Fort McDermitt
Humboldt County, Humboldt County, Nevada
Marker Inscription
Fort Mc Dermitt. Established in 1865, Fort McDermitt was first called Quinn River Camp #33 on the East Fork, then renamed in honor of military district commander Lt. Col. Charles McDermitt, who died while fighting Native Americans. The fort consisted of several adobe, stone, and frame buildings surrounding a square. Its purpose was to protect the Virginia City-Quinn River Valley-Oregon road. Twenty-four years of operation made it the longest-serving active army fort in Nevada. Its troops participated in the Modoc War and in conflicts with the Bannock and Shoshone Tribes. It was the last of the Nevada army posts in service when converted into an American Indian reservation school in 1889.
Erected by Nevada State Historic Preservation Office
The Story
Established in 1865 as Quinn River Camp #33, this post was renamed Fort McDermitt for a district commander killed while fighting Native peoples. A cluster of adobe, stone, and frame buildings around a central square, it guarded the road linking Virginia City, the Quinn River Valley, and Oregon. Its troops took part in the Modoc War and in campaigns against the Bannock and Shoshone, and after twenty-four years—the longest active service of any Nevada army fort—it became an American Indian reservation school in 1889.
Why it matters
Fort McDermitt embodies the army's long frontier role in the West, where military posts protecting settler roads gave way, in a single generation, to the reservation system imposed on Native nations.
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Related people
- · Charles McDermitt
Related events
- · Modoc War
- · Bannock War
Themes & tags
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Fort Halleck Site 1867 1886
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McDermitt Indian Reservation
Humboldt County, NV
In the mid-1860s, Paiutes returning from Oregon's reservation joined others from Pyramid Lake—the "cui-ui eaters"—driven together by mistreatment and the dishonest dealings of federal Indian agents. They settled around Fort McDermitt, where some aided the military against groups resisting the settlers overtaking their lands. In the generations since, nearby mercury mines, local industry, and a tradition of pottery made from the canyon's red and green clays have shaped the community's adaptation to a changing world.
Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins
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Born around 1844, Sarah Winnemucca—Thocmentony, or Shell-flower—was a Northern Paiute who became one of the most powerful Native voices of her era. Daughter of Chief Winnemucca, she lectured across the country, wrote a landmark book of American Indian literature, and founded a school for Native children near Lovelock as white settlers pressed onto Paiute homelands. Here at Fort McDermitt she served as interpreter and teacher, working tirelessly for justice and peace, and in 2005 was honored with a statue in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall.