The Indian History of the Modoc War

Jefferson C. Davis Riddle (1863-1941) was the son of Frank and Tobey Riddle, both of whom played prominent roles in the Modoc War. After the war, his parents renamed him for the Army colonel who ended the war and toured the East Coast, lecturing on the conflict. Riddle's book vividly chronicles this episode of Western history. Only ten years old, the author, then known by the Modoc name "Charka," experienced the conflict firsthand. The account was written "to give both sides of the troubles of the Modoc Indians and the whites."

Peter Cozzens is a Foreign Service officer with the U.S. Department of State and the author of several acclaimed books on the Civil War and Western history, including the trilogy The Civil War in the West (025202236X) and General John Pope: A Life for the Nation (0252023633).