Captain Jack's Rebellion

Of the once-numerous tribes of the Pacific Northwest, the Modocs had long been among the least noteworthy.  The members of this small tribe, whose homeland was the Oregon-California border, had made a few advances against white settlers in the 1850s but then agreed to share a reservation with their more numerous cousins, the Klamaths.  By the late 1860s friction between the two tribes became so intense that several bands of Modoc dissidents, under the leadership of a chief the whites called Captain Jack, left to settle again in their old homeland.

For a time little was done to get the Modocs back to the reservation, but when a small army detachment arrived in 1872 to do just that, Captain Jack's warriors refused to move.  When the troops ordered the Modocs to disarm, the Indians responded with laughter.  A shot rang out, and a short skirmish followed in which one Indian and on soldier were killed.  The Modocs then fled southward into California, with vengeance on any civilian they cam upon.  By the time they reached the lava beds on the shore of Tule Lake, they had killed 14 white settlers.

The 165 men, women and children of Captain Jack's force occupied an almost impregnable fortress.  On January 17, 1872, 375 troops attacked the force in the fog.  The Modocs easily avoided the howitzer shells and rifle fire and fought so skillfully that the troops had to withdraw.  The government was embarrassed and beefed up the troops to 700 men and also sent a peace commission under General Edward R. Canby to talk with the Indians. 

It was then that Captain Jack made a fatal mistake.  His medicine man had urged to kill the general believing that a leaderless army would lost heart for battle.  During the peace talks the Indians attacked Canby and a Methodist minister.  Peace and compromise was gone.  The nation was outraged that General Sherman wanted to exterminate the Indians. 

Several battles later the Indians were forced to surrender and Captain Jack was captured and hanged.  The surviving Modocs were shipped off to a malaria invested corner of Indian Territory.  Captain Jack's body was shipped to Washington for exhibition in a museum...

Next time...Chief Joseph and the Nez Perces
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On February 5, 1883, the Southern Pacific Railroad completes its transcontinental “Sunset Route” from New Orleans to California, consolidating its dominance over rail traffic to the Pacific.