In all the battles the Army fought against Native Americans, Columbia Barracks commander Edward Canby was the only general to be killed.
The 1839 West Point graduate began his career fighting in the Seminole and Mexican wars. In the Civil War, the Army named him commander of the Department of New Mexico. After defeating Confederate forces at Glorieta Pass in March 1862, he was promoted to brigadier general.
Recalled east, Canby controlled New York City, handling the 1863 draft riots. The following year, he headed the Military Division of Western Mississippi and was promoted to brevet major general. After the Civil War, Canby headed military departments in Louisiana, North and South Carolina, Washington, Texas and Virginia. In August 1870, as the prelude to the Modoc War simmered, President Grant sent the reliable Canby to replace Gen. George Crook as commander of the Department of Columbia, headquartered at Vancouver Barracks.
On the surface, the Modoc War (1872-73) was about land. The complex reasons involved conflicting Oregon and California treaties, broken U.S. government promises, gold seekers, settlers’ fears and the Modocs’ resentment regarding the Klamath Reservation’s living conditions. Called Captain Jack by white settler-colonists, their leader, Keintpoos, and 150 Modocs deserted the reservation and moved to Lost River near Tule Lake, Calif.
Pressed to move against the Modoc, Canby proceeded slowly and cautiously. Fort Klamath’s 72 men had only 64 serviceable rifles. So, Canby and Alfred Meacham, who was Oregon’s Indian agent, pursued peace with the Modoc.
By January 1872, white settlers stirred up by the Applegate family urged the Army to force the Modoc people out. In November, a band of settlers and the military engaged the Modocs at Tule Lake, starting the war. Fleeing the Army, the group fled to a natural lava stronghold containing deep trenches and small caverns south of the lake. Just 53 warriors sequestered in unassailable positions held off the Army for months, sniping at soldiers with their old weapons. The soldiers brought in Civil War howitzers to blast away the lava beds, but the shells burst weakly on the rocks. Given the small number of insurgents, the Army’s fight against the Modocs was embarrassing and expensive, costing the government $400,000.
Thinking he had encircled the Modoc holdouts, Canby persisted in calling for peace talks although the Army’s top general, W.T. Sherman, said he had saw no place for them.
Meanwhile a leadership squabble among the Modocs drove Keintpoos to prove himself as the chief, forcing him into peace negotiations under a white flag. On April 11, 1873, he brought five Modocs to meet with Canby, Meacham, the Rev. Evan Thomas, sub-agent L.S. Dyar and two translators.
The Modocs came armed to the meeting. During the parley, Keintpoos relayed his surrender terms. Canby said Washington, D.C., needed to approve the conditions. This angered Keintpoos. He pulled a revolver and shot Canby in the chest. Then someone shot the reverend as the rest of the Army delegation escaped. Meacham was caught and scalped, but survived. Fearing nearby soldiers had heard the shots, the Modocs withdrew.
Later, after several battles, the Modocs surrendered. Keintpoos and those who accompanied him to the peace talks were tried by a military court, convicted and hanged. Further, their heads were removed from their bodies and defleshed, a common practice at that time. The skulls were sent east. In the 1980s, an indirect descendant of Keintpoos convinced the government to return the skulls.
Martin Middlewood is editor of the Clark County Historical Society Annual. Reach him at ClarkCoHist@gmail.com.
