Original Photograph Of Captain Jack, Modoc Indian Chief.

UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER

Publication: 1873, NP

Original Photograph of Captain Jack, Head Chief of the hostile Modoc Indians during the Modoc War of 1872 & 1873. Cabinet Card. Image: 4"x6". Mount: 4.45"x6.5". Gilt-trimmed Scalloped Edges to Mount. In 1872 the army forced the small group of Modoc Indians living along the California-Oregon border onto the Klamath Indian Reservation against their will. They left the reservation and were subsequently pursued by troops from Fort Klamath. The troops demanded their immediate return to the reservation and the confrontation quickly became hostile, resulting in the death of numerous soldiers and citizens, as well as the death and wounding of a few Modocs. Captain Jack and Hooker Jim led their people to the natural fortress that the Lava Beds near Tule Lake, California provided. Through several more attacks by the army, many soldiers and officers were killed and wounded, while the Modocs had very few casualties. A Peace Commission was formed to negotiate a resolution with the Modocs. On April 11,1873, the Peace Commission met, under flag-of-truce, in an isolated spot between the respective lines, with a small group of Modocs led by Captain Jack. On the signal given by Captain Jack, the Modocs attacked the members of the Peace Commission. Captain Jack shot and killed General E. R. S. Canby, while others killed Rev. Eleasar Thomas, and wounded Superintendent Alfred B. Meacham and Klamath Indian Agent L. S. Dyar. General Canby is the highest ranking officer ever killed in an Indian War. The Modocs fled, but ultimately argued and separated, with some Modocs even assisting in the capture of Captain Jack by Donald McKay and his group of Warm Springs Indian scouts. Fellow Modoc chief, Hooker Jim testified against Captain Jack in the military trial for the murders committed upon the Peace Commissioners. On October 3, 1873, Captain Jack and three other Modocs were hanged at Fort Klamath, Oregon. Though there is no identification of the photographer on the mount, it is known that Louis Heller took a series of 24 photographs of the captured Modocs or others associated with the Modoc War. These images were subsequently sold by Watkins' Yosemite Art Gallery in San Francisco, which claimed to offer "The only genuine Photographs of CAPTAIN JACK and the Modoc Indians". A classic portrait-type image of the upper third of Captain Jim. He wears a light-colored, striped shirt, with close-cropped hair. A half-inch piece of the lower right corner of the mount is missing, not affecting the image. A clean, clear image with some light general fading. Very good.

Inventory Number: 53320