View source for Modoc people

{{Short description|Native American people originally from northern California and Oregon}}
{{Other uses|Modoc (disambiguation){{!}}Modoc}}
{{Merge from|Kumush|discuss=Talk:Modoc people#Proposed merge of Kumush into Modoc people#Culture|date=January 2025}}
{{Not to be confused with|MODOK}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
|group=Modoc
|image=[[File:Winema.jpg|250px]]
|caption=[[Toby "Winema" Riddle]] (Modoc, 1848–1920)
|pop=800 (2000)
|popplace={{Flag|United States}}
|region1= {{Flag|Oregon}}
|pop1=600
|region3= {{Flag|California}}
|pop3=500
|region2= {{Flag|Oklahoma}}
|pop2=200<ref name=oia>[http://www.ok.gov/oiac/documents/2011.FINAL.WEB.pdf 2011 Oklahoma Indian Nations Pocket Pictorial Directory.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120424052416/http://www.ok.gov/oiac/documents/2011.FINAL.WEB.pdf |date=2012-04-24 }} (PDF) ''Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission.'' 2011: 22. Retrieved 5 January 2012.</ref>
|langs=[[English language|English]], formerly [[Modoc language|Modoc]]
|rels=
|related=[[Klamath people|Klamath]], [[Yahooskin]]
}}
[[File:Modoc Yellow Hammer.jpg|thumb|Photo of Modoc Yellow Hammer taken by Joseph Andrew Shuck before 1904. From the Lena Robitaille Collection at the Oklahoma Historical Society Photo Archives.]]
The '''Modoc''' are an [[Native Americans in the United States|Indigenous American]] people who historically lived in the area which is now northeastern [[California]] and central [[Southern Oregon]]. Currently, they include two [[List of federally recognized tribes in the United States|federally recognized tribes]], the [[Klamath Tribes]] in Oregon<ref name='FEIS 2001-02-01'>{{Cite web| title=Appendix O: Federally Recognized Indian Tribes with Interest in the Planning Area | work=Western Oregon Plan Revision Final Environmental Impact Statement For the Revision of the Resource Management Plans of the Western Oregon Bureau of Land Management Districts | publisher=Bureau of Land Management | pages=516–517| date=1 February 2001 | url=http://www.blm.gov/or/plans/wopr/final_eis/files/Volume_4/Volume_IV_App_O.pdf}}</ref> and the Modoc Tribe of [[Oklahoma]], now known as the [[Modoc Nation]].

==Language==
The Modoc, like the neighboring [[Klamath people|Klamath]], spoke dialectic varieties of the [[Klamath language|Klamathan/Lutuamian language]], a branch of the [[Plateau Penutian languages|Plateau Penutian language family]].  Both peoples called themselves ''maklaks'', meaning "people".<ref>Waldman, pp. 134, 168</ref>  To distinguish between the tribes, the Modoc called themselves ''Moatokni maklaks'', from ''muat'' meaning "South".<ref>Kroeber, p. 319</ref>  The [[Achomawi]], a band of the [[Pit River tribe]], called them ''Lutuami'', meaning "Lake Dwellers".<ref name='Pease' />

==Current population and geography==
[[File:Chief Yellow Hammer- Modoc.jpg|thumb|Chief Yellow Hammer painted in traditional clothing by [[Elbridge Ayer Burbank|E.A Burbank]], 1901.]]
About 600 Modoc live in [[Klamath County, Oregon]], in and around their ancestral homelands. This group includes those who stayed on the reservation during the [[Modoc War]], as well as the descendants of those who chose to return in 1909 to Oregon from Indian Territory in Oklahoma or Kansas. Since that time, many have followed the path of the [[Klamath people|Klamath]].<ref>''A Guide to the Indian Tribes of the Pacific Northwest'', entries "Klamath Tribes" and "Modoc"</ref> The shared tribal government of the Klamath, Modoc and Yahooskin in Oregon is known as the [[Klamath Tribes]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.klamathtribes.org/|title=The Klamath Tribes|access-date=28 June 2013}}</ref>

Two hundred Modoc live in [[Oklahoma]] on a small reservation in [[Ottawa County, Oklahoma]], that the federal government purchased for them. Originally they were placed on the Quapaw Indian Reservation in Oklahoma's far northeast corner. They are descendants of the band Captain Jack ([[Kintpuash]]) led during the Modoc War. The federal government officially recognized the [[Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma]] in 1978, and its constitution was approved in 1991.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/m/mo002.html|last=Self|first=Burl E.|title=Modoc|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture|publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society|access-date=28 June 2013}}</ref>

==Early population==
{{Further|Population of Native California}}
Estimates for the pre-contact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially. [[James Mooney]] put the aboriginal population of the Modoc at 400.<ref>{{cite book | last = Mooney | first = James | title = The Aboriginal Population of America North of Mexico | publisher = Smithsonian Institution | year = 1928 | series = Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections | location = Washington, D.C. | volume=80 | issue=7 | oclc = 1729762 |page=18}}</ref> [[Alfred L. Kroeber]] estimated the Modoc population within California as 500 at the year 1770.<ref>Kroeber, p. 883</ref> University of Oregon anthropologist Theodore Stern suggested that there had been a total of about 500 Modoc.<ref name="Stern, pp. 446–456">Stern, pp. 446–456</ref> In 1846, the  population may have included "perhaps 600 warriors (an overestimate, probably)".<ref name="Thrapp, p. 1276">Thrapp, p. 1276</ref>

==History==

===Pre-contact===
Until the 19th century, when European explorers first encountered the Modoc, like all [[Plateau Indians]], they caught salmon during salmon runs and migrated seasonally to hunt and gather other food.<ref name=arnold507>Arnold, ''et al.'', p. 507</ref> In winter, they built earthen dugout lodges shaped like beehives, covered with sticks and plastered with mud, near lake shores with reliable sources of seeds from aquatic [[wokas]] plants and fishing.<ref name='Pease'>Pease, pp. 46–48</ref>

====Neighboring groups====
In addition to the Klamath, with whom they shared a language and the [[Modoc Plateau]], the groups neighboring the Modoc home were:
*[[Shasta (tribe)|Shasta]] on the Klamath River;
*[[Rogue River (tribe)|Rogue River]] Athabaskans and [[Takelma]] west over the [[Cascade Mountains]];
*[[Northern Paiute]] east in the desert;
*[[Karuk]] and [[Yurok tribe|Yurok]] further down the Klamath River; and
*[[Achomawi]] or ''Pit River'' to the south, in the meadows of the Pit River drainages.

The Modoc, Northern Paiute, and Achomawi shared [[Goose Lake Valley]].<ref name='Pease' />

====Settlements====
The known Modoc village sites are ''Agawesh,'' where Willow Creek enters [[Lower Klamath Lake]], of the ''Gombatwa·s'' or Lower Klamath Lake People Band; ''Kumbat'' and ''Pashha'' on the shores of [[Tule Lake]] of the ''Pasganwa·s'' or Tule Lake People Band; and ''Wachamshwash'' and ''Nushalt-Hagak-ni'' on the [[Lost River (California)|Lost River]] of the ''Goġewa·s'' or Lower Lost River People Band.<ref name="Stern, pp. 446–456"/><ref name=arnold507/><ref name='Kroeber 305'>Kroeber, pp. 305–335</ref><ref name=ohs>{{cite web|url=http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/historical_records/dspDocument.cfm?doc_ID=102CE754-DAAC-594C-63428804F1EA49D2|first=Robert|last=Donnelly|title=Klamath Indian Reservation|work=The Oregon History Project|publisher=Oregon Historical Society|access-date=11 June 2013}}</ref> The Modoc have also been known as the Modok (Brandt and Davis-Kimball xvi).

===First contact===
In the 1820s, [[Peter Skene Ogden]], an explorer for the [[Hudson's Bay Company]], established trade with the [[Klamath people]] north of the Modoc.<ref>Waldman, p. 134</ref>

===Applegate Trail established===
Brothers [[Jesse Applegate|Jesse]] and [[Lindsay Applegate]], accompanied by 13 other white settlers, established the [[Applegate Trail]], or South Emigrant Trail, in 1846. It connected a point on the [[Oregon Trail]] near [[Fort Hall, Idaho]], and the [[Willamette Valley]] in western Oregon.<ref>Barr, p. 275</ref> The new route was created to encourage European-Americans to come to western Oregon, and to eliminate the hazards encountered on the Columbia Route.<ref>''Soil Survey of Douglas County Area'', p. 20</ref> Since the Hudson's Bay Company controlled the Columbia Route, development of an alternate route enabled migration even if there was trouble between the United States and the United Kingdom.<ref>Grubbs, p. 25</ref> The Applegate brothers became the first known white people in present-day [[Lava Beds National Monument]].<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Nature Notes from Crater Lake|volume=10|issue=1|date=June 1937|location=Crater Lake National Park, Oregon|publisher=National Park Service|title=Outline of Events in the History of the Modoc War|last=Fisher|first=Don C.|oclc=15927646}}</ref>

The opening of the Applegate Trail appeared to bring the first regular contact between the Modoc and the European-American settlers, who had largely ignored their territory before.<ref>Pease, pp. 60–66</ref> Many of the events of the [[Modoc War]] took place along the trail.<ref>Philip, p. 66</ref>

===Emigrant invasion===
From 1846 to 1873, thousands of emigrants entered the Modoc territory. Beginning in 1847, the Modoc raided the invading emigrants on the Applegate Trail<ref name=michno9091>Michno, pp. 90–91</ref> under the leadership of Old Chief Schonchin.<ref name="Thrapp, p. 1276"/>

In September 1852, the Modoc destroyed an emigrant train at Bloody Point on the east shore of [[Tule Lake]], killing all but three of the 65 people in the party. The Modoc took two young girls as captives.<ref name=michno9091/><ref>Heard, p. 33</ref> One or both of them may have been killed several years later by jealous Modoc women.<ref name=murray2428>Murray, pp. 24–28</ref> The only man to survive the attack made his way to [[Yreka, California]]. After hearing his news, Yreka settlers organized a militia under Sheriff Charles McDermit, Jim Crosby, and Ben Wright.  They went to the scene of the massacre to bury the dead and avenge their deaths. Crosby's party had a skirmish with a band of Modoc and returned to Yreka.<ref name=arnold507/><ref>Walling, p. 204</ref><ref>Murray, p. 74</ref>

Wright and a small group stayed on to avenge the deaths. He was a notorious Indian hater.<ref>[http://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/modoc "Modoc NF History, 1945 -- Chapter II, Early History Emigrant Traills and Indian Warfare."] U.S. Forest Service. Retrieved 28 May 2012.</ref> Accounts differ as to what took place when Wright's party met the Modoc on the Lost River, but most agree that Wright planned to ambush them, which he did in November 1852. Wright and his forces attacked, killing approximately 40 Modoc, in what came to be known as the "Ben Wright Massacre."<ref name=murray2428/>

===Treaty with the United States===
[[File:Modoc women.jpg|thumb|left|L to R, standing: US Indian agent, ''[[Winema]]'' (Tobey) Riddle, a Modoc; and her husband Frank Riddle, with four Modoc women sitting in the front two rows. Photographed by [[Eadweard Muybridge]], 1873.]]
The United States, the Klamath, the Modoc, and the [[Yahooskin]] band of [[Snake Indians|Snake]] tribes signed a treaty in 1864 that established the [[Klamath Reservation]].<ref name=ohs/> It required the tribes to cede the land bounded on the north by the [[44th parallel north|44th parallel]], on the west and south by the ridges of the [[Cascade Mountains]], and on the east by lines touching [[Goose Lake (Oregon-California)|Goose Lake]] and Henley Lake back up to the 44th parallel.<ref name=report1865>''Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs'', pp. 104–105</ref>

In return, the United States was to make a lump sum payment of $35,000, and annual payments totaling $80,000 over 15 years,<ref name=arnold507/> as well as provide infrastructure and staff for a reservation. The treaty provided that if the Indians drank or stored intoxicating liquor on the reservation, the payments could be withheld and that the United States could locate additional tribes on the reservation in the future.<ref name=report1865/> 

The treaty required that the Modoc surrender their lands near Lost River, Tule Lake, and Lower Klamath Lake in exchange for lands in the Upper Klamath Valley.<ref name=arnold507/><ref>Neiderheiser, p. 260</ref> They did so, under the leadership of Chief Schonchin.<ref>Heard, p. 275</ref> The Indian agent estimated the total population of the three tribes at about 2,000 when the treaty was signed.<ref>''Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs'', pp. 10, 102</ref>

The land of the reservation did not provide enough food for both the Klamath and the Modoc peoples. Illness and tension between the tribes increased. The Modoc requested a separate reservation closer to their ancestral home, but neither the federal nor the California government approved it.<ref name=arnold507/><ref>Waldman, p. 169</ref>

In 1870 ''[[Kintpuash]]'' (also called Captain Jack) led a band of Modoc to leave the reservation and return to their traditional homelands. They built a village near the Lost River. These Modoc had not been adequately represented in the treaty negotiations and wished to end the harassment by the Klamath on the reservation.<ref>Ruby and Brown, p. 211</ref>

===Modoc War===
[[File:Captain Jack (Kintpuash), a Modoc subchief, executed October 3, 1873, bust-length, full-face, 1873 - NARA - 533242.jpg|thumb|right|[[Kintpuash]] (Captain Jack), a Modoc leader in the Modoc War.]]
{{Main|Modoc War}}
In November 1872, the [[U.S. Army]] was sent to Lost River to attempt to force Kintpuash's band back to the reservation. A [[Battle of Lost River|battle]] broke out, and the Modoc escaped to what is called [[Captain Jack's Stronghold]] in what is now [[Lava Beds National Monument]], [[California]]. The band of fewer than 53 warriors was able to hold off the 3,000 U.S. Army troops for several months, defeating them in combat several times. In April 1873, the Modoc left the Stronghold and began to splinter. Kintpuash and his group were the last to be captured, on June 4, 1873, when they voluntarily gave themselves up. U.S. government personnel had assured them that their people would be treated fairly and the warriors would be allowed to live on their own land.<ref name=arnoldrange>Arnold, ''et al.'', pp. 507–509</ref>

The U.S. Army tried, convicted and executed Kintpuash and three of his warriors in October 1873 for the murder of Major General [[Edward Canby]] earlier that year at a parley. Canby had violated agreements made with the Modoc. The Army sent the rest of the band to Oklahoma as [[prisoners of war]] with [[Scarfaced Charley]] as their chief. The tribe's spiritual leader, [[Curley Headed Doctor]], was also forced to remove to [[Indian Territory]].<ref name=arnoldrange/><ref>Kessel and Wooster, p. 160</ref>

In the 1870s, [[Peter Cooper]] brought Indians to speak to Indian rights groups in eastern cities. One of the delegations was from the Modoc and Klamath tribes. In 1909, the group in Oklahoma was given permission to return to Oregon. Several people did, but most stayed at their new home.<ref>[http://www.modoctribe.net/history.html History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724034726/http://www.modoctribe.net/history.html |date=2008-07-24 }}, Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma official website</ref>

==Culture==
[[File:Milwaukee Public Museum April 2023 056 (West Coast- Land of the Giants--A Modoc Harvest).jpg|thumb|''A Modoc Harvest'' diorama at the [[Milwaukee Public Museum]]]]

The religion of the Modoc is not known in detail.  The number five figured heavily in ritual, as in the ''Shuyuhalsh'', a five-night dance rite of passage for adolescent girls.  A [[sweat lodge]] was used for purification and mourning ceremonies.<ref>Kroeber, pp. 320–321</ref>

==Namesakes==
[[Modoc Plateau]], [[Modoc National Forest]], [[Modoc County, California]]; [[Modoc, Indiana]]; and numerous other places are named after this group of people.

==See also==
* [[Modoc traditional narratives]]
* [[Indigenous peoples of California]]

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|author-link=Rebecca Solnit|last=Solnit|first=Rebecca|title=River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West|pages=[https://archive.org/details/riverofshadowsea00soln/page/101 101–124]|publisher=Viking|location=New York, New York|year=2003|isbn=0-670-03176-3|oclc=49796219|url=https://archive.org/details/riverofshadowsea00soln/page/101}}

==Notes==
{{refbegin}}
{{div col}}
* {{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of North American Indian Wars, 1607–1890|editor1=Arnold, James R. |editor2=Tucker, Spencer C. |editor3=Wiener, Roberta|year=2011|location=Santa Barbara, California|volume=1|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-697-8|oclc=838905208}}
* {{cite book|last=Barr|first=Tom|title=Scenic Routes & Byways: Oregon|year=2012|publisher=Globe Pequot Press|location=Guilford, Connecticut|isbn=978-0-7627-7956-7|oclc=756579553}}
* {{cite book|last=Grubbs|first=Bruce|title=Hiking Nevada: A Guide to Nevada's Greatest Hiking Adventures|edition=Second|year=2006|location=Helena, Montana|publisher=Falcon Press|isbn=978-0-7627-3417-7|oclc=70915489}}
* {{cite book|last=Heard|first=Joseph Norman|title=Handbook of the American Frontier: Four Centuries of Indian-White Relationships|volume=IV|series=Native American Resources series|location=Lanham, Maryland|publisher=Scarecrow Press|year=1997|isbn=9780810832831|oclc=498503287}}
* {{cite book|editor1=Kessel, William B. |editor2=Wooster, Robert|title=Encyclopedia of Native American Wars and Warfare|year=2005|publisher=Facts on File|location=New York, New York|isbn=0-8160-3337-4|oclc=44509237}}
* {{cite book | last = Kroeber | first = Alfred Louis | title = Handbook of the Indians of California | publisher = Dover Publications | year = 1976 | orig-year = 1925 | location = New York, New York | series = Bulletin (Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology) | issue = 78 | isbn = 9780486233680 | oclc = 2972541 | url = https://archive.org/details/handbookofindian00kroe }}
* {{cite book|last1=Michno|first1=Gregory F.|last2=Michno|first2=Susan J.|title=Circle the Wagons!: Attacks on Wagon Trains in History and Hollywood Films|year=2009|publisher=McFarland & Company|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|isbn=978-0-7864-3997-3|oclc=231671302}}
* {{cite book|last=Murray|first=Keith A.|title=The Modocs and Their War|url=https://archive.org/details/modocstheirwar0000murr|url-access=registration|year=1959|series=The Civilization of the American Indian|location=Norman, Oklahoma|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=9780806113319}}
* {{cite book|last=Neiderheiser|first=Leta Lovelace|title=Jesse Applegate: A Dialogue With Destiny|year=2010|location=Mustang, Oklahoma|publisher=Tate Publishing & Enterprises|isbn=978-1-61739-229-0|oclc=701809610}}
* {{cite journal | last = Pease | first = Robert W. | title = Modoc County | journal= University of California Publications in Geography | volume = 17 | publisher = University of California Press | year = 1965 | location = Berkeley and Los Angeles, California | issn = 0068-6441 | oclc = 3714154}}
* {{cite book|last=Philip|first=Neil|title=The Great Circle: A History of the First Nations|year=2006|publisher=Clarion Books|location=New York, New York|isbn=978-0-618-15941-3|oclc=62330691|url=https://archive.org/details/greatcirclehist00phil}}
* {{cite book|last1=Ruby|first1=Robert H.|last2=Brown|first2=John A.|title=Indians of the Pacific Northwest: A History|url=https://archive.org/details/indiansofpacific0000ruby|url-access=registration|year=1981|series=The Civilization of the American Indian|location=Norman, Oklahoma|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=0-8061-2113-0|oclc=7272798}}
* {{cite book|last1=Ruby|first1=Robert H.|last2=Brown|first2=John A.|last3=Collins|first3=Cary C.|title=A Guide to the Indian Tribes of the Pacific Northwest|edition=Fourth|location=Norman, Oklahoma|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|year=2013|series=The Civilization of the American Indian|isbn=978-0-8061-4024-7}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Stern |first=Theodore |editor1=Walker, Deward E. |editor2=Sturtevant, William C. |encyclopedia=Handbook of North American Indians |title=Klamath and Modoc |date=June 1998 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |volume=12, Plateau |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=446–456 |isbn = 0-16-049514-8 |oclc=39401371}}
* {{cite book|last=Thrapp|first=Dan L.|title=Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography|volume=III|year=1988|location=Lincoln, Nebraska|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|isbn=9780803294202|oclc=23583099}}
* {{cite book|author=U.S. Department of Agriculture|title=Soil Survey of Douglas County Area, Oregon: Part I|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=Natural Resources Conservation Service|year=2004|oclc=58436713}}
* {{cite book|author=U.S. Office of Indian Affairs|title=Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs: for the Year 1865|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IXFGAQAAIAAJ&pg=PR1|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=Government Printing Office|year=1865|oclc=10495312}}
* {{cite book|last=Waldman|first=Carl|title=Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes|edition=Third|year=2006|location=New York, New York|publisher=Checkmark Books|isbn=978-0-8160-6273-7|oclc=67361229}}
* {{cite book|last=Walling|first=Albert G.|title=Illustrated History of Lane County, Oregon|location=Portland, Oregon|publisher=Printing house of A.G. Walling|year=1884|isbn=9780598541451|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iXEUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP1|oclc=16696100}}
{{div col end}}
{{refend}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Modoc}}
*[https://modocnation.com/ Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma], official website
*[http://www.klamathtribes.org Klamath Tribes: Klamath, Modoc, Yahooskin], official website
*[http://soda.sou.edu Southern Oregon Digital Archives]
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20020415115930/http://www.fourdir.com/modoc.htm Modoc, Four Directions Institute]}}
*{{Wikisource-inline|list=
** {{Cite Collier's|wstitle=Modocs |short=x |noicon=x}}
** {{Cite NSRW|wstitle=Modocs|short=x |noicon=x}}
** {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Modoc |short=x |noicon=x}}
** {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Modoc|year=1905 |short=x |noicon=x}}
** {{Cite AmCyc |last=Shea |first=J. G. |author-link=John Gilmary Shea |wstitle=Modocs |short=x |noicon=x}}
}}

{{Indigenous peoples of California}}
{{Native American Tribes in Oklahoma}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Modoc People}}
[[Category:Modoc people| ]]
[[Category:Modoc| ]]
[[Category:Indigenous peoples of California]]
[[Category:Native American tribes in Oregon]]
[[Category:Native American tribes in Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Modoc Plateau]]
[[Category:History of the Great Basin]]
[[Category:History of Modoc County, California]]
[[Category:Native American history of California]]