Modoc War Was Fought Near

¶ … Modoc War was fought near the California-Oregon border between the Modoc Indians of Northern California and the U.S. Army. The war began on November 29, 1872 and ended on June 1, 1873 with the surrender of the Modoc's leader, Captain Jack Kientopoos. The cause of the war was the Modoc's refusal to remain on the Oregon reservation as per a treaty they sign with the U.S. Government in 1864. This treaty followed several years of hostility during which federal troops tried to force the tribe off of their native land.

During the six-month long war, the Modoc's routinely appeared to out-maneuver the army. The Modocs also entrenched themselves in a natural fortress made on a lava bed and proved difficult to flush out. However, the Modoc's were significantly outnumbered and not sufficiently supplied to sustain a longer war. The Modoc's surrendered one-by-one and a few of the Modoc's even helped the army track down Captain Jack. After Captain Jack's surrender, the death count totaled 83 for the army and settlers and twenty for the Indians (including four hangings for war crimes). In the end, the Modoc Indians were removed to a reservation in Wyoming.

In 1872 and 1873, the Sacramento Daily Union was a four page daily newspaper costing five cents. It was owned and published by four individuals: H.W. Larkin, J. Anthony, P. Morrill and T. Gardiner. Its local coverage appears to extend throughout all of Northern California. Although only a four page paper, the Union was literally packed information. The articles were placed much closer together than they are in today's newspapers and the font size was also much smaller allowing for more words per page. Each page contains seven vertical columns of equal width. The articles were placed down the length of these columns, one on top of the other.

The second page appears to be the main news page. The sections include a review of the day's top stories, stories of state interest under the heading 'By State Telegraph' and stories of national and world interest under the heading 'By Overland Telegraph.' As is evident from the headings, it appears that the Union receives most of its information via telegraph and from exchanges with other California newspapers. The paper also contains city news on page three and legal notices and brief snippets of the local interest such as community events, minor crimes and who has outstanding mail at the post office. The paper also ran non-journalistic wrting such as short stories or literary excerpts.

All pages, including the front page contains many advertisements and classifieds. The advertisements are text only (with some rudimentary images of animals and human teeth, as in the case of the dentists ads) also fitting into the vertical columns. Based on the amount of space devoted to advertisements (nearly one half of the paper), and the prominent locations of the advertisements and their rates often times on the front page), it appears that advertisements were of primary importance. A wide array of items and services were advertised, including items not typically sold through general newspaper advertisements today. Examples are live fowl, a cure for cancer made from bitters, and banking houses. Other advertisements resemble the advertisements which are still prevalent in today's newspapers, such as employment and professional listings, advertisements for carriages and wagons and real estate.

The Modoc War was featured frequently, almost daily and often multiple times in a day, by the Sacramento Daily Union. In 1873, over 300 articles appeared in the paper about the conflict and most of those were in the first six months year, before the surrender of Captain Jack. Usually the information for the articles comes from a military dispatch or correspondent who brought back a report from the Army's camp. In some instances, the Union printed full reports from other newspapers. It was also common for two articles on the Modoc war to be placed in the same vertical column, sometimes interrupted by only one other unrelated article.

The Union seems to separate the entities of the U.S. Army and the U.S. Government. The paper is much more protective of the military than the government. For instance, on January 1, 1873, the Union ran a story entitled "Whose Blunder Was it?"

The clear message of the article is that Military is not to blame for the lack of immediate extinction of the Modocs. Rather, the Union argues, Washington was ill-informed in its preparations for the campaign. Furthermore, the paper condemns Washington for seeking to force the removal of the Modocs from their native country in which they co-exist successfully with the whites.

Another example of the paper being protective of the military occurs on January 10, 1873, when the army was having little success flushing the Indians out of 'Lava Bed.' The Army cavalry was made to retreat after an attempted advance. The Union described this failed mission in a five sentence article. The last sentence of the article noted that the Army was expecting the arrival of Howitzer guns the following week. The title of the article, did not reference the failed offensive, but instead read was "The Modoc War- The Howitzers Coming."

Most of the articles give daily updates as to the war. If there was any combat the previous day, the articles attempt to describe the action with great detail. The explosion of shells, the wails of hurt Indians and the sequence of advances, retreats and counter-advances are routinely spelled out so as to recreate the day for the reader. Like today's newspaper accounts of wars, these articles stress the casualty count, including them in headlines.

The stories are typically written with a lead and not as inverted pyramids.

The murders of General Canby and Reverend Thomas were probably the most sensational story of the war and the one most heavily written about by the Union. When the Modocs shot and killed two peace negotiators on April 11, 1873, (including the very popular General Canby), the Union ran multiple stories each day for the next three or four days concerning the 'treachery' and 'diabolical slaughter.'

On April 15, 1873, the Union in this instance even printed a resolution passed by the city of Portland condemning the murders.

The Union also ran multiple stories on General Canby's funeral. The taking of the Lava Bed stronghold the following week also dominated the Union, which regularly reported on dispatches regarding the shelling of the stronghold and the Modocs subsequent abandonment.

For the next several weeks, the paper gave nearly updates as to the Army's attempts to find and arrest or kill the Modocs.

After fleeing the Lava Bed, the Modocs eluded and frustrated the Army's efforts to corral them. On May 12, 1873, the Union ran a long editorial entitled "The Modocs: A Blundering War"

which read as another scathing indictment on Washington's policy throughout the campaign, but especially in response to the murders of April 11, 1873. Also, conspicuous in this article is the labeling of Captain Jack as "bold, brave and able." While not defending the murders, the article definitely identifies the motives of the Modocs in terms of warfare desperation and not inherent savagery.