Editing Modoc War (section)

{{Short description|1872–73 conflict between the Native American Modoc people and the U.S. Army}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=April 2008}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Modoc War
| caption           = Engraving of soldiers recovering the bodies of the slain May 3, 1873
| date              = July 6, 1872 – June 4, 1873
| place             = [[California]] and [[Oregon]], United States
| result            = United States victory
| combatant1        = [[Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma|Modoc]]
| combatant2        = {{flagicon image|Flag_of_the_United_States_(1867–1877).svg}} [[United States]]
| commander1        = [[Kintpuash]]<br />[[Scarface Charley]]<br />[[Shaknasty Jim]]
| commander2        = [[Frank Wheaton]]<br />[[John Green (US Army officer)|John Green]]<br />Reuben Benard<br />[[Alvan Gillem]]<br />Edwin Cooley Mason<br />[[Jefferson C. Davis]]<br />[[Edward Canby]] {{KIA}}<br />[[Donald McKay (scout)|Donald McKay]]<br />[[Billy Chinook]]
| strength1         = 120 warriors<ref name="history.army.mil">{{Cite web |url=http://www.history.army.mil/html/reference/army_flag/iw.html |title=INDIAN WARS Campaigns |access-date=2010-07-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100808023530/http://www.history.army.mil/html/reference/army_flag/iw.html |archive-date=2010-08-08 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| strength2         = 1,000 infantry, scouts and cavalry<ref name="history.army.mil">{{Cite web |url=http://www.history.army.mil/html/reference/army_flag/iw.html |title=INDIAN WARS Campaigns |access-date=2010-07-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100808023530/http://www.history.army.mil/html/reference/army_flag/iw.html |archive-date=2010-08-08 |url-status=dead }}</ref><br />2 [[howitzer]]s
| casualties1       = 17 warriors killed<ref name="siskiyou-county-online.com">{{Cite web |url=http://siskiyou-county-online.com/Modoc_Indian_War.html |title=Modoc Indian War |access-date=2016-06-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160811102814/http://siskiyou-county-online.com/Modoc_Indian_War.html |archive-date=2016-08-11 |url-status=dead }}</ref><br />39 warriors captured<ref name="siskiyou-county-online.com">{{Cite web |url=http://siskiyou-county-online.com/Modoc_Indian_War.html |title=Modoc Indian War |access-date=2016-06-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160811102814/http://siskiyou-county-online.com/Modoc_Indian_War.html |archive-date=2016-08-11 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| casualties2       = 83 soldiers and volunteers killed<ref name="siskiyou-county-online.com">{{Cite web |url=http://siskiyou-county-online.com/Modoc_Indian_War.html |title=Modoc Indian War |access-date=2016-06-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160811102814/http://siskiyou-county-online.com/Modoc_Indian_War.html |archive-date=2016-08-11 |url-status=dead }}</ref><br />46 wounded
| image             = The_Modoc_War_--_Soldiers_Recovering_the_Bodies_of_the_Slain.jpg
}}
{{Campaignbox Indian wars and conflicts of California}}

The '''Modoc War''', or the '''Modoc Campaign''' (also known as the '''Lava Beds War'''), was an armed conflict between the [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] [[Modoc people]] and the [[United States Army]] in northeastern [[California]] and southeastern [[Oregon]] from 1872 to 1873.<ref>Beck, Warren A. and Ynez D. Hasse. [http://www.militarymuseum.org/Modoc1.html The Modoc War, 1872 to 1873.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061108003019/http://www.militarymuseum.org/Modoc1.html |date=2006-11-08 }} ''California State Military Museum.'' (10 Feb 2008)</ref> [[Eadweard Muybridge]] photographed the early part of the US Army's campaign.

[[Kintpuash]], also known as Captain Jack, led 52 warriors in a band of more than 150 Modoc people who left the [[Klamath Reservation]]. Occupying defensive positions throughout the lava beds south of [[Tule Lake]] (in present-day [[Lava Beds National Monument]]), those few warriors resisted for months the more numerous United States Army forces sent against them, which were reinforced with artillery. In April 1873 at a peace commission meeting, Captain Jack and others killed General [[Edward Canby]] and Rev. Eleazer Thomas, and wounded two others, mistakenly believing this would encourage the Americans to leave. The Modoc fled back to the lava beds. After U.S. forces were reinforced, some Modoc warriors surrendered and Captain Jack and the last of his band were captured. Jack and five warriors were tried for the murders of the two peace commissioners. Jack and three warriors were executed and two others sentenced to life in prison.

The remaining 153 Modoc of the band were sent to [[Indian Territory]] (pre-statehood Oklahoma), where they were held as prisoners of war until 1909, settled on reservation land with the [[Shawnee]]. Some at that point were allowed to return to the Klamath Reservation in Oregon. Most Modoc (and their descendants) stayed in what became the state of [[Oklahoma]]. They achieved separate federal recognition and were granted some land in Oklahoma. There are two federally recognized Modoc tribes: in Oregon and Oklahoma.