Kintpuash, also known as Kientpaush, Kientpoos, and Captain Jack (c. 1837 – October 3, 1873), was a chief of the Modoc tribe of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. Kintpuash's name in the Modoc language meant 'Strikes the water brashly.' He led a band from the

Klamath Reservation Klamath may refer to: Ethnic groups *Klamath people, a Native American people of California and Oregon ** Klamath Tribes, a federally recognized group of tribes in Oregon *Klamath language, spoken by the Klamath people Places in the United States ...

to return to their lands in California, where they resisted return. From 1872 to 1873, their small force made use of the lava beds, holding off more numerous United States Army forces for months in 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. Eadweard Mu ...

. Kintpuash was the only Native American leader ever to be charged with war crimes, and he was executed by the Army, along with several followers, for their ambush killings of General

Edward Canby Edward Richard Sprigg Canby (November 9, 1817 – April 11, 1873) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. In 1861–1862, Canby commanded the Department of New Mexico, defeating the Confederate Gene ...

and Reverend Eleazar Thomas at a peace commission meeting. The Modoc leaders were hanged for war crimes by the Army.

Life

Kintpuash was born about 1837 into a Modoc family in their ancestral territory near

Tule Lake Tule Lake ( ) is an intermittent lake covering an area of , long and across, in northeastern Siskiyou County and northwestern Modoc County in California, along the border with Oregon. Geography Tule Lake is fed by the Lost River. The elevat ...

. The Modoc occupied about 5,000 acres here, along what became the California-Oregon border after European colonization. Jack’s family—Lizzy (young wife), Mary (his sister), Old Wife and daughter (15621169836)

Jack’s family—Lizzy (young wife), Mary (his sister), Old Wife and daughter (15621169836)

In 1864, the Modoc still lived in their ancestral home near Tule Lake. Due to the pressure of white colonizers who wanted to steal and farm the fertile land in this territory, Kintpuash and his family were among the Modoc forcefully removed by the United States to the

in southwestern Oregon. This was primarily occupied by their traditional rivals, the much larger

Klamath Klamath may refer to: Ethnic groups *Klamath people, a Native American people of California and Oregon **Klamath Tribes, a federally recognized group of tribes in Oregon *Klamath language, spoken by the Klamath people Places in the United States * ...

tribe. The Klamath outnumbered the newcomers, and the reservation was on traditional Klamath land; the Modoc complained of poor treatment and conflict with the Klamath. In 1865, ''Kintpuash,'' by then informally called Captain Jack by American colonizers, led a band of Modoc from the reservation back to their home in California. In 1869, the band were rounded up by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

and returned to the Klamath Reservation. Finding conditions had not improved, in April 1870, Captain Jack led a band of about 180 Modoc back to the Tule Lake area.

Modoc War, 1872–73

In 1872, US Army forces were sent to capture Kintpuash's band and force them back to the reservation. On November 29, while their surrender was being negotiated at the Lost River in Oregon, fighting broke out between a soldier and one of the Modoc warriors. The brief

Battle of Lost River The Battle of Lost River in November 1872 was the first battle in the Modoc War in the northwestern United States. The skirmish, which was fought near the Lost River along the California–Oregon border, was the result of an attempt by the U.S. ...

ensued.

Kintpuash fled with his band into the area now protected as the

Lava Beds National Monument Lava Beds National Monument is located in northeastern California, in Siskiyou and Modoc counties. The monument lies on the northeastern flank of Medicine Lake Volcano and has the largest total area covered by a volcano in the Cascade Range. ...

. The band settled into this natural fortress. His warriors made use of its many caves and trenches in the

lava bed Lava fields are large, mostly flat areas of surface or subaquatic lava flows. Such features are generally composed of highly fluid basalt lava, and can extend for tens or hundreds of miles across the underlying terrain. Morphology and stru ...

s for defensive fighting, and women and children could be sheltered. When the Modoc were finally located, the Army launched an attack on January 17, 1873; the Army was left with 35 dead and many wounded, while the Modoc suffered no casualties. Kintpuash's advisers, not understanding differences between Modoc and Euro-American culture, suggested that the Army would leave if their warriors killed its leader

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

. Kintpuash hoped for a peaceful solution that would allow his people to stay in their territory. He entered into negotiations with a

federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

peace commission. During the months-long negotiations, the Modoc

hawks Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica. * The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. This subfamily a ...

gained in influence. Kintpuash was shamed, his opponents throwing the hat of a Modoc woman at him to symbolically strip him of his manhood. To bolster his influence, Kintpuash agreed to their plan: he called for a meeting with the commission (of which Canby was then the

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

) with the intention of killing them all. During the next meeting of the peace commission on April 11, Kintpuash and several other Modoc drew pistols at a prearranged signal; he shot General Canby twice in the head and cut his throat, and Boston Charley killed Reverend Eleazar Thomas, a California minister; two other commissioners were wounded.Brown, D. ''

Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee ''Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West'' is a 1970 non-fiction book by American writer Dee Brown that covers the history of Native Americans in the American West in the late nineteenth century. The book expres ...

''. Holt, Rinehart & Winston Inc, 1970. p. 231. The Modoc fled to the lava beds. Canby was the only general killed during the

Indian Wars The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, were fought by European governments and colonists in North America, and later by the United States and Canadian governments and American and Canadian settle ...

. (

Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, b ...

's permanent rank was

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

). In reaction, Canby's successor, General

Jefferson C. Davis Jefferson Columbus Davis (March 2, 1828 – November 30, 1879) was a regular officer of the United States Army during the American Civil War, known for the similarity of his name to that of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and for his kil ...

, brought in more than 1000 soldiers as reinforcements, determined to crush the Modoc resistance. On April 14, the Army attacked the lava stronghold, and many of the Modoc scattered to escape capture.

Surrender and execution

Donald McKay and Jack’s capturers (15645146485)

Captain Jack Grave (Klamath County, Oregon scenic images) (klaDA0024)

Captain Jack - California Historical Society (15458104939)

Over the next several months, various groups of Modoc continued to fight the army, while some began to surrender. Kintpuash successfully evaded the Army until some Modoc agreed to capture him and turn him in; these men included Hooker Jim, Bogus Charley, Shacknasty Jim, and Steamboat Frank. On June 1, Kintpuash surrendered, ceremonially laying down his rifle. He was taken to

Fort Klamath Fort Klamath was a military outpost near the western end of the Oregon Trail, between Crater Lake National Park and Upper Klamath Lake in Klamath County, Oregon, United States. The Fort Klamath Site, about a mile southeast of the present communi ...

. After being tried by a military court and found guilty, Kintpuash was

hang Hang or Hanging may refer to: People * Choe Hang (disambiguation), various people * Luciano Hang (born 1962/1963), Brazilian billionaire businessman * Ren Hang (disambiguation), various people Law * Hanging, a form of capital punishment Arts, e ...

ed on October 3, 1873, for the murders of General Canby and Reverend Thomas. Black Jim, John Schonchin, and Boston Charley had also been convicted and were hanged with him. Some other warriors were sent to prison.

Fate of remains

After the execution, Kintpuash's body was transported by freight train to

Yreka Yreka ( ) is the county seat of Siskiyou County, California, United States, near the Shasta River; the city has an area of about , most of it land. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 7,807, reflecting a meager increase fro ...

. There were rumors that his body was embalmed to be used as a carnival attraction in the Eastern states. This was never documented. The Army had tried to keep the fate of the Modoc remains a secret. They severed the Modocs' heads after the executions at Fort Klamath, sending them on October 25 by train to Washington, DC, to the Army Medical Museum for study. In 1898, the Army transferred the skulls to the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

. In the 1970s, descendants of Kintpuash learned that his skull was at the Smithsonian and appealed for its return. In 1984 the Smithsonian returned Kintpuash's skull to his relatives, who acted as tribal representatives to receive also the skulls of Boston Charley, Black Jim, and John Schonchin, and of an unknown Modoc woman whose remains had been recovered from the Lava Beds.

Legacy

*The area where the Modoc established their defense is now known as

Captain Jack's Stronghold 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 kn ...

. It is part of the protected area of the

. *Captain Jack Substation, a

Bonneville Power Administration The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) is an American federal agency operating in the Pacific Northwest. BPA was created by an act of Congress in 1937 to market electric power from the Bonneville Dam located on the Columbia River and to constr ...

electrical substation A substation is a part of an electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or perform any of several other important functions. Between the generating station and ...

, was named in honor of Kintpuash. It is located near what is now called Captain Jack's Stronghold. It forms the northern end of

Path 66 California Oregon Intertie (COI), identified as Path 66 by Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC), is a corridor of three roughly parallel 500 kV alternating current power lines connecting the electric grids of Oregon and California. Th ...

, a high-power electric transmission line.

References

External links

"Oregon Experience: The Modoc War"
Oregon Public Broadcasting, July 2012. – Video (57:14)
Indian Country Today June 15, 2016
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kintpuash Modoc people Native American leaders Native American people of the Indian Wars People of the Modoc War Executed people from California Executed Native American people 19th-century executions by the United States 19th-century executions of American people People executed for murder People executed by Oregon by hanging People executed by the United States military by hanging 1830s births 1873 deaths Year of birth uncertain 1873 murders in the United States 19th-century Native Americans