Descripción
This affidavit and letter of transmittal were sent to Theodore Winters of Washoe Valley, Nevada by an attorney, Thomas J. Tennant, in 1890 to verify "Charles D. Moore's Piute Indian War Claim" that was spurred by an attached newspaper clipping that announced the Nevada Secretary of State was convening a board on the 23rd of April offering individuals a chance (perhaps their last) of "proving up Piute Indian War and Indian Depredation Claims." The transmittal letter, dated April 21, 1890, reads in part: "Inclosed find Affidavit relative to Charles M. Moore's Piute Indian War Claim, which if it meets with your approval, you will please sign, swear to, and if possible return to me in time for the meeting of the Board of Examiners. . ." Recognizing that Winter would be unable to return a notarized affidavit in time, Tenant informed him that "the Board will accept your letter, if you can not send affidavit. . ." The affidavit, prepared by Tennant from information provided by Moore, reads in part: "Theodore Winters . . . was a resident of Washoe Valley, now in Washoe County, State of Nevada [and] at said time he knew one Charles D. Moore, [and that he] assisted said Charles D. Moore, in outfitting for said Campaign by furnishing him . . . with a saddle horse, [and that he] believes the Claim of said Charles D. Moore to be just and correct. . ." Since the affidavit remained unsigned in Winters's possession along with the transmittal letter, it is likely that he responded by sending a letter to the examination board. . Moore was undoubtedly a member of the Washoe Regiment that fought at the Second Battle of Pyramid Lake, and Theodore Winters had become wealthy running a freighting business and investing in real estate. By 1860, Winters was the most prosperous man in the region. During the mid-1850s, the relationship between settlers and the Paiutes was cordial. Despite some tension, peace was kept, primarily through the efforts of the elderly Paiute leader, Winnemucca, also known as Captain Truckee, who was a longtime friend of white settlers, and had even enrolled family members in white schools. In 1857, he allied with a stagecoach agent, William Olmsby, and together established a force of about 20 settlers and 300 Paiutes to defend against raids by the Washoe people and Pit River Indians. Both sides also agreed to a no-vengeance pact; whenever whites or Paiutes were accused of theft or murder, there would be no revenge. Rather, accused individuals would stand trial. An easy peace continued until the discovery of the Comstock Lode which brought in thousands of miners and settlers who disrupted the Paiutes' way of life, especially by the wide-spread felling of Pinyon groves whose nuts provided a major component of their diet. Additionally, the Pony Express began to establish stations at water holes that had formerly been used exclusively by the tribe. In frustration, some Paiutes began to extort cattle from some settlers and murder others. Tensions rapidly increased following an especially bitter winter in 1859 during which many Paiutes starved despite being provided with free food supplies by the settlers which they refused to eat fearing they contained poison. With the death of Chief Truckee in 1860, his successor, Numaga, renounced the no-vengeance pledge, and a settler, Dexter Demming, was murdered by a band of marauding Paiutes. Still, an uneasy peace continued until a group of Paiutes massacred and mutilated three to five white men (accounts vary) at Williams Station, a stop on the Pony Express route. Accounts also vary widely as to why that raid occurred. Some claim that it was simply a raid without cause by a band of renegades. One reports it was a deliberate attempt to provoke a war. Another suggests it was in retaliation for the stations staff's abuse of a Paiute man and rape of the woman who accompanied him. A fourth version, first offered by Captain Truckee's granddaughter in her 1880 autobiography, claims that the statio. N° de ref. del artículo 010072
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