The Last Campaign by H. W. Brands

Author:H. W. Brands [Brands, H. W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2022-11-02T00:00:00+00:00

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the blow sherman ordered against the Modocs did fall, and produced nothing like annihilation. The troops surrounding Captain Jack’s stronghold were reinforced until the soldiers outnumbered the Modoc warriors twenty to one. The big guns Jack complained about to Canby bombarded the stronghold until it became uninhabitable. Despite the cordon of soldiers, Jack and the other Modocs slipped through in the dark of night. But once beyond the lava beds they were easily pursued, overtaken and compelled to surrender. Not even Jack fought to the bitter end. He surrendered with the rest.

Sherman recommended that the murderers of Canby and Thomas be tried in a military court. Other Modocs who had killed settlers could be tried in the civil courts of Oregon and California, but decisions of civil courts might be overturned by political pressure, as had occurred with Satanta. Moreover, the killing of Canby and Thomas took place under a flag of military truce and therefore violated military law. The rest of the Modocs should be transported far away and dispersed among other tribes. “Thus the tribe of Modocs would disappear,” Sherman explained to the secretary of war, “and the example would be salutary in dealing with other Indians similarly disposed and similarly situated.”

Sherman received a dispatch from Jefferson C. Davis, who had succeeded Canby. Davis said the prisoners were well guarded. He added, “I had already made arrangements to execute eight or ten of the ringleaders; scaffold and ropes were prepared.” Sherman’s order caused him to halt, reluctantly. “I have no doubt of the propriety and the necessity of executing them on the spot at once,” he said. “I had no doubt of my authority as department commander in the field to thus execute a band of outlaws, robbers, and murderers like these, under the circumstances. Your dispatch indicates a long delay of the cases of these red devils, which I regret. Delay will destroy the moral effect which their prompt execution would have had upon other tribes, and also the inspiring effect upon the troops.” But he would do as directed, and hold the prisoners for military and civilian trial.

Davis appended a plea for clemency in the cases of several of the prisoners who, after surrendering, offered to help in the hunt for Captain Jack and the remaining fugitives. These included Hooker Jim, Bogus Charley and a man called Steamboat Frank. “Their daring exploits and usefulness in capturing Jack has won the admiration of all,” Davis said. “Without their services, we might not have succeeded yet in capturing Jack and his band.” Davis said he had promised them nothing, and he supposed the sight of the noose had influenced their decision to cooperate. Yet they had done good work, whatever the motive. “It was my intention to exempt them from the death penalty, at least,” he said. “Honor on my part requires me to urge their exemption to this extent, although two of them, Hooker Jim and Frank, have been among the worst of the band.”

Sherman wished he hadn’t spoken so soon.

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