USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. II, 1848-1888 > Part 55
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+O. C. Applegate's Modoc History, MS., 2. This is a full and competent account of Modoc affairs from 1864 to 1873. No one has a more thorough and intelligent knowledge of the customs, manners, ideas, and history of this tribe than Mr Applegate.
3 Military officers were, in the autumn of 1869, substituted for other agents at each of the reservations in eastern Oregon, and at several in California. Ind. Aff. Rept, 1870, 51.
560
THE MODOC WAR.
tered by the distinction of being the friend of these wild people, and his theory was that he could govern them through his hold on their esteem. Knapp was accused by Jack of causing his people to labor at mak- ing rails for fencing, with providing insufficient food, and with moving them from place to place, although he had only proposed to remove them to land more suitable for opening farms, and furnished with wood and grass,6 and this, Meacham said, was reason enough
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R.
THE MODOC COUNTRY.
for their leaving the reservation. He now called upon the commandant of the fort to take measures to return Jack and his band to the reserve, and also insisted upon the relative positions of the civil superintendent and military agent being made clear by the depart- ment at Washington. Having a military agent did not seem to work well, since Captain Knapp, through his knowledge of affairs at the fort, and the inefficiency of Goodale's command, refrained from making a requi-
· Military Correspondence, MS., March 18, 1873.
Trail
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Betnird's train attacked Bernard's train attacked.
BEDS.
Tack.surrendered
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OR
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561
PREPARATIONS FOR TROUBLE.
sition upon him, when in his character of agent it was his duty to have done so. This neglect caused Goodale to be censured, who promptly placed the blame upon Knapp, while admitting the soundness of his judg- ment.7 Owing to the inferiority of the force at Klamath, no steps were taken for a year and a half to bring back the Modocs under Jack to the reservation, during which time they roamed at will from one re- sort to another, making free use of the beef of the settlers on Lost River, and by their insolence each summer frightening the women into flight.8
In August 1870 General Crook was relieved from the command of the Department of the Columbia by General E. R. S. Canby, and sent to fight the Ind- ians of Arizona, for which purpose all the military stations in Oregon were depleted.9 At Fort Klam- ath there was one company, K, of the 23d infantry under Lieutenant Goodale, and no cavalry, while at Camp Warner, over a hundred miles to the east, there were two companies, one being cavalry, neither post being strong enough to assist the other, and both having to keep in check a large number of Indians subdued by Crook, but not yet trusted to remain quies- cent.
There were certain other elements to be taken into account in considering the causes which led to the Modoc war. The Klamaths used formerly to be allies of the Modocs, although they seem never to have been so fierce in disposition; but after being settled on the reserve and instructed, and especially after Lalake, their old chief, was deposed, being sup- planted by a remarkable young Klamath, named by
7 Letter of Goodale, in Military Correspondence, MS., May 16, 1870.
8 Jack's band used to range up and down among the rancheros, visiting houses in the absence of the men, ordering the women to cook their dinners, lounging on beds while the frightened women complied, and committing va- rious similar outrages for two summers before the war began, causing the settlers to send their families to Rogue River Valley for safety. Applegate's Modoc History, MS.
9 Rept of Maj .- gen. George H. Thomas, in H. Ex. Doc., i. pt ii., 114, 41st cong. 2d sess.
HIST. OR., VOL. II. 36
562
THE MODOC WAR.
the 'agent Allen David, their ambition was not to fight, but to learn the arts of peace. Their advanee- ment in civilization and conformity to treaty regula- tions was a source of pride with them, and of annoy- ance to Captain Jack, the more so that the Klamaths had assisted in arresting the Modocs guilty of aiding the hostile Shoshones with ammunition. But Jaek was even more annoyed with Sconehin, whom he taunted with remaining on the reservation more for convenience than eare for his people,10 whom Jack was constantly endeavoring to entice away.
In 1870, having been left so long to follow his own deviees, Jack made a formal claim to a traet of land, already settled upon, six miles square, and lying on both sides of the Oregon and California line, near the head of Tule Lake. Superintendent Meacham, not knowing how to compel Jack to bring his people upon the reserve, reported to the secretary of the interior, recommending that this tract as described should be allowed them as a reserve. A more unwise proposition could not have been made; for aside from the precedent established, there was the conflict with the settlers already in possession within these limits, the opposition of the neighboring farmers to having this degraded band in their vicinity, and the encouragement given to Jack, who was informed of the superintendent's action, bearing upon the future aspect of the ease.
Previous to this Knapp went to Yreka to have an interview with Jack, whose importanee increased with finding himself the object of so much solicitude, and who flatly refused to go with him to Camp Yainax, Sconchin's home, to meet the superintendent. Dur- ing the summer of 1871 he frequently visited the reservation, defying the military authorities, and boasting that in Yreka he had friends who gave him
10 W. V. Rhinehart, in Historical Correspondence, MS., agrees with Jack about this, But. Sconchin was never detected in illicit intercourse with the .enemy.
563
MURDER BY CAPTAIN JACK.
and his people passes to go where they pleased, which boast he was able to confirm.11 At length Jaek pre- cipitated the necessity of arresting him by going upon the reservation and killing a 'doetor,' who, having failed to save the lives of two persons in his family, was, according to savage reasoning, guilty of their deaths. It is doubtful if an Indian who had lived so much among white people believed in the doctor's guilt; but whether he really meant to avenge the death of his relatives or to express his defiance of United States authority, the effect was the same. By the terms of the treaty the government was bound to defend the reservation Indians against their enemies. Ivan D. Applegate, commissary at Camp Yainax, made a requisition upon the commander at Fort Klamath to arrest Jack for murder, the effort to do so being rendered ineffectual by the interference of Jack's white friends in Yreka. 12
Lieutenant Goodale was relieved at Fort Klamath in 1870, by Captain James Jackson, Ist United States cavalry, with his company, B. Knapp had also been relieved of the agency on the reservation by John Meacham, brother of the superintendent, who on being informed of the murder on the reserve instructed the agent to make no arrests until a conference should have been had with Jack and his lieutenants, at the same time naming John Meacham and Ivan D. Apple- gate as his representatives to confer with them.13
11 Says Jackson: 'He carries around with him letters from prominent citi- zens of Yreka, testifying to his good conduct and good faith with the whites. Many of the settlers in the district where he roams are opposed to having him molested.' Military Correspondence, MS., Aug. 29, 1871. This was true of some of the settlers on the six-mile tract, who feared to be massacred should his arrest be attempted. How well they understood the danger was soon proved.
12 The following is a copy of a paper carried around by Jack: 'Yreka, June 26, 1871. Captain Jack has been to Yreka to know what the whites are going to do with him for killing the doctor. The white people should not moldle with them in their laws among themselves, further than to persuade them out of their foolish notions. White people are not mad at them for executing their own laws, and should not be anywhere. Let them settle all these matters among themselves, and then our people will be in no danger from them. E. Steele.' Applegate's Modoc Hist., MS.
13 Lieut R. 1I. Anderson, in Military Correspondence, MS., Aug. 4, 1871; H. Com. Rept, 98, 257-67, 42d cong. 3d sess.
564
THE MODOC WAR.
This desire having been communicated to Canby, he directed Jackson to suspend any measures looking to the arrest of Jack until the superintendent's order for a conference had been carried out, but to hold his com- mand in readiness to act promptly for the protection of the settlers in the vicinity should the conduct of the Indians make it necessary. At the same time a confidential order was issued to the commanding offi- cer at Vancouver to place in effective condition for field service two companies of infantry at that post.14
In compliance with the temporizing policy of the superintendent, John Meacham despatched Sconehin with a letter to John Fairchild, living on the road from Tule Lake to Yreka, a frontiersman well known to and respected by the Indians, and who accompanied Sconchin, and with him found Jack, who refused to hold a conference with the agent and commissary, as desired.
Among the settlers in the country desired by Jack was Oregon's venerable pioneer, Jesse Applegate, re- siding as agent upon a tract elaimed by Jesse D. Carr of California, and lying partly in that state and partly in Oregon. Of Applegate, Jack demanded pay for occupation. On being refused, one of Jack's personal guard, known as Black Jim, set out on a raid among the settlers, at the head of fifteen or twenty warriors, alarming the whole community, and causing them to give notice at the ageney. These things led to a fur- ther attempt to gain a conference with Jack, he being given to understand that if he would consent he would be safe from arrest, and allowed to remain for the present in the Lost River country.
At length Jaek signified his willingness to see the commissioners, provided they would come to him at Clear Lake, Applegate's residence, attended by no more than four men, he promising to bring with him the same number. Word was at once sent by Apple- gate to Klamath, sixty miles, and the commissioners
14 Military Correspondence, MS., Aug. 6, 1871.
565
A CONFERENCE.
were informed. On arriving at the rendezvous, they found, instead of four or five Modocs, twenty-nine, in war-paint and feathers.
The conference was an awkward one, Black Jim doing most of the talking for the Modocs. Jack was sullen, but finally gave as a reason for not returning to the reservation that he was afraid of the Klamath 'medicine.'15 He also complained that the Klam- aths exasperated him by assuming the ownership of everything on the reserve, drew an effective picture of the miseries of such a state of dependence, and denied that his people had ever done anything to disturb the settlers.16 When reminded that he had driven away several families, and that those who remained were assessed, he demanded to know who had informed against him, but was not told.17 All through the in- terview Jack had the advantage. There were thirty armed Modocs against half a dozen white men, who, warned by Jack's sullen demeanor, dared not utter a word that might be as fire to powder. He so far unbent during the conversation as to promise not to annoy the settlers, and not to resist the military, and was given permission to remain where he was until the superintendent could come to see them; and upon this understanding John Meacham wrote to that functionary that no danger was to be apprehended from Jack's band. Yet the commissioners had hardly set out on their return to Yainax when it was warmly debated in the Modoc camp whether or not to com- mence hostilities at once by murdering Jesse Apple- gate and the other settlers about Clear and Tule lakes. 18
15 I am at a loss for a word to give as a synonym for 'medicine' as here used. It might be the 'evil-eye' of the ancients.
16 H. F. Miller was at that time paying them an assessment. This man said to a neighbor: 'I favor the Modocs because I am obliged to do it. If they go to war they will not kill me, because I use them so well.' Applegute's Modor Hist., MS. Mark the sequel.
17 John Meacham, in Historical Correspondence, MS., Aug. 21, 1871.
18 This was afterward confessed by the Modocs to their captors. Applegate's Modoc Ilist., MS.
566
THE MODOC WAR.
Agent Meacham's report of security for the present was communicated by the superintendent to Canby, who in turn reported it to the division commander at San Francisco, and the matter rested. Major Luding- ton, military inspector, who made a tour of the sta- tions on the border of California and Oregon, passing through camps Bidwell, Warner, and Harney, also reported the people on the whole route free from any fear of Indians, and that the rumors of alarm arose solely from petty annoyances to individuals from Ind- ians visiting the settlements.19 Fort Klamath was not visited by the inspector, and the report of the Indian agent misled the military department.
But the settlers in the Tule and Clear Lake district did not feel the same security. On the contrary, in November 1871 they petitioned the superintendent and Canby to remove the Modocs to their reserva- tion, saying that their conduct was such that they dared not allow their families to remain in the coun- try.20 Their petition remained in the superintend- ent's hands for two months before it was submitted to Canby, with the request that Jack's band be removed to Camp Yainax, and suggesting that not less than fifty troops be sent to perform this duty, and that Commissary Applegate accompany the expedition, if not objected to by Captain Jackson.
Canby replied that he had considered the Modoc question temporarily settled by the permission given them by the commissioners to remain where they were until they had been notified of the determination of the government in regard to the six miles square recommended by him to be given them for a separate reserve, and that it would be impolitic to send a mili- tary force against them before that decision, or before
19 Military Correspondence, Sept. 2, 1871. Capt. Jackson also wrote, 'I have no doubt that they are insolent beggars, but so far as I can ascertain no one has been robbed, or seriously threatened.' H. Ex. Doc., i. pt ii., 115, 41st cong. 2d sess.
20 See letter of Jesse Applegate to Supt Meacham, Feb. 1, 1872, in H. Ex. Doc., 122, 13, 43d cong. Ist sess. ; Military Correspondence, MS., Jan. 29. 1872; Jacksonville Democrat, March 1, 1873.
567
COMPLAINTS OF SETTLERS.
they had been notified of the point to which they were to be removed; but that in the mean time Jack- son would be directed to take measures to protect the settlers, or to aid in the removal of the Modocs should force be required.21
Alarmed by the delay in arresting Jack, a petition was forwarded to Governor Grover, requesting him to urge the superintendent to remove the Modocs, or authorize the organization of a company of mounted militia to be raised in the settlements for three months' service, unless sooner discharged by the governor. In this petition they reiterated their former com- plaint, that they had been harassed for four years by about 250 of these Indians, 80 of whom were fight- ing men. These latter were insolent and menacing, insulting their families, drawing arms upon citizens, and in one case firing at a house. They complained that the superintendent had turned a deaf ear, and unless the governor could help them there was no further authority to which they could appeal. Being scattered over a large area, it was to be feared that in case of an outbreak the loss of life would be heavy.22 Grover succeeded in procuring an order that Major Otis, with a detachment of 50 cavalry and their offi- cers, should establish a temporary camp in Lost River district; but Canby refused to take any more active measures before the answer to the recommendation of the superintendent, with regard to a reservation in that country, should arrive from Washington.
Early in April Meacham was relieved of the super- intendency, and T. B. Odeneal appointed in his place. One of his first acts was to take council of Otis in regard to the propriety of permitting Jack and his followers to remain any longer where they were,
21 See correspondence in T. B. Odeneal's Modoc War; Statement of its Origin and ( 'auses, etc .; Portland, 1873. This pamphlet was prepared by request of H. W. Scott, C. P. Crandall, B. Goldsmith, and Alex. P. Ankeney, of Port- land, to correct erroneous impressions occasioned by irresponsible statements, and is made up chiefly of official documents.
22 Military Correspondence, MS., Jan. 29 and Feb. 19, 1872.
568
THE MODOC WAR.
when Otis made a formal recommendation in writing that the permission given by Meacham should be withdrawn, and they directed to go upon the reser- vation, the order not to be given before September; that in ease of their refusal the military could put them upon it in winter, which was the most favorable season for the undertaking. Otis further recom- mended placing Jack and Blaek Jim on the Siletz reservation, or any other place of banishment from their people, giving it as his opinion that there would be no peace while they were at liberty to roam, with- out a considerable military force to compel his good behavior. In order to make room for the Modocs, and leave them no cause of complaint, he proposed the removal of Otsehoe's band of Shoshones, together with Wewawewa's and some others, to a reservation in the Malheur country.23 The same recommendation was made to Canby on the 15th of April.
While these matters were under diseussion, the long-delayed order arrived from the commissioner of Indian affairs at Washington to remove the Modocs, if practicable, to the reservation already set apart for them by the treaty of 1864, and to see that they were protected from the aggressions of the Klamaths. Could this not be done, or if the superintendent should be unable to keep them on the reserve, he was to report his views of locating them at some other point which he should seleet.
Odeneal wrote to the new agent at Klamath, L. S. Dyar,24 and to Commissary Applegate to seek an
23 'I make the above recommendations,' he said, 'after commanding the military districts of Nevada, Owyhee, and the districts of the lakes,' succes- sively since December 1867. Odeneal's Modoc War, 22.
24 Dyar was the fourth agent in three years. Lindsey Applegate was in- cumbent from 1864 to 1869, when Knapp was substituted to secure the fair treatment of the Indians, which it was then supposed only military officers could give. But Captain Knapp was more complained of than Applegate, because he endeavored to get some service out of the Modocs in their own behalf. John Meacham was then placed in office for one year, when J. II. High, former agent at Fort Hall, supplanted him. Klamath agency being under assignment to the methodist church for religious teaching, L. S. Dyar was appointed through this influence. All of these men treated the Indians well.
569
FUTILE NEGOTIATIONS.
interview with Jack, and endeavor to persuade him to go to live on the reservation. Major Otis had previously made an attempt, through his Indian scouts, to have a conference, but had been repulsed in a hanghty manner. However, after much negotiation it had been agreed that a meeting should take place at Lost River gap between Otis, Agent High, Ivan and Oliver Applegate, with three or four citizens as witnesses, and three or four Klamath scouts on one side, and Jack with half a dozen of his own men on the other. But according to his former tactics, Jack presented himself with thirty-nine fighting men, and had Otis at his mercy.
The council at Lost River gap was productive of no good results, Jack denying any complaints made by the settlers, and one of the witnesses, Miller, testifying that his conduet was peaceable, under the selfish and mistaken belief that he was insuring his own immu- nity from harm.25 When Odeneal's order arrived for a council with Jack, that he might be informed of the decision of the commissioner of Indian affairs, Scon- chin was employed to act as messenger to arrange for a meeting at Linkville; but Jack returned for answer that any one desiring to see him would find him in his own country. After considerable effort, a meeting was arranged to take place at the military encamp- ment at Juniper Springs, on Lost River. Agents Dyar and Applegate, attended by some of Sconchin's head men, met Jack and his warriors on the 14th of May, when every argument and persuasion was used to influence him to conform to the treaty, but without success. His unalterable reply was that he should stay where he was, and would not molest settlers if they did not locate on the west side of Lost River, near the mouth, where he had his winter camp. The settlers, he said, were always lying about him and
25 It is said that Miller went to Fairchilds and complained bitterly of the position in which Otis' questions before the Indians had placed him. He admitted that he had not told the truth, but declared that he dared not say otherwise. Siskiyou County Affairs, MS., 53.
570
THE MODOC WAR.
making trouble, but his people were good people, and would not frighten anybody. He desired only peace, and was governed by the advice of the people of Yreka, who knew and understood him.26 The old chief Sconchin then made a strong appeal to Jack to accept the benefits of the treaty, and pointed out the danger of resistance, but in vain.
The commissioners reported accordingly, and also that in casting about for some locality where Jack's band might be placed, apart from the Klamaths, no land had been found unoccupied so good for the purpose as that upon the reservation. Camp Yainax was, in fact, nearly as far from the Klamath agency as the Lost River country. Nothing now remained but to prepare to bring the Modocs on to the reser- vation. Odeneal gave it as his opinion that the lead- ing men among them should be arrested and banished to some distant place until they should agree to abide by the laws, while the remainder should be removed to Yainax, suggesting the last of September as a proper time for carrying out this purpose; and the commissioner issued the order to remove them, "peace- ably if you can, forcibly if you must."
In May, the Modocs having broken camp and begun their summer roaming, Otis reported his station on Lost River unnecessary, and the troops were with- drawn about the Ist of June. No sooner, however, were the troops back at Fort Klamath than Jack ap- peared at the camp of Sconchin's people, away from Yainax on their summer furlough, with forty armed
26 Who besides E. Steele Jack referred to is not known. Steele admits giving advice to Jack and his followers. 'My advice to them was, and always has been, to return to the reservation, and further, that the officers would compel them to go. They replied that they would not go, and asked why the treaty that I had made with them when I was superintendent of northern California-they supposing that our state line included their village at the fishery-was not good . . I told them they had made a new treaty with the Oregon agency since mine, and sold their lands, and that had done away with the first one. Jack said he did not agree to it. . . I have written several letters for him to the settlers, in which I stated his words to them,' etc. These ex- tracts are from a manuscript defence of his actions, written by Steele to his brother at Olympia, in my possession, entitled Steele's Modoc Question, MS.
571
STEELE'S PLANS.
warriors, conducting himself in such a manner as to frighten them back to the agency. The citizens were hardly less alarmed, and talked once more of organiz- ing a militia company. The usual correspondence followed between the Indian and military departments, and the settlers were once more assured that their safety would be looked after.27
While the Modoc question was in this critical stage, influences unknown to the department were at work confirming Jack in his defiant course, arising from nothing less than a scheme, proposed by Steele of Yreka, to secure from the government a grant of the land desired by him, on condition that he and his peo- ple should abandon their tribal relation, pay taxes, and improve the land, which they promised to do.28 But no one knew better than Steele that to leave the Mo- docs in the midst of the white settlements would be injurious to both races, and most of all to the Indians themselves, who instead of acquiring the better part of civilization were sure to take to themselves only the worse; and that the better class of white people must object to the contiguity of a small special reserve in their midst. Not so did the Modocs themselves rea- son about the matter. Steele, because they could approach him with their troubles, and because he sim- ply told them to go and behave themselves, without seeing that they did so, was the white chief after their own mind, and his word was law, even against the power with which they had made a treaty. They were proud of his friendship, which gave them im- portance in their own eyes, and which blinded them to their inevitable doom. So said the settlers, with whom I cannot always fully agree.
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