Sand In a Whirlwind, 30Th Anniversary Edition by Ferol Egan

Author:Ferol Egan [Egan, Ferol]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780874174564
Publisher: University of Nevada Press

CHAPTER 11

The Taste of Fear

The story of defeat and death on the Truckee River reached Virginia City early in the morning of May 13, 1860–the day after the battle. The horseman who carried the news of this terrible disaster was none other than C. T. Lake—the same volunteer who had deserted his post at the narrow pass that had been selected to serve as a key position in case of retreat.

While he had never been near the actual battle, C. T. Lake did not let that interfere with his own report of what had taken place. As worried citizens gathered around him, Lake told a vivid tale of valor and death against fantastic odds. A local newspaper reporter jotted down this “firsthand” account, quickly got it ready for press, and by 10:45 A.M. the first news had become public.

How many Indians were there? “. . . judged to be two thousand strong. . . .”1

What happened? “Major Ormsby gave orders to charge.”2

And then? “The Indians then filed to the right and left, surrounding the troops, firing occasionally.”3

But our troops? What happened to our troops? “The ammunition of the forces soon became exhausted, and the Indians on seeing this closed in and poured volley after volley upon them.”4

But Lake did not stop here. He had the attention of his audience, and he gave them a full account. That is, he told them everything but the answer to two major questions that nobody seemed to ask: namely, where was he when all the fighting took place, and how did he and his six comrades manage to get back to Virginia City before any other survivors? Still, Lake had been at the scene of the battle, and the excited crowd gasped, then cursed in anger, when he told them that Major Ormsby was shot and that most of the white army was “dead upon the field.”5

Dead? Most of the men are dead?

To this question, to this worst of all questions, Lake gave but faint hope when he told them that some of the men had crossed the river and escaped. As for the others, no real hope was offered; for neither Lake nor his six companions had seen any of the retreating men come through the narrow pass that they had been detailed to guard.

Later, days later, some of them would learn that there had been no guard at the pass to cover the fleeing and wounded volunteers. More than that, they would learn that the pass was nine miles from the battlefield. Now, though, they knew none of this. Now they only knew that Lake carried the first news of defeat and death, and he brought other news of a most terrifying nature. Somewhere in the vast desert, somewhere behind C. T. Lake and the other six men, there was a great band of mounted warriors who were probably riding hard and fast toward the settlements.

2

In the next few days as the true survivors of the Battle of Truckee River straggled into the camps and towns behind C.

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