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I873-J
SCRAPS OF MODOC HISTORY.
21
SCRAPS OF MODOC HISTORY.
YING between the 121st and I22d leys and plateaus were dotted with an
degrees of west longitude, and telope; the timbered ridges sheltered
large herds of deer; the Klamath River
crossed by the boundary-line between
the States of California and Oregon, is —theirs to where it breaks through the
the water-shed that supplies the sources Siskiyou range to the westward — and
of the Sacramento and Klamath rivers. Lost River, connecting Clear and Rhett
Traversed by irregular and broken ridges lakes, were teeming with fish. The kaof basalt, evidently torn asunder by vio mas-root, an exceedingly nutritious ar
lent natural convulsions, and abounding ticle of food, was found everywhere.
in volcanic scoria, this region is, gener The marshes around the lakes produced
ally, inhospitable and sterile. Between tons of ivocas, the seed of the water
the broken mountain ranges are exten lily ; and their waters were alive with
sive plateaus covered with wild sage and wild-fowl of every description. Like the
chemisal, a little bunch and rye grass, nomads of the East, the habitations of
and having all the characteristics of this people were anywhere in the vi
the sage-plains of western Nevada. cinity of water; for the raids of their
Throughout this region are numerous equally warlike neighbors had taught
lakes; among which, and lying east and them the folly of wasting labor on per
west along the forty-second parallel, manent abiding-places. They are usu
are Little Klamath, Rhett, and Clear ally made by the erection of willow
lakes. This is the home of the Modoc poles, gathered together at the top, like
Indians, whose bold deeds and defiant the skeleton frame of an inverted bas
attitude to the military forces of the ket, and covered with matting woven
Government have attracted so much at with the tule of the marshes. The earth
in the centre scooped out, and thrown
tention.
Physically, and in point of intelli up in a low, circular embankment, pro
gence, this tribe are superior to the tects the family from the winds; and,
average American Indian. Subsisting while readily built and easily taken down,
almost entirely by the chase, the men are these frail dwellings are comparatively
lithe and enduring, courageous and in comfortable.
dependent— some of them really hand
It is difficult even to approximate the
some types of humanity; and their probable number of this people, when
recent decided repulse of a force of reg in their undisturbed aboriginal glory, and
ulars and volunteers, five times their before their contact with the superior
number, shows that they must not be civilization, whose vices, only, seem to
confounded with the Diggers of the Pa be attractive to the savage nature. In
cific slope. Once a numerous, powerful, dians have no Census Bureau; and, in
and warlike people, like the tribe of Ish deed, nearly all tribes have a supersti
mael, their hands were ever raised against tious aversion to answering any ques
all others, and their aggressive spirit tions as to their numbers. The Modocs
kept them in continual warfare. Their are like all others, and, when questioned
country was rich in everything necessary on the subject, only point to their coun
to sustain aboriginal life. The little val try, and say, that “once it was full of
L
�22
SCRAPS OF MODOC HISTORY.
people.” The remains of their ancient
villages, found along the shores of the
lakes, on the streams, and in the vicin
ity of springs, seem to corroborate this
statement; and one ranch alone, the re
mains of which are found on the western
shore of Little Klamath Lake, must
have contained more souls than are now
numbered in the whole Modoc nation.
Only 400, by official count, left of a tribe
that must have numbered thousands!
Some of the causes of the immense de
crease of this people can be traced to
their deadly conflicts with the early set
tlers of northern California and southern
Oregon. They were in open and un
compromising hostility to the Whites,
stubbornly resisting the passage of emi
grant trains through their country; and
the bloody atrocities of these Arabs of
the West are still too well remembered.
As early as 1847, following the route
taken by Fremont the previous year, a
large portion of the Oregon immigration
passed through the heart of the Modoc
country. From the moment they left
the Pit River Mountains, their travel
was one of watchful fear and difficulty,
the road winding through dangerous
canons, and passing under precipitous
cliffs that afforded secure and impene
trable ambush. Bands of mounted war
riors hovered near them by day, watch
ing favorable opportunities to stampede
their cattle, or pick off any stray or un
wary traveler. Nor were the emigrants
safe by night. The camping-places were
anticipated by the enemy — dark shad
ows crept among the sage and tall rye
grass, and, when least expecting it, ev
ery bush would seem to harbor a dusky
foe, and the air be full of flying arrows.
If the train were small, or weak in num
bers, the Indians would be bolder, and
not satisfied with shooting or stamped
ing cattle, but would waylay and attack
it in open daylight.
In 1852, a small train, comprising only
eighteen souls — men, women, and chil
[July,
dren—attempted to reach Oregon by the
Rhett Lake route. For several days,
after leaving the valley of Pit River,
they had traveled without molestation,
not having seen a single Indian; when,
about midday, they struck the eastern
shore of Rhett Lake, and imprudently
camped under a bluff, now known as
“ Bloody Point,” for dinner. These poor
people felt rejoiced to think that they
had so nearly reached their destination
in safety; nor dreamed that they had
reached their final resting-place, and
that soon the gray old rocks above them
were to receive a baptism that would
associate them for ever with a cruel and
wanton massacre. Their tired cattle were
quietly grazing, and the little party were
eating their meal in fancied security,
when suddenly the dry sage-brush was
fired, the air rang with demoniac yells, and
swarthy and painted savages poured by
the score from the rocks overhead. In
a few moments the camp was filled with
them, and their bloody work was soon
ended. Only one of that ill-fated party es
caped. Happening to be out, picketing
his horse, when the attack was made, he
sprang upon it, bare-backed, and never
drew rein until he had reached Yreka, a
distance of sixty miles.
The men of early times in these mount
ains were brave and chivalrous men. In
less than twenty-four hours, a mounted
force of miners, packers, and prospect
ors— men who feared no living thing —
were at the scene of the massacre. The
remains of the victims were found, shock
ingly mutilated, lying in a pile with their
broken wagons, and half charred; but
not an Indian could be found.
It was not until the next year that the
Modocs were punished for this cruel
deed. An old mountaineer, named Ben
Wright — one of those strange beings
who imagine that they are born as in
struments for the fulfillment of the Red
man’s destiny—organized an independ
ent company at Yreka, in 1853, and went
�1873-1
SCRAPS OF MODOC HISTORY.
into the Modoc country. The Indians
were wary, but Ben was patient and en
during. Meeting with poor success, and
accomplishing nothing except protection
for incoming emigrants, he improvised
an “emigranttrain” with ^ich to decoy
the enemy from the cover of the hills
and ravines. Winding slowly among the
hills and through the sage-plains, Ben’s
canvas-covered wagons rolled quietly
along, camping at the usual wateringplaces, and apparently in a careless and
unguarded way. Every wagon was filled
with armed men, anxious and willing to
be attacked. The ruse failed, however;
for the keen-sighted Indians soon per
ceived that there were no women or
children with the train, and its careless
movements were suspicious. After sev
eral months of unsatisfactory skirmish
ing, Ben resolved on a change of tactics.
Surprising a small party of Modocs, in
stead of scalping them, he took them to
his camp, treated them kindly, and mak
ing them a sort of Peace Commission,
sent them with olive-branches, in the
shape of calico and tobacco, back to
their people. Negotiations for a general
council to arrange a treaty were opened.
Others visited the White camp; and
soon the Modocs, who had but a faint
appreciation of the tortuous ways of
White diplomacy, began to think that
Ben was a very harmless and respect
able gentleman. A spot on the north
bank of Lost River, a few hundred yards
from the Natural Bridge, was selected
for the council. On the appointed day,
fifty-one Indians (about equal in number
to Wright’s company) attended, and, as
agreed upon by both parties, no weap
ons were brought to the ground. A
number of beeves had been killed, pres
ents were distributed, and the day pass
ed in mutual professions of friendship;
when Wright—whose quick, restless eye
had been busy — quietly filled his pipe,
drew a match, and lit it. This was the
23
pre-concerted signal. As the first little
curling wreath of smoke went up, fifty
revolvers were drawn from their places
of concealment by Wright’s men, who
were now scattered among their intend
ed victims ; a few moments of rapid and
deadly firing, and only two of the Mo
docs escaped to warn their people !
The Scotch have given us a proverb,
that “He maun hae a lang spoon wha
sups wi’ the deiland it may be Wright
thought so. Perhaps the cruel and mer
ciless character of these Indians justi
fied an act of treachery, now passed
into the history of the country; but,
certainly, the deed was not calculated to
inspire the savage heart with a high re
spect for the professed good faith and
fair-dealing of the superior race. Ben
Wright is gone now—killed by an Indian
bullet, while standing in the door of his
cabin, at the mouth of Rogue River.
No man may judge him; but, to this
hour, his name is used by Modoc moth
ers to terrify their refractory children
into obedience. The Modocs were now
filled with revenge, and their depreda
tions continued, till it became absolutely
necessary for the Territorial Governor
of Oregon to send armed expeditions
against them. For several years, they
were pursued by volunteer forces through
their rugged mountains,.where they con
tinued the unequal warfare with a daunt
less spirit; but, year after year, the num
ber of their warriors was diminishing.
In 1864, when old Sconchin buried
the hatchet and agreed to war with the
pale-faces no more, he said, mournfully:
“ Once my people were like the sand
along yon shore. Now I call to them,
and only the wind answers. Four hun
dred strong young men went with me to
war with the Whites; only eighty are
left. We will be good, if the White
man will let us, and be friends forever.”
And this old Chief has kept his word —
better, perhaps, than his conquerors have
�24
SCRAPS OF MODOC HISTORY.
theirs. The Modocs themselves offer a
better reason for the great decrease of
their people. They say that within the
memory of many of this generation, the
tribe were overtaken by a famine that
swept off whole ranches, and they speak
of it as if remembered like a fearful
dream. As is usual with savages, the
chief labor of gathering supplies of all
kinds, except those procured by fishing
and the chase, devolved upon the Mo
doc women. Large quantities of kamas
and wocas were always harvested, but
the predatory character of the surround
ing tribes made it dangerous to store
their food in the villages, and it was cus
tomary to caché it among the sage-brush
and rocks, which was done so cunning
ly that an enemy might walk over the
hiding-places without suspicion. Snow
rarely fell in this region sufficiently deep
to prevent access to the cachés; but the
Modocs tell of one winter when they
were caught by a terrible storm, that
continued until the snow was more than
seven feet in depth over the whole coun
try, and access to their winter stores im
possible. The Modocs, like all other
Indians, have no chronology; they do
not count the years, and only reckon
their changes by the seasons of summer
and winter. Remarkable events are re
membered only as coincident with the
marked periods of life; and, judging
from the probable age of the survivors
of that terrible famine, it must have oc
curred over forty years ago, long before
any of the tribe had ever looked upon
the face of a White stranger. These
wild people generally regard such oc
currences with superstitious horror; they
rarely speak of the dead, and even long
residence among the Whites does not
remove a superstition that forbids them
to mention even a dead relative by name.
From those who have lived among the
Whites since early childhood, the par
ticulars of this season of suffering and
desolation are obtained; and they say
that their parents who survived it still
speak of that dreadful winter in shud
dering whispers.
It seems that the young men of the
tribe had regirned, late in the-season,
from a successful hunt, wherf'-a.heavy
snow-storm set in; but these people
like children, in many thingshad no<<-\
apprehension, as their present
were supplied. But the storm increas
ed in fury and strength; the snow fell in
blinding sheets, for days and days, till it
had covered bush, and stunted tree, and
plain, and rock, and mountain, and ev
ery landmark was obliterated. The sur
vivors tell of frantic efforts to reach the
caches; how strong men returned to their
villages, weak and weary with tramping
through the yielding snow in search of;
the hidden stores. They tell how the?*
little brown faces of the children, pinch
ed with hunger, drove the men out again
and again in search of food, only to re
turn, empty-handed and hopeless; how
everything that would sustain life—deer
and antelope skins, their favorite dogs
—even the skins of wild fowl, used as
bedding, were devoured; how, when ev
erything that could be used as. food-was- ■
gone, famine made women put of strong,,
brave warriors, and a dreadful .stillfiess '
fell upon all the villages. They tell how
death crept into every house, till the-hving lay down beside the dead and wait
ed. After weeks of pinching hunger,
and when in the last extremity, an op
portune accident saved the largest vil
lage, on the south-eastern extremity of
Rhett Lake, from complete extinction.
A large band of antelope, moving down
from the hills, probably in search of food,
attempted to cross an arm of the lake
only a short distance from the village^
and were caught in the breaking ice and’r:
drowned. Those who had sufficient strength left, distributed antelope meajt
among the families, and it was then that
�
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Title
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Victorian Blogging
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Title
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Scraps of Modoc history
Creator
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Turner, William M.
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: [California]
Collation: 21-24 p. ; 24 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. From Overland Monthly. Author and publication information from https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moajrnl/ahj1472.1-11.001/17:5?rgn=main;view=image. This is an incomplete copy - p.24 ends mid-way through a sentence.
Please note that this pamphlet contains language and ideas that may be upsetting to readers. These reflect the time in which the pamphlet was written and the ideologies of the author.
Publisher
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[s.n.]
Date
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1873
Identifier
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G5733
Subject
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Indigenous peoples
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Scraps of Modoc history), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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application/pdf
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Text
Language
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English
Conway Tracts
Native American Indians
United States-History