Toby Riddle | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Modoc leader | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Nannookdoowah ('strange child') c. 1848 |
| Died | 1920 |
| Spouse | Frank Riddle |
| Relations | Kintpuash (cousin) |
| Children | 1 |
| Known for | Interpreter in negotiations between the Modoc tribe and the United States Army during the Modoc War |
Toby "Winema" Riddle (born Nannookdoowah; c. 1848 – 1920) was a Modoc woman who served as an interpreter in negotiations between the Native American Modoc tribe and the United States Army during the Modoc War (also called the Lava Beds War). She warned the peace commission of a possible Modoc attack, and she saved the life of the chairman Alfred B. Meacham when the 1873 attack took place.
She and her family toured with Meacham after the war, starring in his lecture-play "Tragedy of the Lava Beds", to inform American people about the war. Meacham later published a book about Winema, which he dedicated to her. In 1891 Toby Riddle was one of the few Native American women to be awarded a military pension by the United States Congress, for her heroic actions during the peace negotiations in 1873. (Her first name also appears spelled as "Tobey" in historical records.)