CHAPTER XXII.

THE MODOC WAR.

1864-1873.

LAND OF THE MODOCS-KEINTPOOS, OR CAPTAIN JACK-AGENTS, SUPERINTENDENTS, AND TREATIES-KEINTPOOS DECLINES TO GO ON A RESERVATION-RAIDS-TROOPS IN PURSUIT JACK TAKES TO THE LAVA-BEDS— APPOINTMENT OF A PEACE COMMISSIONER-ASSASSINATION OF Canby, THOMAS, AND SHERWOOD-JACK INVESTED IN HIS STRONGHOLD-HE ESCAPES CRUSHING DEFEAT OF TROOPS UNDER THOMAS-CAPTAIN JACK PURSUED, CAUGHT, AND EXECUTED.

THE Modoc war, fought almost equally in California and Oregon, is presented in this volume because that tribe belonged to the Oregon superintendency, and for other reasons which will appear as I proceed. From the time that certain of Frémont's men were killed on the shore of Klamath Lake down to 1864, when superintendent Huntington of Oregon entered into a treaty with them and the Klamaths, the Modocs1 had been the implacable enemies of the white race, and were not on much more friendly terms with other tribes of their own race, sustaining a warlike character everywhere. They lived on the border-land between California and Oregon, but chiefly in the latter, the old head chief, Sconchin, having his home on Sprague River, which flows into the upper Klamath Lake, and the subchiefs in different localities.

Keintpoos, a young subchief, had his headquarters

1 Modoc, according to E. Steele of Yreka, is a Shasta word signifying 'stranger,' or 'hostile stranger,' and came into use as a name by white miners, through hearing the Shastas use it. Ind. Aff. Rept, 1864, 121. Linsey Applegate, who is familiar with their history, has a list of persons killed by them, to the number of 95. Historical Correspondence, MS.

anywhere about Tule Lake, ranging the country from Link River, between the two Klamath lakes, to Yreka, in California. He was called Captain Jack by the white settlers, on account of some military ornaments which he had added to his ordinary shirt, trousers, and cap; was not an unadulterated savage, having lived long enough about mining camps to acquire some of the vices of civilization, and making money by the prostitution of the women of his band more than by honest labor. Some of the boys of this band of Modocs were employed as house-servants in Yreka, by which means they acquired a good understanding of the English language, and at the same time failed not to learn whatever of evil practices they observed among their superiors of the white race. During the civil war they heard much about the propriety of killing off the white people of the north, and other matters in harmony with their savage instincts; and being unable to comprehend the numerical strength of the American people, conceived the notion that this was a favorable time to make war upon them, while their soldiers were fighting a long way off.

E. Steele, Indian superintendent of California, when he entered upon the duties of his office in 1863, found the Klamaths and Modocs, under their chiefs Lalake and Sconchin, preparing to make war upon southern Oregon and northern California, having already begun to perpetrate those thefts and murders which are a sure prelude to a general outbreak. The operations of the 1st Oregon cavalry and the establishment of Fort Klamath to prevent these outrages are known to the reader. In February 1864 the Modocs on the border of Oregon and California, who spent much of their time in Yreka, being alarmed lest punishment should overtake them for conscious crimes, sought the advice of Steele, who, ignoring the fact that they had been allotted to the Oregon superintendency, took the responsibility of making with them a treaty of friendship and peace. This agreement was between Steele

individually and Keintpoos' band of Modocs, and required nothing of them but to refrain from quarrels amongst themselves, and from theft, murder, childselling, drunkenness, and prostitution in the white settlements. The penalty for breaking their agreement was, to be given up to the soldiers. The treaty permitted them to follow any legitimate calling, to charge a fair price for ferrying travellers across streams, and to act as guides, if desired to do so. On the part of the white people, Steele promised protection when they came to the settlements, but advised their obtaining passes from the officers at Fort Klamath, to which they were informed that they would be required to report themselves for inspection.

This action of Steele's, although prompted by a desire to prevent an outbreak, was severely criticised later. He was aware that congress had granted an appropriation for the purpose of making an official treaty between the superintendent of Oregon, the Modocs, and the Klamaths, and that the latter had been fed during the winter previous at the fort, in anticipation of this treaty. For him to come in with an individual engagement was to lay the foundation for trouble with the Modocs, who were entirely satisfied with a treaty, which left them free to visit the mining camps, and to perpetrate any peccadilloes which they were cunning enough to conceal, while a government treaty which would restrain them from such privileges was not likely to be so well received or kept. Keintpoos did, however, agree to the treaty of October 1864, at the council-grounds on Sprague River, whereby the Klamaths and Modocs relinquished to the United States all the territory ranged by them, except a certain large tract lying north of Lost River Valley.

Sconchin, the head chief of all the Modocs, was now an old man. In his fighting days he had given immigrants and volunteer companies plenty to do to avoid his arrows. It was through his warlike activities.

that the rocky pass round the head of Tule Lake came to be called Bloody Point. Yet he had observed the conditions of the treaty faithfully, living with his band at his old home on Sprague River, within the limits of the reservation, and keeping his people quiet. But Keintpoos, or Captain Jack, as I shall henceforth call him, still continued to occupy Lost River Meadows, a favorite grazing-ground, where his band usually wintered their ponies, and to live as before a life combining the pleasures of savagery and civilization, keeping his agreement neither with Steele nor the United States, two of his followers being arrested in 1867 for distributing ammunition to the hostile Snakes.

This practice, with other infringements of treaty obligations, led the agent in charge of the Klamath reservation in 1868 to solicit military aid from the fort to compel them to go upon the reserve,2 which was not at that time granted.

3

In 1869 the settlers of Siskiyou county, California, petitioned General Crook, in command of the Oregon department, to remove the Modocs to their reservation, saying that their presence in their midst was detrimental to the interests of the people. Crook replied that he would have done so before but for a report emanating from Fort Klamath that the Indian agent did not feed them. After some weeks, however, he, on the demand of Superintendent A. B. Meacham, ordered Lieutenant Goodale, commanding at Fort Klamath, to put Jack and his band upon the reserve if in his belief the Indian department was prepared to care for them properly. Accordingly, in December, Meacham obtained a detachment of troops and repaired to the ford on Lost River, where he had an interview with Jack, informing him of the purpose of the government to exact the observance of the

Yreka Journal, Nov. 15, 1867; Woodbridge Messenger, Nov. 23, 1867; Ind. Aff. Rept, 1868, 124.

3

Military Correspondence, Oct. 14, and Dec. 7, 1869; Ind. Aff. Rept, 1869, 155; Portland Oregonian, Aug. 4, 1868.

MEACHAM AND CAPTAIN JACK.

559

treaty. Jack hesitated and prevaricated, and during the night fled with a part of his followers to the lavabeds south of Tule Lake, leaving the camp in charge of two subchiefs, George and Riddle. But Meacham remained upon the ground, and after two or three days' correspondence with Jack by means of messengers, obtained his consent to come upon the reservation with his people, Jack at the same time confiding his resolve to George not to remain longer than he found it agreeable. Meacham established Jack comfortably at Modoc Point, on Klamath Lake, by his own desire, where also Sconchin was temporarily located while improvements were being made upon the lands intended for cultivation.

As I have intimated, the military department threw doubts upon the manner in which the Indian depart-. ment provided for the wants of the Indians; and to prevent any occasion being given to Jack to violate treaty obligations, Captain O. C. Knapp was commissioned agent," who was profuse in his allowances to the Modocs in order to cultivate their regard. But all in vain. Early in the spring Jack, pretending to be starved, but in reality longing for the dissipations of Yreka, and designing, by drawing away as many as possible of Sconchin's men, to become a full chief, left the reservation with his band, and returned to Lost River Valley, which was now being settled up by white cattle-raisers. This movement of Jack's caused Meacham to accuse Knapp of permitting the Klamaths to annoy and insult the Modocs, thus provoking them to flight. Meacham was a man with a hobby. believed that he knew all about the savage race, and how to control it. Like Steele, when he accepted the chieftainship of Jack's band in 1864, he was flat

He

*O. C. Applegate's Modoc History, MS., 2. This is a full and competent account of Modoc affairs from 1864 to 1873. No one has a more thorough and intelligent knowledge of the customs, manners, ideas, and history of this tribe than Mr Applegate.

5 Military officers were, in the autumn of 1869, substituted for other agents at each of the reservations in eastern Oregon, and at several in California. Ind. Aff. Rept, 1870, 51.