Difference between revisions of "Modoc people" - New World Encyclopedia

From New World Encyclopedia
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Until this time the Modoc had been [[hunter-gatherer]]s who were detached from their neighbors, apart from occasional raids or war parties to drive out intruders. With the arrival of settlers who passed directly through their lands, the Modoc were forced to change their ways. At first they were able to [[barter]] with the newcomers. However, as more settlers arrived who took over their land, relationships became strained.<ref name=history/>
 
Until this time the Modoc had been [[hunter-gatherer]]s who were detached from their neighbors, apart from occasional raids or war parties to drive out intruders. With the arrival of settlers who passed directly through their lands, the Modoc were forced to change their ways. At first they were able to [[barter]] with the newcomers. However, as more settlers arrived who took over their land, relationships became strained.<ref name=history/>
  
In 1847 the Modoc, under the leadership of [[Old Chief Schonchin]], began raiding the settlers traveling on the Oregon Trail as they passed through Modoc lands. In September 1852, the Modoc destroyed an emigrant train at Bloody Point on the east shore of Tule Lake. In response, Ben Wright, a notorious Indian hater,<ref>William Samuel Brown, [http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/modoc/learning/history-culture/?cid=stelprdb5310672 Chapter II, Early History Emigrant Trails and Indian Warfare] ''History of the Modoc National Forest'' Retrieved May 15, 2013.</ref> Accounts differ as to what took place when Wright's party met the Modoc on Lost River, but most agree that Wright planned to ambush them, which he did in November 1852. Wright and his forces attacked, killing approximately 40 Modoc, in what came to be known as the "Ben Wright Massacre."<ref>[http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/historical_records/dspDocument.cfm?doc_ID=52132C11-0AE8-0AAF-62A8FCA83E75BE63 Ben Wright Massacre of 1852]. Retrieved May 24, 2013.</ref>
 
 
===Treaty with the United States===
 
 
[[File:Modoc women.jpg|thumb|right|L to R, standing: US Indian agent, ''[[Winema]]'' (Tobey) Riddle, a Modoc; and her husband Frank Riddle, with four Modoc women in front. Photographed by Eadweard Muybridge, 1873.]]
 
With the increasing numbers of white settlers, the [[Klamath people|Klamath]], Modoc, and [[Yahooskin]] band of [[Snake Indians|Snake]] tribes signed a [[treaty]] with the United States government in 1864, establishing the [[Klamath Reservation]], despite the fact that the Klamath and Modoc were traditional enemies. The treaty required the tribes to cede the land bounded on the north by the 44th parallel, on the west and south by the ridges of the [[Cascade Mountains]], and on the east by lines touching [[Goose Lake (Oregon-California)|Goose Lake]] and Henley Lake back up to the 44th parallel. In return, the United States was to make a lump sum payment of $35,000, and annual payments totaling $80,000 over 15 years, as well as providing infrastructure and staff for a reservation. The treaty provided that if the Indians drank or stored intoxicating liquor on the reservation, the payments could be withheld and that the United States could locate additional tribes on the reservation in the future. Lindsay Applegate was appointed as the US Indian agent. The total population of the three tribes was estimated at about 2,000 when the treaty was signed.
 
 
The terms of the 1864 treaty demanded that the Modoc surrender their lands in near Lost River, Tule Lake, and Lower Klamath Lake in exchange for lands in the Upper Klamath Valley. They did so, under the leadership of Chief Schonchin. The land of the reservation did not provide enough food for both the Klamath and the Modoc peoples. Illness and tension between the tribes increased. The Modoc requested a separate reservation closer to their ancestral home, but neither the federal nor the California government would approve it.
 
  
''[[Kintpuash]]'' (also called Captain Jack) led a band of Modoc off the reservation and returned to their traditional homelands in California. They built a village near the Lost River where they remained for several years in violation of the treaty.
 
 
===Modoc War===
 
[[File:CptJack.JPG|thumb|right|Captain Jack, a Modoc leader in the Modoc War.]]
 
{{Main|Modoc War}}
 
In November 1872, the [[U.S. Army]] was sent to Lost River to attempt to force the Keintpuash's band back to the reservation.  A [[Battle of Lost River|battle]] broke out, and the Modoc escaped to what is called [[Captain Jack's Stronghold]] in what is now [[Lava Beds National Monument]], [[California]].  The band of  less than 53 warriors was able to hold off the 3,000 troops of the U.S. Army for several months, defeating them in combat several times.  In April 1873, the Modoc left  the Stronghold and began to splinter.  Keintpuash and his group were the last to be captured on June 4, 1873, when they voluntarily gave themselves up.  The U.S. government personnel had assured them that their people would be treated fairly and that the warriors would be allowed to live on their own land.
 
 
 
 
 
[[File:The Modoc War — Soldiers Recovering the Bodies of the Slain.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Soldiers recovering the bodies of the slain May 3, 1873]]
 
 
The '''Modoc War''', or '''Modoc Campaign''' (also known as the '''Lava Beds War'''), was an armed conflict between the [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] [[Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma|Modoc]] tribe and the [[United States Army]] in southern [[Oregon]] and northern [[California]] from 1872 to 1873.<ref>Beck, Warren A. and Ynez D. Hasse. [http://www.militarymuseum.org/Modoc1.html The Modoc War, 1872 to 1873.] ''California State Military Museum.'' (10 Feb 2008)</ref> The Modoc War was the last of the [[Indian Wars]] to occur in California or Oregon. [[Eadweard Muybridge]] photographed the early part of the campaign.
 
 
Captain Jack led 52 warriors in a band of more than 150 Modoc people who left the [[Klamath Reservation]]. Occupying defensive positions throughout the lava beds south of [[Tule Lake]], for months those few warriors waged a [[guerrilla]] war against United States Army forces sent against them and reinforced with artillery. In April 1873, Captain Jack and others killed General [[Edward Canby]] and another peace commissioner, and wounded others. 
 
 
After more warfare with reinforcements of US forces, finally some Modoc warriors surrendered, and Captain Jack and the last of his band were captured.
 
  
 
====Events leading up to the war====
 
====Events leading up to the war====
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Although most of the "[[California Gold Rush|49ers]]" missed the Modoc country, in March 1851 [[Abraham Thompson]], a mule train packer, discovered gold near [[Yreka, California|Yreka]] while traveling along the [[Siskiyou Trail]] from southern Oregon. The discovery sparked the [[California Gold Rush]] from California's [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada]] into [[Northern California]]. By April 1851, 2,000 miners had arrived in "Thompson's Dry Diggings" through the southern rout of old [[Emigrant Trail]] to test their luck, which took them straight through Modoc territory.<ref name=Sproull>Harry V. Sproull. [http://books.google.com/books?id=pXHFPwAACAAJ Modoc Indian War] Lava Beds Natural History Association, 1975.</ref>
 
Although most of the "[[California Gold Rush|49ers]]" missed the Modoc country, in March 1851 [[Abraham Thompson]], a mule train packer, discovered gold near [[Yreka, California|Yreka]] while traveling along the [[Siskiyou Trail]] from southern Oregon. The discovery sparked the [[California Gold Rush]] from California's [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada]] into [[Northern California]]. By April 1851, 2,000 miners had arrived in "Thompson's Dry Diggings" through the southern rout of old [[Emigrant Trail]] to test their luck, which took them straight through Modoc territory.<ref name=Sproull>Harry V. Sproull. [http://books.google.com/books?id=pXHFPwAACAAJ Modoc Indian War] Lava Beds Natural History Association, 1975.</ref>
  
====First hostilities====
+
 
 
[[File:Schonchin Butte.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Schonchin Butte]], a [[cinder cone]] named for Old [[Schonchin]], a chief of the [[Modoc people]] during the late nineteenth century.]]
 
[[File:Schonchin Butte.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Schonchin Butte]], a [[cinder cone]] named for Old [[Schonchin]], a chief of the [[Modoc people]] during the late nineteenth century.]]
 
Although the Modoc initially had no trouble with European Americans, after the murders of settlers in a raid by the [[Pit River Tribe]], European-American militia, not familiar with the Indian peoples, in revenge attacked an innocent Modoc village, killing men, women and children.<ref name="Riddle"/>  (''[[Kintpuash]]'', the future chief also known as Captain Jack, survived the attack but lost some of his family.) In retaliation and to try to end European-American encroachment, some Modoc chose to attack the next whites they came across. In September 1852 a wagon train of some 65 men, women, and children on their way to new homes in California were ambushed by the Modoc Indians.<ref name=fsusda>[http://www.fs.usda.gov/detailfull/modoc/learning/history-culture/?cid=stelprdb5310669&width=full Modoc NF History, 1945 – Chapter I, General Description] [[United States Department of Agriculture]] Forest Service.</ref> Only one badly wounded man, made his escape to the Oregon settlements in Willamette Valley and told of the attack. His report spread quickly and Oregon volunteers, reaching the scene later, found bodies of men, women and children mutilated and scattered for more than a mile along the lake shore and their wagons plundered and burned.<ref name=fsusda /> The location became known as [[Bloody Point (Oregon)|Bloody Point]].<ref name="Riddle"/><ref name="milmuseum">[http://www.militarymuseum.org/Modoc1.html "Modoc War"], California State Military Museum</ref> In another round of retaliation, California [[militia]] led by an Indian fighter named Ben Wright killed 41 Modoc at a peace [[parley]].<ref name="Riddle">Davis Riddle, ''History'', pp. 28–30.</ref> [[John Schonchin]], the brother of the Modoc chief, was one of the Indians who escaped.
 
Although the Modoc initially had no trouble with European Americans, after the murders of settlers in a raid by the [[Pit River Tribe]], European-American militia, not familiar with the Indian peoples, in revenge attacked an innocent Modoc village, killing men, women and children.<ref name="Riddle"/>  (''[[Kintpuash]]'', the future chief also known as Captain Jack, survived the attack but lost some of his family.) In retaliation and to try to end European-American encroachment, some Modoc chose to attack the next whites they came across. In September 1852 a wagon train of some 65 men, women, and children on their way to new homes in California were ambushed by the Modoc Indians.<ref name=fsusda>[http://www.fs.usda.gov/detailfull/modoc/learning/history-culture/?cid=stelprdb5310669&width=full Modoc NF History, 1945 – Chapter I, General Description] [[United States Department of Agriculture]] Forest Service.</ref> Only one badly wounded man, made his escape to the Oregon settlements in Willamette Valley and told of the attack. His report spread quickly and Oregon volunteers, reaching the scene later, found bodies of men, women and children mutilated and scattered for more than a mile along the lake shore and their wagons plundered and burned.<ref name=fsusda /> The location became known as [[Bloody Point (Oregon)|Bloody Point]].<ref name="Riddle"/><ref name="milmuseum">[http://www.militarymuseum.org/Modoc1.html "Modoc War"], California State Military Museum</ref> In another round of retaliation, California [[militia]] led by an Indian fighter named Ben Wright killed 41 Modoc at a peace [[parley]].<ref name="Riddle">Davis Riddle, ''History'', pp. 28–30.</ref> [[John Schonchin]], the brother of the Modoc chief, was one of the Indians who escaped.
  
====Great Treaty of Council Grove====
 
Rounds of hostilities continued in the area until 1864, with warriors of the Klamath and the Yahooskin, a band of [[Shoshone]], also attacking settlers and migrants in their turns.  That year the United States and the [[Klamath people|Klamath]], Modoc, and [[Snake Indians|Shoshone]] ([[Yahooskin]] band) tribes—over 1000 Indians, mostly Klamath—signed a treaty, by which the Indians ceded millions of acres of lands and the US established the [[Klamath Reservation]], within the boundaries of present-day Oregon.  Under the treaty terms, the Modoc, with Old Chief ''[[Schonchin]]'' as their leader, gave up their lands in the [[Lost River (California)|Lost River]], [[Tule Lake]] and [[Lower Klamath Lake]] regions of California, and moved to a reservation in the [[Upper Klamath River]] Valley. In return, the Indians would receive food, blankets, and clothing for as many years as would be required to establish themselves.<ref name=Sproull /> Allen David signed for the Klamath, while Old Schonchin and Kintpuash for the Modoc. Looking around for something to give emphasis to his pledge, Schonchin pointed to the distant butte and dramatically declared, "That mountain shall fall, before Schonchin will again raise his hand against his white brother."<ref name=fsusda /> The old chief kept his word, although his brother and Kintupash repudiated signing the treaty and left the reservation with a few followers.
 
  
====Captain Jack====
 
While the old Modoc chief remained in the reservation, Kintupash returned to [[Lost River (Oregon)|Lost River]] and lead an abusive harassment against the white settlers who had occupied the area. The small Modoc group of about 43 Indians demanded rent for the occupation of "their land", which most settlers paid. After a few attempts to negotiate in behalf of the complaining settlers, including failed attempts by Agent Lindsay Applegate in 1864–6<ref>Davis Riddle, ''History'', p. 252.</ref> and Superintendent Huntigton in 1867, the Modoc finally relocated in 1869 following a council between [[Kintpuash]] (also known as ''Captain Jack''); [[Alfred B. Meacham]], the US Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Oregon that replaced Huntigton; O.C. Knapp, the US Indian agent on the reservation; [[Ivan DeCounter Applegate|Ivan D. Applegate]], sub-agent at Yainax on the reservation; and W.C. McKay. Meacham was from Oregon, and knew Captain Jack and the Modoc. 
 
  
When soldiers suddenly appeared at the meeting, the Modoc warriors fled, leaving behind their women and children. Meacham placed the women and children in wagons and started for the reservation. He allowed "Queen Mary", Captain Jack's sister, to go meet with Captain Jack to persuade him to move to the reservation. She succeeded. Once on the reservation, Captain Jack and his band prepared to make their permanent home at [[Modoc Point]].
+
In 1847 the Modoc, under the leadership of [[Old Chief Schonchin]], began raiding the settlers traveling on the Oregon Trail as they passed through Modoc lands. In September 1852, the Modoc destroyed an emigrant train at Bloody Point on the east shore of Tule Lake. In response, Ben Wright, a notorious Indian hater,<ref>William Samuel Brown, [http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/modoc/learning/history-culture/?cid=stelprdb5310672 Chapter II, Early History Emigrant Trails and Indian Warfare] ''History of the Modoc National Forest'' Retrieved May 15, 2013.</ref> Accounts differ as to what took place when Wright's party met the Modoc on Lost River, but most agree that Wright planned to ambush them, which he did in November 1852. Wright and his forces attacked, killing approximately 40 Modoc, in what came to be known as the "Ben Wright Massacre."<ref>[http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/historical_records/dspDocument.cfm?doc_ID=52132C11-0AE8-0AAF-62A8FCA83E75BE63 Ben Wright Massacre of 1852]. Retrieved May 24, 2013.</ref>
[[File:General Edward Canby 525.jpg|thumb|right|Major General E.R.S Canby]]
 
  
====Mistreatment by the Klamath====
+
===Treaty with the United States===
Shortly after the Modoc started building their homes, however, the [[Klamath people|Klamath]], longtime rivals, began to steal the Modoc lumber. The Modoc complained, but the US Indian agent could not protect them against the Klamath. Captain Jack's band moved to another part of the reservation. Several attempts were made to find a suitable location, but the Klamath continued to harass the band.
+
[[File:Modoc women.jpg|thumb|right|L to R, standing: US Indian agent, ''[[Winema]]'' (Tobey) Riddle, a Modoc; and her husband Frank Riddle, with four Modoc women in front. Photographed by Eadweard Muybridge, 1873.]]
 +
With the increasing numbers of white settlers, the [[Klamath people|Klamath]], Modoc, and [[Yahooskin]] band of [[Snake Indians|Snake]] tribes signed a [[treaty]] with the United States government in 1864, establishing the [[Klamath Reservation]], despite the fact that the Klamath and Modoc were traditional enemies. The treaty required the tribes to cede the land bounded on the north by the 44th parallel, on the west and south by the ridges of the [[Cascade Mountains]], and on the east by lines touching [[Goose Lake (Oregon-California)|Goose Lake]] and Henley Lake back up to the 44th parallel. In return, the United States was to make a lump sum payment of $35,000, and annual payments totaling $80,000 over 15 years, as well as providing infrastructure and staff for a reservation. The treaty provided that if the Indians drank or stored intoxicating liquor on the reservation, the payments could be withheld and that the United States could locate additional tribes on the reservation in the future. Lindsay Applegate was appointed as the US Indian agent. The total population of the three tribes was estimated at about 2,000 when the treaty was signed.  
  
In 1870 Captain Jack and his band of nearly 200 left the reservation and returned to Lost River. During the months that his band had been on the reservation, a number of settlers had taken up former Modoc land in the Lost River region.
+
The terms of the 1864 treaty demanded that the Modoc surrender their lands in near Lost River, Tule Lake, and Lower Klamath Lake in exchange for lands in the Upper Klamath Valley. They did so, under the leadership of Chief Schonchin. The land of the reservation did not provide enough food for both the Klamath and the Modoc peoples. Illness and tension between the tribes increased. The Modoc requested a separate reservation closer to their ancestral home, but neither the federal nor the California government would approve it.
  
====Return to Lost River====
+
''[[Kintpuash]]'' (also called Captain Jack) led a band of Modoc off the reservation and returned to their traditional homelands in California. They built a village near the Lost River where they remained for several years in violation of the treaty.
[[File:CptJack.JPG|thumb|Captain Jack]]
 
Acknowledging the bad feeling between the Modoc and the Klamath, Meacham recommended to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in [[Washington, D.C.]] that Captain Jack's Modoc band be given a separate reservation at Yainax, in the lower southern part of the reservation. Pending a decision, Meacham instructed Captain Jack to remain at Clear Lake. Oregon settlers complained that Modoc warriors roamed the countryside raiding the homesteads; they petitioned Meacham to return the Modoc to the Klamath Reservation. In part, there was raiding because the US did not adequately supply the Modoc on the reservation with food. Captain Jack and his band did better in their old territory with hunting.
 
  
====Failure of US to respond to Modoc====
+
===Modoc War===
The Commissioner of Indian Affairs never responded to Meacham's request for a separate reservation for the Modoc. After hearing more complaints from settlers, Meacham requested General [[Edward Canby]], Commanding General of the Department of the Columbia, to move Captain Jack's band to Yainax on the Klamath Reservation, his recommended site for their use. Canby forwarded Meacham's request to General Schofield, Commanding General of the Pacific, suggesting that before using force, peaceful efforts should be made. Jack had asked to talk to Meacham, but he did not go.<ref name="Murray"/>
+
[[File:CptJack.JPG|thumb|right|Captain Jack, a Modoc leader in the Modoc War.]]
 +
The '''Modoc War''', or '''Modoc Campaign''' (also known as the '''Lava Beds War'''), was an armed conflict between the Modoc tribe and the [[United States Army]] in southern [[Oregon]] and northern [[California]] from 1872 to 1873.<ref>Warren A. Beck and Ynez D. Hasse, [http://www.militarymuseum.org/Modoc1.html The Modoc War, 1872 to 1873.] ''California State Military Museum.'' Retrieved May 25, 2013.</ref> The Modoc War was the last of the [[Indian Wars]] to occur in California or Oregon. [[Eadweard Muybridge]] photographed the early part of the campaign.
  
In the middle of the crisis, the Commission of Indian Affairs replaced Meacham, appointing [[T. B. Odeneal]] as Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Oregon.<ref name="Murray">[http://books.google.com/books?id=pMB9HhBwCNoC&dq=The+Modocs+and+Their+War&q=T.+B.+Odeneal+#v=onepage&q=T.%20B.%20Odeneal&f=false Keith A. Murray, ''The Modocs and Their War,'' 1965; reprint, University of Oklahoma Press, 1984, p. 71]</ref><ref name="craterlakeinstitute.com">[http://www.craterlakeinstitute.com/online-library/nature-notes/vol10no2-modoc-war.htm Don C. Fisher and John E. Doerr, Jr., "Outline of Events in the History of the Modoc War"], ''Nature Notes From Crater Lake,'' Volume 10, No. 2 – July 1937, Crater Lake Institute, accessed 1 November 2011</ref> He "knew almost nothing of the background of the situation and had never met Jack or the Modocs" but was charged with "getting the Modocs to leave Lost River."<ref name="Murray"/> In turn, Odeneal appointed a new US Indian agent, who was also unfamiliar with the parties and conditions.  
+
Captain Jack led 52 warriors in a band of more than 150 Modoc people who left the [[Klamath Reservation]]. Occupying defensive positions throughout the lava beds south of [[Tule Lake]], for months those few warriors waged a [[guerrilla]] war against United States Army forces sent against them and reinforced with artillery. In April 1873, Captain Jack and others killed General [[Edward Canby]] and another peace commissioner, and wounded others.
  
On April 3, 1872, Major Elmer Otis held a council with Captain Jack at Lost River Gap, near what is now [[Olene, Oregon]]. At the council, Major Otis presented Captain Jack with some settlers who complained about the behavior of Jack's men, and Captain Jack countered that it was the Modoc who were being abused and unjustly accused of crimes which other Indians had committed.  
+
After more warfare with reinforcements of US forces, finally some Modoc warriors surrendered, and Captain Jack and the last of his band were captured.  
  
Although the council's results were inconclusive, Otis resolved to remove Jack’s band of Modoc to the Klamath ReservationHe needed reinforcements and recommended waiting until later in the year, when he could put the Modoc at a disadvantage.<ref>Reports of the Otis Conference, 3 April 1873; and Otis to Odeneal, 11 April 1872. ([http://maxpages.com/modocwar/Otis_Conference]</ref>
+
In November 1872, the [[U.S. Army]] was sent to Lost River to attempt to force the Keintpuash's band back to the reservationA [[Battle of Lost River|battle]] broke out, and the Modoc escaped to what is called [[Captain Jack's Stronghold]] in what is now [[Lava Beds National Monument]], [[California]]. The band of  less than 53 warriors was able to hold off the 3,000 troops of the U.S. Army for several months, defeating them in combat several times. In April 1873, the Modoc left the Stronghold and began to splinter.  Keintpuash and his group were the last to be captured on June 4, 1873, when they voluntarily gave themselves up.  The U.S. government personnel had assured them that their people would be treated fairly and that the warriors would be allowed to live on their own land.  
  
On April 12, the [[Commission of Indian Affairs]] directed US Superintendent T. B. Odeneal<ref name="craterlakeinstitute.com"/> to move Captain Jack and his Modoc to the reservation if practicable. He was to ensure the tribe was protected from the Klamath.
+
[[File:The Modoc War — Soldiers Recovering the Bodies of the Slain.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Soldiers recovering the bodies of the slain May 3, 1873]]
  
On May 14, Odeneal sent Ivan D. Applegate and [[L. S. Dyer]] to arrange for a council with Captain Jack, which the latter refused. On July 6, 1872, the US Commissioner of Indian Affairs repeated his direction to Superintendent Odeneal to move Captain Jack and his band to the Klamath Reservation, peacefully if possible, but forcibly if necessary. Minor skirmishes occurred during the summer and early fall, but some of the settlers in California were sympathetic to the Modoc, as they had gotten along well with them before. They felt they had been mistreated.
+
[[File:General Edward Canby 525.jpg|thumb|right|Major General E.R.S Canby]]
 
 
====Battle of Lost River====
 
{{main|Battle of Lost River}}
 
 
 
Despairing of a peaceful settlement, on November 27, Superintendent Odeneal requested Major [[John Green (US Army officer)|John Green]], commanding officer at [[Fort Klamath]], to furnish sufficient troops to compel Captain Jack to move to the reservation. On November 28 Captain [[James Jackson (soldier)|James Jackson]], commanding 40 troops, left Fort Klamath for Captain Jack's camp on Lost River. The troops, reinforced by citizens from Linkville (now [[Klamath Falls, Oregon]]) and by a band of militiamen under Jump Off Joe, arrived in Jack's camp on Lost River about a mile above Emigrant Crossing (now Merril, Oregon) on November 29.
 
 
 
Wishing to avoid conflict, Captain Jack agreed to go to the reservation, but the situation became tense when Jackson demanded that the Modoc chief disarm. Captain Jack had never fought the Army, and was alarmed at this command, but finally agreed to put down his weapons.  The rest of the Modoc warriors began to follow his lead.
 
 
 
Suddenly an argument erupted between the Modoc warrior [[Scarfaced Charley]] and Lieutenant Frazier A. Boutelle, of company B, 1st Cavalry, who pulled their revolvers and shot at each other, both missing. The Modoc scrambled to regain their weapons, and fought a short battle before fleeing toward the border of California. After driving the remaining Modoc from camp, Captain Jackson ordered the troops to retreat to await reinforcements. Jump Off Joe and his militia decided to press the attack against the Modoc. The casualties in this short battle included one Army soldier killed and seven wounded, and two Modoc killed and three wounded.
 
  
A small band of Modoc under the leadership of [[Hooker Jim]] retreated from the battlefield on Lost River to the Lava Beds south of Tule Lake. In attacks on November 29 and November 30, they killed 18 settlers. Learning of this, Jump Off Joe and his militia decided to pursue the main body of Modoc toward the Lava Beds.
 
  
Accounts vary regarding the first clash. One version: the soldiers and militia had gotten drunk in Klamath Falls and arrived at the Lost River camp disorganized and were outfought; that, furthermore, the militia arrived last and retreated first, with one casualty; and that the Army did not drive the Modoc away. This version claimed that some warriors held their ground while the women and children loaded their boats and paddled south; that Scarfaced Charley, who spoke good English, was foul-tempered from lack of sleep, because he'd been gambling all night and was possibly drunk—but, since there was a warrant out for his arrest on a false murder charge, he wasn't going to go quietly. The official report, however, concealed that the operation had been badly managed, as Captain Jackson later admitted.
 
  
;Fortifying the Stronghold
 
 
[[File:Capt Jack Cave.jpg|thumb|right|U.S. soldiers inspect Captain Jack's cave in the Lava Beds.]]
 
[[File:Capt Jack Cave.jpg|thumb|right|U.S. soldiers inspect Captain Jack's cave in the Lava Beds.]]
 
For some months, Captain Jack had boasted that in the event of war, he and his band could successfully defend themselves in an area in the lava beds on the south shore of Tule Lake. The Modoc retreated there after the Battle of Lost River. Today it is called [[Captain Jack's Stronghold]]. The Modoc took advantage of the [[lava]] ridges, cracks, depressions, and [[cave]]s, all such natural features being ideal from the standpoint of defense. At the time the 52 Modoc warriors occupied the Stronghold, Tule Lake bounded the Stronghold on the north and served as a source of water.
 
For some months, Captain Jack had boasted that in the event of war, he and his band could successfully defend themselves in an area in the lava beds on the south shore of Tule Lake. The Modoc retreated there after the Battle of Lost River. Today it is called [[Captain Jack's Stronghold]]. The Modoc took advantage of the [[lava]] ridges, cracks, depressions, and [[cave]]s, all such natural features being ideal from the standpoint of defense. At the time the 52 Modoc warriors occupied the Stronghold, Tule Lake bounded the Stronghold on the north and served as a source of water.
Line 134: Line 92:
 
On January 16, troops from Land's ranch, commanded by Col. [[R. F. Bernard]], skirmished with the Modoc near [[Hospital Rock (Tulelake, California)|Hospital Rock]].
 
On January 16, troops from Land's ranch, commanded by Col. [[R. F. Bernard]], skirmished with the Modoc near [[Hospital Rock (Tulelake, California)|Hospital Rock]].
  
;First battle of the Stronghold
 
 
On the morning of January 17, 1873, troops advanced on the Stronghold. Hindered by [[fog]], the soldiers never saw any Modoc. Occupying excellent positions, the Modoc repulsed troops advancing from the west and east. A general retreat of troops was ordered at the end of the day. In the attack, the U.S. Army lost 35 men killed, and 5 officers and 20 enlisted men wounded. Captain Jack's band included approximately 150 Modoc, including women and children. Of that number, there were only 52 warriors. The Modoc suffered no casualties in the fighting, as they had the advantage of terrain and local knowledge over the militia.
 
 
;Peace Commission appointed
 
On January 25, [[Columbus Delano]], [[United States Secretary of the Interior|Secretary of the Interior]], appointed a Peace Commission to negotiate with Captain Jack. The Commission consisted of Alfred B. Meacham, the former superintendent for Oregon as chairman; [[Jesse Applegate]], and [[Samuel Case]]. General [[Edward Canby]], commander in the Pacific Northwest, was appointed to serve the Commission as counselor.  Frank and [[Toby Riddle]] were appointed as interpreters.
 
 
On February 19, the Peace Commission held its first meeting at Fairchild's ranch, west of the lava beds. A messenger was sent to arrange a meeting with Captain Jack. He agreed that if the commission would send [[John Fairchild]] and [[Bob Whittle]], two settlers, to the edge of the lava beds he would talk to them. When Fairchild and Whittle went to the lava beds, Captain Jack told them he would talk with the commission if they would return with Judge [[Elijah Steele]] of [[Yreka, California|Yreka]] as the judge had been friendly to Captain Jack.
 
  
Steele went to the Stronghold. After a night in the Stronghold, Steele returned to Fairchild's ranch and informed the Peace Commission that the Modoc were planning treachery, and that all efforts of the Commission would be useless. Meacham wired the Secretary of the Interior, informing him of Steele's opinion. The Secretary instructed Meacham to continue negotiations for peace. Judge [[A. M. Roseborough]] was added to the commission. Jesse Applegate and Samuel Case resigned and were replaced by Rev. [[Eleazer Thomas]] and [[L. S. Dyar]].
+
[[File:Modoc women.jpg|thumb|right|L to R, standing: US Indian agent, [[Toby Riddle|''Winema'']] (Tobey) and her husband Frank Riddle (interpreter), with four Modoc women in front, 1873]]
  
In April, [[Gillem's Camp]] was established at the edge of the lava beds, two and one-half miles west of the Stronghold. Col. [[Alvan C. Gillem]] was placed in command of all troops, including those at Hospital Rock commanded by Col. [[E. C. Mason]]. [[File:Modoc women.jpg|thumb|right|L to R, standing: US Indian agent, [[Toby Riddle|''Winema'']] (Tobey) and her husband Frank Riddle (interpreter), with four Modoc women in front, 1873]]
 
  
On April 2, the commission and Captain Jack met in the lava beds midway between the Stronghold and Gillem's Camp. At this meeting Captain Jack demanded: (1) Complete pardon of all Modoc; (2) Withdrawal of all troops; and (3) The right to select their own reservation. The Peace Commission proposed: (1) That Captain Jack and his band go to a [[Indian reservation|reservation]] selected by the government; (2) That the Modoc guilty of killing the settlers be surrendered and tried for murder. After much discussion, the meeting broke up with no resolution.
 
 
The Modoc began to turn on Captain Jack, who still hoped for a peaceful solution. Led by [[Schonchin John]] and Hooker Jim, they put pressure on Jack to kill the peace commission.  They believed that if the Americans lost their leaders, the Army would leave. They shamed Jack for his continuing negotiations by dressing him in women's clothing during council meetings. Rather than lose his position as chief of the band, Captain Jack agreed to attack the commission if no progress was made.
 
 
On April 5, Captain Jack requested a meeting with Meacham. Accompanied by John Fairchild and Judge Roseborough, with [[Frank Riddle|Frank]] and [[Toby Riddle]] serving as interpreters, Meacham met Captain Jack at the peace tent; it was erected about one mile east of Gillem's Camp. The meeting lasted several hours. Captain Jack asked for the lava beds to be given to them as a reservation. The meeting ended with no agreement. After Meacham returned to camp, he sent a message to Captain Jack, asking that he meet the commission at the peace tent on April 8. While delivering this message, the Modoc interpreter Tobey Riddle learned of the Modoc plan to kill the peace commissioners. On her return, she warned the commissioners.
 
 
On April 8, just as the commissioners were starting for the peace tent, the signal tower on the bluff above Gillem's Camp received a message; it said that the lookout had seen five Modoc warriors at the peace tent and about 20 armed Modoc hiding among the rocks nearby. The commissioners realized that the Modoc were planning an attack and decided to stay at Gillem's.  Rev. Thomas insisted on arranging a date for another meeting with Captain Jack. On April 10, the commission sent a message asking Captain Jack to meet with them at the peace tent on the following morning.
 
 
;Murder at the peace tent
 
 
[[File:Bcharley.jpg|thumb|Boston Charley in 1873]]
 
[[File:Bcharley.jpg|thumb|Boston Charley in 1873]]
On April 11, General Canby, Alfred B. Meacham, Rev. E. Thomas, and L. S. Dyar, with Frank and Toby Riddle as interpreters, met with Captain Jack, [[Boston Charley]], [[Bogus Charley]], Schonchin John, Black Jim, and Hooker Jim. After some talk, during which it became evident that the Modoc were armed, General Canby informed Captain Jack that the commission could not meet his terms until orders came from Washington.
 
  
Angrily, Schonchin John demanded [[Hot Creek (Modoc County, California)|Hot Creek]] for a reservation. Captain Jack got up and walked away a few steps. The two Modoc Brancho (Barncho) and Slolux, armed with rifles, ran forward from hiding. Captain Jack turned, giving the signal to fire. His first shot killed General Canby. Reverend Thomas fell mortally wounded. Dyer and Frank Riddle escaped by running. Meacham fell seriously wounded, but Toby Riddle saved his life and interrupted warriors intending to scalp him by yelling, "The soldiers are coming!"  The Modoc warriors broke off and left.
 
 
US efforts for peace ended when the Modoc killed the commissioners. [[Canby's Cross]] marks the site where Canby and Thomas died.
 
 
;Second Battle of the Stronghold
 
 
[[File:The Modocs in Their Stronghold.jpg|thumb|right|''The Modocs in Their Stronghold'', an 1873 [[wood engraving]]]]
 
[[File:The Modocs in Their Stronghold.jpg|thumb|right|''The Modocs in Their Stronghold'', an 1873 [[wood engraving]]]]
The U.S. Army prepared to attack the Stronghold. On April 15 a general attack began, troops advancing from Gillem's camp on the west and Mason's camp at Hospital Rock, northeast of the Stronghold. Fighting continued throughout the day, the troops remaining in position during the night. Each advance of troops on April 16 was under heavy fire from the Modoc positions. That night the troops succeeded in cutting the Modoc off from their water supply at the shore of Tule Lake. By the morning of April 17 everything was in readiness for the final attack on the Stronghold. When the order was given to advance, the troops charged into the Stronghold.
 
 
After the fighting along the shoreline of Tule Lake on the afternoon and night of April 16, the Modoc defending the Stronghold realized that their water supply had been cut off by the troops commanding the shoreline. On April 17, before the troops had begun to charge the Stronghold, the Modoc escaped through an unguarded crevice.  During the fighting at the Stronghold, April 15–17, US casualties included one officer and six enlisted men killed, and thirteen enlisted men wounded. Modoc casualties were two boys, reported to have been killed when they tried to open a [[round shot|cannon ball]] and it exploded. Several Modoc women were reported to have died from sickness.
 
 
;Battle of Sand Butte
 
On April 26, Captain Evan Thomas commanding five officers, sixty-six troops and fourteen Warm Spring Scouts left Gillem's camp on a reconnaissance of the lava beds to locate the Modoc. While they were eating lunch at the base of Sand Butte (now [[Hardin Butte]]), in a flat area surrounded by ridges, Captain Thomas and his party were attacked by 22 Modoc led by Scarfaced Charley. Some of the troops fled in disorder. Those who remained to fight were either killed or wounded. US casualties included four officers killed and two wounded, one dying within a few days, and 13 enlisted men killed and 16 wounded.
 
 
Following the successful Modoc attack, many soldiers called for Col. Gillem to be removed. On May 2, Bvt. Brigadier General [[Jefferson C. Davis]], the new commander of the [[Department of the Columbia]], reported to relieve Gillem of command, and assume control of the army in the field.
 
 
;Battle of Dry Lake
 
  
At first light on May 10, the Modoc attacked an Army encampment at Dry Lake. The troops charged, routing the Modoc. Casualties among the Army included five men killed, two of whom were Warm Spring Scouts, and twelve men wounded. The Modoc reported five warriors killed. Among the five was [[Ellen's Man]], a prominent man in the band.  This was the first defeat of the Modoc in battle.
 
  
With the death of Ellen's Man, dissent arose among the Modoc, who began to split apart. A group led by Hooker Jim surrendered to the Army and agreed to help them capture Captain Jack.  In return, they received [[amnesty]] for the murders of settlers at Tule Lake, Canby and Thomas.
 
  
Captain Jack, his wife, and little girl were captured by Army scouts,'Captain' William F. Drannan and George Jones in Langell's valley, June 4.
 
  
 
===After the war===
 
===After the war===

Revision as of 22:51, 25 May 2013

Modoc
Winema.jpg
Toby "Winema" Riddle (Modoc, 1848–1920)
Total population
800 (2000)
Regions with significant populations
Flag of United States United States |
Flag of Oregon Oregon 600
Flag of Oklahoma Oklahoma 200
Languages
English, formerly Modoc
Religions
Related ethnic groups
Klamath, Yahooskin

The Modoc are a Native American people who originally lived in the area which is now northeastern California and central Southern Oregon. They are currently divided between Oregon and Oklahoma and are enrolled in either of two federally recognized tribes, the Klamath Tribes in Oregon and the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma.


Modoc Plateau, Modoc National Forest, Modoc County, California; Modoc, Indiana; and numerous other places are named after this group of people.

History

Pre-contact

Estimates for the pre-contact populations of most native groups in California, including the Modoc, have varied substantially. James Mooney put the aboriginal population of the Modoc at 400.[1] Alfred L. Kroeber estimated the 1770 Modoc population within California as 500.[2] University of Oregon anthropologist Theodore Stern suggested that there had been a total of about 500 Modoc.[3]

Known Modoc village sites are Agawesh where Willow Creek enters Lower Klamath Lake, Kumbat and Pashha on the shores of Tule Lake, and Wachamshwash and Nushalt-Hagak-ni on the Lost River.[4]

In addition to the Klamath, with whom they shared a language and the Modoc Plateau, the groups neighboring the Modoc homelands were the following:

  • Shasta on the Klamath River;
  • Rogue River Athabaskans and Takelma west over the Cascade Mountains;
  • Northern Paiute east in the desert;
  • Karuk and Yurok further down the Klamath River; and
  • Achomawi or Pit River to the south, in the meadows of the Pit River drainages.

The Modoc, Northern Paiute, and Achomawi shared Goose Lake Valley.[5]

First contact

In the 1820s, Peter Skene Ogden, an explorer for the Hudson's Bay Company, established trade with the Klamath people to the north of the Modoc.

Lindsay Applegate, accompanied by fourteen other settlers in the Willamette and Rogue valleys in western Oregon, established the South Emigrant Trail in 1846. It connected a point on the Oregon Trail near Fort Hall, Idaho and the Willamette Valley. Applegate and his party were the first known white men to enter what is now the Lava Beds National Monument. On their exploring trip eastward, they attempted to pass around the south end of Tule Lake, but the rough lava along the shore forced them to seek a route around the north end of the lake. The Modoc inhabited the region around Lower Klamath Lake, Tule Lake, and the Lost River in northern California and southern Oregon. The opening of the South Emigrant Trail brought the first regular contact between the Modoc and the European-American settlers, who had largely ignored their territory before. Many of the events of the Modoc War took place along the South Emigrant Trail.

Until this time the Modoc had been hunter-gatherers who were detached from their neighbors, apart from occasional raids or war parties to drive out intruders. With the arrival of settlers who passed directly through their lands, the Modoc were forced to change their ways. At first they were able to barter with the newcomers. However, as more settlers arrived who took over their land, relationships became strained.[6]


Events leading up to the war

The first known explorers from the United States to come through the Modoc country were John Charles Fremont together with Kit Carson in 1843. On the night of May 9, 1846, Frémont received a message brought to him by Lieutenant Archibald Gillespie, from President James Polk about the possibility of war with Mexico. Reviewing the messages, Frémont neglected the customary measure of posting a watchman for the camp. The neglect of this action is said to have been troubling to Carson, yet he had "apprehended no danger".[7] Later that night Carson was awakened by the sound of a thump. Jumping up, he saw his friend and fellow trapper Basil Lajeunesse sprawled in blood. He sounded an alarm and immediately the camp realized they were under attack by Native Americans, estimated to be several dozen in number. By the time the assailants were beaten off, two other members of Frémont's group were dead. The one dead attacker was judged to be a Klamath Lake native. Frémont's group fell into "an angry gloom."[8]

To avenge the deaths, Frémont attacked a Klamath Tribe fishing village named Dokdokwas, that most likely had nothing to do with the attack, at the junction of the Williamson River and Klamath Lake, on May 10, 1846.[9] Accounts by scholars vary, but they agree that the attack completely destroyed the village structures; Sides reports the expedition killed women and children as well as warriors.[10]

"The tragedy of Dokdokwas is deepened by the fact that most scholars now agree that Frémont and Carson, in their blind vindictiveness, probably chose the wrong tribe to lash out against: In all likelihood the band of native Americans that had killed [Frémont's three men] were from the neighboring Modoc... The Klamaths were culturally related to the Modocs, but the two tribes were bitter enemies."[11]

Although most of the "49ers" missed the Modoc country, in March 1851 Abraham Thompson, a mule train packer, discovered gold near Yreka while traveling along the Siskiyou Trail from southern Oregon. The discovery sparked the California Gold Rush from California's Sierra Nevada into Northern California. By April 1851, 2,000 miners had arrived in "Thompson's Dry Diggings" through the southern rout of old Emigrant Trail to test their luck, which took them straight through Modoc territory.[12]


Schonchin Butte, a cinder cone named for Old Schonchin, a chief of the Modoc people during the late nineteenth century.

Although the Modoc initially had no trouble with European Americans, after the murders of settlers in a raid by the Pit River Tribe, European-American militia, not familiar with the Indian peoples, in revenge attacked an innocent Modoc village, killing men, women and children.[13] (Kintpuash, the future chief also known as Captain Jack, survived the attack but lost some of his family.) In retaliation and to try to end European-American encroachment, some Modoc chose to attack the next whites they came across. In September 1852 a wagon train of some 65 men, women, and children on their way to new homes in California were ambushed by the Modoc Indians.[14] Only one badly wounded man, made his escape to the Oregon settlements in Willamette Valley and told of the attack. His report spread quickly and Oregon volunteers, reaching the scene later, found bodies of men, women and children mutilated and scattered for more than a mile along the lake shore and their wagons plundered and burned.[14] The location became known as Bloody Point.[13][15] In another round of retaliation, California militia led by an Indian fighter named Ben Wright killed 41 Modoc at a peace parley.[13] John Schonchin, the brother of the Modoc chief, was one of the Indians who escaped.


In 1847 the Modoc, under the leadership of Old Chief Schonchin, began raiding the settlers traveling on the Oregon Trail as they passed through Modoc lands. In September 1852, the Modoc destroyed an emigrant train at Bloody Point on the east shore of Tule Lake. In response, Ben Wright, a notorious Indian hater,[16] Accounts differ as to what took place when Wright's party met the Modoc on Lost River, but most agree that Wright planned to ambush them, which he did in November 1852. Wright and his forces attacked, killing approximately 40 Modoc, in what came to be known as the "Ben Wright Massacre."[17]

Treaty with the United States

L to R, standing: US Indian agent, Winema (Tobey) Riddle, a Modoc; and her husband Frank Riddle, with four Modoc women in front. Photographed by Eadweard Muybridge, 1873.

With the increasing numbers of white settlers, the Klamath, Modoc, and Yahooskin band of Snake tribes signed a treaty with the United States government in 1864, establishing the Klamath Reservation, despite the fact that the Klamath and Modoc were traditional enemies. The treaty required the tribes to cede the land bounded on the north by the 44th parallel, on the west and south by the ridges of the Cascade Mountains, and on the east by lines touching Goose Lake and Henley Lake back up to the 44th parallel. In return, the United States was to make a lump sum payment of $35,000, and annual payments totaling $80,000 over 15 years, as well as providing infrastructure and staff for a reservation. The treaty provided that if the Indians drank or stored intoxicating liquor on the reservation, the payments could be withheld and that the United States could locate additional tribes on the reservation in the future. Lindsay Applegate was appointed as the US Indian agent. The total population of the three tribes was estimated at about 2,000 when the treaty was signed.

The terms of the 1864 treaty demanded that the Modoc surrender their lands in near Lost River, Tule Lake, and Lower Klamath Lake in exchange for lands in the Upper Klamath Valley. They did so, under the leadership of Chief Schonchin. The land of the reservation did not provide enough food for both the Klamath and the Modoc peoples. Illness and tension between the tribes increased. The Modoc requested a separate reservation closer to their ancestral home, but neither the federal nor the California government would approve it.

Kintpuash (also called Captain Jack) led a band of Modoc off the reservation and returned to their traditional homelands in California. They built a village near the Lost River where they remained for several years in violation of the treaty.

Modoc War

Captain Jack, a Modoc leader in the Modoc War.

The Modoc War, or Modoc Campaign (also known as the Lava Beds War), was an armed conflict between the Modoc tribe and the United States Army in southern Oregon and northern California from 1872 to 1873.[18] The Modoc War was the last of the Indian Wars to occur in California or Oregon. Eadweard Muybridge photographed the early part of the campaign.

Captain Jack led 52 warriors in a band of more than 150 Modoc people who left the Klamath Reservation. Occupying defensive positions throughout the lava beds south of Tule Lake, for months those few warriors waged a guerrilla war against United States Army forces sent against them and reinforced with artillery. In April 1873, Captain Jack and others killed General Edward Canby and another peace commissioner, and wounded others.

After more warfare with reinforcements of US forces, finally some Modoc warriors surrendered, and Captain Jack and the last of his band were captured.

In November 1872, the U.S. Army was sent to Lost River to attempt to force the Keintpuash's band back to the reservation. A battle broke out, and the Modoc escaped to what is called Captain Jack's Stronghold in what is now Lava Beds National Monument, California. The band of less than 53 warriors was able to hold off the 3,000 troops of the U.S. Army for several months, defeating them in combat several times. In April 1873, the Modoc left the Stronghold and began to splinter. Keintpuash and his group were the last to be captured on June 4, 1873, when they voluntarily gave themselves up. The U.S. government personnel had assured them that their people would be treated fairly and that the warriors would be allowed to live on their own land.

File:The Modoc War — Soldiers Recovering the Bodies of the Slain.jpg
Soldiers recovering the bodies of the slain May 3, 1873
File:General Edward Canby 525.jpg
Major General E.R.S Canby


U.S. soldiers inspect Captain Jack's cave in the Lava Beds.

For some months, Captain Jack had boasted that in the event of war, he and his band could successfully defend themselves in an area in the lava beds on the south shore of Tule Lake. The Modoc retreated there after the Battle of Lost River. Today it is called Captain Jack's Stronghold. The Modoc took advantage of the lava ridges, cracks, depressions, and caves, all such natural features being ideal from the standpoint of defense. At the time the 52 Modoc warriors occupied the Stronghold, Tule Lake bounded the Stronghold on the north and served as a source of water.

On December 3, Jump Off Joe and his militia reached the outskirts of the Stronghold. While reconnoitering the area around a dry creek bed, they were attacked. They attempted to take shelter in the creek bed, but were quickly overcome; and the Modoc killed all 23 men.

On December 21, a Modoc party scouting from the Stronghold attacked an ammunition wagon at Land's Ranch. By January 15, 1873, the U. S. Army had 400 troops in the field near the Lava Beds. The greatest concentration of troops was at Van Bromer's ranch, 12 miles west of the Stronghold. Troops were also stationed at Land's ranch, 10 miles east of the Stronghold. Col. Frank Wheaton was in command of all troops, including regular army as well as volunteer companies from California and Oregon.

On January 16, troops from Land's ranch, commanded by Col. R. F. Bernard, skirmished with the Modoc near Hospital Rock.


L to R, standing: US Indian agent, Winema (Tobey) and her husband Frank Riddle (interpreter), with four Modoc women in front, 1873


Boston Charley in 1873
The Modocs in Their Stronghold, an 1873 wood engraving


After the war

Captain Jack, Schonchin John, Black Jim, Boston Charley, Brancho (Barncho), and Slolux were tried by a military court for the murders of Major General Edward Canby and Reverend Thomas, and attacks on Meacham and others. The six Modoc were convicted, and sentenced to death. On September 10, President Ulysses S. Grant approved the death sentence for Captain Jack, Schonchin John, Black Jim, and Boston Charley; Brancho and Slolux were committed to life imprisonment on Alcatraz. Grant ordered that the remainder of Captain Jack's band be held as prisoners of war. On October 3, 1873, Captain Jack and his three lead warriors were hanged at Fort Klamath.

The Army sent the remaining 153 Modoc of the band to the Quapaw Agency in Indian Territory as prisoners of war with Scarfaced Charley as their chief. The tribe's spiritual leader, Curley Headed Doctor, also made the removal to Indian Territory.[19] In 1909, after Oklahoma had become a state, members of the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma were offered the chance to return to the Klamath Reservation. Twenty-nine people returned to Oregon; these Modoc of Oregon and their descendants became part of the Klamath Tribes Confederation. Most Modoc (and their descendants) stayed in what was then the state of Oklahoma. As a result, there are federally recognized Modoc tribes in Oregon and Oklahoma today.

Historian Robert Utley has argued that the Modoc War, and the Great Sioux War a few years later, undermined public confidence in President Grant's peace policy, renewing public sentiment to use force against the American Indians in order to suppress them.[20]

Culture

Prior to the nineteenth century, when European explorers first encountered the Modoc, like all Plateau Indians, they caught salmon and migrated seasonally to hunt and gather other food. In winter, they built earthen dug-out lodges shaped like beehives, covered with sticks and plastered with mud, located near lake shores with reliable sources of seeds from aquatic woka plants and fishing.[5]

Language

The original language of the Modoc and that of the Klamath, their neighbors to the north, were branches of the family of Plateau Penutian languages. The Klamath and Modoc languages together are sometimes referred to as Lutuamian languages. Both peoples called themselves maklaks, meaning "people."

To distinguish between the tribes, the Modoc called themselves Moatokni maklaks, from muat meaning "South." The Achomawi, a band of the Pit River tribe, called the Modoc Lutuami, meaning "Lake Dwellers."[5]

Religion

The religion of the Modoc is not known in detail. The number five figured heavily in ritual, as in the Shuyuhalsh, a five-night dance rite of passage for adolescent girls. A sweat lodge was used for purification and mourning ceremonies.

Modoc oral literature is representative of the Plateau region, but with influences from the Northwest Coast, the Great Basin, and central California. Of particular interest are accounts supposedly describing the volcanic origin of Crater Lake in Oregon.

Contemporary Modoc

Contemporary Modoc are divided between Oregon and Oklahoma and are enrolled in either of two federally recognized tribes, the Klamath Tribes in Oregon[21] and the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma.

About 600 members of the tribe currently live in Klamath County, Oregon, in and around their ancestral homelands. This group includes the Modoc families who stayed on the reservation during the Modoc War, as well as the descendants of those who chose to return to Oregon from Oklahoma in 1909. Since that time, many of them have followed the path of the Klamath. The shared tribal government of the Klamath, Modoc, and Yahooskin in Oregon is known as the Klamath Tribes.

The Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma is the smallest federally recognized tribe in Oklahoma.[22] They are descendants of Captain Jack's band of Modoc people, removed from the West Coast after the Modoc Wars to the Quapaw Indian Reservation at the far northeast corner of Oklahoma. The Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma, headquartered in Miami, Oklahoma, was officially recognized by the United States government in 1978, and their constitution was approved in 1991. Of the 250 enrolled tribal members, 120 live within the state of Oklahoma. The Tribe's Chief is Bill Follis, who was instrumental in securing federal re-recognition.[6]

The Oklahoma Modocs operate their own housing authority, a casino, a tribal smoke shop, Red Cedar Recycling, and the Modoc Bison Project as a member of the Inter-Tribal Bison Cooperative. They also issue their own tribal license plates. The Stables Casino is located in Miami, Oklahoma, and includes a restaurant and gift shop.[23] Tribally-owned Red Cedar Recycling provides free cardboard and paper recycling for area businesses and residents and pays market rate for aluminum to recycle. The tribal company also provides educational materials about recycling and hosts tire recycling events.[24] The Modoc Tribe has reintroduced buffalo to the prairie. The Modoc Bison Range, located on part of the original Modoc allotment land, hosts over 100 wild buffalo.[25]

Notes

  1. James Mooney, The Aboriginal Population of America North of Mexico (Washington DC: Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 1928), 18.
  2. Alfred L. Kroeber, Handbook of the Indians of California (New York, NY: Dover Publications, Reprint edition, 2012, ISBN 978-0486233680), 883.
  3. Theodore Stern, "Klamath and Modoc" in Deward E. Walker (ed.), Handbook of North American Indians (Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, 1998).
  4. Alfred L. Kroeber, Handbook of the Indians of California (New York, NY: Dover Publications, 2012, ISBN 978-0486233680), 305–335.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Robert W. Pease, Modoc County (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1965), 46–48.
  6. 6.0 6.1 Patrica Scruggs, Tribal History and Photos The Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  7. This account is described in Dunlay p. 115, and Sides p. 78.
  8. Fremont, Memoirs, p. 492.
  9. John Charles Fremont Las Mariposas Civil War – TheCivilWarDays.com
  10. H. Sides reports the massacre included women and children. Dunlay reports that Carson said, "I directed their houses to be set on fire" and "We gave them something to remember...the women and children we did not interfere with." (Dunlay, p.117)
  11. Sides, Blood and Thunder, p. 87
  12. Harry V. Sproull. Modoc Indian War Lava Beds Natural History Association, 1975.
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 Davis Riddle, History, pp. 28–30.
  14. 14.0 14.1 Modoc NF History, 1945 – Chapter I, General Description United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service.
  15. "Modoc War", California State Military Museum
  16. William Samuel Brown, Chapter II, Early History Emigrant Trails and Indian Warfare History of the Modoc National Forest Retrieved May 15, 2013.
  17. Ben Wright Massacre of 1852. Retrieved May 24, 2013.
  18. Warren A. Beck and Ynez D. Hasse, The Modoc War, 1872 to 1873. California State Military Museum. Retrieved May 25, 2013.
  19. Dan Thrapp, Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography, Volume 1: A-F (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1991, ISBN 978-0803294189).
  20. Robert Marshall Utley, Frontier Regulars: The United States Army and the Indian, 1866-1891 (MacMillan Publishing Company, 1974, ISBN 978-0026212502).
  21. US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Appendix O Federally Recognized Indian Tribes with Interest in the Planning Area Western Oregon Plan Revision Final Environmental Impact Statement For the Revision of the Resource Management Plans of the Western Oregon Bureau of Land Management Districts (Portland, OR: Oregon State Office, Bureau of Land Management), 516–517. Retrieved May 13, 2013.
  22. Burl E. Self, Modoc Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  23. The Stables. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  24. Red Cedar Recycling. Modoc Tribe Office of Environmental Quality. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  25. Bison Range. Retrieved May 21, 2013.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Brown, William Samuel. History of the Modoc National Forest. ASIN B0007F5NK0 Retrieved May 15, 2013.
  • James, Cheewa. Modoc: The Tribe That Wouldn't Die. Naturegraph Publishers, 2008. ISBN 978-0879612757
  • Kroeber, Alfred L. Handbook of the Indians of California. New York, NY: Dover Publications, Reprint edition, 2012. ISBN 978-0486233680
  • Mooney, James. The Aboriginal Population of America North of Mexico. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections No. 80(7), 1928. ASIN B000Z43VTI
  • Murray, Keith A. The Modocs and Their War. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1976. ISBN 978-0806113319
  • Payne, Doris P. Captain Jack, Modoc Renegade. Binford & Mort Pubs, 1979. ISBN 978-0832303401
  • Pease, Robert W. Modoc County. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1965. ASIN B0007DNJF8
  • Pritzker, Barry M. A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0195138771
  • Riddle, Jefferson C. Davis. The Indian History of the Modoc War. Stackpole Books, 2004. ISBN 978-0811729772
  • Smith, J. L. A Chronological History of the Oregon War - 1850-1878. Anchorage, AK: Whitestone Press, 2010. ISBN 978-1456485993
  • Thrapp, Dan. Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography, Volume 1: A-F. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1991. ISBN 978-0803294189
  • Utley, Robert Marshall. Frontier Regulars: The United States Army and the Indian, 1866-1891. MacMillan Publishing Company, 1974. ISBN 978-0026212502
  • Waldman, Carl. Atlas of the North American Indian. New York, NY: Checkmark Books, 2000. ISBN 978-0816039753
  • Waldman, Carl. Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. New York, NY: Checkmark Books, 2006. ISBN 978-0816062744
  • Walker, Deward E. (ed.). Handbook of North American Indians:Plateau 12. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, 1998. ISBN 978-0160495144
  • Yenne, Bill. Indian Wars: The Campaign for the American West. Westholme Publishing, 2008. ISBN 978-1594160691


  • Dunlay, Tom, Kit Carson and the Indians, University of Nebraska Press, 2000.
  • Sabin, Edwin L, Kit Carson Days, vol. 1 & 2, University of Nebraska Press, 1995.
  • Sides, Hampton, Blood and Thunder, Doubleday, 2006. ISBN 0-385-50777-1.
  • Drannan, William F, "Thirty One Years on the Plains and in the Mountians" Rhodes & M'Clure Publishing Co. Chicago, IL 1899


  • Quinn, Arthur. Hell With the Fire Out: A History of the Modoc War, New York: Faber and Faber, 1998


  • Johnston, Terry C. Devil's Backbone: The Modoc War, 1872–3, New York: Macmillan, 1991
  • Riddle, Paxton. Lost River, Berkley Trade Publications, 1999


  • Commissioner of Indian Affairs. 1865. Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior for the Year 1865: Reports of Agents in Oregon U.S. Office of Indian Affairs, Washington, D.C.

External links

All links retrieved

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