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Book takes new look at Modoc War
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| Submitted photo: Author Terrell Garren will discuss his book 'The Fifth Skull: A Historical novel of the Civil War and the American West' at the Klamath County museum 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 9. |
Author to discuss book Thursday at Klamath County Museum
By LEE JUILLERAT
H&N Regional Editor
Captain Jack and other Modoc Indians involved in the shooting death of an Army general at peace negotiations during the Modoc Indian War of 1872-73 were victims of a larger scheme involving a turncoat Modoc, corrupt Army officers and land-greedy ranchers.
That’s one of the conclusions reached by Terrell Garren, the author of what promises to be a controversial new book about the Modoc War, “The Fifth Skull: A Historical Novel of the Civil War and the American West.”
Garren, a North Carolina historian who has written two books about the Civil War, says his new book is based on research involving Alvan C. Gillem and Jefferson Columbua Davis (not related to the Confederate president), two Army officers who were sent to the American West after the Civil War.
Garren believes Bogus Charley, a Modoc who spoke English and was frequently seen at the Army camp, was used by Gillem and Davis to humiliate Jack and force him to agree to plans to murder Gen. E.R.S. Canby and other peace negotiators, including Rev. Eleazar Thomas, who was also killed. Further, Garren believes Jesse Carr, a rancher who wanted to expand his extensive holdings, worked with Gillem and Davis.
“When you look at all these issues, then consider what Jack had to say at the trial, there is enough circumstantial evidence to convince me of murder by proxy on the part of Gillem and Davis,” Garren said in an e-mail to the Herald and News. “The Modocs were the murder weapons, not the murderers. Bogus Charley was a paid agent of Davis and Gillem. Canby was resolved to try and help the Modocs and that was unacceptable to the (ranch owners) because it would have meant a reservation in Jack’s homeland on Lost River.
“It was a period of great corruption in America and Davis and Gillem were two rejected losers. Both had made to brevet (temporary) general ranks during the Civil War but were basically banished to the far West after Ulysses S. Grant became president and both were reverted back to the rank of colonel. I suspect Grant knew what losers these guys were.”
Davis is the documented murderer of a superior office in 1862 who, two years later, was implicated in the deaths of many freed blacks. It was Davis who headed the trial of the Modocs.
“Once one reaches this conclusion,” Garren said, “then you wind up dealing with the emotional reality that the Modocs were ‘entrapped.’ I’m not a barrister, but I know that entrapment is not legal. Davis (who had murdered his superior general during the war but was never was prosecuted) managed to kill Canby, take his rank, then murder a number of Modocs by means of entrapment.”
The book’s title, “The Fifth Skull,” refers to the skull of an Indian woman who was decapitated. The skull’s existence for many years was not revealed, including during the late 1970s when the skulls of Jack and the three other Modocs — John Schonchin, Black Jim and Boston Charley — who were convicted, hanged and then illegally decapitated, were shown to a Herald and News reporter at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Garren learned about the existence of the fifth skull while conducting research on the Modoc War.
Garren is concerned about the unknown woman and the circumstances of her death.
“Who is the poor girl I’ve come to know as ‘The Fifth Skull’? What really happened to her? Her head was taken while Davis was still there. We have a dead girl with the army equivalent of Ted Bundy on the scene. I don’t like it. I suspect that Davis murdered and mutilated her. I have no evidence but the concept is credible enough to me to cause anxiety.”
Author to discuss book Thursday at Klamath County Museum
Readings and a discussion of “The Fifth Skull: A Historical Novel of the Civil War and American West,” will be held by author Terrell Garren at 7 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 9 at the Klamath County Museum. Garren will be available to sign copies of the new book at 5 p.m. until the program.
Copies of the book, published by The Reprint Company, Publishers, of Spartanburg, S.C., are $25. They will be available at the signing and later at the museum.
Garren said his fascination with the Modoc War developed while spending 15 years researching a historical novel about his family, “The Secret of War: A Dramatic History of Civil War Crime in Western North Carolina.” His research acquainted him with Union Army Gen. Alvan C. Gillem and the fate of Confederate prisoners of war, who were allowed to enlist in the Union Army and be sent to fight Indian wars in the American West.
“I looked at the Modoc War completely different than the people who live out there,” Garren said in a telephone interview. “Gillem leads to Jefferson C. Davis (another Union general), one of the most vile and evil men in America … a known murderer.”
In his book, Garren follows two Confederate soldiers who, to get out of prison, join the Union Army and are sent to fight Indian wars, including the Modoc War.
“My fictional account is what I think happened,” he says of the unfolding tale involving coercion involving two Army officers, a ranch owner, an English speaking Modoc and the beheading of five Modocs.
“The taking of the heads was a gory, heinous crime by any standards,” insists Garren, who believes legal acts should be taken, even 130 years later. “I think justice ought to be brought to people even if they are dead.”
H&N Regional Editor
Captain Jack and other Modoc Indians involved in the shooting death of an Army general at peace negotiations during the Modoc Indian War of 1872-73 were victims of a larger scheme involving a turncoat Modoc, corrupt Army officers and land-greedy ranchers.
That’s one of the conclusions reached by Terrell Garren, the author of what promises to be a controversial new book about the Modoc War, “The Fifth Skull: A Historical Novel of the Civil War and the American West.”
Garren, a North Carolina historian who has written two books about the Civil War, says his new book is based on research involving Alvan C. Gillem and Jefferson Columbua Davis (not related to the Confederate president), two Army officers who were sent to the American West after the Civil War.
Garren believes Bogus Charley, a Modoc who spoke English and was frequently seen at the Army camp, was used by Gillem and Davis to humiliate Jack and force him to agree to plans to murder Gen. E.R.S. Canby and other peace negotiators, including Rev. Eleazar Thomas, who was also killed. Further, Garren believes Jesse Carr, a rancher who wanted to expand his extensive holdings, worked with Gillem and Davis.
“When you look at all these issues, then consider what Jack had to say at the trial, there is enough circumstantial evidence to convince me of murder by proxy on the part of Gillem and Davis,” Garren said in an e-mail to the Herald and News. “The Modocs were the murder weapons, not the murderers. Bogus Charley was a paid agent of Davis and Gillem. Canby was resolved to try and help the Modocs and that was unacceptable to the (ranch owners) because it would have meant a reservation in Jack’s homeland on Lost River.
“It was a period of great corruption in America and Davis and Gillem were two rejected losers. Both had made to brevet (temporary) general ranks during the Civil War but were basically banished to the far West after Ulysses S. Grant became president and both were reverted back to the rank of colonel. I suspect Grant knew what losers these guys were.”
Davis is the documented murderer of a superior office in 1862 who, two years later, was implicated in the deaths of many freed blacks. It was Davis who headed the trial of the Modocs.
“Once one reaches this conclusion,” Garren said, “then you wind up dealing with the emotional reality that the Modocs were ‘entrapped.’ I’m not a barrister, but I know that entrapment is not legal. Davis (who had murdered his superior general during the war but was never was prosecuted) managed to kill Canby, take his rank, then murder a number of Modocs by means of entrapment.”
The book’s title, “The Fifth Skull,” refers to the skull of an Indian woman who was decapitated. The skull’s existence for many years was not revealed, including during the late 1970s when the skulls of Jack and the three other Modocs — John Schonchin, Black Jim and Boston Charley — who were convicted, hanged and then illegally decapitated, were shown to a Herald and News reporter at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Garren learned about the existence of the fifth skull while conducting research on the Modoc War.
Garren is concerned about the unknown woman and the circumstances of her death.
“Who is the poor girl I’ve come to know as ‘The Fifth Skull’? What really happened to her? Her head was taken while Davis was still there. We have a dead girl with the army equivalent of Ted Bundy on the scene. I don’t like it. I suspect that Davis murdered and mutilated her. I have no evidence but the concept is credible enough to me to cause anxiety.”
Author to discuss book Thursday at Klamath County Museum
Readings and a discussion of “The Fifth Skull: A Historical Novel of the Civil War and American West,” will be held by author Terrell Garren at 7 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 9 at the Klamath County Museum. Garren will be available to sign copies of the new book at 5 p.m. until the program.
Copies of the book, published by The Reprint Company, Publishers, of Spartanburg, S.C., are $25. They will be available at the signing and later at the museum.
Garren said his fascination with the Modoc War developed while spending 15 years researching a historical novel about his family, “The Secret of War: A Dramatic History of Civil War Crime in Western North Carolina.” His research acquainted him with Union Army Gen. Alvan C. Gillem and the fate of Confederate prisoners of war, who were allowed to enlist in the Union Army and be sent to fight Indian wars in the American West.
“I looked at the Modoc War completely different than the people who live out there,” Garren said in a telephone interview. “Gillem leads to Jefferson C. Davis (another Union general), one of the most vile and evil men in America … a known murderer.”
In his book, Garren follows two Confederate soldiers who, to get out of prison, join the Union Army and are sent to fight Indian wars, including the Modoc War.
“My fictional account is what I think happened,” he says of the unfolding tale involving coercion involving two Army officers, a ranch owner, an English speaking Modoc and the beheading of five Modocs.
“The taking of the heads was a gory, heinous crime by any standards,” insists Garren, who believes legal acts should be taken, even 130 years later. “I think justice ought to be brought to people even if they are dead.”
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