Infernal Caverns
Infernal Caverns - California State Historic Landmark
Infernal Caverns, also known as Hell Caves, Geographical location: 6.5 miles west of Likely, California, and 1 mile south of the Ferry Ranch in Modoc County. Site of the Infernal Caverns Battleground, September 26-27, 1867. One of the last Indian battles fought in California. United States Army General George Crook was sent west to quell Indian uprisings that had begun in 1848 when the Northern Paiutes, a branch of the Shoshone tribe, bitterly attacked and killed whites. The last incident that brought U.S. Army action was when marauding Indians killed seventy eight miners that were on route to Colorado.
With the 39th Mounted Infantry, General Crook tracked the Indians south from Goose Lake (which lies on what is now the California - Oregon border), engaging them in a desolate spot named Infernal Caverns. The two day war began high in a canyon covered with giant boulders, rocky caverns, and hollow fumoroles caused by lava flows. Eight soldiers were killed in action. Six were buried at the site. A seventh, Sgt. David Rustler, was transported by double mule Travois to Camp Warner at Goose Lake where in he died a few days later. Lt. John Madigan, the only officer killed in the fight, was buried just outside of the town of Alturas, California. Six white marble tombstones were erected by the U.S. government to mark the burial location for the soldiers. One additional tombstone was added in 1995 for Private Willoughby Sawyer, who also died in this battle and whose marker was missing. This historical omission was discovered by California historian Chris. J. Wright.
Infernal Caverns is California State Landmark #16.
References
Alta California Newspaper; September 28th 1868 (morning edition.)
Bourke John G. General; Crook in Indian Country, Crook, 1867-68
Bourke John G. Captain; With General Crook in the Indian Wars 1968
Brown, William S. California Northeast; The Bloody Ground 1951
Schmitt, Martin F. (Editor); General George Crook: His Auto-biography 1960
Modoc Record, September 23rd 1995
New York Times, 7/28/1867
Parnell, William R. Colonel; Operations Against Hostile Indians with General George Crook. Ibid, Joe Wassons, News story on the Battle of Infernal Caverns
Riddle, Francis A.; Honey Lake Paiute Ethnology 1960
Underhill, Ruth; The Northern Paiute Indians of California and Nevada. U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington D.C. 1941
Valley Times Newspaper; Vol. 111 No. 268, Septembr 25, 1995
Wright, Chris. J., Battle of Infernal Caverns, True West Magazine August 1995, Fields of Fire
See Also Utley, Robert M.; Frontier Regulars: The United States Army and the Indian 1866-1891 Goldsborough, Bruff J.; Gold Rush: The Journals, Drawings and other papers of J. Goldsborough Bruff, Edited by G. Read and R. Gains. Register of Enlistments, United States Army 1860.
External Links:
California Office of Historic Preservation http://ohp.parks.ca.gov PBS George Crook, 1828 – 1890 http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/a_c/crook.htm Arlington National Cemetery Website, General George Crook http://arlingtoncemetary.net/gcrook.htm
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