Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1873-05-08
THE MODOC WAR.


A Accommodating Party Ambushed and
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS and Terrible Rout
OF the Troops.
We are called upon to record another bloody
chapter in the Modoc war. On the morning
of the 26th ult. two companies of dismounted
artillery and a company of infantry advanced
as skirmishers upon the lava beds. They
came suddenly upon a party of Modocs who
were lying concealed in the c~revices, and who
at once opened a murderous fire upon them.
Such was the position or our soldiers thatthey
could do little else than stand and be shot
down by the hidden and securely intrenched
enemy. The result was that out of three COM
panies, numbering about ~sixty-nine men,
nineteen were killed and nine wounded. We
condense from the telegraphic accounts the
following particulars of the last bloody mas
sacre
A reconnaissance, composed of Batteries K
and A of the Fourth Artillery, and Company
B of the Twelfth Infantry, left camp at 7:30
in the morning. proceeding in the direction
known to lead to the Modoc stronghold, Capt.
E. Thomas, of the Fourth Artillery, being in
command. A dozen or SO of the Warm Spring
Indians were expected to cooperate on Capt.
Thomas left. The troops, having formed a
line of skirmishers, advanced without hesita-
ton until they arrived at the foot of the bluffs
south of the lava beds, having in the mean
time signaled to the camp that no Indians
could be found. On reaching the bluff. the
Modocs opened a severe fire, causing the
troops to seek such shelter as they could find
in the creyices and chasms, and, as usual, the
foe was unseen. Tho first position became
untenable. owing to the fact that the Indians
obtained both a cross-enflading fire and a
direct fire. The troops were completely at the
mercy of the red devils, and were shot down
like dogs. In an Incredibly short time nine
teen of the poor fellows had received their
death wounds, and nine more were 80 badly
wounded as to disable them for service.
A portion of the Batteries A and K, Fourth
Artillery, Company E, Twelfth Infantry, find
ing themselves in danger of being o~utflanked,
took shelter in a hollow spot, which afforded a
partial cover. Some twenty had no sooner
done SO than the Indians, who knew and COM
manded every egress from the cavity at that
point, and numbered twenty-one warriors, de-
tached seven of their number on one side,
fourteen remaining on the other, and opened
a cross-fire on the poor fellows, who could not
show head or hand without the certainty of
being struck. Very few escaped injury. and
the rest were either killed or wounded.
1t WAS impossible, at last accounts, to ascer-
tain the number of Modocs killed and wound
ed. The Warm Spring Indians captured four
scalps, which is probably the whole number
killed, as they were very careful to destroy as
far as possible all traces of their casualties.
burying the dead in caves and burning the
dead bodies. Their Wounded are supposed to
be hidden in caves.
When the news of the massacre reached the
camp, soldiers who had grown gray in the SER
vice, wept like babies at the fate of their Off
GERS and comrades.
The New York Rera1d's special correspondent
gives the following account of the disastrous
affair:
The force under Capt. Thomas, which start
ed to reconnoitre the position supposed to be
held by the Modocs, numbered SO men. The
object was mainly to find out how the Modocs
were situated, and whether the mortars could
be brought up and used effectively against
them. As the troops approached the cave in
the lava beds, about half-past 10, our command
was brought to a halt and the men allowed to
take a rest.
The story of the first fire is differently re-
ported, some saying that five or six shots were
fired, and others only four, but Ticknor states
positively that it came from a party of nine
Indians who occupied a bluff to the eastward
of where the troops were stationed. Maj.
Thomas Immediately threw his men into
skirmiehing order, with Lieut.. Wright's COM
pany on the right. The latter, however, had
not got into position before they were
fanked to the right by a party of IA
other Indians, that had come up to the advance
of those who fired first. The cross fire on
Wright's men proved very demoralizing, and
they broke back in confusion, leaving their
gallant leader in an exposed condition, and
supported by a few of his non-commissioned
officers. In the meantime another small party
of Indians had obtained a position to the left,
and opened a raking fire on the two batteries
of artillery. 1t was a fearful trap, and the first
four shots were only fired to draw the troops
more directly between the fire of the "a Indians
on the right and left. The rout was complete,
and with the exception of the officers and non
commissioned officers, the majority of whom
lay stretched on the rocks with their life blood
ebbing fast away, the watchword was sauce
qui peia. Confused and demoralized as they
were, the men became an easy prey to the
Modocs, who, confident in the protection of
their native rocks, shot them down like SO
many frightened deer. Occasionally news
was brought in by the scared stragglers, ex-
aggerated in the extreme, but significant of
some dire disaster. Many of these men, who
had deserted their officers in time of peril, had
seen 100 Indians all around them. Fear
had distorted their vision, and made them
80 hopeless. that one of their number
was afterward found dead on the field
without a shot. He had been butchered by
knives, and so panic-struck that he could not
fire a shot in his own defense. There was a
mystery about the attack that nobody ap-
peared to solve, as to how the troops were SO
completely surprised. If in camp, where were
the pickets or advanced skirmishers? 1t ap-
should be almost surrounded by the Indians
without their being aware of q sign of an In
dian as far as they could see. This fact alone
will give the public an idea of the nature of
the ground in which these Indians fight and
What our soldiers have to contend against.
During the night the Indians were creeping
through the rocks to scalp and strip the dead
soldiers. A man coming through Col. Green's
line told him where the remains of Batteries
K and A were to be found. Col. Green imme-
diately moved forward his line to the place in
Dictated, and there, hid in some sage brush,
were the naked bodies of Maj. Thomas, Lieut..
Wright's body lay a little to the left, and on
the right was Lieut.. Harris, severely wounded,
and the bodies of five of his men, stripped of
all their clothing. Forty-nine were killed and
wounded out of a command of SO men.