rived which had been set for the execution, Davis received such instructions from Washington as arrested the consummation of the design.
This interference of the government, or, as it was understood, of the secretary of the interior, so exasperated certain persons whose identity was never discovered,[1] that when seventeen Modoc prisoners were en route to Boyle's camp at Lost River ford, in charge of Fairchild, they were attacked and four of them killed. The despatch which arrested the preparations of Davis proposed to submit the fate of the Modocs to the decision of the war office, Sherman giving it as his opinion that some of them should be tried by court-martial and shot, others delivered over to the civil authorities, and the remainder dispersed among other tribes. This was a sort of compromise with the peace-commission advocates, who were still afraid the Modocs would be harmed by the settlers of the Pacific frontier. So strong was the spirit of accusation against the people of the west, and their dealings with Indians, that it brought out a letter from Sherman, in which he said: "These people are the same kind that settled Ohio, Indiana, arid Iowa; they are as good as we, and were we in their stead we should act just as they do. I know it, because I have been one of them."
The whole army in the field protested against delay and red tape,[2] but the Modoc apologists had their way.
- ↑ Yreka reports charged this act upon the Oregon volunteers, though they were not within 8 miles of the massacre. Two men only were concerned. A. B. Meacham offered his aid to the secret service department to find the assassins. H. Ex. Doc., 122, 327, 43d cong. 1st sess.
- ↑ 'I have no doubt of the propriety and the necessity of executing them on the spot, at once. 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 despatch 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 upon other tribes, as also the inspiring effect upon the troops. Telegram, dated June 5th, inH. Ex. Doc., 122, p. 87, 43d cong. 1st sess. Davis referred here to the desire of the troops to avenge the slaughter of Canby and Thomas command—a desire which had animated them to endure the three days fight in the lava-beds, and the eleven days constant scouting. Portland Oregonian, June 7, 1873.
