On this day, Paiute warriors of the Humboldt Meadows band, led by Mogoannoga went to Williams Station where they discovered two young Paiute children tied up in the basement. They rescued the children and killed the five white settlers present. Williams Station was a saloon, general store and stagecoach station. The attack/rescue led to the formation of a settler militia of about 100 people led by Major William Ormsby. While this incident is considered the opening attack and justification for the return attack on Pyramid Lake Paiute's by the settler militia, important background context is a silver rush known as the Comstock Lode was discovered and made public in 1859. This announcement caused a massive influx of settlers to the area which caused major problems and also combined with a particularly harsh winter. As in many other examples, the settlers let their cattle roam anywhere they liked which ruined important water sources in the arid area, and also chopped down pinyon pine orchards, another important Indigenous food source.

Pontiac and ~300 Indigenous allies from various local tribes attacked Fort Detroit. Having been warned by an informant of the attack, the fort's commander had defenses ready. While Pontiac and his forces were ultimately unable to take the fort, he held seige against it until October. Word spread across the region of his seige and generalized revolts occurred which came to be known as Pontiac's rebellion, although some historians believe it was more of a generalized rebellion than one organized and led by a single person. At the height of the seige there were an estimated 900 Indigenous fighters present. While Pontiac held seige on the fort, attacks occurred across the Ohio valley area and at one point Indigenous forces controlled nine of eleven British forts.