Reno

Reno, Nevada named for Jesse Lee Reno:

He was brought by stretcher to Brigadier General Samuel D. Sturgis’s command post and said in a clear voice, “Hallo, Sam, I’m dead!” Sturgis, a long-time acquaintance and fellow member of the West Point Class of 1846, thought that he sounded so natural that he must be joking and told Reno that he hoped it was not as bad as all that. Reno repeated, “Yes, yes, I’m dead—good-by!”, dying a few minutes later.

Jesse Lee Reno made an impression at the time. There was a Fort Reno as well that turns up in reading on the Plains. Nothing suggests Jesse Lee was related to the unfortunate Marcus Reno of the Little Bighorn incident.

I learn in Tom Hanks interview on Rick Rubin’s podcast that Hanks spent some of his boyhood in Reno. In this interview I think Rick asks Tom about four questions, that’s enough to generate two hours of interesting content.

Trevor Bexon took that photo of Reno (the city) for Wikipedia. We were not enamored of Reno, the city on our visit there last summer. The best thing you can do in Reno is drive away to Lake Tahoe.