The conflicts occurring in the Washington Territory in the 1850s provide an interesting case study of the Native American ?Indian Wars.? It is an excellent story, not only of the conflict itself, but also the interplay between the natives, early settlers, missionaries, and army personalities involved. There is a wealth of contemporary documentation available, but modern histories often center on only certain aspects of those conflicts. Many of the tribes on the Washington coast and in the interior had strong ties with one another and the events of the Washington Territory Indian wars in the Puget Sound area and the Inland Empire area are tied to one another. This is not often been brought together in a single work. This is short history of those conflicts, along with an extensive bibliography of references of both contemporary works and original source material. Most of the sites where the major events that occurred during this conflict are marked today, and a guide to those sites is included.

The six-month war is a classic case study of the cultural conflicts that made up the North American Indian wars. It has the distinction of being the most costly Indian war fought by the United States Army; considering the shortness of the war and the number of Indians involved. It was also the only Indian War in which a general grade officer was killed. It highlighted the deficiencies of the post Civil War Army- a motley crew of badly trained soldiers led by equally poorly trained officers, who fought on battlefields of the Indian's choosing and about which the Army had absolutely no information what so ever. At the end of the war there were over 1000 soldiers hunting down 160 Modocs, of which there was not more than 60 effective fighting men. The Modocs are gone from Lava Beds, but they are not forgotten. The land they fought for was a wild landscape of lava flows, caves and cinder cones. Today the area is preserved as Lava Beds National Monument.

An executive order-issued September 14, 1888-set aside a strip of land adjacent to the boundary of the newly incorporated city of San Pedro, California. Signed by President Grover Cleveland, the order designated the area of "the old government reservation" to be used as a military reservation. It is from this point in time that Fort MacArthur traces its military career. As a part of the US Air Force's Los Angeles Air Force Base, the post continues in its purpose of public service to the citizens of the United States of America. The Fort MacArthur Museum is charged with preserving its military past. Towards that goal this history has been compiled to preserve the history of this important post. Much of this work was derived from materials prepared by Col. Gustafson for distribution to the Army personnel and visitors of Fort MacArthur in the late 1970s.