Year: 1873

How THE MoDocs ARE FORTIFIED
The correspondent of the San Francisco
Chronicle, at Yreka, gives the following
particulars of the entertainments and forti-
fcations of the Modocs, and the difficulty
in moving them:


All is quiet at the front. Capt. Jack,
Scar-faced Charley, Shack Nasty Jim,
and the other warriors are resting compla-
Gently in their bowllike camp, waiting
tor the next demonstration. | had con-
versation with James G. Fairchild to-day
Mr.. Fairchild is brother of John A, the
man who had the famous interview with
the Modocs. Both his brother and himself
were in the late fight Mr.. Fairchild is a
worry intelligent gentleman, and is a shrewd,
keen observer. He says that two thousand
men will not get the Indians out Of that
lava bed. He describes their position as
one Of the most onderful natural fortifca-
tions he ever beheld. He is man Of
great experience. He went through the
late war on the rebel side; was at
Vicksburg all through the siege, and in a
dozen others, which were at that time
supposed to be impregnabIe strongholds.
and he says he never saw anything like it.
These lava rocks, he says, are piled up in
a way that no engineer could plan out.
The Indians use them as real forts, getting
behind them and shooting through the
cracks the same as through a easement.
Their positions cannot be charged because
some Of them are one hundred feet in
height and utterly inaccessible from below
Neither can they be shelled, for shells
would strike against these rocks like boiled
turnips against tomb stone. Mr.. Fair
child says there are two ways of getting at
those Indians. One is to charge on them
with force of twenty to ore, expecting to
lose six lives out of every ten. The other
is to surround and starve them out. The
one plan will cost an ocean of blood, the
other mint of money. The latter plan is
almost impossible to carry out, for the
reason that supplies cannot be brought


into the lava bed, and any Gordon that is
drawn around Jack, must be located right
in the rocks. As it was the other day,
the wounded had to be packed out on
horseback for miles. Nothing in the form
of wagon could be brought within ten
miles Of where the troops fought. Again.
Jack has beef cattle by the hundred in his
camp, with plenty of grass on the lake
shore to feed them on Months would
have to elapse before he would even feel
the necessity OF supplies, and by that time
our side would feel as tired of the starving
out process as he. The only feasible plan,
then, is to charge on them-kill and get
killed. This will involve terrible loss of


life; but then pshaw what are soldiers
made for, and what are their lives worth
when the dignity of the government is to
be preserved? Vide Senator Coles dis
patches to Governor Booth.)


Mr.. Fairchid informs me that the
Indians fight with tenacity of purpose
and with military sagacity worthy of
the highest civilization. Their evolutions
on the day of the main battle were carried
out with consummate tact and wonderful
precision They seemed to have their
whole position laid out in parallels, each
man having his own lava rock breastwork
from behind which to fire. When they fell
back, which they did whenever they were
hard pressed, they did it deliberately,
merely taking their positions behind the
rocky breastworks next in their rear,
where they were even more secure than
before. Captain Jack was constantly
heard giving his orders, and to all appear
ances, his authority was recognized as
promptly as though he had been major
general. The Indian squaws and children
all occupied position in kind of basin,
within the Indian lines, and the fight took
place all around them in circle