![]() When she was a young teen, she saved a canoe full of children from being dashed in strong rapids by steering it to safety, earning her the name "Winema," which translates into "woman chief." Such deeds continued throughout her life.Īnother example of her courageous character was her defiance of her father (and Modoc tradition) when she refused to marry the young man her family had chosen for her. ![]() By all accounts, it is clear that one courageous deed set her apart from her peers early on. Winema proved her courage in her early life during the 1850s. Born and raised in the ancestral homeland of the Modocs, Winema's family nurtured her and imbued her with the values of her people, but she herself stretched the boundaries of gender and race. The arid environment is relatively inhospitable, but it did not impede the formation or growth of the Modocs as a viable and vibrant nation. For centuries the Modocs lived in this area, raising their families and establishing a society based on interdependence with each other and on extensive trade networks throughout California and the Pacific Northwest. The Modocs' ancestral homeland spans the border of California and Oregon. To understand the importance of the pension Winema received, we must explore the events and personal history surrounding this woman who, for the most part, has been overlooked in the pages of history. This is the story of how Winema Riddle worked for peace between her native Modocs and the U.S. Government sent Federal troops to move the Modocs back to the reservation, and in 1872 the two sides clashed. The Klamaths, however, were historic enemies of the Modocs, and some Modoc people left the reservation for their old homes. In 1864, under pressure from settlers, the government decided to move the Modocs onto the Klamath Reservation in southern Oregon. Winema gained national attention because of her role in the Modoc War of 1872–1873, a war that lasted approximately eight months but that finds its roots in the Indian policy of the 19th century. She married outside her Nation, she became a mediator for her people, and she earned a military pension from Congress for her actions in time of war by saving a federal official's life. Winema Riddle was a Modoc woman whose life story illuminates Native American women's roles in history through her interactions with outsiders. Through a multitude of sources, Winema's story unfolds, illuminating actions and people who, with her, shaped events in the latter half of the 19th century. Historical sources often reflect roles of men who influenced history over time, but in them are sometimes found accounts of women's deeds. And even more unusual is that Winema Riddle was a Native American woman of the Modoc Nation. What is unusual is that a woman received it for her courage in battle. It is not unusual to find thousands of names in the pension files housed in the National Archives. a pension at the rate of twenty-five dollars per month." On February 25, 1891, Congress passed a very unusual piece of legislation. Applegate, Winema, and Frank Riddle middle row, Lac-el-es and Martha Mainstake and front row, Me-hu-no-lush and Sau-kaa-dush. Gillem's camp near the Lava Beds in 1873 were, in back row, Capt.
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