Inside a Native Stronghold
A rugged volcanic landscape was once the site of a dramatic standoff between the Modoc tribe and the U.S. Army
By JULIAN SMITH
November/December 2018
A rocky plateau that now lies within the boundaries of Lava Beds National Monument in northern California was the scene of the 1872–1873 Modoc War.
In 1872, some 150 members of the Modoc tribe took refuge in arid and unforgiving terrain just south of the Oregon-California border. Today, Lava Beds National Monument encloses 73 square miles of this harsh landscape on the southern edge of Tule Lake. Eruptions as recent as 800 years ago have left raw expanses of lava, tuff, and obsidian pocked by caves and laced with the largest known concentration of lava tubes in North America. Here, amid a maze of volcanic walls, boulders, fissures, and holes, 50 to 60 Modoc warriors held off a much larger force of U.S. Army soldiers for half a year.
https://www.archaeology.org/issues/319-1811/letter-from/7074-california-modoc-war
