Editing Modoc War (section)

==Events leading up to the war==
The first known explorers from the United States to go through the Modoc country were [[John C. Frémont|John Charles Frémont]] together with [[Kit Carson]] and [[Billy Chinook]] in 1843. On the night of May 9, 1846, Frémont received a message brought to him by Lieutenant [[Archibald Gillespie]], from President [[James Polk]] about the possibility of war with Mexico. Reviewing the messages, Frémont neglected the customary measure of posting a watchman for the camp. Carson was concerned but "apprehended no danger".<ref>This account is described in Dunlay p. 115, and Sides p. 78.</ref> Later that night Carson was awakened by the sound of a thump. Jumping up, he saw his friend and fellow trapper [[Basil Lajeunesse]] sprawled in blood. He sounded an alarm and immediately the camp realized they were under attack by Native Americans, estimated to be several dozen in number. By the time the assailants were beaten off, two other members of Frémont's group were dead. The one dead attacker was judged to be a Klamath Lake native. Frémont's group fell into "an angry gloom."<ref>Fremont, ''Memoirs'', p. 492.</ref>

In retaliation, Frémont attacked a [[Klamath Tribes|Klamath Tribe]] fishing village named Dokdokwas, that most likely had nothing to do with the attack, at the junction of the [[Williamson River (Oregon)|Williamson River]] and Klamath Lake, on May 10, 1846.<ref>[https://www.thecivilwardays.com/John_Charles_Fremont.html John Charles Fremont] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120723120241/https://www.thecivilwardays.com/John_Charles_Fremont.html |date=2012-07-23 }} Las Mariposas Civil War – TheCivilWarDays.com</ref> Accounts by scholars vary, but they agree that the attack completely destroyed the village structures; Sides reports the expedition killed women and children as well as warriors.<ref>H. Sides reports the massacre included women and children. Dunlay reports that Carson said, "I directed their houses to be set on fire" and "We gave them something to remember ... the women and children we did not interfere with." (Dunlay, p.117)</ref>

<blockquote>The tragedy of Dokdokwas is deepened by the fact that most scholars now agree that Frémont and Carson, in their blind vindictiveness, probably chose the wrong tribe to lash out against: In all likelihood the band of native Americans that had killed [Frémont's three men] were from the neighboring [[Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma|Modoc]] ... The Klamaths were culturally related to the Modocs, but the two tribes were bitter enemies.<ref>Sides, ''Blood and Thunder'', p. 87</ref> </blockquote>

Although most of the "[[California Gold Rush|49ers]]" missed the Modoc country, in March 1851 [[Abraham Thompson]], a mule train packer, discovered gold near [[Yreka, California|Yreka]] while traveling along the [[Siskiyou Trail]] from southern Oregon. The discovery sparked the [[California Gold Rush]] area to expand from the [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada]] into [[Northeastern California]]. By April 1851, 2,000 miners had arrived in "Thompson's Dry Diggings" through the southern route of the old [[Emigrant Trail]] to test their luck, which took them straight through Modoc territory.<ref name=Sproull>Harry V. Sproull. [https://books.google.com/books?id=pXHFPwAACAAJ ''Modoc Indian War''], Lava Beds Natural History Association, 1975.</ref>

===First hostilities===
[[File:Schonchin Butte.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Schonchin Butte]], a [[cinder cone]] named for Old [[Schonchin]], a chief of the [[Modoc people]] during the late nineteenth century.]]
Although the Modoc initially had no trouble with Americans, after the murders of settlers in a raid by the [[Pit River Tribe]], an American militia unit, not familiar with the Indian peoples, retaliated by attacking an innocent Modoc village, killing men, women and children.<ref name="Riddle"/> ([[Kintpuash]], the future chief also known as Captain Jack, survived the attack but lost some of his family.) To try to end the American encroachment, some Modoc chose to attack the next whites they encountered. In September 1852 the Modoc attacked a wagon train of some 65 men, women, and children on their way to California.<ref name=fsusda>[http://www.fs.usda.gov/detailfull/modoc/learning/history-culture/?cid=stelprdb5310669&width=full Modoc NF History, 1945 – Chapter I, General Description] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529122322/http://www.fs.usda.gov/detailfull/modoc/learning/history-culture/?cid=stelprdb5310669&width=full |date=2014-05-29 }} [[United States Department of Agriculture]], Forest Service.</ref>

One badly wounded man escaped to the Oregon settlements in Willamette Valley and told of the attack. His report spread quickly and Oregon volunteers who later reached the scene, reported bodies of men, women and children mutilated and scattered for more than a mile along the lake shore and their wagons plundered and burned.<ref name=fsusda /> The location became known as [[Bloody Point (Oregon)|Bloody Point]].<ref name="Riddle"/><ref name="milmuseum">[http://www.militarymuseum.org/Modoc1.html "Modoc War"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061108003019/http://www.militarymuseum.org/Modoc1.html |date=2006-11-08 }}, California State Military Museum</ref> In another round of retaliation, California [[militia]] led by an Indian fighter named Ben Wright killed 41 Modoc at a peace [[parley]].<ref name="Riddle">Davis Riddle, ''History'', pp. 28–30.</ref> [[John Schonchin]], the brother of the Modoc chief, was one of the natives who escaped.

===Great Treaty of Council Grove===
Rounds of hostilities continued in the area as American settlers continued to encroach on Modoc land and urged the government to take over the territory. Warriors of the Klamath and the Yahooskin also attacked settlers and migrants in efforts to repulse them. In 1864 the United States and the [[Klamath people|Klamath]], Modoc, and Yahooskin band—over 1000 Indians, mostly Klamath—signed a treaty, by which the Indians ceded millions of acres of lands and the US established the [[Klamath Reservation]], within the boundaries of present-day Oregon. Under the treaty terms, the Modoc, with Old Chief ''[[Schonchin]]'' as their leader, gave up their lands in the [[Lost River (California)|Lost River]], [[Tule Lake]] and [[Lower Klamath Lake]] regions of California, and moved to a reservation in the [[Upper Klamath River]] Valley. In return, the Indians would receive food, blankets, and clothing for as many years as would be required to establish themselves.<ref name=Sproull /> Allen David signed for the Klamath, while Old Schonchin and Kintpuash for the Modoc. Looking around for something to give emphasis to his pledge, Schonchin pointed to the distant butte and dramatically declared, "That mountain shall fall, before Schonchin will again raise his hand against his white brother."<ref name=fsusda /> The old chief kept his word, although his brother and Kintpuash repudiated signing the treaty and left the reservation with a few followers.

===Captain Jack===
While the old Modoc chief remained in the reservation, Kintpuash returned to [[Lost River (Oregon)|Lost River]] and led an abusive harassment against the white settlers who had occupied the area. The small Modoc group of about 43 Indians demanded rent for the occupation of their land, which most settlers paid. After a few attempts to negotiate in behalf of the complaining settlers, including failed attempts by Agent Lindsay Applegate in 1864–6<ref>Davis Riddle, ''History'', p. 252.</ref> and Superintendent Huntington in 1867, the Modoc finally relocated in 1869 following a council between [[Kintpuash]] (also known as Captain Jack); [[Alfred B. Meacham]], the US Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Oregon that replaced Huntington; O.C. Knapp, the US Indian agent on the reservation; [[Ivan DeCounter Applegate|Ivan D. Applegate]], sub-agent at Yainax on the reservation; and [[William.C. McKay]]. Meacham was from Oregon, and knew Captain Jack and the Modoc.

When soldiers suddenly appeared at the meeting, the Modoc warriors fled, leaving behind their women and children. Meacham placed the women and children in wagons and started for the reservation. He allowed "Queen Mary", Captain Jack's sister, to go meet with Captain Jack to persuade him to move to the reservation. She succeeded. Once on the reservation, Captain Jack and his band prepared to make their permanent home at [[Modoc Point]].
[[File:General Edward Canby 525.jpg|thumb|right|Major General E.R.S Canby]]

===Mistreatment by the Klamath===
Shortly after the Modoc started building their homes, however, the [[Klamath people|Klamath]], longtime rivals, began to steal the Modoc lumber. The Modoc complained, but the US Indian agent could not protect them against the Klamath. Captain Jack's band moved to another part of the reservation. Several attempts were made to find a suitable location, but the Klamath continued to harass the band.

In 1870, Captain Jack and his band of nearly 200 left the reservation and returned to Lost River.  During the months that his band had been on the reservation, a number of settlers had taken up former Modoc land in the Lost River region.

===Return to Lost River===
[[File:Captain Jack (Kintpuash), a Modoc subchief, executed October 3, 1873, bust-length, full-face, 1873 - NARA - 533242.jpg|thumb|Captain Jack]]
Acknowledging the bad feeling between the Modoc and the Klamath, Meacham recommended to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in [[Washington, D.C.]] that Captain Jack's Modoc band be given a separate reservation at Yainax, in the lower southern part of the reservation. Pending a decision, Meacham instructed Captain Jack to remain at Clear Lake. Oregon settlers complained that Modoc warriors roamed the countryside raiding the homesteads; they petitioned Meacham to return the Modoc to the Klamath Reservation. In part, the Modoc raided for food; the US did not adequately supply them. Captain Jack and his band did better in their old territory with hunting.