1877 — Sep 30-Oct 5, Battle of Bear Paw, US Army attack fleeing Nez Perce, NW MT– 53

–53 National Park Service. Nez Perce National Historical Park. “Battle of the Bear Paw.”
–23 US Army
–30 Nez Perce people
–49 Wikipedia. “Battle of Bear Paw.” 10-5-2022 edit. Accessed 1-19-2023.
–24 US soldiers
–25 Nez Perce (23 men and 2 women)

Narrative Information

National Park Service. “Battle of the Bear Paw”: “In the summer of 1877, five bands of Nez Perce, including some Palouse allies, began a 1300 mile journey from northeastern Oregon and central Idaho through Montana Territory. In less than four months, about 800 people, including 125 warriors, herded more than 2000 horses and carried whatever possessions they could manage on this long and difficult trek. They pushed forward, not because of an eagerness to reach their destination, but because they were being pursued by US Army troops under the command of General Oliver O. Howard. Howard had orders to place them on a reservation in Idaho, in compliance with US policy at that time to place all tribes on reservations. Although the Nez
Perce tried to evade the pursuing soldiers, they were attacked or forced into battle at White Bird
Canyon (Idaho) [June 17], Clearwater River (Idaho) [July 11-12], Big Hole (Montana) [August 8-10], Camas Meadow (Idaho), and Canyon Creek (Montana). The Nez Perce traveled first to the buffalo country of the Yellowstone River to seek assistance from their Crow allies.

“When the Crow were unable to assist, the Nez Perce bands turned north to join Sitting Bull, who had taken refuge in Canada after the Little Bighorn Battle, just one year earlier. Knowing they were several days’ march ahead of their pursuers, the exhausted Nez Perce stopped to rest on September 29 along Snake Creek, just north of the Bear Paw Mountains and about forty miles short of the Canadian border.

“The Nez Perce were unaware that Colonel Nelson A. Miles had been dispatched from the Tongue River Cantonment (near today’s Miles City, Montana) to intercept them. With elements of the 7th and 2nd Cavalries, the 5th Mounted Infantry, and 30 to 40 Cheyenne and non-Indian scouts, Miles’ command totaled 400 men. The troops crossed the Missouri River by steamer and approached the Nez Perce camp. On September 29, Miles ordered his men to camp 12 miles southeast of the Nez Perce.

The Battle About 4 a.m. on September 30, army scouts alerted Colonel Miles of the Nez Perce camp. Miles ordered his troops to march, expecting to surprise and overwhelm the Nez Perce with a sudden attack. In the Nez Perce camp, people awoke to cold weather. Early morning calm
was soon shattered as the alarm went out, “Enemies right on us:.. soon the attack!” The 7th Cavalry’s frontal attack resulted in heavy hand-to-hand combat. The 2nd Cavalry made a flanking movement and separated the Nez Perce from their horses. The 5th Infantry secured a high bench to the south, but the Nez Perce held their position and prevented any further advance.

“Both sides suffered heavy casualties the first day. Unable to defeat the Nez Perce, the troops
besieged the camp. On October 4, General Howard’s troops arrived as reinforcements. During the battle, the Army lost 23 men, and 45 more were wounded. The Nez Perce lost 30 people with another 46 wounded. Chief White Bird and about 150 Nez Perce managed a night escape from
camp and fled to Canada.

“On the afternoon of October 5, the final day of the battle, Chief Joseph, speaking for the remaining Nez Perce, agreed to quit fighting and offered his rifle to Colonel Miles. Thus ended the Battle of the Bear Paw, and the Nez Perce Campaign.”

National Park Service, “Bear Paw Battlefield History”: “The Bear Paw Battlefield is the location of the final battle of the Nez Perce Flight of 1877. Following the breakout of war in Idaho, approximately 800 nimíipuu (Nez Perce) spent a long and arduous summer fleeing U.S. Army troops first toward Crow allies and then toward refuge in Canada. After the skirmishes at Canyon Creek, he nimíipuu arrived at C’aynnim Alikinwaaspa (Place of the Manure Fire, now known as the Bear Paw Battlefield), a mere forty miles short of the Canadian border. Following a five-day battle and siege, the nimíipuu ceased fighting at Bear Paw on October 5th, 1877, in which Chief Joseph gave his immortal speech: “From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.”

“The Battle at Bear Paw

“September 29, 1877 Abundant game and fresh water offered by Snake Creek made C’aynnim Alikinwaaspa a good place to camp and gather supplies. With General Oliver Otis Howard far behind them the nimíipuu thought they had time to rest their weary hearts, bodies, and horses, and to hunt and butcher some bison before the final push to Canada. Their tipis destroyed at Big Hole [Aug 9-10] left little else for protection. The people spent the night huddled in crude lodges and lean-tos, warmed only by blankets and fire pits burning bison dung.

“September 30, 1877 The morning found the non-treaty nimíipuu preparing to break camp and head north. A rider pulled his horse to a halt on the south bluff waving a blanket to warn everyone that soldiers would be upon them in moments. Colonel Nelson Miles commanding 450 men had traveled approximately 260 miles in 9 days in an attempt to intercept the nimíipuu.

“Some nimíipuu attempted to escape. Warriors rushed to the bluffs above the camp to defend it. Others ran into camp to aid with the defense. The families trapped in camp sought shelter. Some, knowing the horses were critical to their escape, rushed to protect the herd. Black Eagle recalled: ‘I left going for the horses. I saw our horses not far away. The horses were wise to the shooting and all began to stampede.’

“The attack came in two sweeping wings. The 2nd Cavalry hit the horse herd to the west of camp and in a five mile running battle captured most of the nimíipuu horses. The 7th Cavalry charged directly towards the bluffs above the camp; warriors rose up from just below the edge of the bluff and stopped the charge cold. The fighting was intense with soldiers and warriors locked in close combat. With the aid of the 5th Infantry the soldiers secured the southern bluff but the warriors kept the soldiers from the camp and their families. Though the army was stopped, the nimíipuu suffered serious losses as 26 died the first day including Chiefs Ollikut (Joseph’s younger brother) and Lean Elk.

“As a cold night fell, both forces found themselves in a stalemate. The nimíipuu could not escape without their horses and the soldiers could not dislodge the nimíipuu from the camp. Both sides dug rifle pits and the lines were drawn for a prolonged siege. The nimíipuu families used tu’kes (digging sticks used to harvest camas roots), knives, and trowel bayonets they had captured from the army during earlier engagements to dig shelter pits.

“October 1, 1877 Dawn brought fresh snow on the ground and ice in water buckets. That day under a white flag of truce, Chief Joseph met with Colonel Nelson Miles and both sides ventured forth to gather dead and wounded. At the end of the meeting, Joseph turned to leave. He was called back by Miles and was placed in chains to use as leverage. Seeing this occur the nimíipuu made Lieutenant Jerome, who was very close to their camp on reconnaissance, a guest of theirs. By his account, he was given food, blanket, shelter, and allowed to move freely about the Nez Perce camp while retaining his pistol.

“October 2, 1877 The prisoners were exchanged and both returned to their home camps. The military supply train arrived with the 12-Pound Napoleon Cannon.

“Yellow Wolf remembered October 2 as the day Chief Looking Glass was killed. “Some warriors in [this] pit with him saw at a distance a horseback Indian. One pointed and called to Looking Glass, ‘Look! A Sioux!” Looking Glass stepped quickly from the pit. Stood on the bluff unprotected. A bullet struck his left forehead and he fell back dead.” Looking Glass was hopeful help had come from the camp of Sitting Bull in Canada.

“October 3, 1877 The fighting continued. The army targeted the area where the families were sheltered with cannon fire.

“October 4, 1877 General Howard arrived with a small retinue; as the remainder of his army had already been sent home. This information was not conveyed to the nimíipuu still in camp. As far as they knew, a second army was on its way.

“October 5, 1877 That morning the two remaining hereditary leaders, White Bird and Joseph, met two Nez Perce men from the bands honoring the 1863 treaty, who were following General Howard at that time. They had entered camp to convince the remaining non-treaty nimíipuu to quit fighting. Joseph and Whitebird were told that they would be returned to Idaho, the leaders will not be killed, and, most importantly, that the army wanted to quit fighting.

“White Bird mistrusted the army’s promises and refused to surrender. However, Joseph returned to camp to tell the people that they could be saved by ending the fighting. This important decision was up to each individual. Choices were few and none were favorable. Could the nimíipuu continue the fight? The supply of soldiers was endless. Should the nimíipuu try to escape on foot under cover of darkness through the lands of traditional enemies? Not everyone could make this trip. Many were too weak. Who would care for the elders, children, and wounded? Would they be able to bury their dead? Would they be allowed to go home?

“At 2pm Joseph met with Miles and Howard, handed over his rifle, and made his now famous speech:

“I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Tulhuulhulsuit is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say “Yes” or “No”. He who led the young men is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are, perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.”

“Afterwards, other nimíipuu handed their weapons over to Miles in an understood mutual decision to lay down arms and negotiate peace. As to their destination, Miles told Joseph: “Which is the place that you love to stay in? I want you to tell me, as I have the power to remove these white people, and let you live there.” Miles also promised: “I will give half of them [weapons] back to you after awhile.”

Aftermath All told, over 400 nimíipuu agreed to quit fighting and turn themselves over the military care. Another group of 30 to 50 nimíipuu left with White Bird that night; the last of between 200 and 300 people who did make it to Canada. The 126 day flight was over, but the plight of those capture and those who escaped to Canada was not even halfway over in terms of time and distance.

Aftermath of the Flight of 1877

“…for those nimíipuu (Nez Perce) who turned themselves over to military care, the ordeal was far from over. Although they expected to be able to return home upon surrender, those 432 nimíipuu were sent to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas that winter, and exiled then to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) the next summer.

“hímı.n maqsmáqs (Yellow Wolf) remembers: ‘We were not badly treated in captivity. We were free as long as we did not come towards Idaho and Wallowa. Only the climate killed many of us. All the newborn babies died, and many of the old people too. Everything so different from our old homes. No mountains, no springs, no clear running rivers… We called where we were held Eeikish Pah (Hot Place). All the time, night and day, we suffered from the climate. For the first year, they kept us all where many got shaking sickness, chills, hot fever. We were always lonely for our old-time homes.’

“kulkulsiyeké.t (Matthew Whitfield) also spoke of that time: ‘I always think of our slavery in Indian Territory. I cannot forget it! Held in bondage till half our band died in that hot, flat country. Babies and children dying. . . . I can never put its memory from my mind.’

“Joseph with the help of other nimíipuu spent eight years trying to convince U.S. government officials and citizens that his people should go home. Finally, in 1885 the nimíipuu were allowed to return to the Pacific Northwest. Some were sent to the Nez Perce reservation in Idaho, while others, including Chief Joseph, were relocated to the Colville Reservation in Washington State due to threats of violent reprisal from the citizens of Idaho. hímı·n maqsmáqs (Yellow Wolf) explained: ‘Religion had to do with where they placed us. . . . The interpreter asked us, ‘Where you want to go? Lapwai and be Christian, or Colville and just be yourself?’ No other question was asked us. . . . Chief [Young] Joseph was not given choice where to go. But he had promise . . . he could go [to his homeland in Oregon] with his band. That was never to be.’

“Escape to Canada with Chief White Bird Nearly 300 nimíipuu made their way to Canada. Among them was 12 year old Kulkulsta (Mark Arthur). As an adult he recalled: ‘I ran with our horses… the bullets are everywhere; I cried to go to my mother in camp, but our people held me tight and wouldn’t let me go. I went through bushes a long way; then I found some people and we went on together. Chief Joseph, our big men and my mother are not with us; we do not know if they are killed or prisoners; it was seven years before I saw my mother again….We went to the Sioux camp in Canada. [They] were very good to us but it was very cold and there was very little food; sometimes there was just one rabbit for ten people.’

“Over several days, nimíipuu arrived in small groups at Sitting Bull’s camp near Fort Walsh, Canada. The Sioux believed the battle raged far away on the Missouri River. More refugees arrived. Finally, the Sioux understood the battle was only two days south on a tributary of the Milk River. With nimíipuu warriors beside them, a band of Sioux started south. Just past the ‘Medicine Line’ (the Canadian border), they encountered 30 nimíipuu led by Chief White Bird. Those who remained on Snake Creek surrendered their weapons to the U.S. Army, and would suffer if rescue was attempted. Most of the relief party returned north with the new refugees. A few continued on to the place of battle to properly bury the dead….”

Sources

National Park Service. Nez Perce National Historical Park. “Aftermath of the Flight of 1877. Lapwai, ID: Nez Perce National Historical Park, US Department of the Interior, 12-29-2022. Accessed 1-19-2023 at: https://www.nps.gov/nepe/learn/historyculture/bear-paw-battlefield-history.htm

National Park Service. Nez Perce National Historical Park. “Battle of the Bear Paw.” No date. Accessed 1-19-2023 at: http://npshistory.com/brochures/nepe/bear-paw.pdf

National Park Service. Nez Perce National Historical Park. “Bear Paw Battlefield History.” Lapwai, ID: Nez Perce National Historical Park, US Department of the Interior, 12-29-2022. Accessed 1-19-2023 at: https://www.nps.gov/nepe/learn/historyculture/bear-paw-battlefield-history.htm

Wikipedia. “Battle of Bear Paw.” 10-5-2022 edit. Accessed 1-19-2023 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bear_Paw