My family was returning home last summer and noticed this historical marker that was recently added along Hwy 139. We believe there was an original marker in this area many years ago (since this marker number appears in older California historical books) but was removed during roadwork or some other reason. In any case, this replacement roadside marker/sign notes the nearby site of one of the first battles from the Modoc Indian War of 1872-3 known as the Battle of Lands Ranch. I was able to locate this battle site on a topography map. The OHP website highlights the history of this site and reads:
NO. 108 BATTLE OF LAND'S RANCH-1872 - One of the engagements of the Modoc War took place on December 21, 1872, on what was then known as the Land's Ranch. Army supply wagons, escorted by cavalrymen, had reached camp in safety, but several of the soldiers who had dropped behind were suddenly attacked by Indians hiding among the rocks above the road. Two men were killed and several wounded.
The Modoc War was the only major Native American war fought in California and the only one in which a general was killed. It was also one of the most costly wars in U.S. history. According to some estimates it cost $10,000 (about $300,000 today) per warrior to subdue the Modocs in battle. The Modoc warriors totaled between 50 and 60, while there were as many as 1000 U.S. troops at the height of the conflict. The war lasted six months, from November 29, 1872 to June 1, 1873, although tensions leading to the conflict began much earlier.
Much of the war was centered around Captain Jack’s Stronghold, a natural lava fortress characterized by deep trenches and small caves. The Stronghold was named for the Modocs’ war leader Keintpoos, or Captain Jack as he was known to the settlers. Some 150 Modoc men, women,and children lived in the Stronghold for five months of the war, including the harsh winter months. By the war’s end, the fatalities included 53 U.S. soldiers, 17 civilians, 2 Warm Springs Scouts, 5 Modoc women and children, and 15 Modoc warriors, five of which were killed in battle.
~source
I was able to locate additional info on this battle from a timeline of events online here and it reads:
MODOC WAR (1872–1873). One of the costliest of the nineteenth-century Indian Wars, the Modoc War officially began on 29 November 1872 because of a misunderstanding between the Modoc Indians and the United States. Settlers, who began moving through Modoc territory as early as 1843, set off conflicts that led eventually to war. In 1864 the Modocs signed a treaty with the United States whereby the Modocs would receive goods and protection once they moved to the Klamath Reservation in Oregon. When agency officials ignored Modoc grievances, approximately two hundred Modocs fled the reservation under the leadership of Kintpuash (Captain Jack). They resettled along Lost River, their ancestral home.
Between 1865 and 1869 Kintpuash and his followers moved three times to their assigned reservation, but they were treated poorly there and did not always remain within its boundaries. Pressure to force the Modocs to comply with the treaty's provisions increased after the document was ratified in 1869. By 1871, 159 Modocs still refused to move back to the Oregon reservation. In November 1872 President Ulysses S. Grant gave orders to force the Modocs back. On 29 November the war began with the Battle of Lost River. The United States cavalry, commanded by Captain James Jackson, opened fire on Kintpuash's camp, forcing the Modocs to split up and flee to the Lava Beds in Northern California. En route, Hooker Jim and his men killed eleven male settlers. Kintpuash learned of these killings when Hooker Jim reached the Lava Beds. Over the next two months three major battles occurred as U.S. troops sought to infiltrate the Lava Beds: Battle of Land's Ranch, First Battle for the Stronghold, First Battle of Scorpion Point.
On 29 January 1873 President Grant appointed a peace commission, headed by General Edward R. S. Canby, to meet with the Modocs to cease hostilities and persuade them to return to the reservation. Between February and March negotiations continued with the assistance of two primary interpreters, Winema (Toby Riddle) and her husband Frank Riddle. In April, Winema visited the Lava Beds and returned to warn Canby of the Modocs' intentions to kill the peace commissioners if they did not comply with Modoc demands of a reservation along Lost River and exoneration for the murderers of the settlers. Canby ignored Winema's warnings and proceeded with the meeting on 11 April 1873. At this meeting Kintpuash and his men tried to negotiate, but Canby refused to listen, demanding their unconditional surrender. The Modocs carried out their plans, killing Canby (the highest ranking officer killed in the Indian Wars of the nineteenth century), Reverend Eleasar Thomas, and L. S. Dyar, and wounding Alfred Meacham.
Four battles that followed (Second Battle for the Stronghold, Second Battle of Scorpion Point, Battle of Dry Lake, and Battle of Willow Creek Ridge) brought the army closer to the Modocs' stronghold, forcing them to disperse. Kintpuash surrendered on 1 June 1873. He and five other Modocs (John Schonchin, Boston Charley, Black Jim, Slolux, and Barncho) stood trial and were sentenced to hang. Slolux and Barncho's sentences were commuted to life imprisonment at the military prison on Alcatraz; the other four Modocs were hanged on 3 October. The government exiled the remaining 153 Modocs to Indian Territory.
During eight months of warfare 159 Modoc men, women, and children fought 1,000 U.S. soldiers. In all 83 U.S. soldiers, 3 Modocs, and 14 other Native Americans died in the war.
*NOTE* The actual battle site is on private property and cannot be visited. The landowners have individuals patrolling their property and they don't want anybody on their land (I've spoken with one of their hired hands).