Editing Toby Riddle

{{Short description|Native American Modoc woman (c. 1848 – 1920)}}
{{redirect|Winema|the steamboat|Winema (sternwheeler)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Infobox Native American leader
| image           = Image:Winema.jpg
| caption         =
| tribe           = [[Modoc people|Modoc]]
| lead            =
| birth_name = {{lang|kla|Nannookdoowah|italic=no}} ({{gloss|strange child}})
| birth_date      = c. 1848
| birth_place     =
| death_date      = 1920
| death_place     =
| predecessor     =
| successor       =
| known_for       = Interpreter in negotiations between the Modoc tribe and the [[United States Army]] during the [[Modoc War]]
| death_cause     =
| resting_place   =
| rp_coordinates  =
| religion        =
| party           =
| education       =
| spouse          = Frank Riddle
| children        = Jeff C. Riddle
| parents         =
| relations       = [[Kintpuash]] (second cousin)
| signature       =
| footnotes       =
}}
[[Image:Modoc women.jpg|thumb|right|L to R, standing: US Indian agent, Winema (Toby) and her husband Frank Riddle; other Modoc women in front, 1873]]
'''Toby''' "'''Winema'''" '''Riddle''' (born {{lang|kla|'''Nannookdoowah'''|italic=no}}; c. 1848 – 1920) was a [[Modoc people|Modoc]] woman who served as an [[interpreter]] in negotiations between the [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] Modoc tribe and the [[United States Army]] during the [[Modoc War]] (also called the [[Lava Beds National Monument|Lava Beds]] War). She warned the peace commission of a possible Modoc attack, and she saved the life of the chairman [[Alfred B. Meacham]] when the 1873 attack took place.

She and her family toured with Meacham after the war, starring in his lecture-play "Tragedy of the Lava Beds", to inform American people about the war.  Meacham later published a book about Winema, which he dedicated to her.  In 1891 Toby Riddle was one of the few Native American women to be awarded a military [[pension]] by the [[United States Congress]], for her heroic actions during the peace negotiations in 1873. (Her first name also appears spelled as "Tobey" in historical records.)

==Early life and education==
She was born '''Nannookdoowah''', which means "strange child," as she was born with red-tinted hair.<ref name="Herrera"/> As a girl, she was named Winema'','' (woman chief) after rescuing some playmates from being caught in cascades in their canoe.<ref name="Bales">Bales, Rebecca. [https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/spring/winema.html "Winema and the Modoc War: One Woman's Struggle for Peace"], ''Prologue Magazine'', Spring 2005, Vol. 37, No. 1, National Archives 2005, Retrieved 30 October 2011</ref> As a young woman, she was said to have ridden with raiding parties of men to gather horses from enemy camps.<ref name="Herrera"/> Winema was a cousin of [[Kintpuash]] (also known as Captain Jack), the leader of the Modoc tribe at the time of the Modoc War.<ref name="Herrera">[http://www-tc.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/static/media/transcripts/2011-05-23/809_modocbasket.pdf  Episode 809: Story 2: "Modoc Basket"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814223647/http://www-tc.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/static/media/transcripts/2011-05-23/809_modocbasket.pdf |date=14 August 2022 }}, ''History Detectives'', PBS, account by Debra Herrera, great-great-granddaughter of Toby Riddle, Retrieved 31 October 2011</ref>

==Marriage and family==
Winema married Frank Riddle, a white settler who had emigrated from [[Kentucky]] to [[California]] during the [[California Gold Rush]]. They settled near her family in the [[Lost River (California)|Lost River]] area and had a son, ''Charka'' ("the handsome one"). They also named him Jefferson C. Davis Riddle, in honor of the Army general [[Jefferson C. Davis]] who ended the Modoc War.

==Interpreters==
Winema Riddle was one of several Modoc who learned English, and her husband Frank had learned her language.  They both served as interpreters before and during negotiations related to the creation of the Klamath Reservation.

They served as interpreters again to the peace commission appointed in 1873 to settle the [[Modoc War]].<ref name = "indianschooljournal1915">[https://catalog.archives.gov/id/2745554 History of the Modoc War by Indians] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170824093740/https://catalog.archives.gov/id/2745554 |date=24 August 2017 }}. Indian School Journal: Volume 16, Number 3, p. 230</ref> During the 1873 negotiations, sometimes Winema carried messages between [[Edward Canby|General Edward Canby]] and Kintpuash'';'' as a woman, she was considered peaceful. After taking a message to Captain Jack's Stronghold to schedule a peace talk, Winema learned of a Modoc plot to assassinate Canby. She warned the peace commission, but they went on as planned with the meeting. Canby and Thomas were killed by Modoc, and other peace commissioners and staff were wounded. Toby Riddle was there and saved [[Alfred B. Meacham]] from being scalped and killed.<ref name="Herrera"/><ref name="Bales"/>

Afterward the US Army, commanded by General [[Jefferson C. Davis]], finally captured Captain Jack and other Modoc leaders. They were tried and convicted before a US military court, and Captain Jack and three others were executed. 153 members of the band were removed as prisoners of war to [[Indian Territory]] in present-day [[Oklahoma]]. Some other Modoc, including the Riddle family, returned to the Klamath Reservation.<ref name="Bales"/>

Meacham continued to champion [[Native American civil rights|Native American rights]]. He wrote a lecture-play "Tragedy of the Lava Beds",<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=KqpOcAAACAAJ&dq=Alfred%20B.%20Meacham%2C%20minister&source=gbs_book_other_versions Thomas Augustus Bland, ''Life of Alfred B. Meacham'' and Alfred B. Meacham, "Tragedy of the Lava Beds"], Kessinger Publishing LLC, 2010</ref> starring Winema, Frank, and their son Jeff, and toured with them and Klamath representatives across the country for the next two years. They reached New York before returning to make their home in Oregon.<ref>[http://www.thehistorychannelclub.com/articles/articletype/articleview/articleid/251/winema-peacemaker Rebecca Bales, "Winema, Peacemaker"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120405222026/http://www.thehistorychannelclub.com/articles/articletype/articleview/articleid/251/winema-peacemaker |date=5 April 2012 }}, The History Channel Club, 2011, Retrieved 31 October 2011</ref> Meacham said that ''Wi-ne-ma'' was popular with audiences, as she had worked for peace between the peoples.<ref name = "Herrera" /> He also published a book about Winema in 1876 and dedicated it to her:

<blockquote>This book is written with the avowed purpose of doing honor to the heroic Wi-ne-ma who at the peril of her life sought to save the ill fated peace commission to the Modoc Indians in 1873. The woman to whom the writer is indebted, under God, for saving his life.<ref name="Herrera"/><ref name="Meacham"/></blockquote>

Meacham wrote, the name of

<blockquote>Winema has taken its place beside those of [[Sarah Winnemucca|Sara Winnimucca]] and [[Sacajawea]] in the annals of the early west.  The personal daring of these Indian Women and the roles they played as negotiators between their people and the palefaces have lifted them above considerations of race into the ranks of the great women of all time.<ref name="Meacham">Alfred B. Meacham, ''Wi-ne-ma (The Woman Chief) and Her People'', Hartford: American Publishing Company'', 1876</ref></blockquote>

Because of her heroic role in trying to save the peace commissioners during the 1873 talks, Meacham petitioned Congress to award Riddle a military pension. In 1891 the US Congress authorized a military pension for Toby Riddle of $25 per month, which she received until her death in 1920.<ref name="Bales"/> Toby and Frank's son Jeff C. Riddle wrote his own account of the Modoc War, to give the Indian perspective, which he published in 1914.

Toby attended the [[Centennial Exposition]] of 1876 in Philadelphia, and the [[Panama–Pacific International Exposition]] in San Francisco in 1915. In later years, Riddle lived at [[Yainax Butte|Yainax Butte, Oregon]], on the Klamath Reservation.<ref name = "indianschooljournal1915" /> Many of the Riddle descendants continue to live in the area of the [[Klamath Reservation]].

==Legacy and honors==
* Winema Riddle was one of the few Native American women to be honored by the US Congress authorizing a military pension for her because of her heroism.
* Several regional landmarks are named "Winema" in her honor, including the [[Winema National Forest]].

==References==
<references />

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last=Allen|first= James Michael|year= 1956|title= Wi-ne-ma| publisher=Vantage Press|location=New York}} {{LCCN|565502}} {{oclc|3508308}}
* {{cite book|last=Harris|first=Gloria G.|author2=Hannah S. Cohen|title=Women Trailblazers of California: Pioneers to the Present|chapter=Chapter 2. Settlers – Toby 'Winema' Riddle: Native American Peace Negotiator|pages=26–43 [33–36]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pzkcBjl2OXoC|year=2012|location=Charleston, SC|publisher=The History Press|isbn=978-1609496753}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* {{cite book|last= Meacham|first= Alfred B.|title= Wi-ne-ma (The Woman Chief) and Her People|location= Hartford|publisher= American Publishing Company|year= 1876|url=https://archive.org/details/winemwomanchiefa00meacrich }}
* {{cite book |last1=Payne |first1=Doris Palmer |title=Captain Jack: Modoc Renegade |date=1979 |publisher=Binford & Mort |location=Portland |isbn=978-0832303401}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/spring/winema.html Rebecca Bales, "Winema and the Modoc War: One Woman's Struggle for Peace"], ''Prologue Magazine'', The National Archives
*[https://archive.org/stream/indianhistoryofm00riddrich#page/14/mode/2up Jeff C. Riddle, ''The Indian History of the Modoc War, and the Causes that Led to It''], Marnell and Company, 1914, Internet Archives, online text with photos
*[http://video.pbs.org/video/1918360791 PBS "History Detectives" episode about Toby Riddle]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riddle, Toby}}
[[Category:1840s births]]
[[Category:1920 deaths]]
[[Category:Native American women in warfare]]
[[Category:Modoc people]]
[[Category:People of the Modoc War]]
[[Category:People from Klamath County, Oregon]]
[[Category:Women in 19th-century warfare]]
[[Category:Military history of Native Americans]]
[[Category:United States Army women civilians]]
[[Category:20th-century Native American people]]
[[Category:20th-century Native American women]]
[[Category:19th-century Native American women]]
[[Category:Native American people from Oregon]]