Chronology - Events of the Modoc War - History - http://maxpages.com/modocwar/Prolog

[I hope to have a more detailed chronology for events before 1864 posted some time, but I haven't done it yet. For a tentative chronology of the events of 1852 see below.]

14 February 1864 -- The Modocs, Klamaths, Shastas and others make a treaty with Elijah Steele to put an end to hostilities in the California-Oregon border region. (This treaty is never recognized by Congress.) At the same time Captain Jack is elected chief of the Modocs, replacing Old Schonchin.

14 October 1864 -- Huntington makes a treaty with the Klamaths and Modocs by which the Modocs agree to give up all their country and live on a reservation in Klamath territory. Both Old Schonchin and Captain Jack are signatories.

28 June 1865 -- Lindsay Applegate is appointed sub-agent for Klamath Reservation, although the treaty is still unratified and there is no reservation established.

25 August 1865 -- The Modocs complain through Elijah Steele and A. M. Rosborough about the Huntington treaty, stating their wish to remain in their own country.

25 September 1865 -- Lindsay Applegate begins work as sub-agent for Klamath Reservation, using Fort Klamath as his headquarters.

November 1865 -- Factional disputes continue among the Modocs over the treaty. The Army offers to send troops to support Old Schonchin, who favors the treaty. Captain Jack's attitude at this time is unknown.

2 July 1866 -- The Senate ratifies the Huntington treaty with the Klamaths and Modocs, making two amendments.

19 September 1867 -- The first annuity goods for Klamath Reservation arrive at Portland.

16 November 1867 -- Klamath sub-Chief Blow requests that a witness be present at the distribution of goods to report on their quality to Washington DC. The request is not honored, and shows "a predisposition to be dissatisfied" according to the authorities.

November 1867 -- The annuity goods are distributed. A small number of Modocs under Old Schonchin come for their shares and settle on the reservation. The larger number, under Captain Jack, refuse both to take the goods or to settle on the reservation; they remain in their old country.

1 May 1869 -- Alfred B. Meacham replaces Huntington as Oregon's Superintendent of Indian Affairs.

1 October 1869 -- O. C. Knapp replaces Lindsay Applegate as sub-Agent of Klamath Reservation.

October 1869 -- At this point local settlers apparently petition General Crook to have the Modocs rounded up and put on Klamath Reservation. Soon afterward Meacham and Knapp confer on how to get this done.

late November 1869 -- Camp Yainax is established for the Snakes, and Lindsay Applegate's son Ivan is put in charge.

10 December 1869 -- The Klamaths and reservation Modocs approve the Senate's alterations to the 1864 treaty.

13 December 1869 -- Meacham, Knapp, Ivan Applegate and others set off to persuade Captain Jack's Modocs to come onto the reservation. A party of soldiers goes with them as far as Link River.

18 December 1869 -- The Lost River Council. Meacham and the others talk with the Modocs about going onto the reservation. Captain Jack seems willing to consider the idea, but the shaman, Curley Headed Doctor, is opposed. After the council Curley Headed Doctor proposes killing the party. Negotiations continue for several days.

23 December 1869 -- Soldiers arrive in the early morning hours, and a number of the Modoc leaders flee. The rest of the group are captured.

24 December 1869 -- Several days are spent sending messages to the leaders; they finally return, and the entire group is escorted to the reservation.

30 December 1869 -- Captain Jack's people arrive at Klamath Reservation.

31 December 1869 -- A ceremony of reconciliation between the Klamaths and Modocs is staged, and annuity goods are distributed to all.

14 February 1870 -- The Modocs return to their old country on Lost River on a thirty day pass to fish. During that time they meet Henry Miller and other new settlers in the area.

mid-March 1870 -- They return to the reservation. There difficulties with the Klamaths escalate.

26 April 1870 -- All the Modocs, even Old Schonchin and his followers, leave the reservation and return to the Lost River country.

13 June 1870 -- By this date Old Schonchin and some others have returned to the reservation.

July 1870 -- Rumors in Lost River country that the Modocs are killing cattle in preparation for a war cause the new settlers to flee. These (and other more lurid) rumors turn out to be untrue.

early August 1870 -- Knapp meets Captain Jack casually in Yreka and tries to convince him to go onto the reservation; Jack is not interested.

8 August 1870 -- General E. R. S. Canby replaces Crook in charge of the Department of the Columbia, including the Modoc country.

21 September 1870 -- In his annual report Meacham says he has set aside a small portion of Klamath Reservation near Yainax for the Modocs and he expects them to return under this arrangement. Meacham plans to arrest any Modoc who does not return.

1 October 1870 -- John Meacham (Alfred Meacham's brother) replaces Knapp as sub-Agent for Klamath Reservation.

19 June 1871 -- Captain Jack shoots and kills a Modoc doctor whom he blames for his niece's death. Ivan Applegate attempts to have him arrested.

late July 1871 -- G. S. Miller, a settler, gets into an argument with some Modocs over hunting ducks on his land.

28 August 1871 -- By this time John Meacham has met with the Modocs and reached a temporary settlement with them, by which they can stay where they are in return for not annoying the settlers.

1 September 1871 -- J. N. High replaces John Meacham as sub-Agent at Klamath Reservation.

29 November 1871 -- Ivan Applegate and others meet with Captain Jack and others on Lost River. Captain Jack explains that the Modocs do not want to live at Klamath or any other reservation.

January 1872 -- Charles Monroe gets into an argument with some Modocs over hay.

3 January 1872 -- J. M. True swears out a complaint against unnamed Modocs for stealing hay.

mid-January 1872 -- Unknown people steal a whip from a settler named Poe; Poe is sure that the thieves were Modocs.

January? 1872 -- By this time some forty-five people had signed a petition calling for soldiers to take the Modocs back to the reservaiton. This petition was forwarded to Meacham. (For the petitions and the following correspondence click here.)

25 January 1872 -- Meacham recommends that a force of fifty men be sent to take the Modocs to Yainax.

29 January 1872 -- A second petition is circulated calling for the removal of the Modocs; even more people sign it and it is forwarded to Governor Grover of Oregon.

5 February 1872 -- Canby refuses to use force against the Modocs until they are given a chance to move on their own.

8 February 1872 -- Meacham repeats his recommendation that the Modoc leaders be arrested while admitting that "serious consequences may result".

16 February 1872 -- Canby orders Elmer Otis to take a force of cavalry to Modoc country to keep the peace.

1 April 1872 -- T. B. Odeneal replaces Alfred Meacham as Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Oregon.

3 April 1872 -- The Otis Conference. Elmer Otis, J. N. High, Ivan Applegate and others talk with Captain Jack about alleged grievances of the settlers. Various settlers present largely unsubstantiated charges, and Captain Jack's requests for evidence or for specifics are casually brushed aside. Henry Miller on the other hand testifies in favor of the Modocs.

11 April 1872 -- Otis recommends that the Modocs be ordered to go onto the reservation, and that Captain Jack and Black Jim be separated from their people. Meacham, no longer Superintendent, approves this plan.

1 May 1872 -- L. S. Dyar replaces J. N. High as sub-Agent on Klamath Reservation.

4 May 1872 -- The Oregon Sentinel carries this note: "From reliable persons just in from the Link river country, we learn that the reports of Indians troubles there are without foundation. The Indians are friendly and peaceable; and there has not been, nor is there now, any cause of alarm."

8 May 1872 -- Ivan Applegate writes, "In regard to removing the band to Klamath reservation, and protecting them from the Klamaths, I give it as my opinion that the plan is not only practicable but is really the only policy that can be adopted with any hope of success; but it is reasonable to believe that they will not come on to the reservation peaceably while their present leaders are in power .... I feel confident that in winter they could be moved quite easily by the troops stationed at Fort Klamath, but at this season an attempt to bring them by force might be attended with considerable danger to the settlers now in that country. Yet I am inclined to the opinion that a positive order to remove to the reservation made when a force of fifty or sixty cavalry can be at hand in their country ready for immediate action would have the desired effect, and that most if not all the Modocs would obey ...."

14 May 1872 -- Ivan Applegate, L. S. Dyar and others meet with all the Modoc chiefs on Lost River. Captain Jack refuses to go onto the reservation.

22 May 1872 -- Canby orders Otis to discontinue patrolling in Modoc country.

17 June 1872 -- Odeneal recommends arresting the Modoc chiefs. (For this correspondence, click here.)

18 June 1872 -- Frank Wheaton replaces Elmer Otis in command of the District of the Lakes.

6 July 1872 -- Odeneal's recommendations about the Modocs are approved, and he is directed "to remove them to the Klamath reservation--peaceably, if you possibly can; but forcibly, if you must--at the time suggested in your report, in September next. You will exercise your discretion about making arrests of the leaders, avoiding any unneccessary violence or resort to extreme measures."

17 July 1872 -- John Green assumes command at Fort Klamath.

28 July 1872 -- Frost destroys the crops put in at Yainax, on Klamath Reservation. Old Schonchin's people depend on government handouts for subsistance.

10 September 1872 -- Canby makes preparations in case it is necessary to use force against the Modocs.

14 September 1872 -- While on a scout John Green and his troops pass near the Modocs, but no conference takes place.

5 October 1872 -- Green reports that settlers he had interviewed insisted that the Modocs were constantly making trouble, but nobody could come up with any specific instances.

16 October 1872 -- Wheaton reports that neither Green nor Dyar expects any difficulty in moving the Modocs to Yainax in December.

30 October 1872 -- Canby instructs Wheaton to give aid to Odeneal (if necessary) in moving the Modocs to the reservation. He says that "if the intervention of the troops becomes necessary the force employed should be so large as to secure the result at once and beyond peradventure."

20 November -- Odeneal leaves Salem for Modoc country to set events in motion.

for a detailed timeline of following events click here.

1852

(A Tentative Chronology)

[note: many of the dates below should be considered as approximate.]

12 August 1852 -- An expedition under Charles McDermit sets out to guide immigrants to Yreka.

15 August 1852 -- The McDermit expedition meets a wagon train and sends back two men (named Smith and Toland) with them as guides. This train is attacked by Modocs at Bloody Point, but drives them off without serious damange.

18 August 1852 -- The McDermit expedition meets a wagon train led by J. C. Tolman and sends back two men with it as guides.

19 August 1852 -- The McDermit expedition presumably meets a party of nine packers heading for Yreka.

21 August 1852 -- The J. C. Tolman train runs into trouble with the Modocs at Bloody Point but manages to get away without serious loss.

22 August 1852 -- The Modocs attack the nine packers at Bloody Point, killing all but one of them. The lone survivor, a man named Coffin, escapes and rides away.

24 August 1852 -- When the Tolman train stops for the evening, Coffin rides into camp and tells his story.

25 August 1852 -- The Tolman train arrives in Yreka, where Coffin's story makes a sensation. Noted Indian fighter Ben Wright is sent for at once to lead an expedition against the Modocs.

26 August 1852 -- Ben Wright arrives in Yreka and organizes his forces.

27 August 1852 -- Ben Wright's Volunteers leave Yreka for Modoc country.

29 August 1852 -- McDermit's company meets wagon trains under Whiting and Morrison and sends guides with them; the two trains camp together that night at Clear Lake.

30 August 1852 -- Morrison's train sets out in the morning while Whiting's train stays behind to make repairs; the guides ride ahead to select a campground. The guides ride into a Modoc ambush and are slaughtered; and then Morrison's train is attacked as well. The immigrants fight off the Modocs through the night, sustaining various casualties. In the meantime Ben Wright's Volunteers arrive at Lost River.

31 August 1852 -- Whiting's train arrives at Bloody Point and relieves Morrison's train; the Modocs withdraw and the two trains continue. Ben Wright's Volunteers find them camped for dinner and from them learn the location of the Modocs. The Volunteers ride to Tule Lake and attack them, killing fifteen or twenty.

1-2 September 1852 -- Ben Wright's men find and bury the bodies of the eight packers killed by the Modocs. Wright sends back to Yreka for more men and supplies.

5 September 1852 -- Morrison's train arrives at Yreka.

7 September 1852 -- About this time new recruits and supplies are sent out to Ben Wright from Yreka.

11 September 1852 -- News that "whole trains of immigrants had been massacred on Lost river" came to Jacksonville (Oregon).

13 September 1852 -- An expedition under John E. Ross leaves Jacksonville for Modoc country.

17 September 1852 -- Somewhere in here Ross's company and Wright's company meet.

20 September 1852 -- About this time Ross's company finds the bodies of four people, three men and one woman, killed (presumably) by the Modocs.

13 October 1852 -- By this time Ross's company had disbanded and returned to Jacksonville.

20 October 1852 -- About this time a company of dragoons under Major Fitzgerald visited Wright's camp; they may have attacked the Modocs unsuccessfully at Tule Lake. **more**

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