The Modoc tribe is a group of Native American people living originally in the area which is now northeastern California and central southern Oregon.
This article covers the Modoc as an ethnic group, tribe, or nation.
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| United States – Oregon: 600 | |
| Languages | |
| Historically Klamath, now English | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Klamath, Yahooskin |
History
South Emigrant Trail established
Lindsay Applegate, accompanied by fourteen other settlers in the Willamette and Rogue valleys in western Oregon, established the South Emigrant Trail in 1846 between a point on the Oregon Trail near Fort Hall, Idaho and the Willamette Valley. The purpose of this new route was to encourage settlers to western Oregon, to eliminate the hazards encountered on the Columbia Route, to provide an alternate route in the event of trouble with the United Kingdom (the British Hudson's Bay Company controlled the Columbia Route), and to provide a route which would be open except for a short winter season each year.
Applegate and his party were the first known white men to enter what is now the Lava Beds National Monument. On their exploring trip eastward they attempted to pass around the south end of Tule Lake but the rough lava along the shore forced them to seek a route around the north end of the lake.
The opening of the South Emigrant Trail brought the first regular contact between the Modoc and the European settlers, who had largely ignored the area before. Many of the events of the Modoc War took place along the South Emigrant Trail.
Emigrant invasion
Beginning in 1847, the Modocs raided emigrants on the South Emigrant Trail. The Modocs, numbering about 600 warriors under the leadership of Old Chief Schonchin, inhabited the region around Lower Klamath Lake, Tule Lake, and Lost River in northern California and southern Oregon.
In September 1852, the Modocs destroyed an emigrant train at Bloody Point on the east shore of Tule Lake. Of the 65 persons in the train only three escaped immediate death; two young girls, taken prisoners and killed several years later by jealous Modoc women, and one man who made his way to Yreka, California. Hearing the news of the attack, Yreka settlers organized a party, under the leadership of Jim Crosby, to go to the scene of the massacre to bury the dead and avenge their death. Crosby's party had one skirmish with a band of Modocs.
The attacks on emigrants by the Modocs aroused settlers at Yreka to send out a party under Ben Wright's, a notorious Indian hater, leadership in 1856. Accounts differ as to what actually took place when Wright's party finally met the Modocs on Lost River, but most agree that Wright planned to ambush the Modocs. Wright attacked, killing approximately 80 Modocs. This loss led to the general mistrust of the white settlers by the Modocs.
It has been estimated that at least 300 emigrants and settlers were killed by the Modocs during the years 1846 to 1873. Perhaps as many Modocs were killed by settlers and slave traders.
Treaty with the United States
The United States the Klamaths, Modocs and Yahooskin band of Snake tribes signed a treaty in 1864, establishing the Klamath Reservation. Under the terms of this treaty the Modocs, with Old Chief Schonchin as their leader, gave up their lands in the Lost River, Tule Lake and Lower Klamath Lake regions, and moved to the reservation in the Upper Klamath Valley. Approximately 160 Modocs under the leadership of Keintpuash (Captain Jack) refused to move to the reservation because they had not been represented in the treaty negotiations and often fought with the Klamaths.
Several unsuccessful attempts were made in the following years to convince Keintpuash and his band to move to the reservation. Finally, in 1869 his band was forced to relocate.
Keintpuash's band was harassed by the Klamath, and the reservation was on land traditionally belonging to the Klamaths. The band was moved to another part of the reservation, but there was no relief from the mistreatment and hunger (five years after the treaty, the government still had not made good on its promises), and in April 1870, Kentpuash and his band left the reservation and returned to traditional Modoc lands near Lost River.
Modoc War
Main article: Modoc War
In November 1872 the US Army was sent to Lost River to attempt to force the Keintpuash's band back to the reservation. A battle broke out, and the Modocs escaped to Captain Jack's Stronghold in what is now Lava Beds National Monument, California. The band was able to hold off the US Army for several months, defeating them in combat several times. In April, 1873 the Modocs fled from the Stronghold and began to splinter. Keintpuash and his group were the last captured on June 4, 1873. Keintpuash and three of his warriors were hung in October of that year for the murder of Major General Edward Canby, and the rest of the band was sent to Oklahoma as prisoners of war with Scarfaced Charley as their chief. In 1907 the group in Oklahoma was given permission, if they wished, to return to Oregon. Several did, but most stayed at their new home.
Geography
Oregon
About 600 members of the tribe currently live on the Klamath Reservation in Oregon. This group included the Modocs who stayed on the reservation during the Modoc War, as well as the descendants of those who chose to return to Oregon from Oklahoma in 1907.
Oklahoma
200 Modocs lived in Oklahoma on the Quapaw Reservation at the far northeast corner of Oklahoma. They are descendants of the band led by Captain Jack(Keintpuash) during the Modoc War of 1872 - 1873.
Culture
To be written along the lines of Wikipedia:WikiProject Ethnic Groups Template See the reports done by the Smithsonian's Bureau of Ethnology.
Institutions
To be written along the lines of Wikipedia:WikiProject Ethnic Groups Template
Classifications
To be written along the lines of Wikipedia:WikiProject Ethnic Groups Template
Miscellaneous
Modoc County, California is named for this group of people.