Captain Jack's Stronghold was a holdout of the
Modoc people that is located between
Tulelake and
Canby, California. The stronghold, which is now part of
Lava Beds National Monument, is named for
Native American chief
Kintpuash who was also known as Captain Jack. During the
Modoc War
The Modoc War, or the Modoc Campaign (also known as the Lava Beds War), was an armed conflict between the Native American Modoc people and the United States Army in northeastern California and southeastern Oregon from 1872 to 1873. Eadwea ...
in 1873, Captain Jack along with 53 Modoc warriors, and numerous women and children in a band of 160, managed to hold out against the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
which outnumbered them by as much as 10 to 1 for several months.
The Modoc retreated to this area because it was part of their traditional territory where they had hunted and lived before the start of the
California genocide, when agents of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government ...
assisted by private citizens began the systematic killing of thousands of
indigenous peoples of California
The indigenous peoples of California (known as Native Californians) are the indigenous inhabitants who have lived or currently live in the geographic ar