent school. Sarah would have been about sixteen, which 276 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:35,240 Speaker 2: was considered to be a marriageable age. She does mention 277 00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:37,760 Speaker 2: Snyder in her book and in other writings, but she 278 00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:40,560 Speaker 2: really does not say anything to suggest that she was 279 00:17:40,720 --> 00:17:44,640 Speaker 2: married to him, although there are some other contemporary accounts 280 00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:48,959 Speaker 2: that did. In September of eighteen sixty four, when she 281 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:52,160 Speaker 2: was about twenty, Sarah went with her father and brother 282 00:17:52,320 --> 00:17:55,800 Speaker 2: to Virginia City, Nevada, to try to raise money. Her 283 00:17:55,840 --> 00:17:59,080 Speaker 2: father spoke about their plight in the Northern Pyute language, 284 00:17:59,119 --> 00:18:02,960 Speaker 2: and she transfer for him. They managed to raise about 285 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:06,119 Speaker 2: twenty five dollars, and this is when people started to 286 00:18:06,119 --> 00:18:10,840 Speaker 2: call her things like Princess Sarah. At various points after this, 287 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:14,600 Speaker 2: she her father, and her brother did speaking engagements and 288 00:18:14,720 --> 00:18:18,080 Speaker 2: public performances to try to raise enough money for their 289 00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:23,360 Speaker 2: band to survive. In eighteen sixty six, a different Northern 290 00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:28,360 Speaker 2: Paiute band was accused of stealing cattle. In response, Captain 291 00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:32,760 Speaker 2: Almond Wells arrived and surrounded a group from Sarah's band 292 00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:35,360 Speaker 2: who were fishing at Mud Lake, which is also called 293 00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:40,000 Speaker 2: Winnemucca Lake. According to Wells, the people who were fishing 294 00:18:40,119 --> 00:18:43,639 Speaker 2: shot at him and he returned fire. But according to 295 00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:47,560 Speaker 2: Sarah's account, her father had taken all the young men hunting, 296 00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:49,960 Speaker 2: so the only people at Mud Lake at that time 297 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:55,240 Speaker 2: were elderly people, women and babies. Wells's men killed twenty 298 00:18:55,400 --> 00:18:58,720 Speaker 2: nine Payutes and the only person to escape was Sarah's 299 00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:02,760 Speaker 2: sister Mary, who fled on horseback. Her mother and a 300 00:19:02,800 --> 00:19:06,440 Speaker 2: baby were killed. The account of this massacre in life 301 00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:10,960 Speaker 2: among the Piutes is flatly horrifying, and Sarah describes it 302 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:13,720 Speaker 2: as almost killing her father win Amaca when he learned 303 00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:17,400 Speaker 2: about it, and while her sister Mary escaped the attack, 304 00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:21,640 Speaker 2: she died later on that winter in eighteen sixty eight, 305 00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:25,399 Speaker 2: Sarah received a written message from Lieutenant Aaron Jerome of 306 00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:28,520 Speaker 2: the eighth Cavalry, ordering her and her brother. 307 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:31,439 Speaker 1: Natchez to meet with him to discuss the deaths of 308 00:19:31,480 --> 00:19:37,040 Speaker 1: two soldiers and reports of Piutes stealing horses. In Sarah's account, 309 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:41,280 Speaker 1: This started after Indian agent Hugh Nugent had illegally sold 310 00:19:41,359 --> 00:19:45,000 Speaker 1: gunpowder to a Piute man who had then been killed 311 00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:49,280 Speaker 1: for possessing that gunpowder. Natchez was away when she got 312 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:52,119 Speaker 1: the message, so the other Piutes wanted her to write 313 00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:56,000 Speaker 1: back rather than just sending a verbal message. She didn't 314 00:19:56,040 --> 00:19:59,280 Speaker 1: have anything to write with, so she improvised with a 315 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:04,480 Speaker 1: sharpened s and fish blood for ink. After Natchez returned, 316 00:20:04,640 --> 00:20:07,720 Speaker 1: both of them went to meet with Captain Jerome. They 317 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:10,920 Speaker 1: told him about what had happened with Nugent and the gunpowder. 318 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:14,400 Speaker 1: They reassured him that they were not involved in stealing 319 00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:18,200 Speaker 1: any horses. Not long after that, Jerome came to them again, 320 00:20:18,680 --> 00:20:23,040 Speaker 1: this time asking where Winnemucca was. Sarah explained that her 321 00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:26,119 Speaker 1: father had not been back to Pyramid Lake since the 322 00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:29,359 Speaker 1: massacre at Mud Lake had killed so many of his family. 323 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:34,040 Speaker 1: Jerome asked them to bring Winnemaca to Camp McDermott, which 324 00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:37,720 Speaker 1: was near the border between Nevada and Oregon, and there 325 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:40,800 Speaker 1: he said the army would offer him protection and supply 326 00:20:40,920 --> 00:20:45,400 Speaker 1: him with provisions. This led to Sarah and her brother Natchez, 327 00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:49,040 Speaker 1: going to Camp McDermott and eventually convincing Winnemaca to go 328 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:54,040 Speaker 1: as well, along with about five hundred Northern Paiutes. Sarah 329 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:57,159 Speaker 1: was hired as an official government interpreter for the camp, 330 00:20:57,200 --> 00:21:00,399 Speaker 1: and she was paid sixty five dollars a month. Her 331 00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:03,000 Speaker 1: brother also worked for the army as a scout, and 332 00:21:03,080 --> 00:21:07,639 Speaker 1: sometimes she worked with him. Jerome does seem to have 333 00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:11,520 Speaker 1: been sympathetic to the Paietes after their experiences with Nugent, 334 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:15,399 Speaker 1: and he's one of the white authority figures that Sarah 335 00:21:15,480 --> 00:21:19,479 Speaker 1: generally trusted and believe treated her people fairly. It does 336 00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:22,280 Speaker 1: seem like they had more food and other resources at 337 00:21:22,359 --> 00:21:25,679 Speaker 1: McDermott than they had at Pyramid Lake, but this was 338 00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:29,280 Speaker 1: also a strategic move that was connected to a more 339 00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:33,159 Speaker 1: overarching US policy, as the federal government tried to force 340 00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:38,960 Speaker 1: all indigenous people to live on reservations. Warfare was ongoing 341 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:42,240 Speaker 1: between the United States and a number of indigenous nations, 342 00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:45,760 Speaker 1: including the Bannock tribe, which has a lot of cultural, historical, 343 00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:49,920 Speaker 1: and linguistic connections to the Northern Paiute. In the wake 344 00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:53,920 Speaker 1: of these wars, people from multiple tribes and nations were 345 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:56,679 Speaker 1: all being brought to Camp McDermott until they could be 346 00:21:56,800 --> 00:22:00,840 Speaker 1: placed on a reservation somewhere else. Some of the chiefs 347 00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:02,959 Speaker 1: and headmen who had already been brought to camp mc 348 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:06,560 Speaker 1: Dermott didn't want to make decisions without Winnemucca there, so 349 00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:10,040 Speaker 1: while these efforts applied to all of the Northern Paiut, 350 00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:15,479 Speaker 1: Jerome was also looking for Winnemucca's band specifically. Sarah was 351 00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:19,879 Speaker 1: skilled and respected as an interpreter. During her lifetime, she 352 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:25,680 Speaker 1: became fluent in at least five languages, including Northern Paiut, Shoshone, English, 353 00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:31,040 Speaker 1: and Spanish, but white people also criticized various aspects of 354 00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:35,680 Speaker 1: her behavior. At McDermott. She socialized with the soldiers, and 355 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:39,919 Speaker 1: sometimes this included drinking and gambling. She also carried a 356 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:42,760 Speaker 1: knife to protect herself, something that she had been doing 357 00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:46,320 Speaker 1: for years, starting after white men had tried to abduct 358 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:50,400 Speaker 1: her older sister. At some point, she had heated disputes 359 00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:55,280 Speaker 1: with other people, and sometimes these disputes escalated into physical brawling. 360 00:22:56,240 --> 00:23:00,439 Speaker 1: As she became more and more publicly known, newspapers covered 361 00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:04,119 Speaker 1: these kinds of things with a tone of almost gleeful scandal, 362 00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:07,560 Speaker 1: and there were some incidents in which she was clearly 363 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:11,200 Speaker 1: the victim and things were skewed against her like At 364 00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:14,680 Speaker 1: one point years later, a man tried to break into 365 00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:17,800 Speaker 1: her home and she defended herself with her knife, and 366 00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:21,800 Speaker 1: she was the one who faced charges rather than the 367 00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:25,919 Speaker 1: man who tried to break in. Those charges were ultimately dismissed, 368 00:23:26,520 --> 00:23:30,879 Speaker 1: so white society would have considered all of this unacceptable 369 00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:33,679 Speaker 1: behavior if a white woman was the person doing it, 370 00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:37,200 Speaker 1: but since it was an Indigenous woman, this was seen 371 00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:41,439 Speaker 1: with even more suspicion and scrutiny, and it fed into 372 00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:45,400 Speaker 1: like damaging stereotypes of what white people thought Indigenous women 373 00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:49,920 Speaker 1: were like. All of this scrutiny and sometimes insulting news 374 00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:54,720 Speaker 1: coverage increased with Sarah's growing prominence among white people, which 375 00:23:54,720 --> 00:24:07,320 Speaker 1: we will get into more after a sponsor break. On 376 00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:11,439 Speaker 1: April fourth, seventeen eighty, Sarah Winnemucca wrote a letter to 377 00:24:11,600 --> 00:24:16,600 Speaker 1: Major Henry Douglas, Superintendent of Indian Fairs for Nevada. The 378 00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:19,439 Speaker 1: commander at Camp McDermott had asked her to do this, 379 00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:23,400 Speaker 1: essentially to bring Douglas up to speed on the Northern Piete. 380 00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:27,480 Speaker 1: Douglas was impressed with this letter enough that he forwarded 381 00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:31,000 Speaker 1: it to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in Washington. The 382 00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:34,880 Speaker 1: letter was also reprinted in a number of newspapers, including 383 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:38,840 Speaker 1: in Harper's Weekly, and that prompted other newspapers to print 384 00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:44,399 Speaker 1: responses that really attacked Sarah's morals and character. In this letter, 385 00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:48,359 Speaker 1: Sarah again described her father Winnemucca, as the head chief 386 00:24:48,480 --> 00:24:51,879 Speaker 1: of the whole tribe. She described their time at the 387 00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:56,639 Speaker 1: Pyramid Lake Reservation, which she calls Trucky River. She wrote, quote, 388 00:24:56,640 --> 00:24:59,440 Speaker 1: if we had stayed there, it would be only to starve. 389 00:25:00,160 --> 00:25:02,080 Speaker 1: I think that if they had received what they were 390 00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:05,160 Speaker 1: entitled to from the agents, they would never have left them. 391 00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:08,800 Speaker 1: So far as their knowledge of agriculture extends, they are 392 00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:12,480 Speaker 1: quite ignorant, as they have never had the opportunity of learning. 393 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:15,719 Speaker 1: But I think if proper pains were taken that they 394 00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:18,880 Speaker 1: would willingly make the effort to maintain themselves by their 395 00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:22,080 Speaker 1: own labor, providing they could be made to believe that 396 00:25:22,119 --> 00:25:25,520 Speaker 1: the products were their own for their own use and comfort. 397 00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:29,239 Speaker 1: It is needless for me to enter into details as 398 00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:31,639 Speaker 1: to how we were treated on the reservation while we 399 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:34,320 Speaker 1: were there. It is enough to say that we were 400 00:25:34,359 --> 00:25:37,359 Speaker 1: confined to the reserve and had to live on what 401 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:39,440 Speaker 1: fish we might be able to catch in the river. 402 00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:43,080 Speaker 1: If this is the kind of civilization awaiting us on 403 00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:46,280 Speaker 1: the reserves, God grant that we may never be compelled 404 00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:48,960 Speaker 1: to go on one, as it is much preferable to 405 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:52,119 Speaker 1: live in the mountains and drag out in existence in 406 00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:55,800 Speaker 1: our native manner. So far as living is concerned, the 407 00:25:55,840 --> 00:25:59,479 Speaker 1: Indians at all military posts get enough to eat and 408 00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:03,760 Speaker 1: considerable cast off clothing. She went on to ask some 409 00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:08,520 Speaker 1: really pointed questions about this whole arrangement. Quote, but how 410 00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:11,879 Speaker 1: long is this to continue? What is the object of 411 00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:15,119 Speaker 1: the government in regard to Indians? Is it enough that 412 00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:18,480 Speaker 1: we are at peace? Remove all the Indians from the 413 00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:21,480 Speaker 1: military posts and place them on reservations such as the 414 00:26:21,480 --> 00:26:25,199 Speaker 1: Trucke and Walker River reservations as they were conducted, and 415 00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:29,480 Speaker 1: it will require a greater military force stationed round to 416 00:26:29,640 --> 00:26:32,560 Speaker 1: keep them within the limits than it now does to 417 00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:36,240 Speaker 1: keep them in subjection. On the other hand, if the 418 00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:39,879 Speaker 1: Indians have any guarantee that they can secure a permanent 419 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:43,760 Speaker 1: home on their own native soil, and that our white 420 00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:47,439 Speaker 1: neighbors can be kept from encroaching our rights after having 421 00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:51,320 Speaker 1: a reasonable share of ground allotted to us as our 422 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:55,520 Speaker 1: own and giving us the required advantages of learning. I 423 00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:58,800 Speaker 1: warrant that the savage, as he has called today will 424 00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:01,240 Speaker 1: be a thrifty in law, law abiding member of the 425 00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:06,320 Speaker 1: community fifteen or twenty years. Hence that last sentence sounds 426 00:27:06,359 --> 00:27:09,520 Speaker 1: as though she's calling for the Northern Piute to assimilate 427 00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:13,000 Speaker 1: with white culture, but there were limits to how much 428 00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:16,439 Speaker 1: of that she thought should happen. She considered the English 429 00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:20,639 Speaker 1: language reading and writing, and European style farming methods to 430 00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:23,479 Speaker 1: be tools that the Northern Piute could use to improve 431 00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:26,560 Speaker 1: their own lives and to live in peace with all 432 00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:30,359 Speaker 1: the non indigenous newcomers who clearly were not going anywhere. 433 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:34,120 Speaker 1: But she also advocated for her people to maintain their 434 00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:37,520 Speaker 1: own culture and their traditional ways of living, not to 435 00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:41,040 Speaker 1: abandon them to live as white people did. No, and 436 00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:43,760 Speaker 1: she says thrifty in law abiding member of the community. 437 00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:46,639 Speaker 1: She's not saying we're going to give up all of 438 00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:51,280 Speaker 1: our own ways. In eighteen seventy two, Sarah got married 439 00:27:51,359 --> 00:27:56,000 Speaker 1: to Lieutenant Edward C. Bartlett. This marriage was actually illegal 440 00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:59,560 Speaker 1: under Nevada's anti missagination laws, so they eloped to Salt 441 00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:02,760 Speaker 1: Lake City in Utah Territory. Then they were married there 442 00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:07,520 Speaker 1: by a Justice of the peace. This marriage didn't last long, though, 443 00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:11,840 Speaker 1: and Sarah later accused Edward of drinking excessively and stealing 444 00:28:11,880 --> 00:28:16,280 Speaker 1: and pawning her jewelry, Although the relationship itself seems to 445 00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:20,679 Speaker 1: have ended long before that. They were officially divorced a 446 00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:25,680 Speaker 1: few years later. In eighteen seventy four, Indian agent Calvin 447 00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:29,960 Speaker 1: Bateman had Sarah's brother, Natchez, arrested, and the army sent 448 00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:33,919 Speaker 1: him to Alcatraz. Natchez and a lot of other people 449 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:38,160 Speaker 1: had become deeply frustrated over the distribution of winter blankets. 450 00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:41,600 Speaker 1: The federal government was trying to get Indigenous people to 451 00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:45,960 Speaker 1: move onto reservation land by distributing supplies to them only 452 00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:50,320 Speaker 1: at reservations. Natchez had heard that winter blankets were being 453 00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:54,240 Speaker 1: distributed at Walker River Reservation, so he went there, but 454 00:28:54,320 --> 00:28:57,000 Speaker 1: the Indian agent there said they actually needed to go 455 00:28:57,040 --> 00:29:01,200 Speaker 1: to Pyramid Lake. Meanwhile, bait Men, who was the agent 456 00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:04,480 Speaker 1: at Pyramid Lake, said he had nothing to distribute to them, 457 00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:08,440 Speaker 1: and he sent them all back to Walker River. Natas 458 00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:11,640 Speaker 1: had also heard a rumor that all of the Northern 459 00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:14,000 Speaker 1: Paiut were going to be rounded up and sent to 460 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:18,320 Speaker 1: Fort Hall Reservation in what's now Idaho, or to Indian 461 00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:22,680 Speaker 1: Territory in what's now Kansas. Fort Hall was about five 462 00:29:22,760 --> 00:29:27,160 Speaker 1: hundred miles away, and Indian Territory was about three times 463 00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:30,920 Speaker 1: that far. The idea of being forced to move so 464 00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:33,880 Speaker 1: far from their homeland to a place with a totally 465 00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:37,600 Speaker 1: different landscape and geography was just It was an ongoing 466 00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:41,200 Speaker 1: fear at this point for the Northern Paiut. Natas took 467 00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:44,760 Speaker 1: that rumor to a newspaper called the Humboldt Register, and 468 00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:49,560 Speaker 1: then after all this, Bateman accused him of intentionally sowing unrest. 469 00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:53,680 Speaker 1: Bateman had also sought the support of various Indigenous and 470 00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:57,160 Speaker 1: non Indigenous people who were critical of the Winnemucca family 471 00:29:57,240 --> 00:30:00,760 Speaker 1: for various reasons, as he made this case that Natchez 472 00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:05,120 Speaker 1: was causing trouble. Natchez was held for eleven days and 473 00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:10,520 Speaker 1: released after General John Schofield determined that Bateman's allegations were unfounded. 474 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:14,640 Speaker 1: While Natchez had critics that Bateman had called on, he 475 00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:18,560 Speaker 1: also had supporters who had contacted Schofield and other authorities 476 00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:23,800 Speaker 1: on his behalf. Bateman faced some criticism over his actions, 477 00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:28,160 Speaker 1: both from Schofield and from newspapers. All of this was 478 00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:32,640 Speaker 1: happening under President Ulysses S. Grant's Peace Policy, in which 479 00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:36,240 Speaker 1: Indian agents, many of whom had been military officers or 480 00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:40,600 Speaker 1: other officials, were being replaced with Christian missionaries and others 481 00:30:40,640 --> 00:30:44,640 Speaker 1: who had some kind of religious background. Bateman was one 482 00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:46,880 Speaker 1: of the agents who had been appointed because of his 483 00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:51,080 Speaker 1: religious affiliations, so a lot of this criticism questioned his 484 00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:52,160 Speaker 1: religious character. 485 00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:56,280 Speaker 2: As all of this was happening, the federal government was 486 00:30:56,320 --> 00:31:00,760 Speaker 2: also continuing its efforts to move Indigenous people onto res 487 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:04,560 Speaker 2: According to a census that Natchez carried out after he 488 00:31:04,680 --> 00:31:08,400 Speaker 2: was released from Alcatraz, there were nearly twenty five hundred 489 00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:11,440 Speaker 2: Payutes and only two hundred and fifty three were living 490 00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:15,240 Speaker 2: on reservation. So the government really wanted to do something 491 00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:19,040 Speaker 2: about all those other people. In eighteen seventy two, the 492 00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:23,600 Speaker 2: federal government established the Malar Reservation on land in what's 493 00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:28,160 Speaker 2: now southern Oregon and northern Nevada. It was designated for 494 00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:32,640 Speaker 2: the quote roving and straggling bands in eastern and southeastern 495 00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:37,480 Speaker 2: Oregon which can be induced to settle there. That sort 496 00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:41,400 Speaker 2: of blanket statement was meant to include both Northern Paiute 497 00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:42,720 Speaker 2: and Bannock peoples. 498 00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:47,480 Speaker 1: Sarah Winnemucca was hired as an interpreter at Malur Reservation 499 00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:53,320 Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy five, working with Indian agent Samuel B. Parish, 500 00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:56,120 Speaker 1: and this was someone else that Sarah came to respect 501 00:31:56,200 --> 00:31:59,800 Speaker 1: and thought treated her people with fairness and empathy. Although 502 00:31:59,840 --> 00:32:03,440 Speaker 1: her descriptions of their conversations in her book do sound 503 00:32:03,440 --> 00:32:07,960 Speaker 1: fairly paternalistic. Something she'd noted in her letter to Major 504 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:10,800 Speaker 1: Henry Douglas was that the Northern Piute did not know 505 00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:15,040 Speaker 1: how to farm. They had been a migratory people that hunted, fished, 506 00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:19,600 Speaker 1: and harvested things like pine nuts and root vegetables. Parish 507 00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:22,240 Speaker 1: taught them farming and harvesting methods that would work on 508 00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:25,680 Speaker 1: the reservation's land, and he paid them for the work 509 00:32:25,720 --> 00:32:29,600 Speaker 1: they did. After about a year, Sarah also started working 510 00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:33,000 Speaker 1: as a teaching assistant at the reservation school, which was 511 00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:37,440 Speaker 1: run by Parrish's wife, But in June of eighteen seventy six, 512 00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:41,320 Speaker 1: Parish was replaced by Major W. V. Reinhardt. 513 00:32:42,080 --> 00:32:45,760 Speaker 2: A number of sources, including Life among the Piutes, say 514 00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:48,800 Speaker 2: that this was because of Grant's peace policy and its 515 00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:53,800 Speaker 2: focus on having Christian missions and charitable societies oversee the reservations, 516 00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:58,920 Speaker 2: but Parish was raised by missionaries, and while I could 517 00:32:58,960 --> 00:33:01,680 Speaker 2: not find a ton of des detail about Reinhardt's biography, 518 00:33:01,760 --> 00:33:05,080 Speaker 2: I really didn't find any references to him being affiliated 519 00:33:05,120 --> 00:33:09,200 Speaker 2: with any kind of Christian or charitable organization. He had 520 00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:12,280 Speaker 2: served in the US Army during the Civil War, he 521 00:33:12,400 --> 00:33:16,440 Speaker 2: had run a store and worked as a postmaster. It's 522 00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:21,000 Speaker 2: possible that Parish was really replaced because of complaints about 523 00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:24,040 Speaker 2: him by members of the local white community who didn't 524 00:33:24,080 --> 00:33:27,560 Speaker 2: like what he was doing. Among other things, he had 525 00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:32,320 Speaker 2: strongly advocated for the reservation's residents during a dispute over 526 00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:34,880 Speaker 2: the border of the eastern part of the reservation. 527 00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:39,240 Speaker 1: There had already been people who resisted being forced to 528 00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:43,800 Speaker 1: live on the reservation, but problems really escalated after Reinhardt 529 00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:48,280 Speaker 1: took over. He claimed that everything on the reservation belonged 530 00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:52,840 Speaker 1: to the government, including people's crops. He collected the harvest 531 00:33:52,920 --> 00:33:56,640 Speaker 1: and paid people partially in rations, which meant that people 532 00:33:56,720 --> 00:33:59,640 Speaker 1: often had less food after being paid than they would 533 00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:01,600 Speaker 1: have if they had just been allowed to keep what 534 00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:06,000 Speaker 1: they grew. According to Sarah Winnemuck's account, he also paid 535 00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:09,560 Speaker 1: them in goods from the reservation storehouse, but the price 536 00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:11,959 Speaker 1: of those goods was a lot higher than people would 537 00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:15,200 Speaker 1: have paid elsewhere. If they had actual wages, they could 538 00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:19,160 Speaker 1: spend as they wanted. Some of the Northern Payute chiefs 539 00:34:19,160 --> 00:34:22,560 Speaker 1: living at Malheur also accused Reinhart of selling liquor to 540 00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:26,480 Speaker 1: the people living there. Reinhart also dealt with people through 541 00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:31,520 Speaker 1: threats and intimidation, and sometimes physical violence, including beating a 542 00:34:31,640 --> 00:34:35,360 Speaker 1: child that he said had laughed at him. Headman and 543 00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:39,080 Speaker 1: spiritual leaders who had resisted Parrish's management of the reservation 544 00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:44,359 Speaker 1: were even more vocal about Rehinehart. Yeah, everyone was having 545 00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:49,480 Speaker 1: a difficult time, but existing resistance what was going on escalated. 546 00:34:50,560 --> 00:34:55,120 Speaker 1: Sarah Winnemaka criticized Binhart really openly, and this included traveling 547 00:34:55,160 --> 00:34:57,759 Speaker 1: to Camp Harney to report what was happening to the 548 00:34:57,760 --> 00:35:01,759 Speaker 1: military authorities there. She wrote out a whole report that 549 00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:04,160 Speaker 1: was signed by all the head men who were living 550 00:35:04,239 --> 00:35:09,759 Speaker 1: at the reservation. In response, Reinhardt fired her as interpreter, 551 00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:13,839 Speaker 1: banished her from the reservation, and accused her of being 552 00:35:13,840 --> 00:35:17,960 Speaker 1: a drunken gambler and a sex worker. He vilified her 553 00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:21,200 Speaker 1: in pretty much every avenue that was available to him, 554 00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:24,680 Speaker 1: including his public statements, letters, he wrote to the Office 555 00:35:24,719 --> 00:35:29,880 Speaker 1: of Indian Affairs and newspaper reports. Reinhardt also maintained that 556 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:33,000 Speaker 1: he was doing his job as it was expected of him. 557 00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:37,000 Speaker 1: About seven hundred people were living at the reservation, and 558 00:35:37,080 --> 00:35:40,160 Speaker 1: he claimed that the government wasn't providing the resources that 559 00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:44,040 Speaker 1: would be needed to make themselves sufficient. It is true 560 00:35:44,080 --> 00:35:48,720 Speaker 1: that government funds to the reservation declined while he was there. Also, 561 00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:52,440 Speaker 1: when white ranchers started encroaching onto the reservation land and 562 00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:56,239 Speaker 1: their cattle trampled the crops, he couldn't get federal authorities 563 00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:59,360 Speaker 1: to do much to stop it. But his treatment of 564 00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:01,640 Speaker 1: the people living there was corol enough that a lot 565 00:36:01,640 --> 00:36:04,719 Speaker 1: of people thought he was intentionally trying to drive them 566 00:36:04,760 --> 00:36:08,919 Speaker 1: away from the reservation. According to Sarah Winnemucca, after being 567 00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:12,480 Speaker 1: presented with all their grievances, he did tell them that 568 00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:14,560 Speaker 1: if they didn't like what the government wanted them to 569 00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:17,719 Speaker 1: do on the reservation, they should quote go and live 570 00:36:17,760 --> 00:36:18,680 Speaker 1: with the soldiers. 571 00:36:19,640 --> 00:36:23,400 Speaker 2: As all of this was happening, after the divorce from 572 00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:27,360 Speaker 2: her previous marriage was formalized, Sarah married a man named 573 00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:32,120 Speaker 2: Joseph Satwaller. They also were divorced not long afterward, But 574 00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:36,040 Speaker 2: there's really not much additional detail known about this relationship, 575 00:36:36,120 --> 00:36:39,160 Speaker 2: Like there's a record that they got married, but almost 576 00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:43,680 Speaker 2: nothing else about him has survived. There is a bit 577 00:36:43,719 --> 00:36:46,600 Speaker 2: of a gap in Sarah's account after this marriage. So 578 00:36:46,680 --> 00:36:49,080 Speaker 2: this is where we're going to pause and we will 579 00:36:49,080 --> 00:36:52,879 Speaker 2: pick right up next time. I have some listener mail. 580 00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:57,040 Speaker 1: Hooray. This listener mail is from Mariam after we had 581 00:36:57,040 --> 00:37:02,200 Speaker 1: a discussion about places to get jobs for people interested 582 00:37:02,239 --> 00:37:05,640 Speaker 1: in history or maybe getting history degrees. And this applies 583 00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:07,480 Speaker 1: more to the US than the UK, which is where 584 00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:12,040 Speaker 1: the original letter writer was from, but it's still interesting 585 00:37:12,040 --> 00:37:16,200 Speaker 1: and cool information. So Miriam wrote, Hi, Holly and Tracy. First, 586 00:37:16,200 --> 00:37:18,680 Speaker 1: I'd really like to thank you for the hours I've 587 00:37:18,719 --> 00:37:21,080 Speaker 1: gotten to spend listening to you too, as I've driven 588 00:37:21,160 --> 00:37:24,360 Speaker 1: all over the US recently. At the end of the 589 00:37:24,440 --> 00:37:28,520 Speaker 1: Horace Walpole Part one episode, you discussed job advice for 590 00:37:28,600 --> 00:37:32,560 Speaker 1: those looking for jobs in historian type careers. I happen 591 00:37:32,640 --> 00:37:34,560 Speaker 1: to have a piece of advice for folks who love 592 00:37:34,680 --> 00:37:37,560 Speaker 1: history and love discussing it with people, one that I 593 00:37:37,600 --> 00:37:41,719 Speaker 1: spent twenty years doing. Try applying to work as a 594 00:37:41,840 --> 00:37:45,800 Speaker 1: ranger with agencies like the National Park Service. The NPS 595 00:37:45,880 --> 00:37:49,200 Speaker 1: has many different flavors of rangers, and the majority of 596 00:37:49,320 --> 00:37:53,000 Speaker 1: park visitors get to interact with interpretive rangers who work 597 00:37:53,040 --> 00:37:56,880 Speaker 1: with visitors to help them form emotional and intellectual connections 598 00:37:56,920 --> 00:38:00,640 Speaker 1: to the resources of the NPS units, which in normal 599 00:38:00,640 --> 00:38:03,560 Speaker 1: people speak means we're the rangers who get to do 600 00:38:04,040 --> 00:38:06,760 Speaker 1: the ranger hikes, walks, talks, et cetera. 601 00:38:07,600 --> 00:38:09,760 Speaker 2: We're the ones who get to meet in the visitor centers, 602 00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:12,840 Speaker 2: who can try to answer the questions you have, and 603 00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:16,239 Speaker 2: who get to swear in all the junior rangers. It's 604 00:38:16,280 --> 00:38:19,440 Speaker 2: a great way to experience amazing parts of America's history, 605 00:38:19,840 --> 00:38:23,160 Speaker 2: dive into deep depths, and share that knowledge with people 606 00:38:23,200 --> 00:38:26,840 Speaker 2: who want to be there and want to learn. State 607 00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:31,080 Speaker 2: park systems and concessionaires to the National Parks often hire 608 00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:34,040 Speaker 2: those who have a background in history as well. It's 609 00:38:34,120 --> 00:38:36,960 Speaker 2: a great option that isn't always discussed as a career 610 00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:40,640 Speaker 2: in most history majors. As a pet tax, I've attached 611 00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:43,200 Speaker 2: a couple of picks of the two cats who own 612 00:38:43,320 --> 00:38:49,319 Speaker 2: the household. There's trouble, our older grand them and Sigfried Akaciggy. Yes, 613 00:38:49,400 --> 00:38:51,920 Speaker 2: we are a classical music household, so the cats are 614 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:55,560 Speaker 2: named for opera characters. Siggy is the most orange of 615 00:38:55,600 --> 00:38:58,520 Speaker 2: orange tabbys, with the possession of the shared brain cell 616 00:38:58,719 --> 00:39:03,120 Speaker 2: only rarely, but we love him regardless. Trouble loves to 617 00:39:03,200 --> 00:39:05,200 Speaker 2: lie and wait in the bathroom for one of us 618 00:39:05,200 --> 00:39:07,839 Speaker 2: to lift her to the sink for fresh from the 619 00:39:07,880 --> 00:39:11,840 Speaker 2: fawcet water. Thanks again for the many hours of company 620 00:39:11,880 --> 00:39:15,320 Speaker 2: and learning, Miriam. Uh, we sure do have a picture 621 00:39:15,360 --> 00:39:18,040 Speaker 2: of a kiddie cat sitting on the toilet looking like, hey, 622 00:39:18,239 --> 00:39:24,640 Speaker 2: when can I have the fawcet water and an orange 623 00:39:24,640 --> 00:39:27,080 Speaker 2: cat asleep in a very adorable pose. 624 00:39:27,440 --> 00:39:30,920 Speaker 1: I like the Ciggy's place on the timeshare list for 625 00:39:31,080 --> 00:39:34,839 Speaker 1: the brain cell. Maybe like that paperwork hasn't gone through. Yeah, 626 00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:38,440 Speaker 1: it sounds like for anybody that doesn't note that is 627 00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:41,239 Speaker 1: a common joke among orange cat owners that there's one 628 00:39:41,280 --> 00:39:43,919 Speaker 1: brain cell they all share and they have to pass 629 00:39:43,960 --> 00:39:48,719 Speaker 1: it around. They have to pass it around. Yeah, thank 630 00:39:48,760 --> 00:39:50,440 Speaker 1: you so much for this email, Miriam. 631 00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:53,279 Speaker 2: I had not even thought of, you know, working as 632 00:39:53,280 --> 00:39:55,759 Speaker 2: a National park ranger as an option for history minded people, 633 00:39:55,800 --> 00:39:59,200 Speaker 2: but it totally makes sense, especially since some of the 634 00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:02,240 Speaker 2: national parks have a big focus on history in terms 635 00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:07,600 Speaker 2: of their interpretive elements. I imagine a lot of national 636 00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:10,640 Speaker 2: parks as a place to go outside and hike and explore, 637 00:40:11,840 --> 00:40:15,120 Speaker 2: but that's not all there is to do there. Well, 638 00:40:15,160 --> 00:40:18,719 Speaker 2: and we have done shows at parks yeah, and talk 639 00:40:18,760 --> 00:40:22,400 Speaker 2: to the rangers who are extraordinarily knowledgeable about the history 640 00:40:22,440 --> 00:40:23,000 Speaker 2: of the area. 641 00:40:23,320 --> 00:40:26,440 Speaker 1: So I feel foolish that it never occurred to me either. Yeah. 642 00:40:26,560 --> 00:40:31,440 Speaker 2: Yeah, they're also specifically national historic parks in the United States, 643 00:40:32,200 --> 00:40:34,880 Speaker 2: So anyway, things I had never thought of as a 644 00:40:34,880 --> 00:40:37,959 Speaker 2: career option in that way. I did think of being 645 00:40:37,960 --> 00:40:40,319 Speaker 2: a park ranger when I was in college, and I 646 00:40:40,440 --> 00:40:44,480 Speaker 2: worked at a state park for my summer job during college, 647 00:40:44,520 --> 00:40:47,600 Speaker 2: but like I was thinking about the being outside and 648 00:40:47,719 --> 00:40:51,160 Speaker 2: hiking and clearing trails and the least favorite part of 649 00:40:51,160 --> 00:40:55,960 Speaker 2: that job, which is the cleaning of the public restrooms. 650 00:40:56,840 --> 00:40:59,279 Speaker 2: So uh, anyway, thank you so much, Miriam for this 651 00:40:59,360 --> 00:41:02,239 Speaker 2: email and the cat pictures. If you would like to 652 00:41:02,280 --> 00:41:05,080 Speaker 2: send us a note about this or any other podcast 653 00:41:05,280 --> 00:41:09,400 Speaker 2: or at History podcast at iHeartRadio dot com, and you 654 00:41:09,520 --> 00:41:14,160 Speaker 2: can subscribe to our show on the iHeartRadio app or 655 00:41:14,360 --> 00:41:22,040 Speaker 2: anywhere else you'd like to get your podcasts. Stuff you 656 00:41:22,080 --> 00:41:25,200 Speaker 2: Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For 657 00:41:25,320 --> 00:41:29,719 Speaker 2: more podcasts, from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, 658 00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:33,719 Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.