Imagemakers of the Modoc War: Louis Heller and Eadweard Muybridge

Abstract

The Modoc War of 1872-73 in northeastern California has been a subject of both considerable popular interest and scholarly investigation during the past century. Many of its ethnic, social, and military dimensions have been evaluated in depth. Although most of the interpretive efforts have used photographic imagery produced at the time of the Modoc conflict, analysis of these photographic materials has been surprisingly casual.Nearly 100 Modoc War photographs are known to exist. These photographs range from carte de viste style portraits of the Modoc Indian prisoners to stereographs of the warsite topography, the military encampments, the participants, and the military hardware. Curiously, these remarkable images have never been studied as a group, nor have the circumstances of their origin been explored in depth. For most writers who have dealt with the conflict, there has been one simple assumption: "Eadweard J. Muybridge took the Modoc War photographs." This paper will show that such is not the case, and that an almost forgotten photographer, Louis H. Heller, deserves equal credit with Muybridge for coverage of the Modoc War. A catalogue of Modoc War images is presented at the end of this paper, followed by a representative series of images by the photographers (Plates 1-33).

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