Toby "Winema" Riddle was a Modoc woman who served as an interpreter in negotiations between the Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 Modoc tribe and the United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 during the Modoc War

Modoc War

The Modoc War, or Modoc Campaign , was an armed conflict between the Native American Modoc tribe and the United States Army in southern Oregon and northern California from 1872–1873. The Modoc War was the last of the Indian Wars to occur in California or Oregon...

 (also called the Lava Beds

Lava Beds National Monument

Lava Beds National Monument is located in northeastern California, in Siskiyou and Modoc Counties. The Monument lies on the northeastern flank of the Medicine Lake Volcano, with the largest total area covered by a volcano in the Cascade Range....

 War). She warned the peace commission of a possible Modoc attack, and she saved the life of the chairman Alfred B. Meacham

Alfred B. Meacham

Alfred Benjamin Meacham was an American Methodist minister, reformer, author and historian, who served as the US Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Oregon . He became a proponent of American Indian interests in the Northwest, including Northern California...

 when the 1873 attack took place.

She and her family toured with Meacham after the war, starring in his lecture-play "Tragedy of the Lava Beds", to inform American people about the war. Meacham later published a book about Winema, which he dedicated to her. In 1891 Toby Riddle was one of the few Native American women to be awarded a military pension by the United States Congress, for her heroic actions during the peace negotiations in 1873. (Her first name also appears spelled as "Tobey" in historical records.)

Early life and education

She was born Nannookdoowah, which means "strange child," as she was born with red-tinted hair. As a girl, she was named Winema, (woman chief) after rescuing some playmates from being caught in cascades in their canoe. As a young woman, she was said to have ridden with raiding parties of men to gather horses from enemy camps. Winema was a cousin of Kintpuash, the leader of the Modoc tribe at the time of the Modoc War.

Marriage and family

Winema married Frank Riddle, a white settler who had emigrated from Kentucky

Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

 to California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 during the California Gold Rush

California Gold Rush

The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...

. They settled near her family in the Lost River

Lost River

-Communities:In Canada:*Lost River, QuebecIn the United States:*The town of Lost River, Idaho*The community of Lost River, West Virginia-Rivers:*A losing stream, that is, a river that decreases in volume as it flowsIn the United States:...

 area and had a son, Charka ("the handsome one"). They also named him Jefferson C. Davis Riddle, in honor of the Army general

Jefferson C. Davis

Jefferson Columbus Davis was an officer in the United States Army who served in the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, and the Modoc War. He was the first commander of the Department of Alaska, from 1868 to 1870...

 who ended the Modoc War. (Note: This is a different man than the Confederate president.)

Interpreters

Winema Riddle was one of several Modoc who learned English, and her husband Frank had learned her language. They both served as interpreters before and during negotiations related to the creation of the Klamath Reservation.

They served as interpreters again to the peace commission appointed in 1873 to settle the Modoc War

Modoc War

The Modoc War, or Modoc Campaign , was an armed conflict between the Native American Modoc tribe and the United States Army in southern Oregon and northern California from 1872–1873. The Modoc War was the last of the Indian Wars to occur in California or Oregon...

. During the 1873 negotiations, sometimes Winema carried messages between General Edward Canby

Edward Canby

Edward Richard Sprigg Canby was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War, Reconstruction era, and the Indian Wars...

 and Kintpuash; as a woman, she was considered peaceful. After taking a message to Captain Jack's Stronghold to schedule a peace talk, Winema learned of a Modoc plot to assassinate Canby. She warned the peace commission, but they went on as planned with the meeting. Canby and Thomas were killed by Modoc, and other peace commissioners and staff were wounded. Toby Riddle was there and saved Alfred B. Meacham

Alfred B. Meacham

Alfred Benjamin Meacham was an American Methodist minister, reformer, author and historian, who served as the US Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Oregon . He became a proponent of American Indian interests in the Northwest, including Northern California...

 from being scalped and killed.

Afterward the US Army, commanded by General Jefferson Columbus Davis, finally captured Captain Jack and other Modoc leaders. They were tried before a US military court, convicted and executed. Nearly 153 members of the band were removed as prisoners of war to Indian Territory

Indian Territory

The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...

 in present-day Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

. Some other Modoc, including the Riddle family, returned to the Klamath Reservation.

Meacham] continued to champion Native American rights. He wrote a lecture-play "Tragedy of the Lava Beds", starring Winema, Frank, and their son Jeff, and toured with them and Klamath representatives across the country for the next two years. They reached New York before returning to make their home in Oregon. Meacham said that Wi-ne-ma was popular with audiences, as she had worked for peace between the peoples. He also published a book about Winema in 1876 and dedicated it to her:

"This book is written with the avowed purpose of doing honor to the heroic Wi-ne-ma who at the peril of her life sought to save the ill fated peace commission to the Modoc Indians in 1873. The woman to whom the writer is indebted, under God, for saving his life."

Meacham wrote, the name of

"Winema has taken its place beside those of Sara Winnimucca

Winnemucca

-Places:*Winnemucca, Nevada*Winnemucca Indian Colony, a reservation in Nevada*Winnemucca Lake, a dry lake bed in Nevada-Tribes:*Winnemucca Indian Colony of Nevada, a federally recognized Northern Paiute and Western Shoshone tribe-People:...

 and Sacajawea in the annals of the early west. The personal daring of these Indian Women and the roles they played as negotiators between their people and the palefaces have lifted them above considerations of race into the ranks of the great women of all time."

Because of her heroic role in trying to save the peace commissioners during the 1873 talks, Meacham petitioned Congress to award Riddle a military pension. in 1891 the US Congress authorized a military pension for Toby Riddle of $25 per month, which she received until her death in 1920. Toby and Frank's son Jeff C. Riddle wrote his own account of the Modoc War, to give the Indian perspective, which he published in 1914. Many of the Riddle descendants continue to live in the area of the Klamath Reservation.

Legacy and honors

• Winema Riddle was one of the few Native American women to be honored by the US Congress authorizing a military pension for her because of her heroism.
• Several regional landmarks are named "Winema" in her honor, including the Winema National Forest
  Winema National Forest
  The Winema National Forest is a United States National Forest in Klamath County on the eastern slopes of the Cascade Range in south-central Oregon, and covers . The forest borders Crater Lake National Park near the crest of the Cascades and stretches eastward into the Klamath Basin...
  
  .

Further reading

• Meacham, Alfred B. Wi-ne-ma (The Woman Chief) and Her People, Hartford: American Publishing Company, 1876, at Internet Archive, online text.

• Payneby, Doris Palmer. Captain Jack, Modoc Renegade, Portland, OR: Binford & Mort, 1938; reprint 1958, 1979, novel inspired by the Modoc War and related events

External links

• Rebecca Bales, "Winema and the Modoc War: One Woman's Struggle for Peace", Prologue Magazine, The National Archives
• Jeff C. Riddle, The Indian History of the Modoc War, and the Causes that Led to It, Marnell and Company, 1914, Internet Archives, online text with photos