Modoc County is a county located in the far northeast corner of the U.S. state of California. Its population is 8,700 as of the 2020 census, down from 9,686 from the 2010 census. This makes it California's third-least-populous county. The county seat and only incorporated city is Alturas. Previous County seats include Lake City and Centerville. The county borders Nevada and Oregon. Much of Modoc County is federal land. Several federal agencies, including the United States Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, have employees assigned to the area, and their operations are a significant part of its economy and services. The county's official slogans include "The last best place" and "Where the West still lives".
Lava Beds National Monument is located in northeastern California, in Siskiyou and Modoc counties. The monument lies on the northeastern flank of Medicine Lake Volcano, which is the largest volcano by area in the Cascade Range.
Edward Richard Sprigg Canby was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. He served as a military governor after the war.
Captain Jack's Stronghold was a holdout of the Modoc people that is located between Tulelake and Canby, California. The stronghold, which is now part of Lava Beds National Monument, is named for Native American chief Kintpuash who was also known as Captain Jack. During the Modoc War in 1873, Captain Jack along with 53 Modoc warriors, and numerous women and children in a band of 160, managed to hold out against the United States Army which outnumbered them by as much as 10 to 1 for several months.
Kintpuash, also known as Kientpaush, Kientpoos, and Captain Jack, was a chief of the Modoc tribe of California and Oregon. Kintpuash's name in the Modoc language meant 'Strikes the water brashly.'
The Modoc War, or the Modoc Campaign, was an armed conflict between the Native American Modoc people and the United States Army in northeastern California and southeastern Oregon from 1872 to 1873. Eadweard Muybridge photographed the early part of the US Army's campaign.
The First Battle of the Stronghold was the second battle in the Modoc War of 1872–1873. The battle was fought between the United States Army under Lieutenant Colonel Frank Wheaton and a band of the Native American Modoc tribe from Oregon and California, led by Captain Jack.
Chikchikam Lupatkue-latko, known as Scarface Charley, was a chief of the Modoc tribe of Native Americans. He took part in the Modoc War of 1872–1873 in California, and is considered to have fired the first shot at the Battle of Lost River. On April 26, 1873, Scarfaced Charley led a victorious attack against a patrol of 63 soldiers. He killed all five of the officers in the patrol, as well as twenty others. It is widely written that he stopped the slaughter and told the soldiers, "We've killed enough of you, now go home."
The Modoc are an Indigenous American people who historically lived in the area which is now northeastern California and central Southern Oregon. Currently, they include two federally recognized tribes, the Klamath Tribes in Oregon and the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma, now known as the Modoc Nation.
The Battle of Lost River in November 1872 was the first battle in the Modoc War in the northwestern United States. The skirmish, which was fought near the Lost River along the California–Oregon border, was the result of an attempt by the U.S. 1st Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army to force a band of the Modoc tribe to relocate back to the Klamath Reservation, which they had left in objection of its conditions.
Toby "Winema" Riddle was a Modoc woman who served as an interpreter in negotiations between the Native American Modoc tribe and the United States Army during the Modoc 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.
The Second Battle of the Stronghold was a battle during the Modoc War between a band of the Native American Modoc tribe and the Army of the United States, in northeastern California. The battle began on April 15, 1873, and ended on April 17, 1873. The Army succeeded in forcing the Modoc to abandon their fortified position at Captain Jack's Stronghold in the Lava Beds, but failed to capture the band.
Alfred Benjamin Meacham (1826–1882) was an American Methodist minister, reformer, author and historian, who served as the U.S. Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Oregon (1869–1872). He became a proponent of American Indian interests in the Northwest, including Northern California. Appointed in 1873 as chairman of the Modoc Peace Commission, he was severely wounded during a surprise attack on April 11 by warriors, but saved from death by Toby Riddle (Winema), a Modoc interpreter.
John Green was a United States cavalry officer who received the Medal of Honor for his bravery and leadership at the First Battle of the Stronghold during the Modoc War.
Curley Headed Doctor was the spiritual leader for the Modoc tribe, notably during the Modoc War.
Hooker Jim, or Hooka Jim, was a Modoc warrior who played a pivotal role in the Modoc War. Hooker Jim was the son-in-law of tribal medicine man Curley Headed Doctor. After white settlers massacred Modoc women and children contemporaneously with the Battle of Lost River, Hooker Jim led a group of Modocs overland to Captain Jack's Stronghold. During their march, Hooker Jim and his warriors killed several white settlers in revenge.
The Modoc Nation is a federally recognized tribe of Modoc people, located in Ottawa County in the northeast corner of Oklahoma and Modoc and Siskiyou counties in northeast California. The smallest tribe in the state, they are descendants of Captain Jack's band of Modoc people, removed in 1873 after the Modoc Wars from their traditional territory in northern California and southern Oregon. They were exiled to the Quapaw Agency in Indian Territory, where they were colocated with the Shawnee people from east of the Mississippi River.
Boston Charley was an Modoc warrior in the Modoc War of 1872. He was reportedly given the "Boston" moniker by miners who felt he had a lighter complexion than the other warriors. In 1873 he had joined the group led by Kintpuash, and was later involved in a massacre in which fourteen people were killed at Tule Lake. On April 11, 1873, he was part of a group that murdered Edward Canby. Charley did not personally kill Canby, but during the raid he killed a Dr. Thomas. On October 3, 1873, Boston Charley, Kintpuash, Schonchin John and Black Jim were executed for the murder of Edward Canby. He reportedly met his execution stoically, asking only for tobacco.
Drum Beat is a 1954 American CinemaScope Western film in WarnerColor written and directed by Delmer Daves and co-produced by Daves and Alan Ladd in his first film for his Jaguar Productions company. Ladd stars along with Audrey Dalton, Charles Bronson as Captain Jack, and Hayden Rorke as President Ulysses S. Grant.
The Battle of Sand Butte between the Modoc Indians and the United States Army was a part of the Modoc War in California. On April 26, 1873, a force of ~70 Army soldiers and ~12 Warm Springs Indians scouts went looking for a group of Modoc who had escaped a previous assault attempt by the Army. Mid-day, the Army and Warm Springs Indians were ambushed at the base of Sand Butte, and nearly wiped out by 20 Modoc warriors. The Modoc victory lead to further public calls for their extermination.
