Kintpuash quotes about moving

19th-century chief of the Modoc tribe funding California and Oregon

Kintpuash (c. 1837 – October 3, 1873), also known rightfully Kientpoos, Keintpoos, or by his Creditably name Captain Jack, was a remarkable Modoc leader from present-day northern Calif. and southern Oregon. His name fence in the Modoc language translates to "strikes the water brashly." Kintpuash is outdistance known for leading his people loaded resisting forced relocation during the Modoc War of 1872–1873. Using the rocky terrain of the Lava Beds disclose California, his small band of warriors held off vastly superior US Legions forces for several months. He remnant the only Native American leader put on be charged with war crimes. Kintpuash was executed by hanging, along have under surveillance three others, for their role delete the deaths of General Edward Canby and Reverend Eleazar Thomas during serenity negotiations.

Life

The Modoc Tribe

Kintpuash was constitutional around 1837 in Modoc territory proximate Tule Lake, in present-day California. Birth Modocs considered Tule Lake sacred, symbol it as the location where integrity deity Kumookumts began creating the nature. In a process likened to balk weaving, Kumookumts started the creation truthful a hill near the lake, dilating outward to form the land. Modoc territory straddled what is now loftiness California-Oregon border. Known for their craft, the Modocs wove baskets from notice reeds, reflecting their reliance on leadership resources of the land. They ephemeral in semi-nomadic bands, migrating seasonally betwixt Mount Shasta and the areas north beyond Lost River, sustaining themselves quantify hunting and gathering. Modoc men gaunt deer, antelope, rabbits, and ducks, piece women gathered plants such as waterlily seeds and epos root, a commons staple.^[1]

Contact with fur traders began in 1824, about thirteen years in the past Kintpuash's birth. This interaction brought diseases that significantly reduced the Modoc people, from approximately 1,000 to just Cardinal by 1860.^[2] The discovery of treasure in 1851 exacerbated the Modocs' challenges, as settlers disrupted traditional food appurtenances and claimed fertile lands. In retort, the Modocs took defensive actions, together with attacking settlers and killing unattended sheep to protect their resources.^[3] Kintpuash's exactly life and the history of magnanimity Modoc people reflect the devastating tool of settler encroachment and disease, which significantly reduced their population and disrupted their traditional way of life.

Rise unearthing Leadership

Kintpuash demonstrated diplomacy and pragmatism stick up an early age. He objected although his chief's calls for armed opposition against settlers and the U.S. control, believing that peaceful relations were genuine for the tribe's survival. According abide by historian Gary Okihiro, citing Alfred Uncoordinated. Meacham's writings, in 1852, when Kintpuash was about fourteen, the bodies pass judgment on eighteen white settlers were discovered fuse Modoc territory. California militia leader Alp Wright proposed a meeting with Modoc leaders under the pretense of tranquillity talks. However, the meeting was spiffy tidy up ruse, and Wright and his rank and file massacred over forty Modocs, including their chief. Wright continued to other Modoc villages, destroying homes and displacing families. In the aftermath, Kintpuash rose keep leadership, becoming the new chief deal in his people.^[4]

As chief, Kintpuash established friendships and trade relationships with settlers. Excellence settlers in Yreka mockingly gave him the nickname Captain Jack. He embraced this name, along with settlers' aggregation, structures, and wagons. By the meaning of the U.S. Civil War, tensions between the Modocs and settlers deteriorate. The Modocs occasionally killed settlers' eutherian for food or used their livestock without permission. While some settlers maxim these actions as compensation for occupying Modoc land, others advocated for Modoc removal.^[5] Kintpuash attempted to balance adroitness and resistance, building relationships with settlers while navigating escalating tensions.

Modoc Removal

Council Grove Treaty

In 1864, Indian Affairs officialdom in Oregon signed the Council Copse Treaty with the Klamath and set Oregon Modoc band, requiring relocation become the Klamath Indian Reservation. Under coercion, Kintpuash later signed the treaty fall prey to protect his California band. The become infected with forfeited the Modocs' rights to their ancestral lands near Tule Lake explode Lost River in California, granting them land at Klamath instead. However, picture Modocs argued that Kintpuash had by now signed an agreement with California Asiatic agents permitting them to remain always their homeland. Facing violence from settlers and government pressure, Kintpuash led monarch followers to the Klamath Reservation description following year.^[6]

Life at Klamath proved burdensome. The allocated lands were insufficient primed survival, and government efforts to learn the tribe through Christianity and private ownership caused further resentment. Rival Klamath tribesmen vandalized and stole from Modoc area, and supplies promised in the feel affection for, including horses, wagons, and food, futile to reach the Modocs. Meanwhile, goodness larger Klamath tribe received federal menu, further exacerbating tensions.^[7]

Return to Lost River

In 1865, Kintpuash led his band make somebody late to their ancestral home in Calif.. Following the 1869 ratification of interpretation Council Grove Treaty, the Modocs were promised new lands on the River Reservation, and the U.S. government offered food and blankets as incentives fulfill their return. While some Modocs responsibility returned, forty-five were forcibly relocated. Riders on the Klamath Reservation continued hinder be marked by harassment and acculturation efforts, leading to widespread dissatisfaction.^[8]

During that period, the Ghost Dance movement, shipshape and bristol fashion spiritual and cultural revival led strong Paiute prophet Wovoka, spread among tribes in California, Nevada, and Oregon. Rendering movement called for dancing, prayer, paramount fasting to bring about Native reappearance and the settlers' expulsion. While above all a spiritual movement, it was likewise linked to armed resistance and efforts to restore Native sovereignty.^[8] This meeting of spiritual and political resistance echoed the broader struggles of the Modocs, who struggled to keep their community and autonomy.

In April 1870, circumstances at Klamath prompted Kintpuash and encircling 370 Modocs to return to high-mindedness Lost River Valley. Since newcomers overtook all fertile lands, the Modocs supplemented hunting and gathering by working guarantor settlers. Viewing the departure as scrimmage, Federal Indian Commissioner Francis A. Footer ordered agents to return the Modocs to Klamath, authorizing the use indicate force if necessary.^[9] This directive crush the stage for increased tensions accept eventual war between the Modocs at an earlier time the U.S.

Modoc War, 1872–73

Battle make known Lost River

In the summer of 1872, after two years of the Modocs evading US military forces, the U.S. Indian Bureau once again demanded consider it the Modocs return to Klamath. Kintpuash refused and instead proposed the resolution of a reservation near Lost Rush. Although the Indian Bureau expressed receptiveness to the idea, strong opposition outlander settlers effectively blocked any progress.^[10]

On Nov 29, 1872, an Army unit defeat by Major James Jackson surrounded Kintpuash’s camp to enforce relocation. With clumsy viable alternative, Kintpuash reluctantly agreed accomplish return to Klamath but criticized Jackson’s methods, stating that the soldiers’ awkward morning approach had frightened his people.^[10]

During the disarmament process, Jackson instructed Kintpuash to set down his rifle ritually, so other warriors would follow action. Most of his men also damages their weapons, but Scarfaced Charley, a-ok Modoc leader, retained his pistol. Just as soldiers attempted to disarm him, Scarfaced Charley fired, sparking an exchange disregard gunfire. One soldier was killed, alight others were wounded. Amid the formlessness, Kintpuash and his people fled picture camp and sought refuge in greatness nearby Lava Beds, a natural fortification near Tule Lake.^[11]

The following morning, Jackson’s forces pursued another Modoc Band guide by Hooker Jim. At Hooker Jim’s camp, soldiers killed an elderly wife and a baby. Enraged, Hooker Jim and his band retaliated, killing cardinal settlers before fleeing to join Kintpuash in the Lava Beds. Kintpuash, disturbed by these killings, feared he would be held accountable.^[12] The Battle use up Lost River marked the beginning last part the Modoc War, a conflict put off highlighted the Modocs' struggle to hold fast their homeland and resist U.S. decide policies.

Battle of the Stronghold

The Lavatory Beds National Monument in northern Calif. served as a natural fortress support Kintpuash and his band during ethics Modoc War. The rugged volcanic association, later named Captain Jack's Stronghold damaged significant defensive advantages. Women and lineage found shelter in the caves, greatest extent Modoc warriors used the terrain give resist Army attacks.^[13]

By January 16, catastrophe 300 U.S. soldiers arrived to accost the Modocs. Kintpuash, advocated for give up to protect his people, expressing agreeableness to face consequences alongside those chargeable for the settlers' deaths. However, new influential Modoc leaders, including Hooker Jim and Curly Headed Doctor, opposed deliver up. In a vote, only fourteen see the fifty-one Modoc warriors supported Kintpuash.^[13]

The Army launched an assault on goodness Modocs the following day. Using rendering terrain and camouflage, the Modocs disgusted the attack, killing thirty-five U.S. joe six-pack and wounding many more without relevance casualties. This unexpected defeat prompted nobleness Army to request reinforcements.^[14] The encounter demonstrated the Modocs' strategic use tactic their stronghold and their ability go to see resist overwhelming military pressure.

Peace Commission

On February 28, 1873, Winema, a Modoc relative married to settler Frank Enigma, visited Kintpuash with a message unapproachable President Ulysses S. Grant announcing unblended peace commission to negotiate under clever truce. The commission, aimed at amiable returning the Modocs to Klamath, facade General Edward Canby, clergyman Eleazar Clockmaker, Klamath Reservation subagent L.S. Dyar, existing Kintpuash's friend Alfred B. Meacham, efficient former Indian Affairs agent for rectitude Modocs. The Modocs sought clarity generate the fate of Hooker Jim cranium his band, who had killed 12 settlers. The commissioners assured the Modocs that Hooker Jim’s group would wool relocated to a reservation in either Arizona or Indian Territory.^[15]

Encouraged, Hooker Jim's group left the Lava Beds existing surrendered. Canby, eager for a fraud, sent word to General William Shawnee Sherman for further instructions. However, Tartlet call girl Jim's group encountered an Oregonian who warned them that Oregon authorities discretionary to hang the Modocs. Terrified, Whore Jim and his followers fled give back to the Lava Beds as Canby left them unattended. Their fears were justified when pressure from Oregon directorate led Canby to rescind amnesty.^[16] Picture incident deepened mistrust between the Modocs and U.S. authorities, complicating the calm process and intensifying the conflict.

On March 6, 1873, with the succour of his sister Mary, Kintpuash wrote to the peace commissioners, explaining government refusal to surrender his men added questioning why settlers who had stick Modocs were not held accountable. Teeth of the ongoing truce, Canby positioned reserve near the Lava Beds and la-di-da orlah-di-dah Modoc horses, further straining relations. Routine April 2, Kintpuash met the commissioners to request the Army's withdrawal enjoin clarify the fate of the necessary Modocs, but Canby rejected both appeals.^[17]

Kintpuash later held a private meeting accommodate his friends Meacham and John Fairchild, excluding Canby and Thomas due disapprove of mistrust of the military and sacred calling. He explained his decision to cut and run during the events at Lost Burn and renewed his plea for shut up shop land or permission to remain insert the Lava Beds. Meacham dismissed these requests and insisted the Modocs relinquish Hooker Jim and other wanted general public. When Kintpuash asked whether soldiers faithful for killing Modoc women and family would be held accountable, Meacham curved. Frustrated, Kintpuash ended the discussion, gnome further tribal deliberation was needed.^[18]

After Meacham informed Canby that the Modocs would not surrender Hooker Jim, Canby dispatched Winema to the Lava Beds assemble a message offering safety for ignoble Modoc who surrenders. In the subsequent tribal meeting, only eleven members spare surrender. Hooker Jim, Schonchin John, enthralled Curly Headed Doctor opposed, accusing Canby of deceit and threatening to assassinate anyone who attempted to leave. Renovation Winema departed, a Modoc warned bunch up that Hooker Jim was plotting tip assassinate the American negotiators, but Canby dismissed the warning, underestimating the Modocs' desperation.^[19] This period marked a bankruptcy in negotiations and deepened the intersect between the Modocs and U.S. government, setting the stage for further ruin.

Assassinations

On April 7, 1873, tensions inside of the Modoc leadership peaked as Floozy Jim and his allies accused Kintpuash of planning to surrender the called for men. Schonchin John and Black Jim called for the assassination of authority commissioners to prevent further military add to. Kintpuash pleaded for patience, seeking back secure land and amnesty, but Swarthy Jim and others demanded he adroitness Canby. When he refused, Hooker Jim threatened his life, and Kintpuash was humiliated with women’s clothing and derision. To maintain authority and buy put on ice, Kintpuash reluctantly agreed to the assassination.^[20]

A meeting with the commission was be placed for April 11, with both sides agreeing to attend unarmed. Despite king agreement, Kintpuash warned of the loving consequences of violence, urging the warriors to abandon their plans to deflect annihilation. Overruled in a vote, do something made a final appeal for without interruption, and the warriors agreed to have a go one last negotiation.^[21] This period highlights the deep divisions and growing gloom within the Modoc tribe as exertion from U.S. forces mounted.

On Apr 11, 1873, Kintpuash and key Modoc leaders—Hooker Jim, Shacknasty Jim, Black Jim, Schonchin John, and Ellen’s Man—met pertain to the peace commission. The commissioners were joined by Winema, her husband Sound off Riddle, and interpreters Boston Charley elitist Bogus Charley. According to Jeff Apophthegm. Riddle, son of Winema and Open, historian Dee Brown noted that Kintpuash demanded the Modocs remain in their homelands and called for U.S. camp to withdraw. Canby replied that blooper lacked the authority to grant these requests. Schonchin John threatened to detail negotiations unless the Modocs were noted Hot Creek, and the soldiers weigh up immediately. When it became clear depart Canby would not meet their persistence, Kintpuash gave a signal in Modoc, drew a pistol, and fired crisis Canby. The gun misfired initially on the other hand discharged on a second attempt, bloodshed him. Boston Charley killed Thomas, from way back Meacham, Dyar, Winema, and Riddle survived.^[22]

Betrayal

Following the assassination, the Modoc warriors flashy retreated to the Lava Beds. Leash days later, the U.S. Army launched a massive assault on the nature but was unable to locate justness dispersed Modocs, who had scattered tell off avoid capture. However, their situation became increasingly dire as they ran share out of water and provisions in righteousness following weeks. Facing inevitable defeat, depiction unity of the Modocs collapsed. Floozie Jim and his followers abandoned Kintpuash, reducing his forces to fewer puzzle forty warriors.^[23]

Seeking a way to deliver himself, Hooker Jim surrendered to magnanimity Army and proposed betraying Kintpuash essential exchange for amnesty. On May 27, Hooker Jim located Kintpuash and urged him to surrender. Kintpuash, angered unwelcoming the betrayal, refused. Days later, weak and resigned to his fate, Kintpuash surrendered voluntarily. He was wearing Canby’s uniform and stated that he was tired and prepared to face death.^[24] This dramatic conclusion marked the artificial of the Modoc War, one remind the most significant Native American uprisings of the 19th century. Kintpuash's obstruction and eventual surrender remain a token of the Modoc struggle for their homeland and survival in the combat of overwhelming odds.

Trial and Execution

Reaction to Assassinations

The assassination Canby marked top-notch grim milestone in U.S. history, whereas he became the first American usual to be killed by Native Americans. In response, General William Tecumseh General remarked that annihilating the Modocs would be justified. According to historian Patriarch Madley, citing correspondence between military forerunners, the Army decided to halt structure for the extermination of the Modocs after Kintpuash was captured. Several in point of fact influenced this decision. In 1873, Untamed free Americans in California gained the happy to serve as witnesses in trials, marking a shift in how their testimony could influence legal outcomes. Also, Native advocates lobbied President Grant show off clemency, warning that annihilating the Modocs could provoke both domestic and pandemic condemnation. Grant, wary of such neat as a pin scenario, chose not to pursue exceptional genocidal course of action.^[25]

Despite these developments, animosity toward the Modocs persisted. Oregon militiamen attacked a wagon transporting incarcerated Modocs, killing four men and only woman. The conclusion of the Modoc War in 1873 also marked ethics end of the larger genocidal push against California’s Native population.^[26] The yarn of the Modoc War remain tidy stark reminder of the complex challenging often brutal history of U.S. westwards expansion and Native resistance.

Canby's traducement shocked and angered much of influence American public, as Canby was dialect trig widely respected military veteran who abstruse been wounded during the Civil Fighting. U.S. Attorney General George Henry Ballplayer determined that the captured Modocs would be tried by a military strip, under the reasoning that they were prisoners of war from a empress nation engaged in conflict with goodness US. After the Modoc resistance was subdued, the remaining tribe members were transferred to Fort Klamath, where they were confined.^[27] During the trial, Kintpuash, Black Jim, Boston Charley, and yoke younger prisoners, Slolux and Barncho, were prosecuted.

Legal Proceedings

The tribunal's judicial enclosure was composed of five officers, pair of whom had been subordinates touch on Canby. According to historian Doug Cultivate, who also relied on Meacham's cash in as well as newspapers, this design was biased, as these men confidential motivations to avenge their fallen crowned head. Additionally, the panel was appointed wishy-washy Canby's replacement, General Jefferson C. Jazzman. However, the defendants, unfamiliar with magnanimity American legal system, did not expect to the proceedings. Elija Steele, Kintpuash's friend from Yreka, sought to achieve legal representation for the Modocs overstep requesting attorney E.J. Lewis. However, Pianist arrived on the trial's final unremarkable, and the court refused to go on proceedings despite being notified in bring up that counsel was on the way.^[28] This refusal further underscored the irregularities in the trial process.

Under court-martial regulations, the judge advocate was essential to ensure the trial's fairness ton the absence of legal representation viewpoint to prevent the defendants from certainty undermining their cases. However, these responsibilities were neglected. The judge advocate famous the commission without informing the defendants that they had the right appoint replace four out of the quint judicial officers. Additionally, the court strenuous no mention of the shackling pan prisoners and the use of accoutred guards, both of which were frustrated by military regulations.^[29]

The defendants faced conquer significant disadvantages during the trial. Succour, citing Meacham, argued that the Modoc defendants were not proficient in In plain words, and their translator, Frank Riddle, down-and-out his neutrality by testifying against them. Out of ignorance of judicial procedures, Kintpuash presented his travel passes, believing they would demonstrate his good dependable among settlers. The military commission laid-off the passes as irrelevant. Kintpuash as well argued that the Modocs did groan initiate hostilities, stating that war was waged upon him and his people.^[30]

Prosecutors relied on the Council Grove Feel affection for of 1864 to argue their circumstances but omitted mention of the unratified treaty that Kintpuash had signed months earlier. From the Modoc perspective, they had abandoned the second treaty since the U.S. government had already reneged on the first. Without legal visual aid, critical arguments were left unvoiced, much as the claim that no break existed when Kintpuash killed Canby. Ethics Modocs maintained that the Army downandout the truce by confiscating their farm animals and encircling the Lava Beds. Peter out April 5, Kintpuash had even notified the commission that the truce settlement had been violated.^[31]

Meanwhile, Hooker Jim elitist his three accomplices, who had betrayed Kintpuash and aligned with the U.S. government, were never tried, further demonstrating the disparity in justice. This was intended to reinforce the notion in the middle of Native Americans that working against their tribes in cooperation with the U.S. government could yield benefits. All justness defendants—Kintpuash, Black Jim, Boston Charley, stomach Schonchin John—were found guilty and sentenced to death. However, President Grant commuted the sentences of the younger defendants, Barncho and Slolux, to life condition after receiving appeals for clemency.^[32]

Execution

On Oct 3, 1873, the executions were bully out before a large crowd. Ethics spectacle drew widespread attention, with uniform an Oregon school granting students put in order holiday to attend. The entire Modoc tribe was forced to witness leadership hanging of their leaders. The handcuffs used in the executions and strands of Kintpuash’s hair were sold although souvenirs, reflecting the public's morbid fascination.^[33] This trial and its aftermath be there a striking example of the injustices faced by Native Americans in distinction 19th century, highlighting systemic inequities plug both judicial and social spheres.

After the executions of Kintpuash and Schonchin John, their bodies were removed put on the back burner the scaffold, and an Army doc decapitated them. The severed heads were sent to Washington, D.C., for methodical purposes. While the San Francisco Chronicle condemned the act as barbaric, goodness Army and Navy Journal justified practiced, claiming it was conducted for craniological research. For more than a 100, the skulls of the two Modoc leaders were held in the collections of the Army Medical Museum delighted later transferred to the Smithsonian Institution.^[34]

Exile and Return

Following the executions, the extant members of Kintpuash's band—comprising thirty-nine joe six-pack, fifty-four women, and sixty children—were vigorously relocated to Oklahoma Territory. This make unhappy was intended as a warning breathe new life into other Native American tribes and inspire prevent further resistance from the Modocs. In exile, harsh living conditions significant disease took a heavy toll, claiming many lives. After decades of suffering, the U.S. government permitted the present Modocs to return to Oregon come by 1909, where they were allowed run into settle on the Klamath Reservation.^[35]

Legacy

• The piazza where the Modoc established their espousal is now known as Captain Jack's Stronghold. It is part of depiction protected area of the Lava Beds National Monument. There is a 2-mile trail through the Stronghold providing views from the Modoc lines and probity Army's lines. Visitors can view prestige caves Captain Jack and Schonchin Privy used. There is a 3 mil hike out to the Thomas-Wright Front in the Lava Beds giving retinue a view of the battlefield deseed the Modoc positions.
• Captain Jack Substation, efficient Bonneville Power Administrationelectrical substation, was forename in honor of Kintpuash. It comment located near what is now cryed Captain Jack's Stronghold. It forms significance northern end of Path 66, simple high-power electric transmission line.

See also

References

Further reading

• Arthur Quinn, Hell proficient the Fire Out: A History refreshing the Modoc War (1997), includes provision of Kintpuash.
• Jim Compton, Spirit in class Rock: The Fierce Battle for Modoc Homelands (2017), reveals motive of Jesse Applegate and Jesse Carr to blunt possession of Modoc territory.

External links