Modoc Tribe Research Paper

Words: 735
Pages: 3

The Modoc tribe populated the land of northern California and southern Oregon, they resided on lava plateaus in homes that closely mirrored beehives. An influx of white settlers started to heavily occupy the area where the Modoc lived, commonly known as Tule Lake, in the 1860s. The US government wanted this area for themselves, thus they relocated the Modoc to the Klamath Indian Reservation in southwest Oregon. Throughout this paper research shall examine if the Modoc chief Kintpuash, also known as Captain Jack, was simply a renegade thief or a legitimate leader; And if the hunting of the Modoc tribe was justified by the whites colonization of their land. The establishment of the South Emigrant Trail by Lindsay Applegate in 1846 assisted …show more content…
The Modoc War officially began on November 28, 1872, when orders were received from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Troops were sent from Fort Klamath in attempts to move the Modoc from their home "by force if necessary" back to the reservation. The Modoc numbers surprised the Army and fighting begin almost immediately, the Modoc fled and the troops proceeded to burn the Modoc village. The Modoc were made up of three groups, each group loosely following the leadership of Kintpuash. The first group, was led by Hooker Jim, they proceeded east around Tule Lake, killing 14 male settlers in retaliation efforts. Captain Jack led a group of Modoc from the Lost River moving across Tule Lake by boat, entering the Lava Beds; Hooker Jim's group would join them later. Captain Jack worried that allowing Jim's group to join up with them would put the other Modoc's lives in danger, since it was Hooker Jim's group that murdered the settlers while in Tule Lake. An additional group of Modoc, the Hot Creeks, joined Kintpuash after being tricked by settlers into thinking that they would be hung for being