The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-01-21
Defeat OF tho Troops by tho Modoo
Indians.

Oe1e8t OF tno troops ny tno MOuOC
Indians.
The Modoc war is again teaching us that
when the Indian expects to die he will die
game. The telegraphic accounts from the
Pacific coast give us the outlines of battle
fought on Friday last between the troops and
the Indians on the shore of Tule Lake, in
Oregon, which ended certainly in the defeat
of the civilized combatants. Captain Jack, the
Modoc Chief, appears to have simply posted
his two hundred men behind rocks along
line two miles in length and awaited attack.
The position must have been singularly well
chosen, for, although the troops outnumbered
the ambuscaded Indians two to one, they were
repulsed with severe loss. Whatever plan the
leaders of the troops had agreed on, it seems
to have been very imperfectly carried out as
we learn that in consequence of Captain
Bernard, who commanded one detachment,
having prematurely given battle, General
Wheaton chad no alternative but to move to
the aid Of Captain Bernard without the fire of
the howitzers." The troops fought an in
visible foe from eight o'clock in the morning
until dark under terrific fire. 1t is evident
that, from the broken nature of the ground
among the lava beds, the troops could not
advance with any rapidity, and the folly
of exposing and wasting valuable life
throughout an entire day, without
any prospect of success, seems at
present most reprehensible blunder. If the
movement was reconnaissance in force it
was very clumsily executed 1t is now an
nounced that it will require force of one
thousand men to dislodge the Modocs from
their strong position, and that the operations
until reinforcements arrive will be confined to
beleaguering Captain Jack
There should be no delay in sending for
ward sufficient troops to make the reduction
of this band certain. A loss of forty in killed
and wounded, including two officers of the
regular army, is high price to pay for such a
barren result and we hope to hear of no more
such experimenting In the present state of
Indian affairs we cannot afford to allow the
bad Indians to score victory against the gov
eminent. The peace policy humanitarians
may be expected to emit series of bowls
at the ACCESSIBILITY of this course. They gen.
orally do on such occasions, and this one is
too good to be passed by. The determination
of Captain Jack and his band is disagreea-
BILE necessity. It will stand as warning to
other tribes who wish to follow in the foot
steps of the Modocs. 1t is cheaper to feed
than to fight them, say the peace policy
men. Granted. But when the Indian
gets it into his egotistical head that
he can command regular rations, as
well as full opportunity for bloodshed,
it will require larger expenditure still to
keep him quiet. What the peace policy people
forget is that red man should be punished
for murder just as much as a white man, and
that in the strong arm continuously keeping
him in subsection lies the only chance of the
good nurses to spoon-teed him with their
philanthropic pap The defeat of last Friday
makes it imperative on the government to
teach all the savages q lesson through their
Modoc brethren.