Modoc
Modoc refers to both a Native American tribe and a region in northeastern California, named after the Modoc people who have resided in the area since at least 6100 BCE. Historically, the Modoc were primarily hunter-gatherers, relying on fishing, fowling, and gathering plants from their rich environment, including the nearby Tule Lake region and south-central Oregon. Their archaeological legacy includes distinct artifacts, such as projectile points and basketry, although many recent findings have been lost due to modern collecting practices.
In the 19th century, the Modoc faced increasing pressure from White settlers and ranchers, leading to significant conflicts, including the Modoc War of 1872-1873. The war resulted in divided loyalties within the tribe and ultimately led to the execution of their leader, Captain Jack, and the exile of the remaining Modoc people to Indian Territory, present-day Oklahoma. Today, the Modoc tribe continues to maintain a cultural identity, with a small population residing in Oregon and Oklahoma. Federal recognition was restored in 1986, allowing for renewed government relations. The Modoc's rich cultural tradition, including their creation myths, remains an important aspect of their heritage.
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Modoc
- CATEGORY: Tribe
- CULTURE AREA: Plateau (some authorities indicate Great Basin)
- LANGUAGE GROUP: Klamath-Modoc
- PRIMARY LOCATION: Northern California, southwestern Oregon, Oklahoma
- POPULATION SIZE: 200 Modoc Tribe (2023, National Park Service); 3,500 The Klamath Tribes (2023, National Park Service)
Modoc, California’s northeastern most county, is named for the Indigenous Americans whose ancestors arrived in that area not later than 6100 BCE. By that date, the Modoc (which means "southerner") also inhabited the nearby Tule Lake region (presently in Siskiyou County, California), as well as south-central Oregon’s Klamath Lake and Lower Klamath Lake region. Archaeological discoveries in the Surprise Valley of northeastern California, as well as near Oregon’s Klamath lakes, indicate the occupancy of large semi-subterranean lodges (or pit houses), suggesting old, well-established societies that were at least partially sedentary. Around 2500 BCE, however, the appearance of brush wickiup housing, denoting adaptations to a less settled life, suggests changes in Klamath-Modoc cultural conditions or a shift in the ranges of the Modoc.
Generally, the Klamath-Modoc were hunter-gatherers; that is, they specialized in fishing, fowling, and plant gathering, particularly along lake shores. Their legacy of artifacts consists of leaf-shaped and large side-notched projectile points, which at later dates changed to smaller, notched, and barbed arrowheads. Mortars and pestles, knives, scrapers, twined basketry, and sagebrush sandals have also been found in abundance, although the archaeological record for relatively more recent ancient times has been destroyed by modern relic collectors.
Since the Modoc inhabited a relatively isolated region of rich grasslands and lava beds, unlike other Plateau Indigenous Americans they remained relatively unaffected by extensions of the nineteenth-century European mining frontier and the ruthless search for gold and other precious metals that characterized it. Nevertheless, trouble began in the early 1860s when Modoc grasslands began attracting White ranchers who were eager to clear Indians from their path. Under pressure from the ranchers, the US federal government negotiated a treaty with the Modoc in 1864 that resulted in the Modoc people's movement to a reservation north of Tule Lake. Whatever advantages the treaty brought to White ranchers, it brought little solace to the Modoc, for they were obliged to share the reservation with the Klamath among whom, despite their language affinities, the Modoc were both culturally alien and badly outnumbered.
Faced with these disabilities, Captain Jack (Kintpuash), a Modoc leader, encouraged his people to return to their original homes around Tule Lake, an area that, in the meantime, had been occupied by White settlers who were panicked by the Indigenous Americans' reappearance. Initial efforts by White settlers to persuade Captain Jack to remove his people to the reservation once again failed. The appointment in 1869 of Alfred B. Meacham, a staunch Oregon Republican and a reformer, as superintendent of Oregon’s Indian affairs soon resulted in the Modoc's reluctant return to the reservation. However, faced once again with the hostilities of the Klamath as well as with pressures from other agents, the Modoc, for a second time, left the reservation and returned to their homeland.
By 1872, federal efforts to force the Modoc back to the reservation brought on the Modoc War. For a year, the military campaign against the Modoc proved an embarrassing stalemate to federal troops led by General Edward R. S. Canby, whom Captain Jack treacherously murdered during peace parleys. Simultaneously, the war deeply divided the Modoc themselves. Confronted in the aftermath of Canby’s murder with national outrage and intensified federal military operations, the Modoc swiftly surrendered. Captain Jack and three associates were hanged. The surviving 153 Modoc members were exiled under the aegis of the Department of Interior to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), where subsequently they farmed peacefully. In 1909, those who remained were given the option of returning to Oregon’s Klamath reservation.
The Modoc's contacts with White settlers proved disastrous. The Bureau of Indian Affairs counted 4,000 Modoc members in 1873. By 1994, between 300 and 500 of their descendants lived near Chiloquin, Oregon, and a few hundred more in Oklahoma. In 1986, through the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma, the group was restored to direct federal recognition and government-to-government relations with the United States. In 2023, the National Park Service reported 200 members of the Modoc Nation in Oklahoma, all descended from those who fought in the Modoc War. The Klamath Tribes in Oregon are comprised of the Klamath, Yahooskin, and Modoc and have about 3,500 members. The Modoc represent only a small minority of the Klamath Tribes. The Modoc’s rich cultural tradition lives on in its myths about Kmukamch, the ancient creator, and Loon Woman.
Bibliography
Cothran, Boyd. Remembering the Modoc War: Redemptive Violence and the Making of American Innocence. University of North Carolina Press, 2014.
"Early Modoc History - Lava Beds National Monument." National Park Service, 10 Dec. 2023, www.nps.gov/labe/learn/historyculture/early-modoc-history.htm. Accessed 10 Jan. 2025.
Faulk, Odie B., and Laura E. Faulk. The Modoc. Chelsea House Publishers, 1989.
"History." Modoc Nation, modocnation.com/history/. Accessed 10 Jan. 2025.
"Modoc." California Language Archive, cla.berkeley.edu/languages/modoc.html. Accessed 10 Jan. 2025.
"Our History." The Klamath Tribes, klamathtribes.org/history/. Accessed 10 Jan. 2025.
Treuer, Anton. Atlas of Indian Nations. National Geographic, 2014.
"Welcome to Lava Beds!" National Park Service, 17 Sept. 2024, www.nps.gov/labe. Accessed 10 Jan. 2025.