Sarah Winnemucca, Part 1

Summary

Stuff You Missed in History Class: Sarah Winnemucca, Part 1

Introduction to Sarah Winnemucca

Released on November 25, 2024, "Stuff You Missed in History Class" delves into the life of Sarah Winnemucca, a Northern Paiute woman who became a prominent advocate for her people amid the tumultuous encounters between Indigenous tribes and European settlers in the mid-19th century.

Early Life and Background

Sarah Winnemucca, known in her native Northern Paiute language as Tomitoniga ("shellflower"), was born around 1844 near Humboldt Lake in present-day Nevada. Her life coincided with significant upheavals as her band first encountered European settlers during a period marked by violence and displacement.

• Family and Naming Conventions:
  Sarah adopted the surname "Winnemucca," meaning "giver," a name also used by her grandfather (Truckee) and her brother (Natchez). This naming was strategic to establish authority and respect among white audiences.
  "Tomitoniga means shellflower. And she published her book under the name Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins..." ([02:51])

Initial Contact and Relationships with White Settlers

Sarah's grandfather, Truckee (Tommy Teniga), played a pivotal role in early interactions with white settlers. His optimistic reception of white newcomers was rooted in a Paiute origin story that envisioned harmony between Indigenous and white peoples.

• Truckee’s Optimism:
  "My white brothers. My long looked for white brothers have come at last." ([06:36])

• Collaborations and Conflicts:
  Truckee allied with figures like Captain John Fremont, assisting during events such as the Bear Flag Revolt. However, increasing settler encroachment, driven by the California Gold Rush, led to heightened tensions and violent conflicts, including the tragic Pyramid Lake War of 1860.

Personal Traumas and Early Advocacy

Sarah experienced personal trauma during the escalating conflicts. As settlers advanced, her family was forced into precarious situations, leading to fears of violence and even cannibalism.

• Surviving Violence:
  Sarah recounts being hidden by her mother and aunt to escape approaching white men, capturing her fear and the dire circumstances her family faced.
  "Oh, can anyone imagine my feelings buried alive thinking every minute that I was to be unburied and eaten up by the people that my grandfather loved so much?" ([10:45])

Education and Early Career

At around 13, Sarah and her sister Elma worked for Major William Ormsby in Genoa, Nevada. This period was crucial for her education, where she likely learned to read and write, transitioning from her native name to "Sarah."

• Learning and Integration:
  Working alongside Ormsby's family provided Sarah with opportunities to engage with white society, fostering both connections and complexities in her identity.
  "Life among the Paiutes is a further exploration of their first encounters with white people..." ([14:05])

Advocacy and Diplomatic Efforts

Sarah's role as an interpreter and advocate became more pronounced as she navigated the treacherous landscape of federal policies aimed at Indigenous assimilation and reservation confinement.

• Interpreting and Negotiating:
  Sarah utilized her multilingual abilities to bridge gaps between the Paiutes and the U.S. government, striving to secure rights and resources for her people.
  "Sarah was hired as an official government interpreter for the camp, and she was paid $65 a month." ([28:01])

• Challenges at Camp McDermott:
  Under Indian agent Samuel B. Parrish, Sarah worked to implement farming techniques while respecting Paiute traditions. However, the arrival of Major W.V. Reinhardt brought increased oppression, leading to Sarah's outspoken criticism and eventual banishment.
  "Reinhardt fired her as interpreter, banished her from the reservation, and accused her of being a drunken gambler and a sex worker." ([45:59])

Publications and Advocacy Efforts

Sarah authored "Life among the Paiutes," which not only chronicled her people's struggles but also served as a tool to garner support from white audiences. Her writings advocated for a balance between assimilation and cultural preservation.

• Letters and Public Perception:
  In correspondence with Major Henry Douglas, Sarah eloquently argued against forced reservation life, emphasizing the need for self-sufficiency and respect for Paiute traditions.
  "If the Indians have any guarantee that they can secure a permanent home on their own native soil... the Savage, as he is called today, will be a thrifty and law abiding member of the community 15 or 20 years hence." ([37:18])

Personal Life and Marriages

Sarah's personal life was marked by marriages that reflected the complexities of her position between cultures. Her union with Lieutenant Edward C. Bartlett, though short-lived, highlighted the social challenges Indigenous women faced.

• Marital Challenges:
  "In 1872, Sarah got married to Lieutenant Edward C. Bartlett. This marriage was actually illegal under Nevada's anti-miscegenation laws." ([38:56])

Later Advocacy and Conflicts

Sarah continued her advocacy despite facing significant opposition. Her efforts to promote peace and negotiate with authorities were met with resistance, particularly under corrupt Indian agents like Calvin Bateman.

• Natchez’s Arrest and Release:
  Sarah’s brother Natchez was wrongfully accused and imprisoned, reflecting the systemic injustices faced by the Paiutes.
  "Natchez was held for 11 days and released after General John Schofield determined that Bateman's allegations were unfounded." ([41:19])

Conclusion: The Struggle Continues

Sarah Winnemucca's relentless advocacy underscored the broader Indigenous struggle against displacement and cultural erosion. Her story, as presented in this first part, sets the stage for her continued efforts to secure a dignified future for her people amidst mounting pressures.

• Persistence and Legacy:
  Sarah’s dedication to her cause, even in the face of personal and communal loss, highlights her as a pivotal figure in Native American history.
  "They were the ones you get to meet in the visitor centers who can try to answer the questions you have and who get to swear in all the junior rangers." ([50:43])

Notable Quotes

• Sarah on her fears:
  "Oh, can anyone imagine my feelings buried alive thinking every minute that I was to be unburied and eaten up by the people that my grandfather loved so much?" ([10:45])

• On government policies:
  "What is the object of the government in regard to Indians? Is it enough that we are at peace?" ([37:18])

• On cultural preservation and assimilation:
  "I think if proper pains were taken that they would willingly make the effort to maintain themselves by their own labor..." ([35:59])

Final Thoughts

This episode of "Stuff You Missed in History Class" skillfully navigates the complexities of Sarah Winnemucca's life, balancing her personal narrative with the broader historical context. The detailed exploration of her advocacy, struggles, and resilience provides listeners with a comprehensive understanding of her impactful legacy.

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Note: This summary omits non-content segments such as advertisements, intros, and outros, focusing solely on the substantive discussions and narratives presented in the episode.

Transcript

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Welcome to Stuff youf Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartRadio.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson.

[Advertiser 2]

And I'm Holly Frey.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Today we are going to talk about Sarah Winnemucca, who was Northern Paiute and was born not long before her band had their first contact with people of European descent. That happened in the middle of the 19th century, which means that she lived through a lot, and a lot of what she lived through was violent and horrifying. She spent a lot of her adult life trying to advocate for the Northern Paiute, although her legacy in that regard has some complexities. There's enough that happened and enough complexities that this blossomed into a two part episode. Sarah Winnemucca's name in the Northern Paiute language was Tomitoniga, and that means shellflower. And she published her book under the name Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins, which was her married name at the time. The name Winnemucca means giver, and in addition to her use of it as a surname, it was also used by multiple men in her family, including her grandfather, father, and brother. So to try to avoid confusion, we are going to refer to her mostly as Sarah, to her father as Winnemucca, and to her grandfather and brother as other names that they were also known by. And those are Truckee for her grandfather and Natchez for her brother. Both of those are probably nicknames that were given to them by white people. Truckee probably came from a Northern Paiute word meaning, all right, that was something that they heard him say a lot. And the Natchez came from the Northern Paiute word for boy, because that was how his father would refer to him in front of white people. He would be like, okay, you can talk to my boy about that. They are also, though, names that Sarah used for them. In her book and other writings, the.

[Advertiser 2]

Term Paiute is used to describe multiple distinct Numic speaking peoples from the Great Basin region of western North America. That's the watershed surrounded by mountains and plateaus that includes most of what is now Nevada, as well as adjacent parts of Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, California, and northwestern Mexico. The name Paiute comes from Spanish, possibly from the same origins as the word Ute, which is used for another Numic speaking people of this region and is also the origin of the name Utah. The Northern and Southern Paiute are two distinct peoples, and multiple Northern and Southern Paiute bands still exist today. Although Paiute isn't the name these bands and tribes chose for themselves, it is one that many of them use the.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Northern Paiute refer to themselves as Namut, meaning the people. Their ancestral homeland includes what's now eastern California, western Nevada, and southeastern Oregon. Sarah Winnemucca was born near Humboldt Lake in what's Now Nevada around 1844, although she wasn't sure exactly when. At that time, Mexico claimed most of the territory where her people lived.

[Advertiser 2]

In her book Life among the Their Wrongs and Claims, she describes the Northern Paiute as scattered all over what is now known as Nevada before she was born. Much of the beginning of the book is about the Northern Paiutes first encounters with white people, which started when she was still a baby. These were not the first white people ever to arrive in the Great Basin. That had happened at least 20 years before, but they were the first ones. Her grandfather, known as Tracy, mentioned earlier as Truckee or Old Winnemucca, personally saw.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

In her words, quote, my grandfather was chief of the entire Paiute Nation and was camped near Humboldt Lake with a small portion of his Truck tribe when a party traveling eastward from California was seen coming. When the news was brought to my grandfather, he asked what they look like. When told that they had hair on their faces and were white, he jumped up and clasped his hands together and cried aloud, my white brothers. My long looked for white brothers have come at last.

[Advertiser 2]

This description of her grandfather as the chief of the entire Paiute nation doesn't really capture the full story. The Northern Paiute were made up of bands of families, with each band having a headman. The headmen made some decisions along with a council of elders, but often the consensus of the entire band was involved. Different people also served as leaders for different specific functions, like being the leader of a hunting party or in a time of war. Sometimes, if there was a reason for multiple bands to come together, someone might act as the primary mediator and counselor among them, but that responsibility lasted only as long as it needed to. It was not a permanent situation. White newcomers to the area, on the other hand, expected there to be some kind of centralized leadership governing an entire tribe. So they assumed Truckee was chief or king of all the Northern Paiutes. That fed into white people seeing Truckee and his whole family as authority figures, which then affected their relationship with the rest of their tribe.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

So we don't fully know Sarah Winnemucca's thought process behind describing her grandfather in this way. Like he was important. She gave him a different degree of importance than really he would have had among the Northern Paiute. And there were definitely people who thought it was really self serving and self aggrandizing. But this book, along with all of Sarah Winnemucca's other writing and speeches, was created with the goal of getting white people's support to help her tribe. Describing herself and her family in this way suggested to her audience that she deserved their respect and their admiration, or at the very least, their interest. And it suggested that she had the kind of status that would allow her to speak on her people's behalf.

[Advertiser 2]

To return to what Tracy read just a moment ago, Truckee saw the newcomers not only as brothers, but brothers whose arrival he had been eagerly anticipating. Sarah described him telling a story about their people's origins involving two boys and two girls, one of each dark and the other white. In the context of this story, Truckee thought the arrival of white people to what's now Nevada was going to heal an ancient wound between the descendants of these two pairs.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Truckee met and made friends with people like Captain John Fremont, who was on an expedition to map the Great Basin region. Truckee and 11 other Paiute men went with him into Mexican territory to support a group of Americans in a rebellion against Mexican authorities, which came to be known as the Bear Flag Revolt. He returned to Paiute territory after the Mexican American War with stories of how beautiful California was, and he also carried a letter of introduction from Fremont, which he used to basically open doors for himself and his people when he encountered white authority figures. Later on in her book, Sarah described this as a talking paper and Truckee called it his rag friend.

[Advertiser 2]

Not long after rejoining his band, Truckee returned to California with about 30 families. While he was gone, word started to spread among the northern Paiute and other tribes about groups of white people who were coming through and killing anyone who got in their way. Indigenous people started fleeing into the mountains to try to stay safe.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

At one point, Truckee's band heard that there were white people coming, and Sarah described trying to run away with her mother and her aunt, along with her baby sister and a cousin. But Sarah and her cousin just couldn't keep up. Sarah really was too terrified to even move, so her mother and aunt decided to bury the girls up to their necks and cover their faces with sagebrush to hide them and protect them from the sun. In Sarah's words, quote, oh, can anyone imagine my feelings buried alive thinking every minute that I was to be unburied and eaten up by the people that my grandfather loved so much?

[Advertiser 2]

Eventually, they thought the danger had passed, and Sarah's mother and Aunt came back to retrieve her and her cousin. But then they learned that white people had found and burned their winter supplies. Quote, My father took some of his men during the night to try and save some of it, but they could not. It had burnt down before they got there. These were the last white men that came along that fall. My people talked fearfully that winter about those they called our white brothers. My people said they had something like awful thunder and lightning, and with that they killed everything that came in their way.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

In Sarah's account, her father, Winnemucca, was filling the role of chief in Truckee's absence, and he started to have prophetic dreams about white people coming and killing them all. A lot of people were afraid not just of being killed, but also, as I alluded to earlier, of being eaten. That possibly came from stories of the Donner party, which had become stranded in the Sierra Nevada in October of 1846. Eventually, Winnemucca recommended that their band move to the mountains where they would usually go in the spring and summer to gather pine nuts. And they would wait there until Truckee returned. When Truckee got back, he continued to insist that the white people were their brothers, even after a group of white men killed several of their tribe while they were fishing.

[Advertiser 2]

Eventually, Truckee decided to return to California, this time taking most of his family with him. Sarah was probably about seven at that point. This was a time when a lot more white people were coming to and through the area, thanks in part to the California Gold rush. By her own account, Sarah was absolutely terrified of all the white people they encountered along the way, in addition to the traumatic experiences she'd already had. She thought their wide eyes and facial hair made them look like owls.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Her feelings on this only started to change a little after she got very sick and was nursed back to health by a white woman. At first, Sarah thought that her illness came from eating a sugary bread that some white people had given to her. But it turned out that she had gotten into some poison oak. This was something that did not grow where she was from, but it's native to the part of California that they were traveling through. She was really miserable and her eyes were swollen shut. Sarah never really trusted white people in the way that her grandfather did. But after this experience, she did start to become more comfortable around them.

[Advertiser 2]

At this point, there is a six year gap in Sarah's account. Then, in 1857, she and her sister went to work for Major William Ormsby, who was an agent of the Carson Valley Stage Company in Genoa in what is now Nevada. She doesn't say which sister this was, but it was probably her younger sister, Elma. Sarah would have been about 13 and her sister a couple of years younger. They were hired to be companions for William's daughter Lizzie, and they probably also did some domestic work. They may have been allowed to sit in with Lizzie on her lessons, which would mean that this was when Sarah learned to read and write. This also may have been when she started going by the name Sarah rather than Tomi Teniga, although it's not really clear when that happened.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

In her book, Sarah describes this as a community in which white and indigenous people loved one another without any violence or theft. Sarah considered Ormsby and his family to be friends, especially after her parents joined the rest of the family at Pyramid Lake, Nevada, which is northeast of what's now Reno. The Bureau of Indian affairs had set aside land for a reservation for the Northern Paiute at Pyramid Lake. This happened a few years after the reservation system was first established under the Indian Appropriations act of 1851, although the reservation wasn't formally surveyed or like formally established until much later than this.

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[Tracy V. Wilson]

While Sarah Winnemucca and her sister were living with Major William Ormsby. Two white men from Genoa were robbed and murdered while they were on their way to California to buy supplies for the winter. The culprits stuck arrows into the victim's wounds to try to make it look like indigenous people had done it. Because Major Ormsby had a trusting relationship with Truckee's Northern Paiute band, he summoned several of them, including Sarah's brother and her cousin, to identify the arrows. Sarah's account describes her cousin as war chief and her brother as peace chief. During this time, her cousin said the.

[Advertiser 2]

Arrows were a type that was used by the Washos, which is a tribe whose homelands are in the region around Lake Tahoe. The Washoe leader who spoke on their behalf said that these were the Washoe's arrows, but that no one from his tribe could have killed the two men because he knew where they all were and no one was unaccounted for. But after this, three Washoe men were taken prisoner and then were shot by white men as they tried to flee. Two of them died of their injuries. Later on, after Sarah and her sister had returned to their family, they learned that the actual white perpetrators had been caught and hanged.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

This whole situation led to conflict between Sarah's band and the Washos as the Washos tried to get some compensation for the Paiutes involvement in those two men's deaths. Sarah's brother Natchez said that they hadn't had anything to do with the white people's actions, but he did eventually give the Washos a horse.

[Advertiser 2]

In June of 1859, a rich deposit of silver was discovered near Virginia City, Nevada, which came to be known as the Comstock Lode. This led to a huge influx of white people into and through Northern Paiute territory and increasing tensions and violence. Newcomers also started clearing the native pinyon trees to use them for lumber and fuel. The nuts from these trees were a staple food for the Northern Paiute and other indigenous people of the region. White farmers also brought in pigs which ate root vegetables that the Northern Paiute and other indigenous peoples depended on. The winter of 1859-1860 was brutal for the indigenous peoples of the region, both because of the weather and because of the loss of those critical food sources.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Then, In May of 1860, two Paiute people were attacked by white men at Williams Station, which was one of the Nevada stops for the Pony Express. The Paiutes rallied a force to retaliate, which led Major Ormsby to muster a force of his own in response. This was later known as the Pyramid Lake war, and on May 12th of 1860, the Paiutes defeated Ormsby's force, and Ormsby himself was killed. Additional federal forces were sent into the area, but the Paiute bands were able to hide in the desert canyons and other places they were familiar with that the white soldiers didn't really know how to reach. The Pyramid Lake War temporarily forced the Pony Express to suspend service between Carson City and Salt Lake City.

[Advertiser 2]

In October of 1860, Sarah's grandfather Truckee got sick and died, possibly as the result of a tarantula bite. At his request, his funeral and burial rites combined both Paiute and white Christian practices. One of his final wishes was also for Sarah and her sister Elma to be sent to a convent school in San Jose, California. They went briefly, but after a few weeks they were sent home because white parents complained about their children being in school with two indigenous girls.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

It's possible that around this time Sarah got married to a white man known as Snyder, who was the person Truckee had entrusted with escorting her and her sister to the convent school. Sarah would have been about 16, which was considered to be a marriageable age. She does mention Snyder in her book and in other writings, but she really does not say anything to suggest that she was married to him, although there are some other contemporary accounts that did.

[Advertiser 2]

In September of 1864, when she was about 20, Sarah went with her father and brother to Virginia City, Nevada, to try to raise money. Her father spoke about their plight in the Northern Paiute language, and she translated for him. They managed to raise about $25, and this is when people started to call her things like Princess Sarah. At various points after this, she, her father and her brother did speaking engagements and public performances to try to raise money for their band to survive.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

In 1866, a different Northern Paiute band was accused of stealing cattle. In response, Captain Almond Wells arrived and surrounded a group from Sarah's band who were fishing at Mud Lake, which is also called Winnemucca Lake. According to Wells, the people who were fishing shot at him and he returned fire. But according to Sarah's account, her father had taken all the young men hunting, so the only people at Mud Lake at that time were elderly people, women and babies. Wells's men killed 29 Paiutes, and the only person to escape was Sarah's sister Mary, who fled on horseback. Her mother and a baby were killed. The account of this massacre in Life among The Paiutes is flatly horrifying, and Sarah describes it as almost killing her father, Winnemucca, when he learned about it. And while her sister Mary escaped the attack, she died later on that winter.

[Advertiser 2]

In 1868, Sarah received a written message from Lieutenant Aaron Jerome of the 8th Cavalry ordering her and her brother Natchez to meet with him to discuss the deaths of two soldiers and reports of Paiutes stealing horses. In Sarah's account, this started after Indian agent Hugh Nugent had illegally sold gunpowder to a Paiute man who had then been killed for possessing that gunpowder. Natchez was away when she got the message, so the other Paiutes wanted her to write back rather than just sending a verbal message. She didn't have anything to write with, so she improvised with a sharpened stick and fish blood for ink.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

After Natchez returned, both of them went to meet with Captain Jerome. They told him about what had happened with Nugent and the gunpowder. They reassured him that they were not involved in stealing any horses. Not long after that, Jerome came to them again, this time asking where Winnemucca was. Sarah explained that her father had not been back to Pyramid Lake since the massacre at Mud Lake had killed so many of his family. Jerome asked them to bring Winnemucca to Camp McDermott, which was near the border between Nevada and Oregon. And there, he said, the army would offer him protection and supply him with provisions.

[Advertiser 2]

This led to Sarah and her brother Natchez going to Camp McDermott and eventually convincing Winnemucca to go as well. Along with about 500 Northern Paiutes, Sarah was hired as an official government interpreter for the camp, and she was paid $65 a month. Her brother also worked for the army as a scout, and sometimes she worked with him.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Jerome does seem to have been sympathetic to the Paiutes after their experiences with Nugent, and he's one of the white authority figures that Sarah generally trusted and believed treated her people fairly. It does seem like they had more food and other resources at McDermott than they had at Pyramid Lake. But this was also a strategic move that was connected to a more overarching US Policy as the federal government tried to force all Indigenous people to live on reservations. Warfare was ongoing between the United States and a number of Indigenous nations, including the Bannock Tribe, which has a lot of cultural, historical and linguistic connections to the Northern Paiute. In the wake of these wars, people from multiple tribes and nations were all being brought to Camp McDermott until they could be placed on a reservation somewhere else. Some of the chiefs and headmen who had already been brought to camp McDermott didn't want to make decisions without Winnemucca there. So while these efforts applied to all of the Northern Paiute, Jerome was also looking for Winnemucca's band.

[Advertiser 2]

Specifically, Sarah was skilled and respected as an interpreter. During her lifetime, she became fluent in at least five languages, including Northern Paiute, Shoshone, English and Spanish. But white people also criticized various aspects of her behavior at McDermott. She socialized with the soldiers, and sometimes this included drinking and gambling. She also carried a knife to protect herself, something that she had been doing for years, starting after white men had tried to abduct her older sister. At some point, she had heated disputes with other people, and sometimes these disputes escalated into physical brawling as she became.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

More and more publicly known. Newspapers covered these kinds of things with a tone of almost gleeful scandal, and there were some incidents in which she was clearly the victim and things were skewed against her. Like at one point, years later, a man tried to break into her home and she defended herself with her knife and she was the one who faced charges rather than the man who tried to break in. Those charges were ultimately dismissed. So white society would have considered all of this unacceptable behavior if a white woman was the person doing it. But since it was an indigenous woman, this was seen with even more suspicion and scrutiny, and it fed into like damaging stereotypes of what white people thought indigenous women were like.

[Advertiser 2]

All of this scrutiny and sometimes insulting news coverage increased with Sarah's growing prominence among white people, which we will get into more after a sponsor break.

[Holly Frey]

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[Tracy V. Wilson]

Do you like podcasts, music and audiobooks? Because when you subscribe to Amazon Music Unlimited, you get all three in one app. Imagine listening to your favorite podcasts and music on the Go to work, school, the gym, or better yet, vacation. Now imagine being on vacation with your favorite audiobook from Audible and then listening to a new one every month from a huge selection of popular titles. That sounds like a pretty good vacation, right? Audible is now included on Amazon Music Unlimited. Download the Amazon Music app now to start listening terms apply Introducing Signals the.

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[Malcolm Gladwell]

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[Tracy V. Wilson]

4, 1780, Sarah Winnemucca wrote a letter to Major Henry Douglas, Superintendent of Indian affairs for Nevada. The commander at Camp McDermott had asked her to do this, essentially to bring Douglas up to speed on the Northern Paiute. Douglas was impressed with this letter enough that he forwarded it to the Commissioner of Indian affairs in Washington. The letter was also reprinted in a number of newspapers, including in Harper's Weekly, and that prompted other newspapers to print responses that really attacked Sarah's morals and character.

[Advertiser 2]

In this letter, Sarah again described her father Winnemucca as the head chief of the whole tribe. She described their time at the Pyramid Lake Reservation, which she calls Truckee River. She wrote, quote, if we had stayed there, it would be only to starve. I think that if they had received what they were entitled to from the agents, they would never have left them. So far as their knowledge of agriculture extends. They are quite ignorant as they have never had the opportunity of learning. But I think if proper pains were taken that they would willingly make the effort to maintain themselves by their own labor, providing they could be made to believe that the products were their own for their own use and comfort. It is needless for me to enter into details as to how we were treated on the reservation while we were there. It is enough to say that we were confined to the reserve and had to live on what fish we might be able to catch in the river. If this is the kind of civilization awaiting us on the reserves, God grant that we may never be compelled to go on one, as it is much preferable to live in the mountains and drag out an existence in our native manner. So far as living is concerned, the Indians at all military posts get enough to eat and considerable cast off clothing.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

She went on to ask some really pointed questions about this whole arrangement. Quote but how long is this to continue? What is the object of the government in regard to Indians? Is it enough that we are at peace? Remove all the Indians from the military posts and place them on reservations such as the Truckee and Walker river reservations at they were conducted and it will require a greater military force stationed round to keep them within the limits than it now does to keep them in subjection. On the other hand, if the Indians have any guarantee that they can secure a permanent home on their own native soil and that our white neighbors can be kept from encroaching our rights after having a reasonable share of ground allotted to us as our own and giving us the required advantages of learning, I warrant that the Savage, as he is called today, will be a thrifty and law abiding member of the community 15 or 20 years hence.

[Advertiser 2]

That last sentence sounds as though she's calling for the Northern Paiute to assimilate with white culture. But there were limits to how much of that she thought should happen. She considered the English language, reading and writing and European style farming methods to be tools at the Northern Paiute could use to improve their own lives and to live in peace with all the non indigenous newcomers who clearly were not going anywhere. But she also advocated for her people to maintain their own culture and their traditional ways of living, not to abandon them to live as white people did.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah, when she says thrifty and law abiding member of the community, she's not saying we're going to give up all of our own ways. In 1872, Sarah got married to Lieutenant Edward C. Bartlett. This marriage was actually illegal under Nevada's anti miscegenation laws. So they eloped to Salt Lake City and Utah Territory. Then they were married there by a justice of the peace. This marriage didn't last long though and Sarah later accused Edward of drinking excessively and stealing and pawning her jewelry. Although the relationship itself seems to have ended long before that. They were officially divorced a few years later.

[Advertiser 2]

In 1874, Indian agent Calvin Bateman had Sarah's brother Natchez arrested and the army sent him to Alcatraz. Natchez and a lot of other people had become deeply frustrated over the distribution of winter blankets. The federal government was trying to get indigenous people to move onto reservation land by distributing supplies to them only at reservations. Natchez had heard that winter blankets were being distributed at Walker river reservations, so he went there. But the Indian agent there said they actually needed to go to Pyramid Lake. Meanwhile, Bateman, who was the agent at Pyramid Lake, said he had nothing to distribute to them and he sent them all back to Walker River.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Natchez had also heard a rumor that all of the Northern Paiute were going to be rounded up and sent to Fort hall reservation in what's now Idaho or to Indian Territory in what's now Kansas. Fort hall was about 500 miles away. And Indian territory was about three times that far. The idea of being forced to move so far from their homeland to a place with a totally different landscape and geography was just. It was an ongoing fear at this point for the northern Paiute. Natchez took that rumor to a newspaper called the Humboldt Register. And then, after all this, Bateman accused him of intentionally sowing unrest. Bateman had also sought the support of various indigenous and non indigenous people who were critical of the Winnemucca family for various reasons as he made this case that Natchez was causing trouble.

[Advertiser 2]

Natchez was held for 11 days and released after General John Schofield determined that Bateman's allegations were unfounded. While Natchez had critics that Bateman had called on, he also had supporters who had contacted Scofield and other authorities on his behalf. Bateman faced some criticism over his actions, both from Scofield and from newspapers. All of this was happening under President Ulysses S. Grant's peace policy in which Indian agents, many of whom had been military officers or other officials, were being replaced with Christian missionaries and others who had some kind of religious background. Bateman was one of the agents who had been appointed because of his religious affiliations. So a lot of this criticism questioned his religious character.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

As all of this was happening, the federal government was also continuing its efforts to move indigenous people onto reservations. According to a census that Natchez carried out after he was released from Alcatraz, there were nearly 2,500 Paiutes and only 253 were living on reservations. So the government really wanted to do something about all those other people. In 1872, the federal government established the Malheur Reservation on land in what's now southern Oregon and northern Nevada. It was designated for the, quote, roving and straggling bands in eastern and southeastern Oregon, which can be induced to settle there. That sort of blanket statement was meant to include both northern Paiute and Bannock peoples.

[Advertiser 2]

Sarah Winnemucca was hired as an interpreter at malheur reservation in 1875, working with Indian agent Samuel B. Parrish. And this was someone else that Sarah came to respect and thought treated her people with fairness and empathy. Although her descriptions of their conversations in her book do sound fairly paternalistic, something she'd noted in her letter to Major Henry Douglas was that the Northern Paiute did not know how to farm. They had been a migratory people that hunted, fished and harvested things like pine nuts and root vegetables. Parrish taught them farming and harvesting methods that would work on the reservation's land, and he paid them for the work they did. After about a year, Sarah also started working as a teaching assistant at the reservation school, which was run by Parrish's wife.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

But In June of 1876, Parrish was replaced by Major W.V. reinhardt. A number of sources, including life among the Paiutes, say that this was because of Grant's peace policy and its focus on having Christian missions and charitable societies oversee the reservations. But Parrish was raised by missionaries, and while I could not find a ton of detail about Reinhardt's biography, I really didn't find any references to him being affiliated with any kind of Christian or charitable organization. He had served in the U.S. army during the Civil War. He had run a store and worked as a postmaster. It's possible that Parrish was really replaced because of complaints about him by members of the local white community who didn't like what he was doing. Among other things, he had strongly advocated for the reservation's residents. During a dispute over the border of the eastern part of the reservation, there.

[Advertiser 2]

Had already been people who resisted being forced to live on the reservation. But problems really escalated after Reinhardt took over. He claimed that everything on the reservation belonged to the government, including people's crops. He collected the harvest and paid people partially in rations, which meant that people often had less food after being paid than they would have if they had just been allowed to keep what they grew. According to Sarah Winnemucca's account, he also paid them in goods from the reservation storehouse, but the price of those goods was a lot higher than people would have paid elsewhere if they had actual wages they could spend as they wanted. Some of the northern Paiute chiefs living at Malheur also accused Reinhardt of selling liquor to the people living there. Reinhardt also dealt with people through threats and intimidation and sometimes physical violence, including beating a child that he said had laughed at him. Headmen and spiritual leaders who had resisted Parrish's management of the reservation were even more vocal about Reinhardt.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah, everyone was having a difficult time, but existing resistance to what was going on escalated. Sarah Winnemucca criticized Reinhardt really openly, and this included traveling to Camp Harney to report what was happening to the military authorities there. She wrote out a whole report that was signed by all the headmen who were living at the reservation. In response, Reinhardt fired her as interpreter, banished her from the reservation, and accused her of being a drunken gambler and a sex worker. He vilified her in pretty much every avenue that was available to him, including his public statements, letters he wrote to the Office of Indian affairs, and newspaper reports.

[Advertiser 2]

Reinhart also maintained that he was doing his job as it was expected of him. About 700 people were living at the reservation and he claimed that the government wasn't providing the resources that would be needed to make them self sufficient. It is true that government funds to the reservation declined while he was there. Also, when white ranchers started encroaching onto the reservation land and their cattle trampled the crops, he couldn't get federal authorities to do much to stop it. But his treatment of the people living there was cruel enough that a lot of people thought he was intentionally trying to drive them away from the reservation. According to Sarah Winnemucca, after being presented with all their grievances, he did tell them that if they didn't like what the government wanted them to do on their reservation, they should, quote, go and live with the soldiers.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

As all of this was happening, after the divorce from her previous marriage was formalized, Sarah married a man named Joseph Saitweller. They also were divorced not long afterward, but there's really not much additional detail known about this relationship. Like there's a record that they got married, but almost nothing else about him has survived.

[Advertiser 2]

There is a bit of a gap in Sarah's account after this marriage, so this is where we're gonna pause and we will pick right up next time.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I have some listener mail.

[Advertiser 2]

Hooray.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

This listener mail is from Miriam after we had a discussion about places to get jobs for people interested in history or maybe getting history degrees. And this applies more to the US than the uk which is where the original letter writer was from, but it's still interesting and cool information. So Miriam wrote Hi Holly and Tracy. First, I'd really like to thank you for the hours I've gotten to spend listening to you too as I've driven all over the US recently. At the end of the Horace Walpole Part 1 episode, you discussed job advice for those looking for jobs in history historian type careers. I happen to have a piece of advice for folks who love history and love discussing it with people. One that I spent 20 years doing. Try applying to work as a ranger with agencies like the National Park Service. The NPS has many different flavors of rangers, and the majority of park visitors get to interact with interpretive rangers who work with visitors to help them form emotional and intellectual connections to the resources of the MPS units. Which in normal people speak means we're the rangers who get to do the ranger hikes, walks, talks, ET cetera. We're the ones you get to meet in the visitor centers who can try to answer the questions you have and who get to swear in all the junior rangers. It's a great way to experience amazing parts of America's history, dive into deep depths and share that knowledge with people who want to be there and want to learn. State park systems and concessionaires to the national parks often hire those who have a background in history as well. It's a great option that isn't always discussed as a career in most history majors. As a pet tax I've attached a couple of pics of the two cats who own the household. There's Trouble, our older granddam and Siegfried, AKA Siggy. Yes, we are a classical music household, so the cats are named for opera characters. Siggy is the most orange of orange tabbies, with the possession of the shared brain cell only rarely, but we love him regardless. Trouble loves to lie and wait in the bathroom for one of us to lift her to the sink for fresh from the faucet water. Thanks again for the many hours of company and learning, Miriam. We sure do have a picture of a kitty cat sitting on the toilet looking like hey, when can I have the faucet water? And an orange cat asleep in a very adorable pose.

[Advertiser 2]

I like that Siggy's place on the timeshare list for the brain cell. Maybe like that paperwork hasn't gone through yet. It sounds like for anybody that doesn't know that is a common joke among orange cat owners that there's one brain cell they all share and they have to pass it around.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

They have to pass it around. Yeah. Thank you so much for this email, Miriam. I had not even thought of working as a national park ranger as an option for history minded people, but it totally makes sense. Especially since some of the national parks have a big focus on history in terms of their interpretive elements. I imagine a lot of national parks as a place to go outside and hike and explore, but that's not all there is to do there.

[Advertiser 2]

Well, and we have done shows at parks. Yeah, and talk to the rangers who are extraordinarily knowledgeable about the history of the area. So I feel foolish that it never occurred to me either.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah, yeah. There are also specifically national historic parks in the United States. So anyway, things I had never thought of as a career option in that way. I did think of being a park ranger when I was in college and I worked at a state park for my summer job during college. But like I was thinking about the being outside and hiking and clearing trails and the least favorite part of that job, which is the cleaning of the public restrooms. So anyway, thank you so much, Miriam for this email and the cat pictures. If you would like to send us a note about this or any other podcast, we'[e-mail] and you can subscribe to our show on the iHeartRadio app or anywhere else you like to get your podcasts. Stuff youf Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite show. Here's to Turkey Day, the favorite day of the year for many. From cozying up by the fire to watch the parade to gathering in the kitchen to whip up casseroles, it's a time of joy and togetherness. And here's to the Chinette brand for making it all a little easier with the Chinette Classic collection. No need to worry about cleanup. Plus, Chinette Classic plates and bowls are compostable, helping not just to keep the sink clean, but also leaving less of a mess for future generations. So here's to being together. Here's to us. All of us. Find a local [e-mail] do you like podcasts, music and audiobooks? Because when you subscribe to Amazon Music Unlimited, you get all three in one app. Imagine listening to your favorite podcasts and music on the go to work, school, the gym, or better yet, vacation. Now imagine being on vacation with your favorite audiobook from Audible, and then listening to a new one every month from a huge selection of popular titles. That sounds like a pretty good vacation, right? Audible is now included on Amazon Music Unlimited. Download the Amazon Music app now to start listening Terms apply.

[Malcolm Gladwell]

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[Tracy V. Wilson]

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[Tracy V. Wilson]

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