Alfred Benjamin Meacham (1826–1882) was an American Methodist minister, reformer, author and historian, who served as the U.S.

He helped represent American Indian tribes to Washington officials, and testified about relocation issues to Congress.

The reformer Wendell Phillips wrote the introduction to the first book, and Meacham dedicated the second and named it for Winema Riddle.

In 1844, he worked with others hired to assist with the Sauk and Fox removal 100 miles to the west across the Mississippi River, and saw their grief.

After his marriage in Iowa, he returned with his wife Orpha to California, where they lived in Solano County for a time.

Meacham recognized their problems with the Klamath and recommended to the Commission of Indian Affairs (CIA) that a sub-agency be set up for them at the southern border at Yainax.

[4] Many settlers continued to complain about the Modoc, who did more raiding during the winter because the U.S. government did not provide them with adequate supplies.

The government believed his knowledge of Captain Jack would be useful, but Meacham refused to participate unless assured that Odeneal would not be on the commission.

[10] He arranged a national speaking tour for Winema and her husband Frank Riddle (who took their son Charka with them), as well as other Modoc and Klamath tribal representatives.

In 1875, the delegation addressed Alfred Henry Love's Universal Peace Union in Philadelphia and a meeting of Peter Cooper's U.S. Indian Commission in New York City.

During the administration of Rutherford B. Hayes, Meacham served on the 1880 Ute Commission with George W. Manypenny, a former Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and the railroad executive Otto Mears to plan and oversee the relocation of the Colorado Ute tribe, led by Chief Ouray, to a new reservation in Utah.

In addition to public lectures, Meacham reported on Native American issues by publishing a journal called The Council Fire and Arbitrator, with Dr. Thomas Bland in 1878.

The former abolitionist wrote, To show the folly of our method, examine the south of the Great Lakes, and you will find in every 30 miles from Plymouth to Omaha the scene of an Indian massacre.

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.