AMEN OUT OF TIME——FRIENDLY ADVICE FROM ENEMIES——BETRAYED.
Ten _o’clock, Wednesday morning_, April 22d, Meacham is being transported
to Ferree’s ranch at the south end of the Klamath lake twelve miles from
Linkville. We have been here before. It was on the 27th of December, 1869,
when conducting Captain Jack’s band on to Klamath Reservation. _Then_
Captain Jack acknowledged the authority of the Government and was
endeavoring to be a man. _Now he is an outlaw._ After a stormy passage
across Tule lake last night, Fields and Dr. Cabanis landed at Gilliam’s
camp. The surgeons are visiting the hospitals. Some of the patients are
improving, but on one poor fellow we see the signet of the grim monster.
The sunset gun tonight will not disturb him.
Lieut. Eagan is still improving. Fairchild is in camp, and assuring Gen.
Gilliam that as “soon as the Oregon volunteers arrive, the Modocs will
throw down their guns and come right out and surrender;” Riddle and wife
in camp also, and assisting to care for the sick. “Muybridge,” the
celebrated landscape artist, of San Francisco, is here with his
instruments, photographing the “Lava Beds,” the council tent, and the
scene of the assassination. “Bunker,” of the “San Francisco Bulletin,” is
on the ground reporting for his paper. “Bill Dad,” with his long hair
floating in the wind and a pipe in his mouth, slipshod and sloven, still
hovers around to keep the readers of the “Record” posted.
Gen. Gilliam is consulting with his officers; they are indignant at the
inaction manifested. Donald McKay and his Warm Springs Indians are
scouting under the direction of army officers. Both Donald and his men are
disgusted with the _red-tape way of fighting_ Modocs.
Captain Jack and his people are quiet this morning. They are so closely
hidden that even the sharp eyes of Donald McKay cannot discern their
whereabouts. Captain Jack’s men are anxious to be on the warpath; but the
chief restrains them. They, in turn, reproach him with want of courage. He
insists that they must act on the defensive. Bogus, Boston, Shacknasty Jim
and Hooker Jim are rebellious and threaten to desert. Couriers are bearing
despatches to Y-re-ka announcing that “_the Modocs cannot escape_.”
A gun from the deck of the “_Oriflamme_” tells the people of San Francisco
of her arrival with the remains of Gen. Canby. An immense concourse of
citizens escort the hearse to the head-quarters of the army.
The widow sits in a carriage, with unmoistened eyes, while the populace
pay homage to the great character of her husband. The body of Dr. Thomas
is quietly resting with the dead, while he in spirit is enjoying the
glories of eternal life; his last sermon preached, his trials over.
The three children of Meacham are drying their tears, and thanking God
that they are not fatherless, and for the love of a brotherhood that
brings to their home sunshine in the faces and words of Secretary
Chadwick and Col. T. H. Cann, who have called this morning.
Away up in Umatilla, a young man, who has been bowed down with grief over
a second great bereavement, this morning reads to the little orphans that
climb on his knees, and their widowed mother, the telegram signed by Capt.
Ferree, announcing the recovery of his brother. His joy is unbounded. A
great load has been lifted from his shoulders and his heart.
Midway between the oceans and near Solon, Iowa, in the sitting-room of an
old homestead, a group is kneeling around a family altar. The bent form of
a silver-haired man is surrounded by his aged second wife, his two living
daughters; and perhaps, too, the invisible presence of _two_ daughters and
two sons that have gone before, and _their own_ mother, are also there.
His voice is tremulous while he leads in prayer and recounts that half of
his family has gone and half remains; blesses God that the dark sorrow
that threatened them has passed away, and invokes Heaven’s blessings on
the living loved ones.
_Thursday morning_, and we are in a cabin at Ferree’s ranch. The
proprietor enters, holding a letter in his hand. “See here, old man, I
don’t know but what you have jumped out of the frying-pan into the fire.
How does this suit you?”
KLAMATH AGENCY, Thursday morning, April 23.
FRIEND FERREE:——Be on your guard. The Klamath Indians were in
war council last night.... We have sent our women and children
to Fort Klamath for safety....
L. S. DYER,
_Agent Klamath_.
“That don’t look wholesome for us, old man; but you are all right, you can
_play dead_ on ’em again, and they _can’t scalp you nohow_. We are pretty
well stockaded and well armed. We can play them a merry string, if they do
come. If we have to fight, why, you can’t do much, that’s so, except as
old man Jones did at the camp-meeting last year. He said he couldn’t
_preach_, he couldn’t pray _much_, but he could say _Amen_ as well as
anybody; and all through the meeting old Father Jones was shouting ‘Amen!’
‘_A-men!_’ until they stopped the old fellow. Didn’t I never tell you
about that? Well, brother Congar was preaching brimstone pretty lively,
and Father Jones was shouting Amen occasionally. Brother Congar was saying
to the congregation, ‘If you don’t repent and be baptized, you’ll all go
to hell, shure as you’re born,’——‘Amen! Thank God!——Amen!’ shouts Father
Jones. Brother Congar stops. ‘Father Jones, you didn’t understand what I
was a-sayin,’——‘Yes, I guess I did, Bro. Congar, you told me if we come
over here that, whenever you said anything powerful smart, I was to say
‘Amen!’ You said you couldn’t preach _worth a cent_ unless I did, and I’ve
done it, so I have. If it aint satisfactory, I quit and go back
home,’——‘Amen!’ shouted brother Congar, and went on with the preaching.
Now all we will ask of you, ‘old man,’ is to say ‘Amen,’ but don’t act the
fool about it like Father Jones did, that’s all. We’ll tend to
administering sulphur in broken doses, if they try to take us in. Don’t
think there’s any danger though. Dyer isn’t over the scare he got in the
race with _Hooker Jim_ yet.”
_Friday morning, April 24th._——The army at the Lava Beds is performing
some masterly feats of inactivity that would have been a credit to Gen.
McClellan on the peninsula. The wild fowls that fly over the Lava Beds
look down on the army of a thousand recuperating after the big battle of
last week. Col. Miller is in charge of Captain Jack’s stronghold. The Warm
Springs are divided up, and assigned to duty with the different squadrons
of cavalry. Quartermaster Grier is having a coffin made and a grave
prepared for a soldier that is dear to somebody somewhere, who is in
blissful ignorance of his fate.
_Ferree’s Ranch, Sunday morning, April 25, ’72._——A horseman arrives, and,
taking Ferree aside, he informs him that a reliable friendly Indian had
come in to Linkville and reported that it was understood that Meacham had
killed Schonchin, and that some of Schonchin’s friends had been to
Yai-nax——an Indian station on Klamath Reservation——and learned that
Meacham was at Ferree’s. Further, that it was thought advisable that he be
immediately removed to Linkville, lest the Modocs should make an attack on
the ranch, seeking revenge for the death of Schonchin. The ambulance is
ordered out, and the convalescent Peace Commissioner was again on wheels.
Here we take leave of our inveterate joker——the Iowa veteran——Capt. Ferree
leaving him to administer “_saltpetre_ and _blue-pills_” to the red skins
in the event of an attack.
_Lava Beds, Gilliam’s Camp, Sunday morning, April 26th._——Something is to
be done to-day. The location of the Modocs has been ascertained through
the efforts of the Warm Springs Indian scouts. A reconnoissance of the new
stronghold is ordered. The detachment designated for this purpose
consisted of sixty-six white men and fourteen Warm Springs Indians under
McKay; the whole under command of Capt. E. Thomas of 4th Artillery. First
Lieut. Thomas Wright——spoken of in this volume as Col. Wright of Twelfth
Infantry, a son of the gallant old General Wright——is of the party, and in
immediate command of his own and Lieut. Eagan’s companies.
Lieut. Arthur Cranston and Lieut. Albion Howe of Fourth Artillery, Lieut.
Harris also of the Fourth, Assistant Surgeon B. Semig, H. C. Tichnor as
guide, Louis Webber, chief packer, and two assistants; the whole,
exclusive of Warm Springs scouts, seventy-six. I may be pardoned for
making more than mere mention of this expedition and the manner of its
organization, because of its results; to understand it fairly, it should
be stated that the parties named, except the Warm Springs scouts, were all
of the army camp at the foot of the bluff, the head-quarters of Gen.
Gilliam, commander of the army in the Modoc campaign.
The Warm Springs scouts were encamped near the old Modoc stronghold, and
had been ordered to join the command of Capt. Thomas, while _en route_, or
at the point of destination, which was a low butte or mound-like hill, on
the further side of the Lava Beds, from the several camps. The outfit of
this reconnoitring party, aside from the men and arms, consisted of a
small train of pack mules. This train of packs was suggestive. Tacked on
to the _apparahos_——pack-saddles——were subsistence and medical stores for
the party, and also several _stretchers_. The object of the reconnoissance
was to ascertain whether the field-pieces could be planted so as to
command the new position of the _Modoc General, Jack Kientpoos_. Shells
had done _wonderful execution_ in the three days’ battle, and, of course,
were _the thing to fight_ MODOCS with; provided, however, that the fools
of the Modoc camp were not all dead; for it is an undoubted fact that out
of only two or three hundred tossed into the Modoc stronghold, _one of
them had done more execution_ than _all the bullets fired by the soldiers_
in the three days.
Capt. Thomas was instructed, in “no event, to bring on an engagement.” The
point of destination was in full view of the signal station at Gilliam’s
camp, and not more than three miles distant. The command proceeded with
skirmishes thrown out, and proper caution, until their arrival at the foot
of the butte. The Warm Springs scouts had not joined the command. Capt.
Thomas remarked that, since no Indians were to be seen, the command would
take lunch. Lieut. Wright replied, that “_when you don’t see Indians is
just the time to be on the look out for them_.” The skirmish guards were
called in, and the whole command, except Lieut. Cranston and twelve men,
sat down to bivouac for an hour; Cranston, in the mean time, remarking
that he “was going to raise some Indians,” proceeded to explore the
surroundings. In so doing he passed entirely out of sight of the main
party. The foot of the butte is similar to other portions of the Lava
Beds, thrown into irregular ledges, or cut into chasms and crevices.
[Illustration: WARM-SPRING INDIAN PICKETS.]
Now Cranston has passed over a ledge, when suddenly from the rocks, that
had been so quiet, a volley of rifles opens on both parties. It is not
known whether Cranston and his men all fell on the first fire; it is,
however, probable that _he_ did not, as his remains were afterwards found
several rods from where he was last seen by the survivors. Capt. Thomas’s
party were thrown into confusion. He ordered Lieut. Harris to take a
position on the hill-side, and when the point was reached, Harris found
that the enemy was _still above_ him and commanding his new position. His
men were falling around him, and he was compelled to fall back, leaving
two dead and wounded.
In making the retreat, Lieut. Harris was mortally wounded. The scene that
followed is without a precedent in Indian warfare. Every commissioned
officer was killed, except Surgeon Semig, who was wounded; and of the
sixty-six enlisted men but _twenty-three_ reached head-quarters.
Donald McKay and his scouts hurried to the scene, and arrived in time to
prevent the annihilation of the entire party. That the soldiers were
demoralized at the suddenness of the attack, there is no doubt. It seems
to have had an unusual combination of circumstances attending the carnage.
That Capt. Thomas should have permitted himself to be surprised by an
enemy, for whose destruction he was at that time seeking a location for
the batteries, is strange, especially after the warning suggestions of
Lieut. Wright, whose long experience on the frontier——of almost a
life-time——should have given weight to his views. Strange, too, that
_every officer_ should have fallen so early in the attack, and that Donald
McKay, with his Warm Springs, should have been thirty minutes behind time,
and then, when coming to the rescue, should have been held off by the fire
of the soldiers, who mistook him and his men for Modocs, and compelled
them to remain out of range so long that the soldiers were nearly all
killed or wounded before Donald was recognized.
Singular that this butchery should have continued three hours in sight of
the signal station before reinforcements were ordered to the rescue.
Indeed, it is stated on good authority, that soldiers who escaped made
their way into camp one or two hours before Col. Green was ordered to go
to the scene with his command. Singular, indeed, that fifty-three men were
killed or wounded by twenty-four Modocs, on ground where the chances were
even for once, and _not one of the twenty-four Modocs was wounded_.
What is still more unaccountable is, that the Modocs should have become
_surfeited_ with the butchery, and desisted from satiety, calling out in
plain Boston English,——“_All you fellows that aint dead had better go
home. We don’t want to kill you all in one day._”
This speech was heard by soldiers who still live, and for the truth of
which abundant evidence can be had. We have it on Modoc authority that
Scar-face Charley made this speech, and repeated it several times, and
that he insisted that the Modocs should desist, because his “heart was
sick seeing so much blood, and so many men lying dead.”
Follow the advancing wave of civilization from ocean to ocean, and no
parallel can be found living, on printed page, or tradition’s tongue.
_Seventy-six well-armed men_, with equal chances for cover, shot down by a
mere handful of red men, until in charity they _permitted twenty-three_ to
return to camp!
Can we understand how this was done? It seems incredible, and yet it is
true. While we shudder, and in our rage vow vengeance on the perpetrators,
we are compelled to admit that there was behind every Modoc gun _a man_
who was far above his white brother in fighting qualities. Much as we are
inclined to underrate the red man, we are forced to admit that
_twenty-four men_ leaving a stronghold, and going out among rocks that
gave even chances against them, was an act of heroism that if performed by
white men would have immortalized every name, and inscribed them among the
bravest and most successful warriors that this country has produced.
Performed by a band of red-handed Indians, it is scarcely worthy of
mention. While we do most _emphatically_ condemn all acts of treachery, no
matter by whom committed, we are not insensible to emotions of admiration
for acts of bravery, no matter by whom performed. In speaking of this
battle Gen. Jeff. C. Davis says, “It proved to be one of the most
disastrous affairs our army has had to record. Its effects were very
visible upon the morale of the command, so much so that I deemed it
imprudent to order the aggressive movements it was my desire and intention
to make at once upon my arrival, in order to watch the movements of the
Indians.”
What, is it so, that with all the slaughter reported from time to time,
Captain Jack still has men enough left to cause an army of _one thousand_
to wait for recuperation and reinforcements before again attacking him?
This battle was fought on the 26th of April, ten days after the three
days’ battle. Curious that “the press,” or that portion of it that was so
loud in denunciation of the Peace Commissioners, did not find fault, and
enter “_protest_” against the delay. The commission has been “_out of the
way_” since the 11th inst., and three days’ battle has been fought, and
one day’s slaughter withstood, and it has not cost much over half a
hundred lives, that were required to satisfy the clamor for vengeance, and
now why not raise your trumpet notes again, brave editors, and a
proportionate howl for vengeance? You are safely seated behind your
thrones, where no shot could reach you.
Why don’t you howl with rage because a few “_cut-throats_” have murdered
ten per cent. of an army of a thousand, _“who were hired to fight and die
if need be”? You did not want peace except “through war.”_ You have done
your part to secure the shedding of blood. Are you satisfied now when,
through the failure of the Peace Commission, so many men have yielded up
their lives? This short apostrophe is intended for those who _appropriate_
it; not for the really brave editors who were fearless enough to defend
“The humane policy of the President and Secretary Delano,” in the face of
a clamor that filled the country from the 1st of February to the 11th of
April 1873.
BATTLE OF DRY LAKE.
_Morning of the 10th, of May, 1873._——Fourteen days have passed, and Gen.
Canby has been placed in his tomb, Indianapolis, Indiana. The widow,
grief-stricken and heart-broken, is with her friends. Orderly Scott has
been ordered to report at Louisville, Kentucky; Adjutant Anderson, to
head-quarters, Department Columbia. The emblems of mourning are everywhere
visible around the home of Dr. Thomas. Meacham is at his home in Salem,
Oregon, recovering rapidly, and with a heart full of gratitude and kindly
feelings to Dr. Calvin DeWitt, U. S. A., who brought him safely through
the hospital at the Lava Beds.
The mother of Lieut. Harris is sitting beside her wounded son, in the
hospital at Gillam’s Camp. Gen. Jeff. C. Davis has assumed command of the
expedition against the Modocs. Captain Jack and his people have left the
Lava Beds. Dissensions are of every-day occurrence among them. Bogus and
Hooker Jim, Shacknasty, and “Ellen’s man” are contentious and quarrelsome.
Read the telegram of Jeff. C. Davis to Gen. Schofield, and we may know
something of what has occurred:——
HEAD-QUARTERS IN THE FIELD, Tule Lake, Cal., May 8, 1873.
I sent two friendly squaws into the Lava Beds day before
yesterday; they returned yesterday, having found the bodies of
Lieutenant Cranston and party, but no Indians. Last night I sent
the Warm Springs Indians out. They find that the Modocs have
gone in a southeasterly direction. This is also confirmed by the
attack and capture of a train of four wagons and fifteen animals
yesterday P.M. near Supply Camp, on east side of Tule lake. The
Modocs in this party reported fifteen or twenty in number;
escort to train about the same; escort whipped, with three
wounded. No Indians known to have been killed. I will put the
troops in search of the Indians with five days’ rations.
JEFF. C. DAVIS,
_Col. Twenty-Third Infantry, Com. Dept._
In his final report, Nov. 1st, 1853, he says:——
Hasbrouck’s and Jackson’s companies, with the Warm Springs
Indians, all under command of the former, were immediately sent
out in pursuit, and signs of Indians were found near Sorass
lake, where the troops camped for the night. On the morning of
the 10th the Indians attacked the troops at daylight; they were
not fully prepared for it, but at once sprang to their arms, and
returned the fire in gallant style. The Indians soon broke and
retreated in the direction of the Lava Beds. They contested the
ground with the troops hotly for some three miles.
The object of this hasty movement of the troops was to overhaul
the Indians, if out of the Lava Beds, as reported, and prevent
them from murdering settlers in their probable retreat to
another locality. This object was obtained, and more. The troops
have had, all things considered, a very square fight, and
whipped the Modocs for the first time. But the whole band was
again in the rocky stronghold....
Gen. Davis does not state all the facts in the case. While it is generally
admitted that Captain Jack _was whipped_ this _time_, it is also true that
Donald McKay and his Warm Springs Indian boys turn up _at the right time
again_ and assist in driving the Modocs three miles, recapturing the
horses that were taken from the escort a few days since. Two Warm Springs
scouts were killed in this fight, but their _names have never been
reported_.
Captain Jack appears in this fight in Gen. Canby’s uniform. One Modoc was
certainly killed this morning, because _his body was captured_. There can
be no mistake; several persons saw it with their naked eyes,——so they did,
oh! This Modoc, whose name was George, “Ellen’s man,” was Captain Jack’s
assistant in the murder of Gen. Canby. His death was the signal for new
quarrels among the Modocs, which ultimated in the division of the band,
and made it possible for the _thousand_ men to _whip_ the _remainder_.
The seceding Modocs, who are double-dyed traitors, were _Bogus Charley_,
_Hooker Jim_, _Shacknasty Jim_, _Steamboat Frank_, and ten others, mostly
Hot Creek Indians, and the same, except Hooker Jim, who were driven back
to the Lava Beds after they had started under escort of Fairchild and
Dorris to the Klamath Reservation, last December, ten days after the
Lost-river battle, by the howl for _blood that came_ up from every
quarter. At that time they had committed no crimes; had not been in battle
or butchery. After joining Captain Jack they had espoused the cause of the
murderers who killed the Lost-river settlers. They were not indicted, and
had less excuse than any other Modocs. Their home in “Hot Creek” was
several miles from any scene of slaughter on either side. They had
steadily opposed every peace measure offered, while Bogus had played his
part so well that he was the favorite of the army officers, and had
friends among the white citizens; he had instigated the assassination of
the Peace Commissioners, laid the plans, and even slept in the camp of
Gen. Canby, and ate his breakfast off the general’s table, and to his
friend Fairchild declared, even after Canby and Thomas had started for the
Lava Beds, that there was no intention of killing the Peace Commissioners.
The cause of the quarrel between these men and Captain Jack was the fact
that the few deaths that had occurred among the Modocs had been of those
who did not belong to Jack’s immediate family or band. They accused him of
placing the outside Indians——Hot Creek and Cum-ba-twas warriors——in the
front of the battles.
He replied that they had voted every time for war and against peace
proposals. The quarrel increased, and after the defeat at Dry Lake,
Captain Jack rebuked them for forcing the band into that fight against
their will. The death of “Ellen’s man” brought the crisis. We see the band
who started into the war with fifty-three braves, after having
accomplished more than any band of an equal or proportionate number of
men, of any race or color, in any age or country, quarrelling among
themselves, now divided into two parties; one of whom, with _fourteen_
men, _every one of whom had_ voted for war, turning traitor to his chief,
and offering themselves as scouts against him _without promise of amnesty_
or other reward. Such perfidy stands unparalleled, and _alone_, as an act
that has no precedent to compare it with. The succeeding events are
clearly told in Gen. Davis’ report.
The chief could no longer keep his warriors up to the work
required of them, lying on their arms night and day, and
watching for an attack. These exactions were so great, and the
conduct of the leader so tyrannical, that insubordination sprang
up, which led to dissensions, and the final separation of the
band into two parties; they left the Lava Beds bitter enemies.
The troops soon discovered their departure, and were sent in
pursuit. Their trails were found leading in a westerly
direction. Hasbrouck’s command of cavalry, after a hard march of
some fifty miles, came upon the Cottonwood band, and had a sharp
running fight of seven or eight miles. The Indians scattered, in
order to avoid death or capture. The cavalry horses were
completely exhausted in the chase, and night coming on he
withdrew his troops a few miles’ distance to Fairchild’s ranch
for food and forage.
Indians captured in this engagement expressed the belief that
this band would like to give themselves up if opportunity were
offered. When given this, through the medium of friendly
Indians, they made an effort to obtain terms, but I at once
refused to entertain anything of the kind; they could only be
allowed safe-conduct through the camp to my head-quarters when
they arrived at the picket-line. They came in on the 22d of May,
and laid down their arms, accompanied by their old women and
children, about seventy-five.
To learn the exact whereabouts of the Indians was now very
important, and I determined to accept of the offered services of
a Modoc captive; one who, up to the time of their separation,
was known to be in the confidence of his chief, and could lead
us to the hiding-place of the band. He was an unmitigated
cut-throat, and for this reason I was loth to make any use of
him that would compromise his well-earned claims to the halter.
He desired eight others to accompany and support him, under the
belief his chief would kill him on sight; but three others only
were accepted, and these of the least guilty ones. They were
promised no rewards for this service whatever. Believing the end
justified the means, I sent them out, thoroughly armed for the
service.
After nearly three days’ hunting they came upon Jack’s camp on
Willow creek, east of Wright lake, fifteen miles from
Applegate’s ranch, to which I had gone, after separation from
them at Tule lake, to await their return and the arrival of the
cavalry.
The scouts reported a stormy interview with their angry chief.
He denounced them in severe terms for leaving him; he intended
to die with his gun in his hand; they were squaws, not men. He
intended to jump Applegate’s ranch that night (the 28th), etc.
On the return of these scouts, I immediately sent Capt. E. V.
Sumner, aide-de-camp, back to the rendezvous, at Tule lake, with
orders to push forward Capts. H. C. Hasbrouck’s and James
Jackson’s commands to Applegate’s ranch, with rations for three
days in haversacks, and pack-mules with ten days’ supply. All
arrived and reported by nine o’clock A.M., the 29th, under
command of Maj. John Green, their veteran cavalry leader since
the commencement of the Modoc war, in excellent spirits. The
impenetrable rocky region was behind them; the desperado and his
band were ahead of them, in comparatively an open country.
After allowing the animals an hour’s rest the pursuit was
renewed, and about one o’clock P.M. Jack and band were “jumped”
on Willow creek near its crossing with the old emigrant road.
This stream forms the head-waters of Lost river. It was a
complete surprise. The Indians fled in the direction of Langell
valley. The pursuit from this time on, until the final captures,
June 3d, partook more of a chase after wild beasts than war;
each detachment vying with each other as to which should be
first in at the finish.
Lieut. Col. Frank Wheaton, Twenty-first Infantry, reported to
me, in compliance with his orders, from Camp Warner, on the 22d,
at Fairchild’s ranch. He was placed in command of the District
of the Lakes, and the troops composing the Modoc expedition.
After making necessary disposition of the foot troops and
captives at Fairchild’s ranch, he came forward to Clear lake,
and joined me at Applegate’s with Perry’s detachment of cavalry;
these troops were at once sent to join the hunt. Most of the
band had by this time been run down and captured; but the chief
and a few of his most noted warriors were still running in every
direction.
It fell to the lot of these troopers to catch Jack. When
surrounded and captured he said his “legs had given out.” Two or
three other warriors gave themselves up with him.
Though called for, no reports have been received of these
operations from the different detachment commanders; hence
details cannot be given.
As soon as the captives were brought in, directions were given
to concentrate the troops, and all captives, etc., at Boyle’s
camp on Tule lake. There the Oregon volunteers, who had been
called into the field by the governor, turned over a few
captives they had taken over on their side of the line. It is
proper to mention, in this connection, that these volunteers
were not under my command. They confined their operations to
protecting the citizens of their own State. Yet on several
occasions they offered their services informally to report to me
for duty in case I needed them. No emergency arose requiring me
to call upon them.
By the 5th of June the whole band, with a few unimportant
exceptions, had been captured, and was assembled in our camp on
Tule lake, when I received orders from the General of the Army
to hold them under guard until further instructions as to what
disposition would be made of them. It was my intention to
execute some eight or ten of the ringleaders of the band on the
spot; these orders, however, relieved me of this stern duty,——a
duty imposed upon me, as I believed, by the spirit of the orders
issued for the guidance of the commander of the Modoc
expedition, immediately after the murder of the Peace
Commissioners; as well as by the requirements of the case,
judging from my stand-point of view, a commander in the field. I
was glad to be relieved from this grave responsibility. I only
regretted not being better informed of the intentions of the
authorities at Washington, in regard to these prisoners after
capture. In accordance with instructions, as soon as the
attorney-general’s decision was received, I ordered a military
commission for their trial, and with that view moved them to
Fort Klamath, as a more suitable place to guard and try them.
Six were tried and convicted of murder; four have been executed;
two have had their sentences commuted to imprisonment for life
by the President.
A few days after these executions took place at Fort Klamath, on
the 3d ultimo, the remainder of the band was started to their
new homes in Wyoming territory; they are probably there by this
time.
The number of officers killed in this expedition is eight;
wounded, three; total, eleven. Enlisted men killed, thirty-nine;
wounded, sixty-one; total, one hundred. Citizens killed,
sixteen; wounded, one; total, seventeen. Warm Springs Indian
scouts killed, two; wounded, two; total, four. Grand total,
killed and wounded, one hundred and thirty-two. A large number
of the killed were murdered after being wounded and falling into
the hands of the Indians. (See accompanying list of killed and
wounded, marked D.)
During the Modoc excitement many of the Indian tribes of Oregon,
Idaho, and Washington territory showed a very discontented
feeling, and strong sympathies with the hostile tribe. The
settlers seemed much alarmed in some localities. To meet this
state of affairs I thought it best to organize as large a force
as practicable, and make a tour through the country en route to
the proper stations of the troops. The march was made through
Eastern Oregon and Washington territory; it was about six
hundred miles. The cavalry was commanded by Maj. John Green, the
foot-troops by Maj. E. C. Mason. The march was well conducted by
these commanders, and well performed by the troops. I was
gratified to see that with the capture of the Modoc band the
excitement ceased. All the tribes throughout the department are
now perfectly quiet.