America at War

We are continuing our story of the Nez Perce War of 1877. In this episode, we will concentrate on the start of hostilities. With emotions running high, Joseph and his band left the Wallowa's of northeast Oregon for the now reduced Nez Perce reservation. When they gathered at a place called Tolo Lake, emotions got the better of three young men who murdered some ranchers along the Salmon River. The army responded and the first battle of the war, at Whitebird, began in June of 1877. General Howard, slow to respond, could not catch the bands as they traveled east. In the meantime, in a capricious attack on White Bird's village, it added to Howard's problems. Take a listen!

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As we move to the Pacific Northwest from California, it is time to consider the Nez Perce War of 1877. The conflict captured the public's imagination, much like the Modoc War, of a Tribe wanting to establish a home, but not allowed. To understand the full measure of the Nez Perce War, this episode and the next will focus on the roots of the Nez Perce culture and homeland as well as the challenges to their sovereignty. Fur traders gave them manufactured goods. Missionaries brought Christianity to the Nez Perce homeland and were harbingers of change.

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Once a year I post a short episode on the state of the podcast. It is an overview of where we are and where we are going. No someone who enjoys history? Tell them about this podcast! We could use some more listeners. 

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In this episode we will be concluding our series on the Modoc War of 1872-73. With the Modoc on the run, they retreated to a stronghold on the toe of a lava field, providing a bastion to protect their families from the U.S. Army. It took time to gather soldiers and supplies and did not attack until January 1873. It failed. In an attempt to break the impasse, negotiations led by General Canby were met with violence, coming to a sudden conclusion with the assassination of the general. A second attack in April 1873 succeeded, but not before the pursuing troops were ambushed by the retreating Modoc. Captain Jack and other leaders were captured in the spring. In a show trial, four Modoc, including their leader Captain Jack, were hanged in October 1877. The Modoc are still here, but the trauma of the event still lives with them. 

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This is part two of a three episode arc on the Modoc War of 1872-73. With an increasing number of Euro-Americans settlers coming into the Klamath Basin astride the Oregon/California border after the end of the Civil War, tensions rose. Modoc's feared a loss of access to their homeland and it became an issue with both parties. It put increasing pressure on the Lost River band of the Modoc Tribe to remove themselves to the Klamath Reservation. Governed by two different agreements, one approved by Congress and the other not, created tension. In November 1872 the powder keg exploded when the Lost River band clashed with the U.S. Army. What became known as the Modoc War commenced.

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We are moving into our season on the wars of the western frontier. We are starting on the Pacific coast with the Modoc War of 1872-73, California's only large post Civil War conflict with a native people. This episode sets up the events of the war. The Modoc homeland, in the far reaches of Northern California in the Klamath Basin, was under pressure with waves of immigration that occured in the aftermath of the Civil War. Tensions between settlers and Modoc gradually rose through the 1850s and 1860s that built resentment and pressure for action. Two treaties were negotiated, one in California and the other in Oregon, causing confusion and further tension. With disagreements over who had the right to the land, it would set up the conditions for conflict.

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We are now moving beyond the Civil War and examining the armies role in the western United States. In the decades after the Civil War came to an end, the regular army was sent west. After 1865, with the completion of the transcontinental railroad and the Homestead Act, settlement of the west accelerated. Unfortunately, as the western states began to wholesale colonization, it brought them into conflict with the native peoples who lived in the areas west of the Mississippi River. As this series moves forward, we will handle the various conflicts that were peppered throughout this period from a regional perspective, going west to east. Stay tuned!

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The period from the end of the Civil War until 1877 was known as Reconstruction. As the name suggests, it was the country's attempt to reconstruct and, perhaps, transform the South. The hope was to not only stitch the country back together again, but provide the freedmen a step up, to integrate the formerly enslaved population back into society. Tensions between Congress and the President led to an uneven and imperfect process. The Army was the only institution that could provide stability, but never had enough men to stamp out the violence and change the attitudes prevalent in the South. By 1877, the north had lost interest and the south put into place a system of control that would not be overturned for a century.

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We have reached the penultimate episode of our series on the Civil War. We briefly touch on the surrender of the Confederate field armies but devote most of our time to looking at issues related to the winners and loosers of the war. It is fair to say that Lincoln won the war, but lost the peace. We don't explore all of the issues that led to the defeat of the Confederacy, but we concentrate on the sailient points. Take a listen!

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