HISTORY ON THE EDGE

National Guard, Sep 2004 by Studenicka, Erick

Conference state's Guard story is an evolution of facts and events sprinkled with Western lore

Like a Territorial Enterprise reader trying to glean the truth out of a Mark Twain article in the 1860s, one has to be careful when separating the factual history of the Nevada National Guard from the fictional lore of the Old West.

At times, dalliances with prostitutes, skirmishes with Native Americans and backroom alliances with the mining unions were mentioned in the same breath as the Nevada National Guard since the state's territorial militia was established in 1861.

Most of the rumors and tales of the Nevada Guard's association with the foibles of the West ultimately proved unfounded. But the stories are tinged with just enough fact to make the saga of the Nevada Guard perhaps the most interesting of any state's militia.

One of the first appearances in Nevada by a European-born American was by Lt. John Fremont of the Army's surveying and mapping units, the Corps of Topographical Engineers. On three separate trips between 1843 and 1845, Fremont and his party traveled through what was then Mexican territory and became some of the first Euro-Americans to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains and view Lake Tahoe.

Fremont was the first to label the Great Basin portion of the territory, and his subsequent reports contributed significantly to the topography, geography and natural history of the Southwest.

Following the acquisition of the southwestern portion of the country (including what was to become Nevada) as a result of the Mexican War in the 1850s, Army topographical engineers continued to survey the western part of Utah Territory for favorable transcontinental routes. During his expedition in 1857, Lt. Joseph Ives explored the Colorado River, Grand Canyon and the meadows that would later become Las Vegas.

The work of the Army's Corps of Topographical Engineers facilitated the migration of American settlers within the region, which led to tension between the newcomers and the indigenous inhabitants. This tension led to the Pyramid Lake War of 1860 that featured two major battles-but no Nevada militiamen.

The first battle saw the Paiute Indians rout a collection of volunteers from Virginia City and Carson City, while the second engagement saw a unit of Regular Army troops defeat the Indians.

Many short-lived military posts stemmed from the Pyramid Lake War, including Fort Haven on the Truckee River and Fort Churchill on the Carson River. These posts served to protect settlers, mail routes and telegraph lines from Indian raids. Fort Churchill, abandoned in 1869, has been one of Nevada's most popular state parks since its designation in 1935.

After passage of the Organic Act of 1861 that created the Nevada territory, the Nevada governor became the commander in chief of the territorial militia. The adjutant general would first use the term "National Guards" in 1883 and the legislature made the term official in 1893.

Although the population of Nevada in the early 1860s was too small to justify statehood, President Abraham Lincoln saw the potential of the silver-rich, non-slave territory to the Union's cause in the Civil War and pressed for its admission as a state. Subsequently, Nevada entered the Union in 1864 as the "Battle Born" state.

The first officially recognized local militia unit in the territory was Company A, Nevada Volunteers (Union Blues), organized at Virginia City four years prior to statehood. Formed to protect the silver mines from a group of Confederate sympathizers who attempted to hold certain key properties of the lode, the unit would later figure in union negotiations between the miners and business officials, offering its backing to corporations-for a price.

"In negotiating a minimum wage for the underground miners in February 1867, a Gold Hill union official none too subtly assured the president of the Imperial Mine that 'the Military Co.'s and Fire Co.'s of Gold Hill and vicinity were ever ready to protect the property and officials of the mines paying $4 per day,'" wrote Nevada archivist Guy Rocha in the Nevada Historical Society Quarterly.

The same Virginia City unit provided security during the festival-like atmosphere in 1868 surrounding the hanging of John Mullain, previously found guilty of the murder of Julia Bullette.

Bullette, the "soiled dove" of Virginia City, was a successful prostitute and probably the best-known business woman of the Comstock era. An exceptionally kindhearted and popular woman on "The Row," she was an honorary member of The Virginia City Engine Company No. 1.

As recorded by Territorial Enterprise reporter Alfred Doten, "on each side of the mournful cortege marched the Sheriff's posse and the National Guard, numbered about sixty. An immense number of people followed on foot, on horseback, and in carriages, and a moving throng crowded the sidewalks."

So while there is no actual proof of Nevada Guardsmen ever visiting Julia Bullette's business, it is true that the Nevada Guard was the bedfellow of the Sheriff's posse and fire department in providing security during the execution of her murderer.