PORTRAIT MISCELLANY, ca. 1860-ca. 1945?

Donald McKay and Jack's Capturers
Louis Heller, photographer

This image includes Donald McKay (center) and two of the Indians who helped federal troops track and capture "Captain Jack," the Modoc Chief who led his tribe in combat with United States forces in California.

The Modoc Indian War of 1873 was the only major Indian war fought in California and the only Indian War in which a general was killed. It was one of the most costly wars in our history, considering the number of people involved.

Captain Jack finally surrendered at Willow Creek on June 1, 1873, and the Modoc War ended. Captain Jack was hanged on the morning of October 3, 1873. The surviving Modocs were taken to the Quapaw Agency in Oklahoma where disease accomplished what bullets did not.