Schuyler Colfax

The First Battle of the Stronghold was the second battle in the Modoc War of 1872–1873. The battle was fought between the United States Army... under Lieutenant Colonel Frank Wheaton and a band of the Native American Modoc tribe from Oregon and California, led by Captain Jack. The United States Army was attempting to remove the Modoc from the natural fortress Captain Jack's Stronghold, in the lava beds on the south shore of Tule Lake in northeastern California, and return them to the Klamath Reservation in Oregon. The Modocs soundly defeated the Army, forcing it to retreat. Factors aiding the Modoc included their excellent defensive position, steady patience, and the thick fog that obscured portions of the battlefield. Immediately after the inconclusive November 27, 1872 Battle of Lost River in Oregon, the Modocs involved escaped to the lava beds in what is now Lava Beds National Monument, California, where they joined with an additional band of Modoc Indians under the leadership of Shacknasty Jim from Hot Creek, who had not been involved in the Lost River action.
more

The Battle of Lost River in November 1872 was the first battle in the Modoc War in the northwestern United States. The skirmish, which was fought... near the Lost River along the California-Oregon border, was the result of an attempt by the U.S. 1st Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army to force a band of the Modoc tribe to relocate to the Klamath Reservation. In the subsequent war, Captain Jack of the Modoc and 53 warriors held off over 1000 U.S. soldiers for 7 months. In the 1860s, the Modoc had relocated from their traditional home near the Lost River to the Klamath Reservation, but they had been mistreated on the reservation by the Klamath tribe. In 1872, Kintpuash led his band of about 100 Modoc off the Klamath Reservation back to their traditional home on Lost River. White settlers had moved into the area during their absence and complained to the government about the returning Modoc, asking that the Modoc be returned to the reservation. Despairing of a peaceful settlement, on November 27, Bureau of Indian Affairs Superintendent T. B.
more

The Battle of North Fork or the Battle of the North Fork of the Red River occurred on September 28, 1872, near McClellan Creek in Gray County, Texas,... United States. A monument on that spot marks the site of the battle between the Comanche Indians under Kai-Wotche and Mow-way and a detachment of cavalry and scouts under U.S. Army Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie. There was an accusation that the battle was really an attempt "to make a massacre," as during the height of battle some noncombatants were wounded while mixed in with warriors. This battle is primarily remembered as the place where the army for the first time struck at the Comanches in the heart of the Llano Estacado in the western panhandle of Texas. This battle was a precursor to the Red River War of 1873-4. In early 1872, the new Military Commander of the District of Texas decided it was time to strike at the Comanches in the heart of their homeland on the Comancheria, much as the Texas Rangers had done 14 years before at the Battle of Little Robe Creek.
more

The Battle of Blanco Canyon was the decisive battle of Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie's initial campaign against the Comanche in West Texas, and marked the... first time the Comanches had been attacked in the heart of their homeland. It marked the end of Comanche control over the heart of their Comancheria, and the beginning of the end of the Comanche as a free people. In September 1871 Mackenzie received permission from Gen. William T. Sherman to begin an expedition against the Kotsoteka and Quahadi Comanche bands, both of whom had refused to relocate onto a reservation after the Warren Wagon Train Raid. Col. Mackenzie assembled a powerful force consisting of eight companies of the Fourth United States Cavalry, two companies of the Eleventh Infantry, and a group of twenty Tonkawa scouts. The force assembled at the site of old Camp Cooper, on the Clear Fork of the Brazos River in late September, 1871. The force set out in a northwesterly direction on October 3, 1871, hoping to find the Quahadi village, which housed the warriors led by Quanah Parker.
more