Battle of Sand Butte

Mid-day, the Army and Warm Springs Indians were ambushed at the base of Sand Butte, and nearly wiped out by 20 Modoc warriors.

The next day, when the Army and Warm Springs Indians arrived, the Modoc that were present were women, the elderly, and the wounded.

They assumed the Modoc were hiding east of the hill Sand Butte, which was four miles south of the Stronghold.

Around noon, the patrols stopped at the base of Sand Butte (to the east) to eat, rest, and watch the arrival of Donald McKay and his troops.

Back at Gillem's Camp, the sound of gunfire was heard, and some became worried, but considering the Army's numbers, they assumed the patrols would win the battle at any moment.

Eventually, the camp's namesake, Gillem, ordered a unit stationed at the Stronghold to go to Sand Butte, but they were arriving as dark came.

At the end of the battle, Scarface Charley allegedly told the soldiers, "All you fellows that ain't dead yet had better go home.

[7][9] The Modoc escape from the Stronghold and the victory at Sand Butte turned the public's sentiment further against them, and there were greater calls for their extermination.

Frank Leslie's illustration, which showed an Indian scalping an army soldier while a vulture is perched nearby, was titled "The Two Vultures", and captioned, "'To the victor belong [sic] the spoils', thinks the Modoc murderer who interrupts the feathered savage in his post-mortem repast".