Few places in the West are as evocative of the tragic story of the Indian Wars as Big Hole National Battlefield. This site memorializes the bravery of the Nez Perce and U.S. soldiers and volunteers who fought here during the epic flight of the Nez Perce in 1877 and preserves the scene of one of the most famous battles of the Indian Wars. Located in the lush Big Hole Valley in southwestern Montana, the beauty and tranquility of the setting add immeasurably to the solemnity of the battlefield. "One of the great ironies associated with American battlefields is that they are often quite beautiful," cultural historian Edward Linenthal observed in his book Sacred Ground. Here the picturesque natural setting has changed relatively little since the day of the predawn attack on the Nez Perce encampment, August 9, 1877. Today, this National Park System unit of 655 acres encompasses most of the principal features of the battlefield. Roughly rectangular in shape, it is bounded by the two-lane State Highway 43 on the south, Beaverhead National Forest on the west and north, and private ranch land on the east. Bisecting the area, the North Fork of the Big Hole River meanders in a northeasterly course through swampy bottomland. Battle Mountain rises on the northwest side of this river valley, Ruby Bench on the southeast side. Battle Mountain is backed by the forest-covered Anaconda Range, Ruby Bench by the high, open expanse of the Big Hole Valley. The natural boundary between forest and steppe at this location, although pronounced, does not quite follow the foot of the mountains. The lower slope of Battle Mountain is marked by a treeless, grassy, open area now known as the Horse Pasture. Here, the Nez Perce gazed their horses while they were encamped along the other side of the river, and from this point came the pre dawn attack by the U.S. soldiers and volunteers. To the west of the Horse Pasture, in a draw known as Battle Gulch, the lodgepole forest extends down to the valley floor over a low promontory known as the Point of Timber. This site was the defensive position picked by Lt. Colonel John Gibbon when he called retreat. Forced back across the river and taking the high ground within these trees, Gibbon's command dug rifle pits and threw up breastworks in a roughly circular position now known as the Siege Area.