January 17, 1873
On this day, the U.S. Army clashed with members of the Modoc tribe in the lava beds of northern California. The battle gave new meaning to the term “fog of war.”
Soldiers under the command of Lt. Col. Frank Wheaton (left) pursued the Modoc into the forbidding natural fortress. Wheaton’s risky strategy was made worse by the weather when a dense fog blanketed the area overnight. Nevertheless, the Army’s combined force of 400 advanced into the challenging terrain. The Modoc fired on the troops from cover and though seriously outnumbered, they sustained no casualties. U.S. forces, however, suffered some three dozen killed or wounded.
The conflict was remembered as the First Battle for Captain Jack’s Stronghold. Widely known as Captain Jack, his Modac name, Kintpuash, (right) means “strikes the water aggressively” and may have been predictive of his place in history. He and his followers left the Klamath Reservation in southern Oregon following disputes with the Klamath.
It was a cultural blunder by the government reminiscent of the Basque Redondo a decade earlier which placed the Navajo and Mescalero Apache together. Forced to share the reservation with their more powerful rivals, the Modoc were destined to always be in an inferior position.
Joining another band of Modoc under the leadership of Shacknasty Jim, the combined bands numbered about 160. Just 53 men were of fighting age but enough to irritate the Army by establishing toll roads across their territory along the California border.
The conflict hadn’t happened overnight. The Modoc had been removed from the area by the Federal Government amid pressure from white settlement. It was in 1846 when the Applegate brothers, Jesse and Lindsey, established the Applegate Trail, a connecting route from the Oregon Trail near Fort Hall, Utah to the Willamette Valley.
The Applegate brothers, Jessie and Lindsey
The tribe’s agriculturally rich real estate lured literally thousands of emigrants. Over the ensuing two and a half decades, an estimated 300 settlers died in violent skirmishes as did about the same number of Modoc.
Over the ensuing two and a half decades, an estimated 300 settlers died in violent skirmishes as did about the same number of Modoc.
Adding to the cultural missteps, Kintpuash believed the Modoc would be allowed to remain in their homeland as a result of peace talks with the 
government. He entered into months of protracted negations with a federal peace commission, angering the more militant Modoc.
One of Washington’s more reluctant warriors, General Edward Canby, (right) had been posted to command the Pacific Northwest. But rumors of reprisals against the Modoc and pressure from his own people led Kintpuash to cancel talks for a time, angering Canby.
The negotion’s translator, Toby “Winema” Riddle, (left) tried desperately to save the day. While carrying a message to the Stronghold, Riddle, Kintpuach’s cousin, discovered he had hatched a plan to assassinate Canby and the other commissioners. She warned the General of the danger.
It wasn’t the first time Canby had been cautioned about the Modoc’s intentions. A decision debated ever since, General Canby, attempting to dispel rumors of reprisals, reportedly promised he and the commissioners would all attend the talks unarmed. They’d sized up the situation, Canby said, and soldiers would be stationed close enough to intercede at the first sign of trouble.
Apparently not close enough. In the course of talks that became increasingly contentious, Canby and the Rev. Eleazer Thomas and two other representatives were killed. Another commissioner, pastor and peace advocate, Alfred Benjamin Meacham, (left) was shot in the head, stabbed repeatedly and nearly scalped. Riddle, however, prevented the scalping by screaming to the attackers that “the soldiers are coming.”
Kintpuash and his followers escaped once again into the lava beds, 
reportedly killing several settlers along the way.
Furious over the Modoc’s betrayal of the government’s “military procedures,” Colonel Jefferson C. Davis (right) brought in 1,000 regular Army and volunteers to pursue the Modoc. Davis was a heartless campaigner. Burdened by the misfortune of a name similar to the Confederate president, Jefferson L. Davis, he’d been a young officer at Fort Sumter and witnessed the shelling that started the Civil War.
He’d escaped a court-martial after killing 300-pound Gen. William “Bull” Nelson, (right) in a performance evaluation dispute only because the Army couldn’t spare the officers to try him. Davis hoped his previous rank of Brigadier-General would be restored after a successful campaign against the Modoc.
In the end, however, it took a conspiracy to capture Kintpuach. A trio of Modoc leaders, including Shacknasty Jim, (left) agreed to turn him over to the government. He surrendered at Fort Klamath on Oct. 3, 1873. Tried for the murder of Canby, Kintpuash was hanged along with three other con-spirators. Several more were imprisoned.
But it didn’t end there. Kintpuash’s remains along with the other executed Modoc, were decapitated and sent to the Army Medical Museum in Washington. After nearly a quarter century, 
the four skulls were transferred to the Smithsonian Institution. But in the 1970s, the Kintpuach descendents petitioned for their return. In 1984, the Smithsonian complied with the request and relinquished the remains along with those of an unidentified Modoc woman recovered at the Stronghold. (Right, Kintpuach taken shortly before his death)
The Rev. Alfred Meacham, remarkably survived the events at the peace talks. He later organized a lecture series entitled “The Tragedy of the Lava Beds.” Toby “Winema” Riddle and her husband toured with Meacham in his quest for Native American justice. At Meacham’s insistence, Toby was eventually awarded a military pension for her attempts to save the lives of the commissioners.
Lt. Col. Frank Wheaton was relieved of his field command following the first disastrous battle for the Stronghold but recovered sufficiently to retire a Brigadier 
General. He died in 1903 at 70 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
But there was a lot of unhappy data, as well. General Canby, considered by many an honorable but foolhardy soldier, was the highest ranking officer killed in the Indian Wars. Gen. George Armstrong Custer (left) had only attained a permanent rank of lieutenant colonel at the time of his death.
Jefferson C. Davis died a colonel. Following the Modoc War he was assigned to help put down a general strike in St. Louis and died at just 51 while still on active duty. Kintpuash holds the unfortunate title as the only Native American leader ever convicted of a war crime.
Lava Beds National Monument, 1 Indian Well, Tulelake, California, is comprised of 46,000 formidable acres and dozens of lava tube caves. Two dozen have marked entrances. A number of public access trails explore the Great Basin desert landscape and the volcanic field.
Established in 1925, it offers a variety of ranger-led education programs for schools. It includes information on the history of the Modoc people, the 1872 Modoc War and the Civilian Conservation Corps that constructed most of the park’s infrastructure during the Great Depression.
The park’s visitor center is open daily with the exception of Christmas. Hours vary for the trails during the seasons and a number of fees apply. An entrance fee good for 7 days is $25 per vehicle, a 7-day individual fee for bikes, hikers and horseback riders is $15 and $20 for motorcycles. Campsite fees are $10 per night per site. A number of other fees and permits may apply. For more information go to nps.gov/labe, e-mail LABE_Information@nps.gov, call 530-667-8113 or write Lava Beds National Monument, P.O. Box 1240 Tulelake, CA 96134.
© Text Only – 2020 – Headin’ West LLC – All photos – public domain or fair use.
*Head On West strives for historic accuracy and uses a number of sources considered reliable. When research differs on significant facts, the various points of view will be cited.