Natives versus Army: the Modoc War, 1872-73
Like many Native tribes, strife first arose between the Modoc of California and Americans around the time of the California Gold Rush. Unknown assailants, believed to be Native, attacked and killed some Settlers. The Settlers retaliated against the first Natives they came across, which happened to be a band of Modoc. A young Modoc known to his people as Kintpuash, or to Whites as Captain Jack, lost relatives during this raid. In 1852, a Modoc war party attacked a wagon train and the skirmishing between Settlers and Natives continued. By 1864, the United States government signed a treaty with three tribes, the Klamath, Yahooskin and Modoc, though most of the signatories were Klamath, a traditional enemy of the Modoc. The three tribes agreed to cede millions of acres of land in California and Oregon in exchange for a reservation in Oregon. Kintpuash, now a young warrior, refused to be bound by the treaty and left the Oregon reservation with a few ...