Last updated: November 6, 2021
Place
Thomas-Wright Battlefield, Tulelake, Ca
NPS Photo Kenneth Ingham
Quick Facts
Significance:
Modoc War battlefield site
Amenities
3 listed
Information, Trailhead, Trash Dumpster
Ambush at Midday—The Thomas-Wright Battle of April 26, 1873
Forced to flee the Stronghold, the Modoc took cover amid the craggy lava features in this area. A group under Scarfaced Charley watched from the Schonchin Flow as Army troops marched from Gillems Camp toward their concealed position.
Officers Thomas and Wright were leading an artillery reconnaissance patrol to Hardin Butte. The soldiers were unenthusiastic and ill-prepared for an encounter. When the patrol stopped for lunch in the depression before you, a few scouts were sent out, but most soldiers rested. Fearing discovery by this group double their size, the Modoc opened fire from high, protected places such as this outcropping. About two-thirds of the patrol was killed or wounded in the battle; the Modoc suffered no casualties.
A soldier not involved in the battle described the outcome:
“At the first fire, the troops were so demoralized that the officers could do nothing with them. Wright was severely wounded . . . and his company, with one or two exceptions deserted him and fled like a pack of sheep; then the slaughter began.”
Scarfaced Charley halted the battle, showing mercy for the few surviving soldiers:
“All you fellows that ain’t dead had better go home. We don’t want to kill you all in one day.”
This 1.1 mi (1.8 km) trail leads to the site of a Modoc ambush on an Army reconnaissance mission during the Modoc War. Interpretive signs at the beginning and end of the trail explain the battle and its aftermath. The main trail follows the edge of the lava flow from Black Crater. A short side trail just past the trailhead also leads onto Black Crater itself, a large spatter cone. Look for tree molds, made when a living tree was burned away by fresh lava and left the imprint of its bark inside. If you are interested in exploring more geologic features, be sure to stop at pullouts in the Devils Homestead lava flow, just north on the main road.