"God damn it, let's charge!" The words of 1st Sergeant Thomas Kelley cut through the dawn chaos on May 10, 1873, and in that moment, the Modoc War finally turned. For months, fifty-three Modoc warriors had humiliated the United States Army across the volcanic badlands of northern California. But here, at a dry lakebed the soldiers had sarcastically renamed from "Sore Ass Lake," the military would claim its first decisive victory - and Captain Jack's legendary resistance would begin to crumble.
The U.S. cavalry had arrived expecting a lake. What they found was a parched basin beneath stark bluffs - the kind of cruel joke the Modoc homeland seemed to specialize in. Colonel Jefferson C. Davis, newly appointed commander of the Department of the Columbia, had taken direct control of the demoralized troops. He ordered them to pursue Captain Jack, the Modoc leader whose real name was Kintpuash, who was moving southeast from the Lava Beds after months of successful guerrilla warfare. The soldiers made camp by the waterless depression, exhausted and thirsty, unaware that Modoc eyes watched them from the ridgeline above.
The Modocs struck at first light. A small detachment of warriors hit the camp while their comrades took positions in the bluffs overlooking the dry lake. Startled soldiers tumbled from their blankets, scrambling for cover behind anything they could find - rocks, saddles, supply crates - while desperately pulling on boots and fastening gunbelts. The chaos was familiar: every engagement with the Modoc had gone this way. But this time, the officers restored order quickly. Colonel Davis sent the Warm Springs Indian scouts to flank the Modoc positions while ordering his main force to charge the bluffs directly.
The troopers hesitated at the base of the bluff. The Modocs held the high ground - a scenario that had meant disaster in every previous battle. Then Sergeant Kelley shouted his now-famous profanity, and the soldiers charged. For the first time in the Modoc War, U.S. troops overran a defended position. The warriors fled so quickly that the flanking scouts never even engaged. Among the dead was Ellen's Man George, a prominent Modoc warrior whose death would fracture the band's unity. The soldiers pursued for four miles before exhaustion and the same lack of water that named the lake forced them to stop.
Dry Lake was more than a tactical victory - it was a psychological turning point. Colonel Davis reported that his men had finally held their ground when attacked, a basic achievement that spoke volumes about previous failures. But the real damage was to the Modoc themselves. Hooker Jim, Bogus Charley, and Scarface Charley blamed Captain Jack for Ellen's Man George's death. The band split: the dissenters headed west while Captain Jack and Schonchin John remained at Big Sandy Butte. Within weeks, Hooker Jim and Bogus Charley surrendered and offered to help capture their former leader. In June 1873, Captain Jack surrendered, ending one of the most remarkable resistance campaigns in American military history.
Today, the dry lakebed sits in the same volcanic high country where the Modoc made their last stand. The bluffs still rise above the basin, and the terrain remains as unforgiving as it was in 1873. The Army and Navy Journal praised Colonel Davis for transforming the "formerly mismanaged field operations," but the real story belongs to the land itself - a place so harsh that even its lakes held no water, yet the Modoc defended it as their homeland until internal fractures accomplished what military force could not.
Located at 41.70N, 121.30W in the volcanic highlands of northern California near the Oregon border. The dry lakebed sits within the Modoc National Forest, approximately 15 miles southeast of Lava Beds National Monument. Best viewed at 3,000-5,000 feet AGL. The surrounding terrain features stark volcanic bluffs and high desert. Nearest airports: Tulelake Municipal (K33) approximately 20nm northwest, Klamath Falls (KLMT) approximately 40nm northeast.