The Woman Chief

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Soldier, Sister, Spy, Scout: Women Soldiers and Patriots on the Western Frontier

Mrs. Frank “Tobey” Riddle, better known as Winema, was a mediator for the Modoc people, other Indian tribes in the area of Klamath Lake, Oregon, and the United States Army in early 1878.  With her skills she was able to negotiate treaties that kept the land of her ancestors in peace.  Whenever that peace was threatened, her job was to set things straight.  On February 1873, she rode into hostile Modoc territory to persuade the chief to surrender to the cavalry.

Chief Keintpoos, or Captain Jack (a named given to him by the settlers because of his liking for brass buttons and military medals on his coat), was Winema’s cousin.  In 1863 the U.S. government forced his people from their land onto a reservation in Oregon.  Conditions on the reservation were intolerable for the Modoc people.  They were forced to share the land with the Klamath Indians of the region.  The Modoc and the Klamath did not get along.  The Modoc struggled to live in this hostile environment for three years.  Modoc leaders appealed to the U.S. government to separate the tribes, but officials refused to correct the problem.  In 1869, Captain Jack defied the laws of the white man and led his tribe off the reservation and back to the area where their forefathers had first lived.

The cavalry and frustrated members of the Indian Peace Council wanted to use force to bring Captain Jack and his followers back to the reservation.  Winema persuaded them instead to give her a chance to talk with the chief.

When Winema reached the Modoc camp, Captain Jack’s men gathered around her. A dozen pistols were drawn upon her as she dismounted. She eyed the angry tribesmen as they slowly approached her. Then walking backward until she stood upon a rock above the mobs, she clasped her right hand upon her own pistol, and with the other on her heart she shouted aloud, “I am a Modoc myself.  I am here to talk peace.   Shoot me if you dare, but I will never betray you.”  Her bravery in the face of such difficulty won the admiration of her people, and instantly a dozen pistols were drawn in her defense.

To learn more about Winema and other women loyalists read

Soldier, Sister, Spy, Scout: Women Soldiers and Patriots on the Western Frontier