Governor Grover at once called upon Superintendent Meacham, who thus urged renewed his application to General Canby for troops to arrest Jack, seconded by a letter from the governor. To this application Canby replied that he had sent an order to the commanding officer of the district of the lakes to establish in the threatened neighborhood a cavalry force sufficient to protect the settlers; adding that until the questions submitted by the superintendent to the commissioners of Indian affairs at Washington should be settled, it was his duty to prevent a war if possible; but if that could not be done, all the forces needed to suppress the Indians would be applied. According to these instructions Major E. Otis sent a detachment of fifty cavalry and three officers to establish a temporary camp in the Lost river district, which for the time relieved the settlers without removing the cause of their anxiety.
Early in April Meacham was relieved of the superintendency, and L. B. Odeneal appointed in his place. The position, owing to the Modoc difficulty, was not without serious responsibilities, and so Odeneal felt it to be. One of his first acts was to take counsel of Major Otis in regard to the propriety of permitting Jack's band to remain any longer where they were. Otis made a formal recommendation in writing, that the permission given them by Meacham the previous August should be withdrawn, and they be directed to go upon the reservation; but that the order should not be given before September, so that in case they refused, the military authorities could put them upon it during the winter season, which was considered the most favorable time for the undertaking. Otis further recommended placing Jack and Black Jim on the Siletz reservation, or any other place of banishment from their people; and stated as his reason for this advice that in his judgment there would be no peace for the people, to whom they were
