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Fort Churchill State Historic Park is a state park of Nevada, USA, preserving the remains of a United States Army fort and a waystation on the Pony Express and Central Overland Routes dating back to the 1860s. A 1994 addition forms a corridor along the Carson River. The park is in Lyon County south of the town of Silver Springs. Fort Churchill was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961. The site is one end of the historic Fort Churchill and Sand Springs Toll Road. It is located on U.S. Route 95 Alternate, 8mi south of U.S. Route 50.Fort ChurchillFort historyIn 1860 a band of Paiutes and Bannocks attacked Williams Station along the Carson River in retaliation for the kidnap and rape of two young Paiute girls by the proprietors of the station. In retaliation a small group of volunteer soldiers and vigilantes led by Maj. William Ormsby attacked the Native Americans, starting the so-called Pyramid Lake War. Ormsby's force was defeated and in response Colonel John C. Hays and Captain Joseph Stewart led a larger force of volunteers and U.S. Regulars to defeat the Natives at the Second Battle of Pyramid Lake.
