http://www.elmerfudd.us/temp/wheeler-nevada.pdf For a limited period of time this document will be available on the server at the URL indicated. The document is a “recovered” version of a document describing survey work conducted by the U. S. Army in an effort to get a summation on flora, fauna, and minerals in the South West in the year 1869.
Of particular interest is the commentary on the Native American Indians sprinkled within the document. The invasion of Europeans into the North American Continent is well described but utterly unmentioned by name in the Engineering Report; that is, the document is a window into the mindset of the Europeans in the aftermath of the abject slaughter of the Indians however the invasion and slaughter itself is never mentioned or described anywhere within the document.
The invasion of the Mormon cult to the South West is fairly well described. The infamous “Mountain Meadows Massacre” is mentioned however the slaughter is attributed by the Army engineer to Indians. Today we know that it was a band of Mormon cultists who committed this particular massacre though I suppose that the Army Engineers would naturally want to believe that Indians committed the atrocity since it was later used to justify yet more rape, torture, and genocide against Indians.
Also of considerable interest is Wheeler’s description of the various bands of Native Americans who managed to survive and still eek out an existence in the deserts that were not yet fully “pacified” by the Army.
Much thanks to David “Desertphile” Rice (
http://www.desertphile.org/) for the effort to restore this set of documents and to make them generally available.