The piece is a large stoneware smoking pipe that depicts on its bowl Kientpoos, better known to the whites as "Captain Jack" a leader of a section of the tiny Modoc tribe of Northern California who in 1872-73 was resisting being ethnically cleansed by the U.S. Army. In the 1872 presidential election, the Republican Party platform had called for a "wise and humane policy toward the Indians" but the view of General Philip Sheridan was that " the only good Indian was a dead one" continued to carry the day or at least the field. Kientpoos was summoned to met with Army Officers on April 11, 1873 he was confronted with a negotiation which turned out not to be a negotiation but a demand. That meeting resulted in Kientpoos shooting and killing an unarmed U.S. Army General, Edward Richard Sprigg Canby. Kientpoos was captured on June 1, 1873 and hanged on October 3, 1873. It is said that when on the gallows, a white man called out "Jack, what would you give me to take your place?" Kientpoos, with wit until the very end shouted back, " Five hundred ponies and both my wives." After the hanging the remaining small tribe of Modoc were cleansed and moved to Oklahoma. Kientpoos or "Captain Jack" achieved the immortality as a he resisted the cleansing of the white man. Molded stoneware with red-brown Albany slip glaze. Incised on bowl: "The Last of the Noble Modocs. B. Kirk. Anna Ills." On stem in large letters: "Modoc." H 5", L 7", D of bowl 3". B. Kirk is Cornwall's daughter, Amy "Birdie" Kirpatrick. Photographed and described on pages 75-77 of "Pottery, Politics, Art" by Richard D. Mohr.

The piece is in excellent, totally original, condition, with a few minor scuffs at the brim of the pipe. The base is purely a stand for display purposes.