The morning of November 29, 1872, began with Captain Jack agreeing to surrender. The Modoc leader had never fought the Army, and when forty cavalrymen appeared at his camp on the Lost River demanding he return to the Klamath Reservation, he chose peace. He laid down his rifle. His warriors followed. Then Scarfaced Charley and an Army sergeant got into an argument, drew revolvers, fired at each other, and both missed. In the chaos that followed, those two errant shots would ignite a seven-month war across the California-Oregon border.
The Modoc had lived along the Lost River in northern California for generations. In the 1860s, the government removed them to the newly established Klamath Reservation in Oregon, where they were forced to share land with the Klamath, their traditional enemies. Conflicts were constant. In 1872, Kintpuash, known to whites as Captain Jack, led about a hundred Modoc back to their ancestral homeland. They found white settlers occupying their former territory. The settlers complained to the government. The government sent soldiers. On November 27, Bureau of Indian Affairs Superintendent T. B. Odeneal requested troops from Fort Klamath to force Captain Jack back to the reservation.
Captain James Jackson left Fort Klamath on November 28 with forty cavalrymen. Reinforced by citizens from Linkville, now known as Klamath Falls, they reached Captain Jack's camp on the Lost River the following morning. The camp sat about a mile above Emigrant Crossing, a spot now called Stone Bridge, Oregon. Jackson demanded surrender. Captain Jack, weighing the odds, agreed. He would return to the reservation. He put down his weapons. The other Modoc warriors began doing the same. For a moment, it seemed the confrontation would end without bloodshed.
History sometimes turns on small moments. As the Modoc disarmed, the warrior Scarfaced Charley and an unidentified Army sergeant exchanged angry words. The argument escalated. Both men drew their revolvers. Both fired. Both missed. But the shots shattered the fragile peace. The Modoc scrambled to recover their weapons. A brief, intense firefight erupted across the camp. When the smoke cleared, one soldier lay dead and seven wounded. Two Modoc had been killed, three wounded. Captain Jackson, recognizing he was now outnumbered in hostile terrain, ordered his troops to withdraw and await reinforcements. The Modoc fled south toward the lava beds.
What happened next transformed a skirmish into a war. A band of Modoc led by Hooker Jim, traveling separately toward the lava beds, encountered white settlers on the afternoon of November 29 and into November 30. Eighteen settlers were killed. The massacres hardened public opinion and military resolve. There would be no more attempts at negotiation, no more chances for Captain Jack to surrender peacefully. The Army would pursue the Modoc into the volcanic wilderness, where fifty-three warriors would hold off over a thousand soldiers for seven months in one of the most remarkable defensive stands in American military history.
The Modoc knew where they were going. South of Tule Lake, in what is now Lava Beds National Monument, the landscape becomes a maze of collapsed lava tubes, sharp volcanic rock, and hidden crevices. Captain Jack's Stronghold, named for the leader who would make his stand there, offered natural fortifications no Army commander could easily assault. The Battle of Lost River was merely the first shot in a conflict that would claim the life of a U.S. general, cost the Army millions of dollars, and ultimately end with Captain Jack's execution. But it began with two angry men, two drawn revolvers, and two bullets that flew wide in the cold November dawn.
Located at 42.00 degrees N, 121.52 degrees W, along the Lost River at the California-Oregon border. The battle site lies near the present-day community of Bonanza, Oregon, with Stone Bridge marking the former Emigrant Crossing about a mile downstream. From altitude, trace the Lost River as it winds through the high desert toward Tule Lake. The route the Modoc took south to the lava beds follows roughly 25 miles of open terrain before reaching the volcanic flows. Nearest airport is Klamath Falls (KLMT), approximately 25 miles northwest.