Onacold,rainydawninlateNovember1872,LieutenantFrazierBoutelleandaModocIndiannicknamedScarfaceCharleyleveledfirearmsateachother.Theirdueltriggeredawarthatcappedadecades-longgenocidalattackthatwasemblematicoftheUnitedStates’conquestofNativeAmerica’speoplesandlands.RobertAquinasMcNallytellsthewrenchingstoryoftheModocWarof1872-73,oneofthenation’scostliestcampaignsagainstNorthAmericanIndigenouspeoples,inwhichthearmyplacednearlyonethousandsoldiersinthefieldagainstsomefifty-fiveModocfighters.Althoughlittleknowntoday,theModocWardominatednationalheadlinesforanentireyear.Foughtinsouth-centralOregonandnortheasternCalifornia,thewarsettledintoasiegeinthedesolateLavaBedsandclimaxedthedecades-longefforttodispossessanddestroytheModocs.Thewardidnotendwiththelastshotfired,however.ForthefirstandonlytimeinU.S.history,Nativefightersweretriedandhangedforwarcrimes.ThesurvivingModocswerepackedintocattlecarsandshippedfromFortKlamathtothecorrupt,disease-riddenQuapawreservationinOklahoma,wheretheyfoundpeaceevenmorelethalthanwar.TheModocWartellstheforgottenstoryofaviolentandbloodyGildedAgecampaignatatimewhenthefederalgovernmentboastedofficiallyofa“peacepolicy“towardIndigenousnations.Thiscompellinghistoryilluminatesadarkcornerinourcountry’spast.
