Modoc War 1872-1873

Also called the Lava Beds War. In 1870, a band of Modoc Indians, led by Chief Kintpuash, known to the whites as Captain Jack, left the Klamath Indian Reservation in southern Oregon to reclaim Modoc ancestral lands near Lost River in northern California. Attempts to return the Indians failed. About 80 Modoc warriors and their families retreated to the lava beds, a natural fortress of caves and ravines, near Tulelake, California. In November 1872, US cavalry began a series of sieges against the Modoc, who successfully held their ground. At a peace conference in April 1873, Capatin Jack shot General Edward R. S. Canby (1817-73) to death, causing the US troops to intensify their efforts to crush the Modocs. In late May 1873, Captain Jack with a much reduced force was forced out of the lava beds, pursued, and captured. He was hanged at Fort Klamath on October 3, 1873. Some of the Modocs were returned to the reservation in Oregon, and some were sent to Oklahoma.

References

Dictionary of Wars, 300-1.

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