OCTOBER 3:

1873 North West Angle, Ontario - Saulteaux and Chippewa (Ojibway) sign Treaty #3 in southern Manitoba and north-western Ontario; 88,511 sq km; $12 per Indian; schools; farm instruction; acreage.

October 3, 1873:  Captain Jack was hanged for his part in the Modoc War.
 

BACKGROUND:
 

Words Spoken:  Kintpuash (known as Captain Jack) From http://members.aol.com/wicaho/ihave.htm
 
 

The speech here was made by Captain Jack on March 6, 1373, while efforts were being made to prevent open warfare.

The peace commission to the Modocs was headed by A. fl. Meacham as chairman. Meacharn had wide experience in Indian affairs, and wrote extensively of his experiences while doing this work. H. R. Clum was acting commissioner of Indian affairs in Washington. Meacham recorded the speech of Captain Jack, with an explanation that Captain Jack's sister, Mary, was the intermediary who delivered the speech to him ...

"I Have Said Yes, and Thrown Away My Country

I am very sad. I want peace quick, or else let the soldiers come and make haste and fight. I want to stay here a little while, so that my people can get ready to go. I say yes to going to a warmer country; and this is the first time I have said yes. I don't want my people shot. I don't want my men to go with guns any more. I have quit forever. I have buried the past, and don't want to be mad for the past. I have heard they wanted to shoot me; that would be like shooting an old woman. I want to talk good words only. I don't want to shoot or be shot. I don't want any one to get mad as quick as they did before. I want to live in peace.

I want to go and see my people on the reservation. My mind is made up to say "yes." I have a good heart, and want no mistake made this time, to live with good heart and talk truth. I have no paper men, and can't write on paper. The papers called me bad and lied about me. If they don't lie to me, I won't lie to them. I want to give up shooting. I never have been out since I came on here. If they had come I would have shot them. r never have seen any white men except those who come here. I want Fairchild and Riddle and any one else willing to come out. I want to see my people at Yainax.

I have thrown away my country, and unless I go I expect to see my people again, and then I want to go to town, and then I will go away and never expect to return. I want to see what they have to say. My mind is made up, and I have but little else to say. They have got my heart now, and they must look after it and do right. I am nearly well and have a good heart now. I expect Mr. Meacham is very sick and couldn't come. I am nearly well; but lam afraid on account of the soldiers on the road. There are so many soldiers around. There are soldiers on Lost River, on Clear Lake, and Bernard's soldiers.

Wouldn't they be afraid if they were in the same situation? I want to see their head-men who never have been here. I have heard of so many soldiers coming I was afraid. When they visited me they laid down and slept and were not pestered. 1 had a bad heart when Mr. Steele left here yesterday morning, to think that he would not come back or believe me. If I know the new country I would go out when he came in. I want to visit my people, then the new country, and want the peace commission to go with me and show it to me.

I wish to live like the whites. Let everything be wiped out, washed out, and let there be no more blood. I have got a bad heart about those murderers. I have got but a few men and I don't see how I can give them up. Will they give up their people who murdered my people while they were asleep? I never asked for the people who murdered my people. I only talked that way. I can see how I could give up my horse to be hanged; but I can't see how I could give up my men to be hanged. I could give up my horse to be hanged, and wouldn't cry about it; but if I gave up my men I would have to cry about it. I want them all to have good hearts now. I have thrown away everything. There must be no more bad talk. I will not. I have spoken for-I want soldiers all to go home. I have given up now and want no more fuss. I have said yes, and thrown away my country.

I want soldiers to go away, so I will not be afraid. When I go to Yainax I don't want to come back here; but want to go to town and then to the new country. I wanted to go to a new country and not come back any more to see my people; that is why I wanted to go to Yainax. I want to see how many of my relations would go with me.

I feel bad for my people in the lava beds. I would cry if I didn't see my people at Yamax. I don't know the new country, and they wouldn't know where they were. I know no country but Shasta and Pitt River. But I say yes, and consent to every-thing and go away. I don't want to live here any more, because I can't live here any more in peace. I wish to go to southern country and live in peace.

I want my people to stay here till I and some of my head men go and look at new country. I want Riddle and some others to go with me. I want clothing and food for my men. I want it given them here. I don't want them to think I am deceiving them. I want my people to be taken care of while I am looking for new country. I want to know where they can stay and eat at while I am gone. I want to stop with Fairchild.

I want to know if they got at me so quick because I couldn't believe them at once. I couldn't come; I had but two horses, and the Klamaths took my good one. I have no saddle, and my horses have been ridden so much they are not fit to ride. I am a chief; am proud; am ashamed to ride a poor horse.

I understand their talk now. It seems now that I had been with them and talked with them and seen them. I talk with my mouth. They have paper men to write down what I say. I want Fairchild1 to come tomorrow to see me. Mary has brought back good news, I want to see them as bad as they want to see me. I don't want Fairchild to be afraid to come out with Mary. I want and hope Mary will come back with message and say yes, just as I have said."

(The Fairchild referred to was John Fairchild, a rancher; Riddle was Frank Riddle, who was married to an Indian woman and was interpreter for the Modocs.)
 

*****
 

>From http://members.aol.com/wicaho/kintpuash.htm
 
 

Born about 1837 - Died October 3rd, 1873

Captain Jack and his small band of Modoc Indians wrote a bloody story of resistance to oppression from the whites in the territory included in Northern California along the Oregon border. There were only some four or five hundred members of the Modoc tribe, but their small numbers gave little trouble until they became involved in the difficulties of neighboring tribes in their resistance to the whites.

The notorious Ben Wright had organized a party for the purpose of hunting indians for the scalps, had mercilessly eradicated all he could locate, and had exhibited their scalps. The Indians fought back with such ferocity that the militia was called out to subdue them.

Captain Jack, born about 1837, was a leader of the Modocs, though he had trouble maintaining his position among warriors of the tribe. Finally at a peace conference, he and other members of the tribe killed three members of the commission, Jack being charged with the murder of General E. R. S. Canby. The Indians fled to the Lava Beds in the vicinity of Rhett (Modoc or Tule) Lake. This rugged country gave good protection to the Indians, and the military waged a costly and frustrating campaign before they were dislodged.

On June 1, 1873, Jack surrendered his group. The military force which had been trying to bottle him up consisted of 985 regulars and 71 Indians. Jack bad 80 warriors at the start-which was cut down to 50-along with 120 women and children. Captain Jack was tried before a military court at Fort Klamath on July 5, 1873, and was sentenced to be hanged on October 3, 1873.
 

*****
 

>From the "Indian Wars" website at http://www.indianwars.org/Articles/captjack.htm
 

Captain Jack and the Modocs 1850-1873

On November 29, 1872, troopers from the US 1st Cavalry regt., rode into the camp of the Modoc chief known as Captain Jack on Lost River. Their orders were to disarm the Modocs and herd them back to their Oregon reservation. When told to drop their weapons, the Modocs refused. Suddenly a rifle cracked, and bullets began flying. Captain Jack's band then quickly melted in the wilderness, leaving behind a dying sergeant, 7 severely wounded troopers, and 1 dead Modoc.

The clash at Lost River was just one of many in the long, bitter history of the Modocs. The small tribe had resisted the rush of settlers to Oregon in the 1850's before finally agreeing to settle on a reservation with the Klamaths. But the Klamaths harassed and bullied the Modocs, forced them back to their old homeland on the California-Oregon border in the late 1860's. Again, the Modocs were set upon by land-hungry whites, and in 1872 at Indian agent ordered them to return to the Klamath reservation. When Captain Jack's people refused, Gen. Edward R.S. Canby, a veteran officer, tried to have the Modocs sent to a different reservation, as a possible peaceful solution. The agent refused to back down, and Canby reluctantly issued the orders that led to the battle of Lost river.

Captain Jack's fugitives from Lost River took refuge in the Lava Beds, a region the army later referred to as "Hell with the fire out." The Lava Beds had been formed centuries ago by volcanic eruptions that spread molten rock over a 70 sq. mile area in Northern California. The Modocs turned a small section of this area into a fortress that became a death trap for 16 of the 325 soldiers who attacked it on January 17, 1873. Shielded from artillery and rifle fire by caves and ravines, fewer that 70 Modoc warriors held off the attackers. The battered soldiers withdrew, and the army rushed another force of 1000 men to the Lava Beds. At the same time, a peace commission, headed by Gen. Canby, was sent to talk to Captain Jack.

During the parley, Captain jack suddenly whipped out a pistol and killed Gen. Canny, who thus became the 1st and only US General to die in the Indian Wars. Overwhelming forces finally hammered this dwindling tribe of some 165 men, women, and children into submission. Captain Jack was hanged and the Modocs were sent far from home to a barren, unhealthy strip of Indian Territory (Oklahoma).
 

*****
 

At http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/5views/5views1h11.htm
 

Captain Jack's Stronghold (Lava Beds National Monument) Modoc County

Captain Jack's Stronghold, part of Lava Beds National Monument, is located at the Perez turnoff, off Highway 139 between Tule Lake and Canby, California. The lava beds made an outstanding stronghold for the Modocs because of the rough terrain, rocks that could be used in fortification, and irregular pathways to evade pursuers. The area originally served as a hunting and gathering area. It is now a national monument managed by the National Park Service.

In 1869, Ulysses S. Grant became president of the United States. During his term of office, there existed conflicting philosophies and policies for dealing with Indian affairs. The policies came from three distinct sources: first, Interior Department officials believed that Indian Agents were more important than Indians; second, the War Department believed it was cheaper to feed Indians than to shoot them; and third, private citizens believed that if Indians adopted Christianity, they would change their habits, folkways, and economic system, and then become peaceable and self-reliant. Grant often referred to the third policy as his "Quaker Policy." Not knowing which of these policies to use, Grant implemented all three. The result was disastrous. Under these conflicting philosophies, the Modoc Indians were forced to move onto the Klamath Indian Reservation on Upper Klamath Lake in Oregon in 1869.

The Klamath Indians believed that they had allowed the Modocs to relocate onto their land. Moreover, they felt that all resources on the land remained theirs by ancestral right. The retention of land rights was a continuing source of agitation between Klamaths and Modocs. In addition, social conditions at Klamath were distressing. Against official orders, army officers gambled with Indians, often winning as many as 20 or 30 horses from Indian men. Army officers at Klamath also quite openly took Indian women, even from their husbands. Once their wives had been prostituted this way, husbands often refused to take them back. Meanwhile, the agents encouraged Indians to become herdsmen and farmers and to live in log cabins instead of in their traditional wickiups.

Captain Jack watched life at Klamath and became convinced that he should live the way his ancestors had. Others in his band agreed with him and so they returned to their land on Lost River. All they wanted was the right to their traditional homeland. Late in 1869, messengers went to Lost River to ask Jack to come back to Klamath to discuss the possibility of his returning permanently to the reservation. He refused to leave Lost River and told the messengers that people would have to come to him if they wanted to talk.

In the spring of 1871, Jack employed a Klamath Indian shaman to care for a sick Modoc child. He paid the fees in advance and a contract was entered into. Among the Modoc, this type of contract was understood as a guarantee to heal. In the event of failure, the doctor's life was to be forfeited. The sickness of the child was more serious than originally thought, and she died. In accordance with custom, Captain Jack killed the Klamath shaman for inefficiency. Friends of the shaman informed the local sheriff of the murder, and asked for Jack's arrest. Under the provisions of the "Great Treaty" of 1864, Indians were bound never to murder again; therefore, the sheriff issued a warrant for Jack's arrest. Jack, meanwhile, traveled to Yreka to see attorney Elisha Steele, who wrote a letter for him to the Indian Agent advising against his arrest on spiritual and cultural grounds. The agent accepted Steele's advice and dropped the charges against Jack. Settlers in the area nevertheless used the murder charge to discredit Jack.

In November 1872, soldiers and settlers attacked Captain Jack's camp on Lost River. After the battle, about 50 Modocs fled to the strategic position of the lava beds. Jack lived in the stronghold and successfully defended it for about one year. The first battle for the stronghold took place in January 1873, and the second in April 1873. During the repeated attacks by soldiers and settlers, Captain Jack was able to use the lava beds to his advantage, and only a few people were ever allowed to enter the stronghold to negotiate with him. After several unsuccessful attempts at resolving the whole problem, negotiators sent word back to Washington that the Modocs must be defeated militarily. Captain Jack surrendered on June 1, 1873, and was executed along with five other Modoc men on October 3, 1873. Those remaining in Jack's band were removed to Indian territory in Oklahoma. In 1909, most surviving Modocs returned to the Klamath Reservation. It is important to note that Jack never signed a treaty, and that he defended the stronghold with only a few Indians while the number of men fighting against him at times exceeded 300.