Biography
Kintpuash was a Modoc tribal leader who led his band's armed resistance to forced removal from their California ancestral lands to the Klamath Reservation in Oregon. During peace negotiations at the Lava Beds on April 11, 1873, Kintpuash shot and killed Brigadier General Edward Canby — the only U.S. general killed by Native combatants. After a six-month war in which 53 Modoc fighters held off ~1,000 U.S. troops, Kintpuash and three others were convicted by military commission and hanged at Fort Klamath on October 3, 1873. His head was severed after death and sent to the Army Medical Museum in Washington, D.C.
Note: Birth year approximate (circa 1837).
The history also gives his name as Keintpoos in its Modoc roster. The National Park Service history identifies the five-member military commission as presided over by Lt. Col. Washington L. Elliott, with Maj. H. P. Curtis acting as judge advocate. It states that the six Modoc defendants were not represented by a legal officer. The trial opened July 1 and ended July 9, 1873. All six were convicted of murder in violation of the laws of war concerning Canby and Thomas, and assault with intent to kill concerning Meacham and Dyar. President Grant approved the findings on August 22, 1873.
National Park Service, Modoc War (1967), PDF pages 181, 182, 205.
