Williams Station massacre

The Williams Station massacre was an incident that ignited the Pyramid Lake War of 1860.

Williams Station was a combination saloon, general store and stagecoach station located along the Carson River at the modern-day Lahontan Reservoir. On May 6, 1860, Williams Station was raided by Paiutes while its owner was away. There are conflicting versions as to why an Indian war party killed all the white men and burned Williams Station. Some accounts claim that the raid was made without cause by a renegade band from the north, or that it was the start of a general Indian war, but the story that the white men held two Indian women captive in a root cellar is generally considered the most reasonable explanation.

When James O. Williams returned he found his two brothers' bodies mutilated and tortured, as well as all the patrons of the saloon murdered. After killing the men and burning the station, the Indian War party marked their trial with blood. Williams discovered that the two homes across the river of settler families (13 people) were likewise murdered. Further during the last fight at Pyramid Lake bodies of several parties of unarmed prospectors were also found to have been murdered. Likewise the Pony Express Station at Cold Creek was raided by Indians at this time, killing the innkeeper and running off all the stock.

The deaths of the white settlers led to great panic with nearby Virginia City, Nevada. A local militia force was quickly assembled under the leadership of William Ormsby. Ormsby was defeated at the first Battle of Pyramid Lake which in turn led to a second, more sizeable, force led by John C. Hays to be assembled. Hays’ force returned to the site of Williams Station and won a small victory there before being united with U.S. Regular Army forces under Joseph Stewart.

The site of Williams Station is now submerged beneath Lahontan Reservoir, but the site has been exposed in by low water levels.