145 The West: The Modoc War Part I

America at War

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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