Across The Fence: The Nez Perce War of 1877, Part II

In 1877, the Commanding General of the U.S. Army was William Tecumseh Sherman, whose policy on pacification of the Native Americans focused more on conquest than compromise.

Following Custer's defeat at the Little Bighorn, Sherman wrote that, "hostile savages like Sitting Bull and his band of outlaw Sioux ... must feel the superior power of the Government." And to those who criticized the killing of Indian women and children by U.S. troops Sherman noted that, "during an assault, the soldiers can not pause to distinguish between male and female, or even discriminate as to age."

While Sherman commanded the Army from his office in the east, his commanding officer in the Northwest Territories was General Oliver Otis Howard whose demands on the leaders of the Nez Perce gave little chance for peaceful negotiations. Chief Joseph would, in his later years, recall that if General Howard would have given the Nez Perce more time to organize their removal from their traditional lands and shown a measure of respect for their leaders, the Nez Perce War might never have occurred. Not until the summer of 1877 had the United States and the Nez Perce nations ever been at war, and in fact had been at peace since Lewis and Clark first made contact with them in 1806.

When the possibility of peaceful negotiations came to an end, Chief Joseph, the principle leader of the non-treaty Nez Perce and war chiefs, Looking Glass, White Bird, Tuhulhulsote, and Ollokot, (Joseph's younger brother) led their people out of the Wallowa Valley of Oregon Territory.

These Nez Perce, under the leadership of Joseph and the others, consisted of about 700 people of which about 150 were warriors, the remaining numbers being women, children and men beyond their years of fighting age. With more than 2,000 head of livestock, mainly their prized horses and some cattle, along with food, clothing, shelter and all of the necessities of daily living the Nez Perce began a long and arduous journey to find sanctuary with their allies, The Crow, in Montana Territory.

However, instead of the peaceful, leisurely journey they had hoped for, the exodus from the Wallowa Valley became a running battle with many hundreds of U.S. Cavalry, mounted Infantry, armed volunteer militia and Indian scouts who were offered all the Nez Perce horses they could capture as payment for their services. The ensuing fight and flight lasted more than four months, involved seven major battles and covered nearly 1,200 miles.

In June 1877, the Nez Perce left the Wallowa Valley heading east into Idaho Territory. At the same time, General Howard dispatched Captain's Perry and Trimble with a force of 106 mounted soldiers of Company H and F of the U.S. 1st Cavalry, 11 civilian volunteers and 13 Nez Perce scouts recruited from the treaty bands at Fort Lapwai. Their orders were to intercept the fleeing Nez Perce and return them to the reservation or engage them if necessary.

On the 17th day of June, Chief Joseph and his people were camped in White Bird Canyon and had prepared for the approach of the 1st Cavalry. Several Nez Perce warriors had taken position above the canyon floor with orders not to fire on the soldiers unless they attacked. When an advance party of Company F entered the canyon they were met by a small group of Nez Perce bearing a white flag of truce. As the soldiers approached the truce party, a civilian volunteer opened fire and the Nez Perce along the canyon walls answered with a hail of gunfire. The Nez Perce War had begun.

The troopers of the 1st U.S. Cavalry were mostly inexperienced, inept horsemen and poor marksmen. Horses and men were untrained for battle and the panicked horses bolted from the battle leaving their riders afoot. By contrast, even though the Nez Perce had never been in a battle with U.S. troops, they were expert marksmen with the few firearms they had and their horses were so well trained that they stood quietly alongside as their riders dismounted to take aim and fire.

By midmorning, the battle had ended with many of the soldiers and volunteers fleeing from the battlefield and leaving behind their guns, ammunition, horses and supplies; all welcomed spoils of war for the Nez Perce. The battle had left three Nez Perce wounded but the 1st Cavalry had 34 soldiers needing to be buried.

After the battle, the Nez Perce crossed the Salmon River to regrouped and rest on the opposite bank. A few days later, General Howard arrived with a force of 400 men. The Nez Perce, adept at river crossings, watched as Howard's troops struggled to cross the Salmon, and as the Cavalry completed their crossing, the Nez Perce, all 700 men, women, children, with all of their supplies plus 2,000 head of horses and cattle quickly recrossed the river leaving General Howard, with his 400 men and horses, exhausted and stranded on the other side.

Following the battle at White Bird Canyon, the Nez Perce continued their eastward journey across the Camas Prairie toward the Bitterroot Mountains. They were discovered by scouts sent out by a Captain Stephen Whipple who subsequently dispatched a small detachment of ten soldiers and two civilian scouts to intercept and engage the enemy. The scouting party was ambushed by the Nez Perce and none survived.

When Captain Whipple's entire force reached the fleeing Nez Perce they were forced to dig in and defend against heavy sniper fire from a handful of warriors. During this skirmish one Nez Perce warrior was killed, the first Nez Perce to die in the war. Captain Whipple's troops were pinned down until all of Chief Joseph's people had escaped into the Bitterroot Mountains.

Once into the Bitterroot Valley, War Chiefs Looking Glass and White Bird were certain that Howard's troops were far behind and so the Nez Perce assumed a more leisurely pace, passing through the Bitterroot Valley without caution. After crossing one mountain range, the Nez Perce set up camp in the Big Hole Basin and took the time to replenish worn out lodge poles from the abundant pines in the area. Looking Glass thought that Montana Territory, the land of the Crow, would be sanctuary for the Nez Perce. He was wrong.

Shortly after the Nez Perce had left the Wallowa Valley, Colonel John Gibbon, in command of the 7th Infantry at Fort Shaw, was notified by telegraph to pursue and engage the fleeing Nez Perce. His orders were to take no prisoners and make no negotiations. Colonel Gibbon intercepted the Nez Perce trail near Fort Missoula and followed the trail south toward the Big Hole. Along the way Colonel Gibbon gathered an additional 45 civilian volunteers who joined his force of 161 men. When they reached the Big Hole Basin on August 8, Colonel Gibbon had 206 men to match against the Nez Perce warriors who numbered less than 175 men.

At dawn, Gibbon's troops swarmed the camp, firing into the lodges where the Nez Perce still slept. The Indians scattered in all directions as the soldiers continued to fire on those who fled. Some few warriors managed to return fire but many had left their weapons behind as the fled for cover. Lt. Bradley, who led part of Gibbon's troops at one end of the camp, was killed at the beginning of the fight and his men did not advance their charge. Gibbon then ordered the lodges, and the supplies that had been abandoned to be burned. This gave the Nez Perce time to regroup and mount a counterattack.

Colonel Gibbon believed that his troops were outnumbered, though they were not, and ordered a retreat to the cover of nearby woods. There the soldiers dug rifle pits in defense of heavy sniper fire from the Nez Perce warriors. Many of the retreating infantry left their weapons behind as they sought safety behind the trees and rocks. These weapons were picked up by the Nez Perce and used against the soldiers who had dropped them.

The Battle of The Big Hole lasted most of that day and by nightfall Colonel Gibbon and his troops were in serious trouble. Colonel Gibbon was seriously wounded, his troops had no food or water, the Nez Perce had captured his horses, and his many wounded men needed attention.

The following morning Nez Perce snipers kept Gibbon's command pinned down while the people gathered up what they could salvage and continued south toward Bannock Pass. That night the remaining warriors left the battlefield leaving Gibbon's troops defeated and immobile.

The Battle of Big Hole was the deadliest of the four major battles thus far in the Nez Perce War. Colonel Gibbon lost 31 soldiers with 38 wounded while Looking Glass and White Bird also lost about 30 warriors. Nez Perce warrior Yellow Wolf later claimed that only 12 were killed but that those 12 were their best fighters. Also killed were more than 80 men, women and children.

Next week, Part III: The final days of the Nez Perce War.

M. Timothy Nolting is an award-winning Nebraska columnist and freelance writer. Contact Tim via email at [email protected].