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Nez Perce Summer, 1877
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Eruption and White Bird Canyon
Looking Glass's Camp and Cottonwood
Kamiah, Weippe, and Fort Fizzle
Cow Island and Cow Creek Canyon
Bear's Paw: Attack and Defense
Bear's Paw: Siege and Surrender
Notes
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Nez Perce Summer, 1877
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Notes
In referencing works in the notes, short citations have been used, as have the abbreviations listed below. Complete references can be found in the bibliography.
| BYU | Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University |
| DPL | Western History Department, Denver Public Library |
| IU | Lilly Library, Indiana University |
| LBNM | Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument |
| LC | Library of Congress |
| MHI | U.S. Army Military History Institute, Army War College |
| NA | National Archives |
| United States Geographical Survey |
Chapter 1
1. Also given as Nimipu, Nimiipu, Numepo, Nu-me-poo, and Ne-mee-poo. The spelling, "Nee-Me-Poo," is subscribed to by the member offices of the Nez Perce (Nee-Me-Poo) National Historic Trail Advisory Council, i.e., the Department of Agriculture (Forest Service), the Department of the Interior (National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management), the Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho, the Nez Perce Tribe of Washington, and the states of Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. See Nez Perce . . . Trail Comprehensive Plan, 3. For the variety of spellings, as well as other names given the people by other tribes, see Swanton, Indian Tribes, 400-401; and Hodge, Handbook of American Indians, 2:67.
2. For further details of the physical setting of the Nez Perce homeland, see the following, from which the above description was drawn: Atwood, Physiographic Provinces, 408-14; Fenneman, Physiography of Western United States, 225, 237-39, 248-49; Thomson and Ballard, Geology and Gold . . . North Central Idaho, 12-17; Warren Wagner, A Geological Reconnaissance . . . Snake and Salmon Rivers, 1-3; Alfred Anderson, The Geology . . . Orofino, Idaho, 5-6; and Lindgren, Geological Reconnaissance, 59, 61. The area traditionally occupied by the Nez Perces approximates all or parts of the following modern counties: IdahoIdaho, Clearwater, Nez Perce, Adams, Latah, and Lewis; OregonWallowa, Baker, and Union; WashingtonAsotin, Garfield, and Columbia.
3. This overview of Nee-Me-Poo culture is drawn from the following sources: Hodge, Handbook of American Indians, 2:65-67, 519-20; Swanton, Indian Tribes, 400-403; Spinden, Nez Perce Indians, passim; McBeth, Nez Perces, passim; Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 14-30; Josephy, Patriot Chiefs, 315, 317; Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 8-16; Walker, Conflict and Schism, 13, 16-17; Coale, "Ethnohistorical Sources"; Allan Smith, "Traditional Culture"; McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 295-300; and Otis Halfmoon, communication with author, Nez Perce National Historical Park, Spalding, Idaho, November 8, 1995, and April 23, 1996. See in particular the discussion of the term, "Nez Perce," in Thompson, Historic Resource Study, Spalding Area, 1-2.
In addition, for Nez Perce prehistory, see Aikens, "Far West"; Josephy, "Origins of the Nez Perce Indians," 4-13, much of which is in Josephy, Nez Perce Indians. For the Nez Perce language and examples of tribal folklore, see Aoki, Nez Perce Texts.
4. While discussions of the impact of the acquisition of horses among the Nez Perces is included in many of the titles in note 3, see in addition Ewers, "Horse Complex"; and Francis Haines, "Nez Perce Horses."
5. Francis Haines, "Nez Perce Horses," 10-11; Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 17-22; Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 19-20, 33-34; Thomas, "Pi.Lu'.Ye.Kin," 1, 4, 6-8. The intertribal influences were reciprocal, with the Nez Perces contributing significantly to the Crows' culture, as well. Diana Miles, communication with author, Nez Perce National Historical Park, Spalding, Idaho, January 22, 1996.
6. Whalen, "Nez Perces' Relationship to Their Land," 30-32. See also Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 24-25.
7. It should be noted that many so-called "Christian tenets" were already long-practiced traditions in Nez Perce society. For example, they believed in a single creator deity called Hunywat long before the coming of the missionaries and their "God." Otis Halfmoon, communication with author, Nez Perce National Historical Park, Spalding, Idaho, November 8, 1995; and Diana Miles, communication with author, Spalding, Idaho, January 22, 1996.
8. Walker, Conflict and Schism, 32-44. In-depth treatment of the fur traders and missionaries among the Nez Perces is in Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 46-56, 71-110; Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 40-78, 81-103ff.; and Thompson, Historic Resource Study, Spalding Area, 5-66. Discussion of the religion-based schism is in Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 245-48. See also Ray, "Ethnohistory of the Joseph Band."
9. For the Dreamer religion and its appearance and application among the Nez Perces, see Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 193-96; Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 434-46; Hodge, Handbook of American Indians, 2:602-3; and Burns, Jesuits and the Indian Wars, 365. An in-depth, though dated, study is in Mooney, "Ghost-Dance Religion," 708-45.
10. Information presented here about the Nez Perce bands is derived from Josephy, Patriot Chiefs, 314; Lebain, Interview, Camp Manscripts, IU; Yellow Bull, Interview, BYU; Thomas, "Pi.Lu'.Ye.Kin," 7-8. For the Palouse, see Swanton, Indian Tribes, 433-34; Hodge, Handbook of American Indians, 2:195; and Trafzer and Scheureman, Chief Joseph's Allies.
Knowledge about the number, identification, and distribution of early Nez Perce bands is sketchy. Francis Haines stated that the entire tribe occupied as many as seventy villages (Haines, Nez Perces, 15), presumably, though unstated, with several of them representing single bands. From data derived from the 1855 treaty councils, McWhorter (McWhorter, Hear Me, 608-9) listed twenty-one locations of Nez Perce chiefs and their followers, while Josephy (Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 162-63) presents similar village locations for sixteen leaders for the period 1836-47. These villages, scattered as they appeared, seem to have politically coalesced to constitute the few major distinct bands acknowledged by the time of the treaties of 1855 and 1863 and the years preceding the war of 1877.
11. Drury, "Lawyer, Head Chief," 2-7. A comprehensive treatment of Lawyer appears in Drury, Chief Lawyer. Many Nez Perce names are either not translatable into English, or, when translatable, are too lengthy and complexly convoluted by English for textual use. Throughout this document, the Nee-Me-Poo name will be retained unless a preferred and commonly accepted English equivalent exists. In all instances, Nez Perce names will be introduced phonetically in Nee-Me-Poo whenever that equivalent is known. Generally, long-established spelling will be followed as presented in McWhorter, Yellow Wolf; McWhorter, Hear Me; and Josephy, Nez Perce Indians.
12. For Old Joseph, see Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 182, 189-91, 447-50, and passim; Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 77, 92, 115-17; Josephy, Patriot Chiefs, 319-20. Quote is from Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Report . . . 1859, 420-21, as quoted in Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 152.
13. For specifics, see Royce, "Indian Land Cessions," pt. 2:806-7, pl. 16; Kappler, Indian Affairs, 2:702-6; and Kip, Indian Council at Walla Walla. A nonlegal description of the reservation is as follows: "The lands reserved by the treaty of 1855 embraced all the country enclosed by a line beginning at the source of the south fork of the Palouse, extending south-westerly to the mouth of the Tucannon, up the Tucannon to its source in the Blue Mountains, along this range in a general southerly direction to a point on Grand[e] Rond[e] River, midway between the Grand[e] Rond[e] and Wallowa Creek, along the divide between the Wallowa Creek and Powder River, crossing Snake River at the mouth of Powder River, thence in an easterly direction to Salmon River fifty miles above the mouth of the Little Salmon, thence north to the Bitter Root Mountains, and thence west to the place of beginning." Bancroft, History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana, 485. See also the comprehensive accounts of the 1855 treaty council in Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 315-38; and Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 119-32. Captain Benjamin L. E. Bonneville first used the term "Lower Nez Perces" to distinguish the Wallowa people from those east of Snake River. Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 108.
14. Walker, Conflict and Schism, 45; Thompson, Historic Resource Study, Spalding Area, 85; and MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 222-23. MacDonald's account, originally published serially in 1878 in the Deer Lodge New North-West, presented the first Nez Perce view of events surrounding their troubles in 1877 with the U.S. government. MacDonald was part Nez Perce, knew and was related to many of the principals within the tribe, and fluently spoke both Nez Perce and English. He interviewed tribesmen in Canada, notably Chief White Bird, to gain the Nez Perce perspective.
15. Stevens to Commissioner of Indian Affairs, October 22, 1856, roll 907, Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, as quoted in Thompson, Historic Resource Study, Spalding Area, 83.
16. F. L. M., "Nez Perce War," 820-22; Bancroft, History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana, 490; Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 387; Paul, Mining Frontiers of the Far West, 138, 143; Ross, Mining History of South-Central Idaho, 3-5; and Bolino, "Role of Mining," 116-51. Lawyer's remark is in "Grievances of the Nez Perce," 7. Quote from "Treaty of Agreement 10th April 1861," in Talkington, "History of the Nez Perce," 3; Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Report . . . 1877, 9-10.
17. Talkington, "History of the Nez Perce," 6-8, 10; F. L. M., "Nez Perce War," 822; Walker, Conflict and Schism, 46; Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 388-407, 433-34. Fort Lapwai (originally Camp Lapwai), established on August 6, 1862, by troops of the First Oregon Cavalry on orders from District of Oregon commander, Brigadier General Benjamin Alvord, stood on Lapwai Creek four miles above its confluence with the Clearwater and the Lapwai Agency. Because of the ongoing Civil War, Fort Lapwai was not occupied by regular troops until 1866. Intermittently abandoned and reoccupied over the next two decades, the post finally closed in 1884. A thorough history is in Thompson, Historic Resource Study, Fort Lapwai.
18. More specifically, the treaty "reserved an extent of country bounded by a line beginning at a point on the north bank of the Clearwater, three miles below the mouth of Lapwai Creek, crossing to the north bank at Hatwai Creek and taking in a strip of country seven miles wide along the river, reaching to the North Fork, thence in a general southerly course to the 46th parallel, and thence west and north to the place of beginning. . . ." Bancroft, History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana, 489. The treaty was slightly amended in 1868 to permit tribal use of lands within the tract formerly reserved for agency and military purposes. Kappler, Indian Affairs, 2:1024-25. For full discussion of the treaty of 1863, see Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 410-31; Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 159-64; and Thompson, Historic Resource Study, Spalding Area, 95-97. The treaty surrendered 6,932,270 acres of the Nez Perce land recognized in 1855. Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 429.
19. Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 429; Royce, "Indian Land Cessions," pt. 2:826-27; Kappler, Indian Affairs, 2:843-48, and, as amended in 1868, 2:1024-25; Drury, "Lawyer, Head Chief," 11; Walker, Conflict and Schism, 46-48, 51-52; Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 433, 437-38. Annuities and monies promised under the 1863 treaty were likewise delayed, partly because of the ongoing Civil War. Bancroft, History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana, 490-91.
20. Josephy, Patriot Chiefs, 321. Quote is from F. L. M., "Nez Perce War," 823.
21. Quoted in F. L. M., "Nez Perce War," 823. See also Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Report . . . 1873, 18; Royce, "Indian Land Cessions," pt. 2:864-65; Bancroft, History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana, 494; and the discussion in Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 215ff. For details of the formulation of the executive order, which was considerably based on apparently confused information regarding respective Nez Perce and white use of the Wallowa area, see Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 456-57.
22. Rowton, Interview; Lebain, Interview, LBNM, 138-39, 143-44.
23. Quote is from Monteith's report, September 9, 1873, in Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Report . . . 1873, 246. In 1874, Monteith requested troops to oversee such a rendezvous near Pierce City on the reservation. See editorial in Boise, Idaho Statesman, July 14, 1877.
24. For the Ott affair, see "Lawrence Ott," in Illustrated History of North Idaho, 513; Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 512-13; Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 210; and McWhorter, Hear Me, 122. Lawrence Ott maintained that he had killed a Umatilla Indian named Bear's Heart, and that "the Nez Perce had no grievances against me because of this affair, but they had against a man [Samuel] Benedict, who lived near the mouth of the W.B. [White Bird Creek], because of a N.P. he killed about 6 months before the war." Ott stated that a Nez Perce council had declared his killing of the Umatilla an act of self-defense. For Ott's detailed description of the encounter, see Ott, Interview.
25. Bancroft, History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana, 495. See Grover, Report, 62-64.
26. Royce, "Indian Land Cessions," pt. 2:864-65.
27. Quote is from Board of Indian Commissioners, Eighth Annual Report, 50.
28. At Howard's direction, Major Wood had become expert with regard to the Nez Perce and their treaties, privately publishing his The Treaty Status of Young Joseph and His Band of Nez Perce Indians in Portland in January 1876. The document's conclusions appeared in the Army and Navy Journal, issues of July 7, 1877, and (with corrections by Wood) September 8, 1877.
29. Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Report . . . 1877, 10-11; Josephy, Patriot Chiefs, 321-22. Quotes are from F. L. M., "Nez Perce War," 822, 824. The full statement of Old Joseph respecting his views of selling the Wallowa homeland is quoted by Young Joseph in Joseph [Heinmot Tooyalakekt], "An Indian's Views," 419 (republished as "Chief Joseph's Own Story," in Brady, Northwestern Fights and Fighters, 44-75.)
30. McDowell, "Report," 113. Just how close this incident came to instigating warfare in September 1876 is evident in documents contained in the Forse Papers. First Lieutenant Albert G. Forse commanded the troops from Fort Walla Walla and recalled the following details: "I made a forced march of over 80 miles in 24 hours, arriving there [Wallowa Valley] before daylight Sunday morning [Joseph's deadline], and in time to prevent an outbreak. . . . I went alone with a guide 7 miles to where Joseph was with his warriors. I found them well posted on a high ridge, stripped . . . to the breech clout, and in war paint and ready to commence hostilities. I went alone for the reason . . . [that] had I taken my troop the volunteers would have followed and . . . we would have had an Indian war upon our hands. . . . I was in danger of being shot at any time . . . and was in more danger than I have ever been in [in] an engagement." Forse to Howard, April 4, 1895, in ibid. Forse not only convinced Joseph that the murderers would be indicted, but obtained a penciled statement from one of two Nez Perce witnesses and arranged for them to testify before the court at Union, Oregon. See Forse's draft report, September 11, 1876; his "Statement of Indians"; and Forse to Judge Brainard, September 15, 1876, in Forse Papers. See also Josephy's description of this and succeeding events in Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 445-84.
31. Josephy, Patriot Chiefs, 319-20; Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 486-91; and Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 214.
32. Commissioner of Indian Affairs, "Report . . . Nez Perce Indians," 211-12.
33. Quote from transcript of the proceedings in Board of Indian Commissioners, Eighth Annual Report, 58.
34. Ibid., 62-63. In their digest of the proceedings, published in Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Report . . . 1877, the commissioners succinctly paraphrased Joseph's view as follows: "The 'Creative Power,' when he made the earth, made no marks, no lines of division or separation upon it, and . . . it should be allowed to remain as then made. The earth was his [Joseph's] mother. He was made of the earth and grew up on its bosom. The earth, as his mother and nurse, was sacred to his affections, too sacred to be valued by or sold for silver and gold. He could not consent to sever his affections from the land that bore him. He was content to live upon such fruits as the 'Creative Power' placed within and upon it, and unwilling to barter these and his free habits away for the new modes of life. . . ." Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Report . . . 1877, 212.
35. Quote from transcript in Board of Indian Commissioners, Eighth Annual Report, 60.
36. Quote is from ibid., 63. For full details of the murder incident, see Horner and Butterfield, "Nez Perce-Findley Affair," 40-51; and also, for its conclusion, Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 483-84.
37. Board of Indian Commissioners, Eighth Annual Report, 58; F. L. M., "Nez Perce War," 825-26; Josephy, Patriot Chiefs, 322-23. An overview of Howard's involvement in the proceedings is in John Carpenter, Sword and Olive Branch, 246-47.
38. Monteith to Commissioner of Indian Affairs J. Q. Smith, February 9, 1877, in McDowell, "Report," 115; Howard, "Report," 590 (this report was drafted after the conclusion of the Nez Perce campaign by Second Lieutenant Charles Erskine Scott Wood, Howard's aide as of late July 1877. Howard inserted material before submitting the document to his superiors. What appears to be the original draft is in the C. E. S. Wood Collection); "Report of the General of the Army," November 7, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 8-9. Howard's report was also published separately, as Supplementary Report.
41. Quoted in MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 230. Howard's responses are on pages 228-30.
42. Monteith to Howard, March 19, 1877, Howard Collection, correspondence, 1877; Howard, "Report," 592-94; Howard, My Life and Experiences, 250.
43. Howard, My Life and Experiences, 252.
44. Howard, "Report," 594. A slightly variant account is in Howard, My Life and Experiences, 254-55.
45. Joseph [Heinmot Tooyalakekt], "An Indian's Views," 422. For other Nez Perce views of this episode, see MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 232, and the Chuslum Moxmox (Yellow Bull) account in Curtis, North American Indian, 8:163-64. Howard's counterpoint to Joseph's "An Indian's Views," in which Howard frequently cited official transcripts of the proceedings to correct Joseph's comments, is in Howard, "True Story . . . Wallowa Campaign," (and republished in Brady, Northwestern Fights and Fighters, 76-89). In its March 29, 1879 issue, the Army and Navy Journal questioned the accuracy of Joseph [Heinmot Tooyalakekt], "An Indian's Views," stating that "it is a great mistake . . . not to give the name of the interpreter; for the English is not Chief Joseph's English, and the name of the interpreter (assuming that the story was told by the chief in his own tongue), and also of the writer who interpreted the interpreter, or prepared the article for publication, would furnish Army officers [and others] with the means of ascertaining the point of first consideration, how accurately the language conveys Chief Joseph's views and thoughts." Howard's aide, Wilkinson, referred to Toohoolhoolzote as "six feet and over of badness." Army and Navy Journal, August 18, 1877. The opinion that Howard's treatment of Toohoolhoolzote violated established council decorum is advanced by his former aide, C. E. S. Wood, in a letter to the editor, Portland Daily Oregonian, June 19, 1928.
47. Joseph [Heinmot Tooyalakekt], "An Indian's Views," 422.
48. Howard, My Life and Experiences, 257.
50. Joseph [Heinmot Tooyalakekt], "An Indian's Views," 422. One Nez Perce view is that six months would be required to round up the herds and report to the agency, and that because the people had, in essence, agreed to come in, the greater period of time should have been allowed. Slickpoo and Walker, Noon Nee-Me-Poo, 183-84. On the other hand, a document prepared on May 12three days before the final council meetingby Howard's aide, First Lieutenant Melville C. Wilkinson, indicates that Joseph thought thirty days was ample and, in fact, may have suggested that amount of time: "Joseph says it may be a month before he can get all of his stock over the Snake River. The General has given this length of time." Wilkinson to Captain Stephen G. Whipple, May 12, 1877, Department of the Columbia, Letters Sent, 2, 19, National Archives, quoted in John Carpenter, "General Howard," 132.
52. Ibid., 596-97. For additional accounts of the Fort Lapwai council, see Howard, "True Story . . . Wallowa Campaign," 59-64 (also published in Army and Navy Journal, June 28, 1879); Howard, Famous Indian Chiefs, 189-94; Howard, Nez Perce Joseph, 51-53; First Lieutenant Melville C. Wilkinson letter in Army and Navy Journal, August 18, 1877; FitzGerald, Army Doctor's Wife, 246-52. See also John Carpenter, Sword and Olive Branch, 248-49; Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 238-42; Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 497-508; and Thompson, Historic Resource Study, Fort Lapwai, 70-74. Nez Perce accounts appear in Joseph [Heinmot Tooyalakekt], "An Indian's Views," 230-33; and McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 37-41. Contemporary discussions of the Nez Perce situation that are based largely on Joseph's North American Review ("An Indian's Views") account, and that are sympathetic to the Indians, appear in Jackson, Century of Dishonor, 103-35; and Dunn, Massacres of the Mountains, 527-66. For an editorial perspective favorable to the Nez Perces, see "Responsibility for the Idaho War," 69-70.
53. Crook, General George Crook, 169.
54. This sketch of Howard is composed from the following works: Cullum, Biographical Register, 2:369-70; George C. Rable, "Oliver Otis Howard," in Spiller, Dictionary of American Military Biography, 2:493-96; Utley, "Oliver Otis Howard," 55-63; Robert M. Utley, introduction to reprint edition of Howard, My Life and Experiences, v-xvii; Ellis, "Humanitarian Generals," 169-70; Hutton, Soldiers West, 119. See also Howard's works as cited above; Howard, Autobiography; and the full biographical treatment in John Carpenter, Sword and Olive Branch.
Chapter 2
1. "Scene of the Outbreak," inset drawing in Fletcher, "Department of Columbia Map" (this map also appears in foldout format in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877); John Wilson, "Map of Clearwater River"; Portland Daily Oregonian, June 18, 1877; Howard, "Nez Perces Campaign of 1877," July 11, 1878; and Thian, Notes Illustrating the Military Geography, 26, 56.
3. McCarthy, Diary, June 4, 12, and 14, 1877. Internal references suggest that this "diary" was prepared many yearspossibly decadeslater, probably from a diary kept on the march.
4. The letter was from Loyal P. Brown and had been mistakenly dated June 15. C. E. S. Wood, "Journal." This daily journal appears to be an official account of the campaign composed and kept by Wood at the behest of General Howard.
5. These figures are from Francis Haines, "Chief Joseph," 1. See also Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 511; McWhorter, Hear Me, 177-86; and McDermott, Forlorn Hope, 81 n. 8.
6. Yellow Bull, Interview, BYU; Camp Manuscript Field Notes, 540, Camp Papers, LBNM; Lott, Interview; Lee Rhodes, "Chief Joseph's Leadership," 99-100; McWhorter, Hear Me, 181-83, 265; Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 374 n. 527; Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 16, 262-63; and Mark Brown, "Joseph Legend," 56.
7. There are several scenarios regarding the challenge to Shore Crossing that precipitated the outbreak. See Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 512-13. Shore Crossing reportedly did not drink alcohol. Otis Halfmoon, communication with author, Nez Perce National Historical Park, Spalding, Idaho, November 16, 1995.
8. The accounts of the Tolo Lake gathering and initial attacks on the Salmon River settlers often are imprecise and disagree on many details, and particularly the chronology of events. This reconstruction is based on information in Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 511-14; McDermott, Forlorn Hope, 3-12; Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 217-19; McWhorter, Hear Me, 175-77, 188-96; MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 234-36; Yellow Bull account in Curtis, North American Indian, 8:164-65; "Story of Kawownonilpilp"; Pinkham, Hundredth Anniversay of the Nez Perce War; Slickpoo and Walker, Noon Nee-Me-Poo, 184; Trafzer and Scheureman, Chief Joseph's Allies, 10-12; Camp Manuscript Field Notes, 142-44, 149, 169, Camp Papers, LBNM; Riley, "Nez Perce Struggle," 41; Lebain, Interview, IU; and Elizabeth Wilson, "Outbreak of the Nez Perce War." Tolo Lake is named for Too-lah, or Aleblemot, a Nez Perce woman who aided the settlers on Slate Creek by riding to the mining community of Florence for help during the first days of the conflict. Robert Bailey, River of No Return, 252-53, 255. At her death, Tolo was buried in Red Rock Canyon, where the American Legion Auxiliary erected a memorial at her grave in 1939. Elsensohn, Pioneer Days in Idaho County, 1:281-82.
9. The treatment of Walsh and Osborn is substantiated in McCarthy, Diary, June 26, 1877.
10. Norton, "True Story," 99; Howard, "Nez Perces Campaign of 1877," July 4, 1878; Portland Morning Oregonian, June 19, July 4, 1877; Lewiston Morning Tribune, June 19, 1927; Rowton, Interview; Fenn, Interview; Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 219-20; Elsensohn, Pioneer Days in Idaho County, 1:114-17, 131, 280-82; Robert Bailey, River of No Return, 254-60; and Bosler, Reminiscence. See also "Statement of Mrs. W. W. Bowman." For the most comprehensive and well-documented telling of the outbreak on the Salmon, see McDermott, Forlorn Hope, 3-43. The controversy surrounding the demise of Mrs. Manuel and her daughter is treated at length in ibid., 157-60.
11. The attack on the Norton party was one of the most publicized episodes of the evolving conflict. For details, see Nez Perce Campaign1877, Wilmot Papers; "Victim of Nez Perces Tells Story of Indian Atrocities," Winners of the West, February 15, 1926; Adkison, Nez Perce Indian War, 21-25, 36-39, 43-44; Elsensohn, Pioneer Days in Idaho County, 1:297-300; Arnold, Indian Wars of Idaho, 154-61; and, especially, McDermott, Forlorn Hope, 27-32, 41-42. The rape of Mrs. Chamberlin is attested to in James Chamberlin claim (John's father), no. 8632, entry 700, Claim for Indian Depredations, U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.
12. Adkison, Nez Perce Indian War, 44. See Canby, "Report of Indian depredations"; Drum, "Report . . . Indian depredations." Settlers claimed to have lost 280 horses, 941 cattle, 20 sheep, and 174 hogs either killed, stolen, or lost during the initial outbreak, for a total value of $73,186.81. One of those submitting a claim for livestock was Lawrence Ott. "He is the man, who murdered an Indian near Slate Creek, about three years ago," wrote Captain William F. Drum, "and has not lived on his Ranch until quite recently. He may have lost some stock but I would recommend that this claim be suspended, until Ott can prove that he has not run off more Indian stock than would pay his claim if it were a good one. It is believed that he has been engaged in that business." Drum, "Report . . . Indian depredations."
13. This explanation of the Nez Perces' behavior is adapted from a thesis cogently expressed, with regard to the Delaware Indians, in Weslager, Delaware Indians, 230; and, with regard to the Northern Cheyenne Indians, in Powers, "Northern Cheyenne Trek," 10-11, 31-32 n. 29.
14. Howard, "Report," 600-601; "Report of the General of the Army," November 7, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 9; McCarthy, Diary, June 15, 1877; C. E. S. Wood, "Journal," June 15, 1877; Captain Melville C. Wilkinson letter in Army and Navy Journal, August 18, 1877; Howard, "Nez Perces Campaign of 1877," June 27, 1878; Redfield, "Reminiscences of Francis M. Redfield," 70; Thompson, "Summer of '77," 12-13; John P. Schorr to L. V. McWhorter, May 20, 1926, McWhorter Papers; John Carpenter, Sword and Olive Branch, 249; McDermott, Forlorn Hope, 49-54. One citizen wired President Rutherford B. Hayes directly, urging him to send Brigadier General George Crook to the scene of the outbreak. Crook, regarded as one of the leading Indian fighters in the army, had conducted operations against other Northwest tribes in previous years. Thomas Donaldson to Hayes, June 21, 1877, item 3565, roll 336, Nez Perce War Papers.
At the outset, Howard exhibited an abysmal ignorance of the complexities and intricacies involved in the outbreak, as well as of Nee-Me-Poo tribal band dynamics, in ascribing the outbreak to the premeditation of thirteen "thieving desperadoes of White Bird's band" who had terrorized the countryside for years. See marginal notations by Major General Irvin McDowell in "Copies of letters and telegrams."
15. For further background on Companies F and H, see McDermott, Forlorn Hope, 59-68. For specifics of period army clothing and equipment, see McChristian, U.S. Army in the West; and Steffen, The Frontier.
16. Biographical data on Perry, Theller, Trimble, and Parnell is variously from Records of Living Officers of the United States Army, 103, 160, 430; Powell, Powell's Records, 447-48, 457, 602; and Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary, 1:771, 785, 952, 970. See also McDermott, Forlorn Hope, 57-68. An obituary of Theller is in Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, June 23, 1877.
17. The names of the eleven citizen volunteers were as follows: Herman A. Faxon, Frank A. Fenn, Vincent Tullis, William B. Bloomer, John W. (Jack) Rainey, John O. Barber, George M. Shearer, William Coram, Charles L. Crooks, Theodore D. Swarts, and Arthur I. ("Ad") Chapman. Another citizen, Asa Jones, started with the troops, but was unarmed and returned to Mount Idaho. Walter M. Camp to Swarts, August 7, 1915, folder 2, box 2, Camp Papers, BYU; Swarts to Camp, January 21, 1917, folder 3, box 2, ibid.; Swarts, Interview.
18. New York Herald, September 10, 1877, quoted in Parnell, "Nez Perce Indian War," 373. Parnell's account was republished with several additions and modifications in Parnell, "Battle of White Bird Cañon."
20. While this account of the battle draws heavily from the military record, the following Nez Perce sources were consulted: "Story of Kawownonilpilp"; Lebain, Interview, IU; "Incidents of the Nez Perce War," in Curtis, North American Indian, 8:165; MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 236-37; Redfield, "Reminiscences of Francis M. Redfield," 72-73; Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 223-28; Francis Haines, "Chief Joseph," 2-3. McWhorter, Hear Me, 236, stated that the Nez Perces had surveilled Perry's advance from the time his troops left Cottonwood Ranch. See, in ibid., the accounts of Husis Owyeen (Wounded Head), 239-41; Two Moon, 244-48; Weyahwahtsitskan, 248-49; Tipyahlahnah (Roaring Eagle), 251-52 n; Chelooyeen (Bow and Arrow Case), 53-54; and Kowtoliks, 255. See also McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 54-64; Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 523-26; and McDermott, Forlorn Hope, passim, which does an excellent job of integrating Nez Perce testimony.
21. Sergeant Michael McCarthy claimed that the first soldier killed in the Battle of White Bird Canyon, as well as in the conflict generally known as the Nez Perce War, fell at this point. He was Corporal Roman D. Lee, of Company H, First Cavalry. "He was shot in body, . . . and when lifted from his horse to the ground, in confusion, wandered down towards indian [sic] camp. We found the body 3 weeks afterwards, very close to indian camp lying in a dry gulley. Some of the boys wanted to stop and bury it, [and] I gave them permission to fall out, but the comdr was in a hurry and had them recalled to the command." McCarthy, Scrapbook.
23. McCarthy, Diary, June 17, 1877.
24. Perry, "Battle of White Bird Cañon,"116.
26. Perry, "Battle of White Bird Cañon," 116.
27. McCarthy,Diary, June 17, 1877.
29. Swarts, Interview. Frank A. Fenn claimed that Swarts's wound was self-inflicted. "I . . . assisted him in extinguishing the fire that had been started in his clothing by the discharge." Some of the civilians veered to the right off Parnell's route, instead going up the ridges farther east of the road until they struck a stock trail, which they followed up and over the mountain and onto the prairie, well ahead of the other civilians and the troops. Fenn to Camp, September 19, 1915, folder 2, box 2, Camp Papers, BYU.
30. Years later, Volunteer Frank Fenn reported on Theller's movement: "To Lieut. Theller I believe is due the credit for saving the greater number of those who escaped. I personally heard Captain Perry appeal to Theller to try to stop the headlong flight of the men and I was one of a party of ten or twelve who responded to Theller's call for a stand just south of the point where the road crosses the long ridge. . . . By the time the head of the retreating soldiers reached this point the Indians were coming up the ridge in considerable numbers. . . . The party with Theller was well in hand and he directed their fire with such good effect that the Indian advance was thoroughly checked and the Indian column was turned down the hill to the east. At the bottom of this hill on that side the canyon is quite brushy and there the Indians took shelter but kept moving up the canyon in a course generally parallel with the road. After thus checking the Indians, Theller very quietly directed his men to take to the road again with the view of getting ahead of the Indians a second time and in that way cover the retreat as well as possible. He explained briefly to the men just what he wished to do and it was in the carrying out of that intention that he and the most of his party was killed about a half mile farther up the road. When Theller ordered his party to resume the movement along the road I left them. . . [and joined some other civilians going out via an old stock trail]." Fenn to Camp, September 19, 1915, folder 2, box 2, Camp Papers, BYU.
31. Parnell, "Nez Perce Indian War," 370. Parnell's singular movement drew plaudits in the press: "There is no doubt but the Indians would have pursued and massacred every one of the command were it not for the bravery and determined pluck of Lieutenant Parnell. . . . This officer, gathering a few men around him, occupied knolls here and there after gaining the high ground, and so vigorous and effective was the fire poured into the victorious Indians that they (the Indians) did not deem it prudent to come within range, but instead circled to the right and left, when Lieutenant Parnell would so change his position as to again check them. This, of course, gave the rest of the troops time to get far enough to the rear to organize and prepare for defense, which they did." New York Herald, September 10, 1877.
32. Frank Fenn witnessed this brief action. Years later he described the trooper as "an old, gray headed sergeant, one who had, no doubt, passed through many campaigns against hostile Indians." Fenn noted that a memorial shaft raised at the battlefield in the 1920s marked the spot where the sergeant had died. Winners of the West, December 30, 1925. Another White Bird Canyon veteran, John P. Schorr, identified the man as Sergeant Patrick Gunn, of Company F, First Cavalry, "gray headed and on his fourth enlistment" when killed. Winners of the West, March 15, 1926.
33. Coram, Interview. An Indian named Wounded Head found Mrs. Benedict and protected her before permitting her to go on her way. See "Wounded Head's Narrative," in McWhorter, Hear Me, 239-41.
34. Parnell, "Nez Perce Indian War," 372. Besides those quoted above, this account of the Battle of White Bird Canyon incorporates material from the following sources: Howard, "Report," 602; McCarthy, "Journal," 8-12; Kirkwood, "The Nez Perce Indian War," August 17, 1950; Wilmot, "White Bird"; Frank L. Powers to Camp, November 24, 1913, Ellison Collection; Howard, "Nez Perces Campaign of 1877," July 11, 18, 1878; Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 255-60; Carroll, Papers of the Order of Indian Wars, 217-18; Howard, My Life and Experiences, 283-86; and Beyer and Keydel, Deeds of Valor, 2:239-44. The most comprehensive treatment of the entire affair, and on which this account has significantly depended, appears in McDermott, Forlorn Hope. This book also contains pertinent excerpts from the transcript of Perry's Court of Inquiry of 1878-79.
35. Perry thought that Trimble had deserted him during the retreat, while Trimble questioned many of Perry's actions during the encounter. Despite courts of inquiry, the issues between the men were never settled. See McDermott, Forlorn Hope, 96-98, 165-76, and passim.
36. "Report of Casualties"; and "Report of the Surgeon-General," in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 359. For names of the army killed and wounded, see Appendix A. Volunteer Swarts, who later homesteaded on the battlefield, described the army fatalities and their locations on the field: "The first man killed was a soldier whose horse ran away and carried him about half way between the 'fort' [rocky hill where most of the soldiers were stationed at the start of the battle] and the hill where we civilians were [on the left of the line]. He ran into Inds [sic] and was killed. The next killed were five soldiers in a group, just to west of present stage road [1915] about ° mile N.E. of the 'fort.' Another body lay in the road perhaps ° mile further on, and another on the hillside a little S.E. of where I was shot. Another body was tied in the top of a thorn tree that stands by the mail box in front of my house [1915]. (The privates had been cut from this body and stuck into the mouth.) About ° mile further on were two more bodies and a mile or so above my house in a thorn gulch in S.W. or N.E. Sec. 25 Twp [Township] 29N lay Lieut. Theller and 7 bodies, probably having tried to make a stand (three of these bodies and one of the group of 5, above referred to, are still there, not being found when the bodies were removed). Up on the top of the hill were two more bodies. I think that all or nearly all of these bodies were of dismounted men, who either lost their horses by not cinching their saddles before retreating or who lost their horses through the excitement of their horseholders, who let them go when the stampede started. Some half dozen of the soldiers went back bareback by losing saddles. . . . My house stands at about the center of the strip of fighting ground, the principle part of which is comprised in E ° of Sec. 36 Twp 29N Range 1 E. Boise Meridian." Swarts, Interview.
37. For details of McCarthy's remarkable escape, see McCarthy, Diary, June 17-19, 1877 (reprinted in McDermott, Forlorn Hope, 106-7). Twenty years later, in November, 1897, McCarthy received a Medal of Honor for his performance at White Bird Canyon. The citation, erroneous to some degree, read: "Was detailed with six men to hold a commanding position, and held it with great gallantry until the troops fell back. He then fought his way through the Indians, rejoined a portion of his command, and continued the fight in retreat. He had two horses shot under him, and was captured, but escaped and reported for duty after 3 days' hiding and wandering in the mountains." The Medal of Honor, 224. See also the account featuring McCarthy in Beyer and Keydel, Deeds of Valor, 2:240-44. Lieutenant Parnell also received a Medal of Honor in 1897 for his service at White Bird Canyon. The Medal of Honor, 230.
38. Nez Perce casualties are discussed in McWhorter, Hear Me, 253-56; and McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 60. See Appendix B.
39. Howard, "Nez Perces Campaign of 1877," July 18, 1878.
40. McCarthy, "Journal," 18-19.
41. On this point, Howard's aide, First Lieutenant Charles E. S. Wood, wrote in 1918: "The volunteers fled and were never seen or heard of again. . . . Joseph has told me of this. Perry and Parnell told me of it. . . . It was a notorious fact known to every survivor and within three [nine] days I helped bury the dead and there was not a civilian among them." Wood to C. J. Brosnan, January 7, 1918, in The Bookmark, a ca. 1940 publication of the University of Idaho Library, Brosnan Collection.
42. "Summary of Reports . . . Non-Effectiveness," 8, 13.
43. U.S. Army Gallantry and Meritorious Conduct, 75. As late as 1913, White Bird Canyon survivor Frank L. Powers, a private in H Company during the fight, described it as "the worst managed affair I was ever in." Powers to Camp, November 24, 1913, Ellison Collection.
44. Possibly the first report of the fight was that of a friendly Nez Perce that was received at Fort Lapwai at 1:00 p.m. on June 17. It read: "Last evening the troops left Idaho City [sic] and went to Chapman's Ranch and from there toward Salmon River and slept there a little. Near the river they met a small party of Indians who began an attack of the troops. The troops advanced their force and one half went to the right and the other to the left to surround the Indians. The Indians attacked the one party and drove them back, but the other came to their assistance and held the ground. Two horse of the officers were killed, but up to the time of the Indians [illeg.] having no success, but some of the soldiers horses were stampeded. Joseph is in command of the Indians and in the fight." "Statement of Indian." Other messages announcing the action came out of Mount Idaho after 9:00 a.m. June 17, but must have reached Fort Lapwai considerably later that day. See Portland Daily Oregonian, June 21, 1877.
45. Howard, "Nez Perces Campaign of 1877," August 22, 1878.
46. McCarthy, Diary, June 20, 21, 22, 23, 1877; C. E. S. Wood, "Journal," June 23, 1877; Howard, "Report," 602; "Report of the General of the Army," November 7, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 9; McDowell to General William T. Sherman, telegram, June 20, 1877, item 3505, roll 336, Nez Perce War Papers; Army and Navy Journal, June 30, 1877; Howard, "Nez Perces Campaign of 1877," August 1, 1878; New York Herald, September 10, 1877; and John Carpenter, "General Howard," 134. For Trimble's movement to Slate Creek, see Parnell, "Salmon River Expedition," 127-30. Providing rare contemporary insight into the emotions of soldiers bound for the front during an Indian campaign, Second Lieutenant Charles E. S. Wood jotted the following impressions in his notebook as Howard's troops entered the zone of the outbreak: "Nearing the field, peculiar nervous feelings of going to death, [and] shrinking from the exposure; about desire to be out of the expedition. Old soldiers [feel] the same way. Each fright more dreaded than the last. The desire to investigate immortality, thoughts on death, inability to change the morals and tenor of life and thought; each one's expectation that he will escape." C. E. S. Wood, "Notes on Nez Perces Expedition," June 23, 1877.
47. Harry Bailey, "An Infantry Second Lieutenant." The body was that of Sergeant Patrick Gunn. McDermott, Forlorn Hope, 122.
48. Howard, "Nez Perces Campaign of 1877," September 5, 1878; Kirkwood, "The Nez Perce Indian War," August 17, 1950; and Brimlow, "Nez Perce War Diary," 28. Some bodies were strewn over the back trail three or four miles from the battlefield, the men having been shot from their horses during the retreat. Howard to Assistant Adjutant General, Division of the Pacific, June 26, 1877, item 4026, roll 336, Nez Perce War Papers. For details of the deployment of troops in approaching and securing the battlefield, see C. E. S. Wood, "Journal," June 26, 1877. This document states that Theller and his few men were buried on June 27. Ibid., June 27, 1877. Elsewhere, Wood commented on the dead: "Horrible stench, arms and cheeks gone, bellies swollen, blackened faces, mutilations, heads gonetragic." C. E. S. Wood, "Notes on the Nez Perce Expedition," June 27, 1877. Theller's widow issued an unusual request for the return of items of jewelry stripped from his body by the Nez Perces, in particular asking that an heirloom presentation gold watch belonging to her husband's father be forwarded to her should it and other articles "fall into the hands of white persons." Bozeman Times, August 30, 1877. In September, two companies of the Second Infantry traveled to White Bird Canyon to improve on the burials of June 26-27. During that expedition, two additional bodies were found that had not been previously buried. At that time, too, "Lieutenant [Robert P. P.] Wainwright [First Cavalry] partially uncovered Lieut. Theller's grave and cut from the uniform part of the blouse showing the braid and a portion of the stripe from his pants. He also left a paper in the rocks showing the position of the grave." Unidentified to Acting Assistant Adjutant General, District of the Clearwater, September 9, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands. Theller's remains were exhumed in December 1877 and shipped for interment in San Francisco. First Lieutenant Joseph A. Sladen to Commanding Officer, District of the Clearwater, December 14, 1877, ibid. Sergeant Gunn was buried at Fort Lapwai by a fraternal organization, while the White Bird Canyon dead stayed buried on the battlefield until 1879, when they were removed to the post cemetery at Fort Lapwai. That post was abandoned in 1885, and in November 1890, the soldiers' remains were exhumed and reinterred at Fort Walla Walla. McDermott, Forlorn Hope, 129, 163; Winners of the West, March 15, 1926; and A. F. Parker to Brigadier General William Carey Brown (ret.), September 28, 1927, William Brown Papers.
49. Howard to Assistant Adjutant General, Department of the Columbia, June 26, 1877, item 4026, roll 336, Nez Perce War Papers.
50. Howard to Trimble, June 26, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
51. Howard, "Nez Perces Campaign of 1877," August 22, 29, September 5, 19, 1878. The shooting between the Nez Perces and Howard's command has been termed the "Salmon River Demonstration." Jocelyn, Mostly Alkali, 210.
52. Lieutenant Wood wrote of this exchange: "Enemy hard to discover, but just at night came out in full [view] of the advance signal . . . post where Hdqrs were at the time. . . . Joseph burned house on opposite side of river as notice of our approach." C. E. S. Wood, "Journal," June 27, 1877.
53. C. E. S. Wood, "Notes on Nez Perces Expedition," June 27, 1877.
54. Howard, "Report," 603. Wood described this action: "10.30 [a.m.], order troops forward to take crossing of Salmon River. Capt. Whipple ordered to support Infantry advance. 1 p.m., about one hundred Indians charge down (opposite side of river) a ravine to the right of the secured crossing. Captain Wilkinson, Capt. Page [sic] & the General's orderlies fire upon them as they approach river bank, turning them back. After firing, Indians assemble on hill tops & watch until Soldiers retire to camp." C. E. S. Wood, "Journal," June 28, 1877. See also Wood's notations in C. E. S. Wood, "Notes on Nez Perces Expedition," June 28, 1877.
55. Harry Bailey, "An Infantry Second Lieutenant," 11; Alexander B. Dyer, "The Fourth Regiment of Artillery," in Rodenbough and Haskin, Army of the United States, 373; Howard, "Report," 602-3; Eugene Wilson, "Nez Perce Campaign" (later published as Eugene Wilson, Hawks and Doves); Army and Navy Journal, July 7, 1877; Portland Daily Oregonian, July 6, 1877; Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, July 7, 1877; Adkison, Indian Braves, 19; and Elsensohn, Pioneer Days in Idaho County, 1:285, 293-94.
56. C. E. S. Wood, "Journal," June 29, 1877; and Howard, "Report," 603.
Chapter 3
1. Wagner, A Geological Reconnaissance . . . Snake and Salmon Rivers, 1-3. Much of the area traversed by the Nez Perces and the army in 1877 is today called the Joseph Plains. Ibid., 3; Howard, "Report," 603; C. E. S. Wood, "Journal," July 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, 1877; C. E. S. Wood, "Notes on Nez Perces Expedition," July 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1877; Eugene Wilson, "Nez Perce Campaign," 4-5; McCarthy, Diary, July 1, 2, 1877; Parnell, "Salmon River Expedition," 128-29; Portland Daily Standard, July 7, 9, 1877; Portland Daily Oregonian, July 9, 1877; "Nez Perce War Letters," 62-63; and McDowell's marginal notes on various communiqués, especially on 46, 50, 51, 56, 60, 63, in "Copies of letters and telegrams"; Wood to C. J. Brosnan, January 7, 1918, in The Bookmark , a ca. 1940 publication of the University of Idaho Library, Brosnan Collection; Adkison, Indian Braves, 19; Howard to Commanding Officer, Cottonwood, July 6, 1877, entry 896, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands. During Howard's activity near the Salmon, one man was accidentally wounded and another was killed, on June 30 and July 7, 1877, respectively. Regimental Returns . . . First Cavalry, June and July 1877, roll 166; Regimental Returns . . . Fourth Artillery, July 1877, roll 30; General Orders No. 8, Headquarters, Department of the Columbia, copy in Paddock, Appointment, Commission, and Personal File.
3. Howard to James Lawyer, June 24, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
4. Boise, Idaho Weekly Statesman, July 7, 10, 1877; Portland Daily Oregonian, July 7, 1877; Watkins to Bureau of Indian Affairs Commissioner J. Q. Smith, July 8, 1877, item 4499, roll 336, Nez Perce War Papers; Howard, "Report," 603; Howard, "Nez Perces Campaign of 1877," September 19, 1878; and Lewiston Morning Tribune, June 19, 1927. The newspaper dates support the contention of raids in the area of the Clearwater; inexplicably, both Dempster and Silverwood filed depredation claims for damages inflicted on July 8well after the attack on Looking Glass's camp. Canby, "Report of Indian depredations."
5. Quoted in Howard, "Nez Perces Campaign of 1877," September 19, 1878.
6. Boise, Idaho Weekly Statesman, July 14, 1877. McWhorter erroneously believed that Whipple used the guns to attack Looking Glass's camp. Peopeo Tholekt, his Nez Perce informant, however, was correct in declaring "he saw no cannon or Gatling guns." McWhorter, Hear Me, 270. That two men per Gatling gun were left at Mount Idaho is presumed based on information of the minimal number of gunners (1) and cannoneers (1) required to operate the pieces. Artillery Tactics, 78-79.
7. These figures are derived from information contained in Boise, Idaho Weekly Statesman, July 14, 1877; and Regimental Returns . . . First Cavalry, July 1877, roll 166.
8. Records of Living Officers of the United States Army, 101, 104; Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary, 1:429, 712, 880, 1051; and Cullum, Biographical Register, 3:43, 200.
9. For discussion of this controversial combat procedure, see Wooster, The Military and United States Indian Policy, 127, 135-43; and Greene, Yellowstone Command, 10-12.
10. Howard, "Report," 603. The specific time that the troops reached the village is given in a letter from Loyal P. Brown of Mount Idaho dated July 2. Portland Daily Oregonian, July 7, 1877. Corporal Frederick Mayer of Company L gave the time as about 5:00 a.m., which is probably the time Whipple originally wanted to attack. Mayer also gave the wrong dateJuly 2. Brimlow, "Nez Perce War Diary," 28.
11. The size of the camp is graphically represented in a sketch map drawn by Nez Perce participant Peopeo Tholekt in 1927. Peopeo Tholekt, "Attack on Chief Looking Glass' Village." Duncan MacDonald's contemporary account also stated that the village contained eleven tipis. MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 239. Possibly some villagers were living in Plains-type brush shelters called wickiups.
12. According to McWhorter, the term, "Kamnaha [Kamnaka]," has not been defined. McWhorter, Hear Me, 264 n.
13. Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 111; and McWhorter, Hear Me, 182-83, 264.
14. This figure is based on the numbers estimated for Looking Glass's band in chapter two.
15. Whipple's report is excerpted in Howard, "Nez Perces Campaign of 1877," September 19, 1878. The Nee-Me-Poo account taken by Duncan MacDonald also indicated that Looking Glass personally tried to surrender. MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 238-39. Peopeo Tholekt insisted that at no time did Looking Glass agree to surrender and had, in fact, avoided meeting the soldiers at all. McWhorter, Hear Me, 270-71.
16. McWhorter, Hear Me, 266. Apparently, some of the officers thought that Peopeo Tholekt was Looking Glass, and one insistently poked him in the ribs with his carbine. Ibid., 266-67. The volunteers must have known the chief, however, as he had visited Mount Idaho previously and had, in fact, delivered a "speech of amity" to a gathering there the previous year. Miscellaneous notes, Camp Manuscripts, IU. Duncan McDonald's contemporary account, utilizing Nez Perce recollections, stated that a white man in Looking Glass's village initially came forward, but became intimidated and returned to the chief, whereupon they both approached the soldiers. When the shooting started, the white man ran to the soldiers while Looking Glass "returned to his camp and told his men to do the best they could." MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 238-39.
17. The individual who fired the first shot was probably a volunteer, most likely David Ousterholt or Dutch Holmes. See McWhorter, Hear Me, 273. One account stated that a trumpet suddenly sounded from the cavalry, causing "astonishment among Whipple's men and consternation in the camp of the Indians," that led to their evacuation before the shot was fired "by some impulsive person on the hill." Frank A. Fenn, "Disarming Looking Glass, An Episode in the Nez Perce War," Kooskia Mountaineer, May 11, 18, 1927. (Although Fenn was a Mount Idaho volunteer, he may not have been present in this action, judging from his lack of first person usage in describing it, when compared with his account of the subsequent Cottonwood action, in which he took part.) However, a contemporary description of the event emanating from Mount Idaho criticized Whipple for balking at directing the attack. "The Col. [Captain] would not cross the river where the boys were, but remained in a perfectly safe position until the Indians had secured all their arms, saddled their horses, and attempted to escape. Capt. Winters and Lieut. Rains and a large majority of the soldiers were eager for the fight, but were held in check by the Col. Our boys finally became indignant and opened fire." Boise, Idaho Weekly Statesman, July 14, 1877. Still another report maintained that the villagers fired the first shot. Boise, Idaho Weekly Statesman, July 10, 1877.
18. While this account is heavily based on that of Peopeo Tholekt in McWhorter, Hear Me, 264-72, see, in addition, Yellow Bull, Interview, BYU; Lebain, Interview, IU; and MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 238-39. See also Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 263-64; and Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 535-37.
19. Forse to Howard, April 4, 1895, Forse Papers.
20. U.S. Army Gallantry and Meritorious Conduct, 75. Rains's citation was granted posthumously, for he died in combat two days later.
21. Boise, Idaho Weekly Statesman, July 14, 1877.
22. Army and Navy Journal, July 14, 1877; and Watkins to Smith, July 8, 1877, item 4499, roll 337, Nez Perce War Papers. The Indian casualties are from Peopeo Tholekt, in McWhorter, Hear Me, 267-71. The wounded were Red Heart, Tahkoopen (Shot Leg), and Peopeo Tholekt. The killed were the woman and her infant who drowned, and Nennin Chekoostin (Black Raven), who died from his wounds. Ibid. See Appendix B. One newspaper wildly accounted for seventeen Indians killed. Portland Daily Oregonian, July 9, 1877.
23. Most army reports gave an inflated figure for the number of ponies captured from 1,000 to 1,200far more than the narrow confines of Clear Creek Canyon and its hillsides could sustain. In a directive of July 18, Howard noted that 622 animalsdoubtless those captured at Looking Glass's camp"were receipted for by the Mount Idaho Company." This figure more realistically reflects the number of ponies that would have been grazed at Clear Creek. Howard to George Shearer, July 18, 1877, Shearer Papers.
25. Howard to Whipple, July 3, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands. See also Howard, "Report," 603.
26. Yellow Bull, Account; and Weptas Nut (No Feather), Interview. Probably the attack further tilted the Palouses toward joining with the Nez Perces, as many had relatives in Looking Glass's village. Trafzer and Scheureman, Chief Joseph's Allies, 18. When Looking Glass and his people joined the main Nez Perce camp, he reportedly addressed the council, saying among other things, "Two days ago my camp was attacked by the soldiers. I tried to surrender in every way I could. . . . Now, my people, as long as I live I will never make peace with the treacherous Americans. . . . The officer may say it was a mistake. It is a lie. He is a dog, and I have been treated worse than a dog by him. He lies if he says he did not know it was my camp. I am ready for war." MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 241.
27. Howard to Whipple, July 3, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands. In his article, Howard, "Nez Perce Campaign of 1877," September 19, 1878, Howard gave the following as his order to Whipple: "Proceed without delay to Cottonwood (Norton's) and form junction with Captain Perrythe object being to gain the earliest information of the movements of the enemy, should he, as is thought probably, re-cross the Salmon." Information that Howard knew as early as July 1 that the Nez Perces were recrossing the Salmon is in Boise, Idaho Weekly Statesman, July 14, 1877.
29. Elsensohn, Pioneer Days in Idaho County, 1:297; and McDermott, Forlorn Hope, 27 n. 3. The site was favored "because of its good water and being protected from winds and storms." John L. Rooke to L. V. McWhorter, February 9, 1934, folder 151B, McWhorter Papers. A pen and ink sketch of Cottonwood made by First Lieutenant Robert H. Fletcher shows the main buildings and the Lewiston-Mount Idaho road in 1877. "Cottonwood House," inset drawing in Fletcher, "Department of the Columbia Map." Several late-nineteenth century views of Cottonwood are in the Idaho State Historical Society, Boise. See, in particular, numbers 75-228.16/A (ca. 1889); 75-228.16/C (ca. 1898); and 78-203.32(E99.N5), titled "Pack train encamped at Cottonwood during 1877 war." The Norton house burned in 1908. A hotel was later erected on its site. Rooke to McWhorter, February 2, 1934, folder 151B, McWhorter Papers.
30. Fenn to Colonel William Carey Brown (ret.), May 11, 1927, folder 19, box 8, William Brown Papers; and Canby, "Report of Indian depredations."
31. Wilmot, "The Raines [sic] Massacre."
32. Regarding Blewett, Whipple wrote on July 6: "The fate of Charles Blewett is not positively known. . . . [Foster reported] that he saw Blewett dismounted at a little distance, probably from his horse having stumbled. Foster thought the Indians had not seen the young man and that he would be able to evade them, but as the mountains was [sic] then full of Indians, my hope of his safety is but faint. I had taken Blewett into my own mess, and we had all become much attached to him." Portland Daily Oregonian, July 18, 1877. Company E, First Cavalry, while scouting the region on August 22, discovered Blewett's body and brought it to Norton's Ranch for burial. Report of McConville to Governor Mason Brayman, August, 1877, in "Nez Perce War Letters," 72. Oddly, a spurious Blewett cropped up in 1931 to claim participation in the Battle of White Bird Canyon. He claimed he had been struck on the head in that action, rendering him unconscious and then amnesiac for the next fourteen years. Winners of the West, December 30, 1931.
33. Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, July 14, 1877.
34. Quoted in Howard, "Nez Perces Campaign of 1877," September 19, 1878.
35. Besides Rains and Foster, the advance guard included Company E Sergeant Charles Lampman and privates John Burk, Patrick Quinn, William Roche, and Daniel Ryan; and Company L privates David Carroll, George H. Dinteman, Frederick Meyer, Franklin Moody, and Otto H. Richter. Regimental Returns . . . First Cavalry, July 1877, roll 166. Sergeant Lampman was a field correspondent for the Walla Walla Watchman. Portland Daily Oregonian, July 18, 1877.
36. Josephy described both the senior Rains's involvement on the Northwest frontier, as well as his son's demise at the hands of the Nez Perces. Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 305, 315, 346, 347, 357, 537-38.
37. Rains, Appointment, Commission, and Personal File. Rains had also applied for an appointment in the Fourth Cavalry, which its commander, Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie, endorsed, noting that "Sandy Rodgers [Second Lieutenant Alexander Rodgers] who serves in my Regiment from the last class says young Rains is a very excellent young man." Mackenzie to General William T. Sherman, June 8, 1876, ibid. See also Cullum, Biographical Register, 3:259.
38. See Fenn to Brown, May 11, 1927, folder 19, box 8, William Brown Papers. The army losses as officially registered appear in Appendix A.
39. Frank A. Fenn, who examined the site of the Rains fight a few days later, speculated that "the body of Indians that had been drawn up in the saddle, when the near approach of Whipple was discovered, hastily abandoned their position on the run, joined their companions on the mountain slopes around the cove where they could more effectively unite in the fight against Rains. That the Indians did not leave the saddle until Whipple was close upon them is evidenced by the fact that members of the command distinctly saw a lot of the hostiles fleeing from the saddle just as the command reached its brink." Fenn to Brown, May 11, 1927, folder 19, box 8, William Brown Papers. Whipple had but fifty-six effectives after every fourth man fell back to hold the horses. Brimlow, "Nez Perce War Diary," 29.
40. Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, July 14, 1877.
41. "Proceedings [of] Court of Inquiry"; Brimlow, "Nez Perce War Diary," 29; and Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, July 14, 1877. A volunteer on the scene within a few days of the Rains fight maintained that the lieutenant's "life was needlessly sacrificed," likely an index of the general tenor of thought at the time. Fenn to Brown, May 11, 1927, folder 19, box 8, William Brown Papers. Despite the contention in the Statesman that Whipple's men did not fire at the warriors, Corporal Frederick Mayer of Company L, who participated, reported that the soldiers returned the fire "whenever we got a shot." Mayer to Brown, undated, ca. 1927, Brimlow File.
42. Whipple's testimony in "Proceedings [of] Court of Inquiry"; Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, July 14, 1877; Boise, Idaho Weekly Statesman, July 17, 1877; Howard, "Nez Perces Campaign of 1877," September 19, 1878; and Portland Daily Oregonian, July 10, 1877. The Oregonian piece has been published without identification in Johansen, "The Nez Perce War," 167-70.
43. "Proceedings [of] Court of Inquiry"; and Brimlow, "Nez Perce War Diary," 29. Besides the sources cited, this account of the Rains fight has been compiled from information in Kirkwood, "The Nez Perce Indian War," August 17, 1950, which contains the reminiscence of T. J. ("Eph") Bunker, a volunteer; Grangeville Idaho County Free Press, August 31, 1950; Army and Navy Journal, July 14, 1877; Elsensohn, Pioneer Days in Idaho County, 1:300-302; and Francis Haines, "Chief Joseph," 4.
44. Two Moon's account in McWhorter, Hear Me, 283.
45. Ibid., 284-85; and McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 71-74.
46. "Story of Kawownonilpilp."
47. MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 28.
48. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 77-78; and Lewiston Tribune, undated (ca. 1957) news item, clippings file, Idaho State Historical Society, Boise.
49. Harry Bailey, "An Infantry Second Lieutenant," 23. The ring was sent to Rains's sister. Ibid. See also Bailey to McWhorter, item 182, McWhorter Papers. In his memory, Rains's West Point classmates presented his mother with a framed crayon portrait of the lieutenant. Army and Navy Journal, December 1, 1877. Following White Bird Canyon, Rains was the officer in charge of burying Lieutenant Theller and marking the grave so that it would be easily found. With Rains's own death, Theller's widow feared that the site would now be lost. FitzGerald, Army Doctor's Wife, 274.
50. T. J. Bunker account in Kirkwood, "The Nez Perce Indian War," August 31, 1950.
51. Hall to Medical Director, Department of the Columbia, July 6, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General; "Report of the Surgeon-General," in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1878, 427-28; and Wilmot, "The Raines [sic] Massacre."
52. Brimlow, "Nez Perce War Diary," 30; and Thompson, "Thirteen U.S. Soldiers," 47. In October 1877, a party passing the scene of Rains's encounter described it thusly: "We came on 2 little mounds of fresh earth, close by the wayside. They were the graves of the scouts. Farther on were 3 others, the graves of some of Rains' men. I rode off to a cluster of low rocks which cropped out on the prairie a short distance from the trail. Behind these 7 men had made their last stand, only to be shot down. The rocks were literally covered with marks of bullets. Farther on, in a little depression of the prairie, Lieutenant Rains' body was found." The author of this article noted that some burials occurred back of the Norton house, and this is probably where Rains was buried. Brooke, "Land of the Nez Perces," 355-56. The Rains family requested that the lieutenant's remains lie "undisturbed" where he was initially buried. Army and Navy Journal, September 22, 1877. Sergeant Michael McCarthy described the services at Fort Lapwai on June 10, 1878: "All the troops were turned out. It was a sort of double funeral, each having (that is, the officer and the 10 men) its own funeral party &c. The 6 senior noncoms were pall bearers for Lt. Rains, and I was one of the 6. His coffin was draped with the flag and covered, even piled high, with wreaths, crosses &c of flowers, prepared by the officers' ladies of the Post. It was a graceful tribute to his worth and bravery, for Lt. Rains was a gallant gentleman. But behind came a big square pine box containing the bones of the 10 men, on which no flag was draped or flowers placed. They, too, were brave men. Every man of the 10 had volunteered for the duty. When the coffins were laid by the graves nearly side by side for the closing ceremonies, the contrast was great, and to me painful." McCarthy, "Reminiscence"; and Thompson, Historic Resource Study, Fort Lapwai, 89. A monument stands in the Fort Walla Walla post cemetery over the common grave of the ten men, its inscription reading: "IN MEMORY OF ENLISTED MEN. 1ST U.S. CAVALRY. KILLED IN ACTION AT COTTONWOOD CAÑON IDAHO. JULY 3rd 1877." The names of the enlisted men are imprinted below the inscription. Lieutenant Rains's grave is located among a row of headstones several yards south of the monument.
53. U.S. Army Gallantry and Meritorious Conduct, 75.
54. Elsensohn, Pioneer Days of Idaho County, 1:303.
55. "Proceedings [of] Court of Inquiry."
56. Mayer to Brown, undated, ca. 1927, Brimlow File. Volunteer Luther P. Wilmot reported that this earthwork was called "Fort Perry." Wilmot, "The Cottonwood Fight."
57. Mount Idaho volunteer George M. Shearer, who with three others had arrived that afternoon from Mount Idaho, claimed that Perry put him in charge of the fortifications. As he remembered, "Strange that a civilian should be placed in such an important position, to the exclusion of experienced army officers, and particularly so, when so many of them were unoccupied or seemed to be idle in the gulch below where there was no danger." Shearer to Major Edwin C. Mason, July 28, 1877, Shearer Papers. Another observer commented that Captain Perry "remained at the house" during the fight. Boise, IdahoTri-Weekly Statesman, July 14, 1877.
58. "Proceedings [of] Court of Inquiry." See also Whipple's testimony in ibid.
59. Mayer to Brown, undated, ca. 1927, Brimlow File.
60. Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, July 14, 1877.
62. Howard, "Nez Perces Campaign of 1877," September 19, 1878.
63. For the action of July fourth, seebesides the sources cited aboveJohn P. Schorr to McWhorter, May 20, 1926, McWhorter Papers; Schorr to McWhorter, February 5, 1935, item 179, ibid.; and Army and Navy Journal, July 14, 1877.
64. "Story of Kawownonilpilp."
65. MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 242; Regimental Returns . . . First Cavalry, July 1877, roll 166.
66. "Proceedings [of] Court of Inquiry."
67. The seventeen volunteers were as follows: Captain Randall, First Lieutenant James C. Cearley, Second Lieutenant Luther P. Wilmot, Orderly Sergeant Frank A. Fenn, and Privates Henry C. Johnson, Charles Johnson, Cassius M. Day, D. H. Howser, Benjamin F. Evans, Al B. Leland, A. D. Bartley, George Riggins, Frank D. Vansise, Charles W. Case, James Buchanan, William B. Beamer, and F. J. Bunker. Henry Johnson, "Some Reminiscences," 4.
68. For background on Randall, see Chedsey and Frei, Idaho County Voices, 210-11, 257.
69. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 76-77; McWhorter, Hear Me, 292; and "Story of Kawownonilpilp." Yellow Bull stated that White Bird led the warriors in the fight with the seventeen white men. Yellow Bull, Account. Duncan MacDonald reported that the Nez Perces had one man killed and two wounded on July 5. MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 243.
70. Whipple's testimony in "Proceedings [of] Court of Inquiry." Whipple is also quoted by Howard in Howard, "Nez Perces Campaign of 1877," September 19, 1878. However, Perry maintained that "I at once rushed my front line down the hill and sent a mounted detachment to their rescue, which drove the Indians off and brought the party in." Perry, "Affair at Cottonwood," 125.
71. Shearer to Mason, July 26, 1877, Shearer Papers.
72. Reportedly, Perry placed Simpson under arrest for insubordination, but reinstated him at the Clearwater battle, where Simpson was wounded. Frank A. Fenn, "The Cottonwood Fight," Kooskia Mountaineer, April 20, 27, 1927; and Fenn to A. F. Parker, March 9, 1927, folder 2, box 12, William Brown Papers. One newspaper wrote that Perry "seemed to be very backward about coming forward" and suggested that his timidity resulted from the "big scare" he had received at White Bird Canyon. Boise, Idaho Weekly Statesman, July 17, 1877. Much of the negative newspaper coverage was ascribed to Orin Morrill, of Lewiston, "who was at Cottonwood at the time, but who altho' armed remained ensconced in the little fortification there instead of going with the soldiers to the aid of his imperiled fellow citizens." McDowell to Adjutant General, telegram, July 18, 1877, item 4109, roll 336, Nez Perce War Papers (also published in Army and Navy Journal, July 28, 1877). Because of continued criticism of his behavior at Cottonwood, Perry requested yet another court of inquiry to investigate his performance. The court concluded that (1) the volunteers could not be recognized as white men until the engagement commenced; (2) Perry took ten minutes to order the relief party out, but that the delay was not excessive; (3) that "no additional injury resulted from this delay, as all the casualties occurred at the first volley; and (4) that "there is not a word of testimony which reflects upon the personal courage of Captain Perry, and the opinion of the Court exonerates him from the charge of having made any improper delay . . . nearly surrounded, as he evidently was, by hostile Indians, then undoubtedly outnumbering his troops." General Orders No. 23, Headquarters, Department of the Columbia, November 30, 1877, item 7782, roll 339, Nez Perce War Papers. A court examining Perry's overall performance at White Bird Canyon, Cottonwood, and Clearwater convened in late 1878. Regarding Cottonwood, it concluded that Perry's "conduct there appears to have been in accordance with good judgment and prudence, particularly as the enemy was flushed with success, and a part of his [Perry's] command at least, had but recently suffered from a severe disaster." "Proceedings [of] Court of Inquiry."
73. "Proceedings [of] Court of Inquiry."
74. The other wounded volunteers were Charles Johnson and Al B. Leland. Frank A. Fenn, "The Cottonwood Fight," Kooskia Mountaineer, April 23, 1927. Civilian and Nez Perce casualties are listed in Appendices A and B, respectively. In addition to those cited, this account of the volunteers' fight and relief has been compiled from the following sources: Mayer to Brown, undated, ca. 1927, Brimlow File; Wilmot, "The Cottonwood Fight"; Henry Johnson, "Some Reminiscences"; Portland Daily Oregonian, July 16, 1877; T. J. Bunker account in Kirkwood, "The Nez Perce Indian War,"August 24, 31, 1950; New York Herald, September 10, 1877; Francis Haines, "Skirmish at Cottonwood," 2-7; and Elsensohn, Pioneer Days in Idaho County, 1:303-10.
75. C. E. S. Wood, "Journal," July 8, 1877; Eugene Wilson, "Nez Perce Campaign," 6-7; Hunter, Reminiscences of an Old Timer, 337-39; Howard, "Report," 604; McCarthy, Diary, July 8, 9, 1877; McCarthy, "Journal," 15; Trimble, "Battle of the Clearwater," 139; and Howard, "Nez Perces Campaign of 1877," September 19, 1878.
Chapter 4
1. For specifics, see Canby, "Report of Indian depredations."
2. McWhorter, Hear Me, 295; McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 78; Lewiston Teller, undated clipping ca. July 1927, clippings file, Idaho State Historical Society, Boise; Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 543-44; and Francis Haines, "Chief Joseph," 4.
3. The reorganization of the Dayton, Lewiston, Grangeville, and Mount Idaho volunteers into a single "regimental" organization resulted in the following command hierarchy: Colonel Edward McConville, Lieutenant Colonel George Hunter, Major George Shearer, and Adjutant (Captain) Benjamin F. Morris. McConvillle to Governor Mason Brayman, August, 1877, in "Nez Perce War Letters," 65. The reorganization also aggravated a feud between volunteers Eugene T. Wilson and George Hunter, in which the former shot and wounded the latter, necessitating Wilson's arrest and Hunter's recuperation at the hotel hospital at Mount Idaho while the events at Fort Misery transpired. For details, see Wilmot, "Misery Hill"; and Hunter, Reminiscences of an Old Timer, 339-40.
4. McConville to Brayman, August, 1877, in "Nez Perce War Letters," 65-66.
6. The volunteers, particularly the Mount Idahoans, lacked faith in Howard's ability to find the Indians and bring them to battle. "They fear that the murdering redskins will get away or run to Howard for a compromise and protection." Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, July 21, 1877.
7. Wilmot wrote that "everything was going fine until . . . John Atkinson while monkeying with a 50 cal. Springfield rifle let it go off accidentally. Never did I hear . . . a rifle make such a report. . . . Our camp was thrown into quite a commotion." Wilmot, "Misery Hill."
9. Account of Misery Hill by T. J. Bunker in Kirkwood, "The Nez Perce Indian War," August 4, 1950.
10. Just how "strong" the fire of the Nez Perces was in the middle of the night is questionable, it being doubtful that the warriors would expend much of their ammunition wastefully. Moreover, other accounts of Misery Hill say little about actual shooting during the nighttime encounter. That of T. J. Bunker stated, in fact, that McConville directed him to check out a rifle pit of one of the volunteers after prolonged and frequent shooting from that source. Bunker approached the volunteer. "I said, 'Sam, what are you shooting at?' He replied: 'I don't know. It is so dark I can't see, but I thought it a good idea to keep the ark a-moving.' I suggested that it might be a good plan to save his ammunition for a greater need." Account of Misery Hill in Kirkwood, "The Nez Perce Indian War," August 4, 1950.
11. Bunker stated that "they hailed us, saying: 'We are going to breakfast allee same Hotel de France (a popular hotel in Lewiston). Come over and eat with us.' Not to be outdone . . . , we returned the invitation, when they replied, 'You ain't got anything to eat, you ,' swearing at us in English. . . . Somehow they had stumbled onto the truth, for we did not have much." Bunker also described the warriors' threatening movement: "Just after sunrise, they appeared strung out on the crest of the [opposite] hill, sending out horsemen right and left, maneuvering in true Indian style, waving red blankets, and, as we supposed, trying to draw our fire. . . . After favoring us with a display of their force with no apparent object, they silently withdrew without firing a gun." Ibid.
12. This message is contained in U.S. House, Nez Perce and Bannock Wars, 4.
13. Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, July 21, 1877.
14. Apparently Wilmot here engaged in a lively altercation with Captain Perry and other officers over the Cottonwood affair that resulted in Howard's threatening him with arrest before he left the army camp. Wilmot, "Misery Hill." See also McCarthy, Diary, July 10, 1877; and Wood, "Journal," July 11, 1877.
15. McConville to Brayman, August 1877, in "Nez Perce War Letters," 66-68. For additional coverage of Misery Hill, see Howard, "Report," 604; Eugene Wilson, "Nez Perce Campaign"; Adkison, Nez Perce Indian War, 33-35, which presents a variant account (probably revised by Adkison) of Luther P. Wilmot. One volunteer allowed that, at Mount Idaho at least, "our bloodless expedition proved a full-fledged, fizzling joke." Frank Allen in McWhorter, Hear Me, 297 n. 6.
16. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 79-80, 83-84; McWhorter, Hear Me, 295-97. The site of Misery Hill is approximately six miles south of Kamiah and can be reached by traveling via Highway 162 generally south and west to the Fort Misery Road. The privately owned site encompasses about forty acres and is unmarked. Some of McConville's rock defenses remain atop the hill. Lillian Pethtel, communication with author, Kamiah, Idaho, February 17, 1995. See Thain White, "Relics from Fort Misery." This paper describes approximately ten rock "barricades" on the north, south, and east sides of the top of Misery Hill, besides the discovery there of expended cartridge cases and other items (12-13).
17. Howard, "Report," 604; Howard, "Nez Perces Campaign of 1877," September 19, 1878. The Looking Glass village site was also near a ford of the Middle Clearwater, and Howard may have believed that Joseph and the Nez Perces would attempt a crossing there. Boise, Idaho Weekly Statesman, July 14, 1877. Sergeant McCarthy noted that "We had crossed the Clearwater so as to head them off." McCarthy, "Journal," 21.
18. Wall's place had been virtually destroyed. The following August he filed a claim for $3,445 to cover the loss of four houses burned and furniture, agricultural implements, clothing, chickens, and "12 large hogs" destroyed. But the claim also included twenty-five fruit trees, two acres of cabbage, two acres of potatoes and onions, fifteen acres of wheat, and ten acres of timothy destroyed by Howard's soldiers on July 9, 10, 1877. Canby, "Report of Indian depredations."
19. C. E. S. Wood, "Journal," July 9, 10, 1877; Howard, "Nez Perces Campaign of 1877," September 26, 1878; and McCarthy, Diary, July 10, 1877.
20. Besides Silverwood and Chapman, other scouts known to be with the command were Daniel Gallagher, George Bingham, John Bingham, and Benjamin Penny (who had earlier been with McConville's command). Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, July 19, 1877.
21. The infantry and artillery soldiers were uniformed and outfitted similarly to the cavalrymen (see chapter two). The dismounted men wore shoes and carried slung canteens and haversacks or valises. The infantrymen wore bayonets (possibly trowel-shaped for digging entrenchments) for use with the Springfield rifles they carried. The foot soldiers carried no pistols. Each man's overcoat, blanket, and rubber blanket were rolled lengthwise and worn looped across his shoulder. For specifics, see McChristian, U.S. Army in the West, passim.
22. The order of march is from Trimble, "Battle of the Clearwater," 140-41; and Captain Marcus P. Miller to Assistant Adjutant General, Department of the Columbia, July 18, 1877, in Leary, Appointment, Commission, and Personal File. Miller's subsequent references to his battalion of the Fourth Artillery in the Clearwater action invariably omitted Captain Charles B. Throckmorton's Company M. That Company M was present there was no doubt; perhaps the unit did not occupy a front line position in the fighting but was used to guard the pack train.
23. Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, July 19, 1877.
24. Lieutenant Wood noted in his journal that Howard ordered "forward two Gatling guns & supports them by all the troops except Capt. Trimble's Co. of Cavalry." Wood made no mention of a howitzer at this location. C. E. S. Wood, "Journal," July 11, 1877. The 12-pounder mountain howitzer was "a small, light, bronze piece about 3 feet long, weighing 220 pounds, capable of being easily removed from its carriage, and transported upon the back of a mule. The shell weighs, when strapped and charged, 9.35 pounds, and the maximum range of the piece is about 1000 yards." Wilhelm, Military Dictionary and Gazetteer, 229-30.
25. The movement of the guns came on the advice of Ad Chapman, who told Howard that "'the ravine the Indians are ascending can be reached from there [pointing to the bluff beyond Stites Canyon]. It is a mile back by the way to go.' Gen'l Howard orders the Howitzer to go with all speed thither, and supports it by Winters['] Co. with gatling [sic] guns." C. E. S. Wood, "Journal," July 11, 1877.
26. Miller to Assistant Adjutant General, Department of the Columbia, July 18, 1877, in Leary, Appointment, Commission, and Personal File.
27. C. E. S. Wood, "Chief Joseph, the Nez Perce," 137.
28. Sergeant McCarthy remembered details of the initial deployment of his company: "When the rear of the column became engaged we [Company H] were halted on the Bluff overlooking the Clearwater, about a mile or so below the camp. With my glass we could see the Indians moving up the river or riding around their herds. We heard the firing back towards our rear but supposed it was only the howitzers shelling the retreating Indians. The column had strung out as usual with big gaps here and there, and only the sound of the big guns reached us. Our captain [Trimble], after a leisurely survey of the scene on the river below, took it into his head that a little drill would be a useful way to kill time, so we practised dismounting to fight on foot, mounting, etc. I became nervous and called the attention of the Captain to the firing, now growing heavier way back in [the] rear. The hills were rolling and concealed movements of [the] rest of [the] command. We mounted and awaited orders. A courier made signals to come back, and moving back we found Capt. Rodney's company and the packtrain in a sort of uncertain state." McCarthy, "Journal," 21.
29. Harry Bailey, "An Infantry Second Lieutenant," 14.
30. Accounts of Yellow Wolf in McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 85-88; Ollokot's wife (Springtime) and Peopeo Tholekt in McWhorter, Hear Me, 298-99, 302-3. Ollokot's presence is indicated in ibid., 318. There is no mention of Looking Glass's involvement in the battle, although Joseph evidently took part. Ibid., 319-20.
31. Years later a Nez Perce named Johnson Boyd identified himself as one of those who attacked the pack train. Lewiston Tribune, undated ca. 1957 news item, clippings file, Idaho State Historical Society, Boise. See also McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 94. One of the packers killed was Louis Pecha, who resided on Salmon River and who had been employed by the army since June. Canby, "Report of Indian depredations."
32. The Nez Perce Roaring Eagle recalled that "we pushed those soldiers back on the pack-saddle fort . . . but we could not stand before the soldiers' big guns. We were forced back from that part of the field." McWhorter, Hear Me, 303-4.
33. Second Lieutenant Edward S. Farrow wrote that the guns were moved "to a second bluff in that direction, beyond a deep and rocky transverse ravine [the identical ravine as cited by Howard, above], almost at right angles to the cañon." Farrow, "Assembling of the Soldiers," 156. Likewise, First Lieutenant Albert G. Forse recalled that "the howitzers [sic] were brought into requisition and shelling began, but at each explosion the Indians would shout in derision. Captain Winters was finally sent with his troop, supported by a company of infantry, to a projecting bluff higher up the river from which it was thought the howitzers would be effective." Forse, "Chief Joseph as a Commander," 3. This second position for the artillery pieces, on the bluff immediately south of the present Stites Canyon, was recommended by Chapman, who told Howard that "the ravine the Indians are ascending can be reached from there." Account in Portland Daily Oregonian, July 27, 1877. See also Correspondent Thomas A. Sutherland's account in Portland Daily Standard, July 23, 1877, and his account in Sutherland, Howard's Campaign, 12.
34. Report of Captain Stephen P. Jocelyn, September 2, 1877, quoted in Jocelyn, Mostly Alkali, 237.
37. For Miles's record, see Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary, 1:708. Lieutenant Harry L. Bailey stated that Miles "was so nervous in this campaign that he was very wearing on all under him." Bailey to L. V. McWhorter, March 6, 1931, folder 182, McWhorter Papers.
38. Williams was first shot in the thigh. As he attempted to stem the bleeding by applying a tourniquet, he received the second wound. Jocelyn, Mostly Alkali, 235. Bancroft described his experience thus: "I was shot about 3 o'clock in the afternoon; lay on the field all that day and night and part of the next day. . . . Two of my best men, Sergeant [James A.] Workman and Corporal [Charles] Marguarandt [Marquardt], were killed by my side. While I was being carried to the rear by one of my men, . . . he had one ear shot clean away, and I did not know it till after he had laid me down." Portland Daily Standard, September 6, 1877.
39. Miller to Assistant Adjutant General, Department of the Columbia, July 18, 1877, in Leary, Appointment, Commission, and Personal File.
40. Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, July 19, 1877.
41. In 1890, the Army awarded LeMay a Certificate of Merit for his performance. U.S. Army Gallantry and Meritorious Conduct, 76.
42. Miller to Assistant Adjutant General, Department of the Columbia, July 18, 1877, in Leary, Appointment, Commission, and Personal File.
43. New York Herald, September 10, 1877.
44. Yellow Bull account in Curtis, North American Indian, 8:165-66. It is uncertain exactly when this incident occurred.
45. Miller to Assistant Adjutant General, Department of the Columbia, July 18, 1877, in Leary, Appointment, Commission, and Personal File. An 1858 West Point graduate, Miller had spent his entire career in the Fourth Artillery. In the Civil War, he fought at Richmond, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville, later served with Major General Philip H. Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley, and fought with General Ulysses S. Grant at Petersburg during the closing operations. Miller's most notable prior western service had occurred during the Modoc Indian campaign, when he led a battalion of artillery and infantry in rescuing the survivors of the peace commission after the murder of Major General Edward R. S. Canby. Miller, Appointment, Commission, and Personal File; Powell, Powell's Records, 402; Cullum, Biographical Register, 2:702-3; Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary, 1:711.
46. New York Herald, September 10, 1877.
47. Harry Bailey, "An Infantry Second Lieutenant," 14; Bailey to McWhorter, March 5, 1933, folder 182, McWhorter Papers. One of the casualties of this action was Private Francis Winters of Company B, Twenty-first Infantry. Wrote Lieutenant Bailey: "He was wounded severely in the hip. . . . He was near me and had his hat shot off three times, and his cartridge belt cut entirely off by a bullet, the leather being cut as by a knife, as I saw it at the moment it occurred. . . . He kept saying that some of our own men had shot him." Bailey to his father, September 14, 1877, quoted in Jocelyn, Mostly Alkali, 232 n. 8. See also the letter from Bailey describing this incident in Farrow, "Assembling of the Soldiers," 162-63. At the left of Miller's advanced position stood a large, lone pine tree, behind which at least one Nez Perce sharpshooter was posted. John P. Schorr to McWhorter, ca. January 1934, folder 179, McWhorter Papers. Evidently, this man was shot and fell back near the stone barricades. Bailey mentioned later seeing a dead warrior there with a shell hole in his head possibly inflicted by the howitzer, and Peopeo Tholekt identified the man as Lelooskin (Whittling). Bailey to McWhorter, March 6, 1931, folder 182, McWhorter Papers; McWhorter, Hear Me, 312. After this happened, some of Miller's men took up position at the tree. A reporter noted: "There were two boys behind a big pine tree, and I made the third. The Indians would rise out of the grass, take a rapid look, drop down and then fire as fast as they could. The bark of our tree was cut to pieces. The Indians were not more than twenty yards from us. One of the boys, quite a lad, just gloried in the fun. He put his hat on his rifle and held it out. As we expected, our Indians rose up and fired." Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, July 19, 1877. It is apparently this tree that is pictured in Lieutenant Fletcher's sketch, "Battle of Clearwater," inset drawing in Fletcher, "Department of Columbia Map."
48. Harry Bailey, "An Infantry Second Lieutenant," 15.
50. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 88.
51. Ibid., 89-91; McWhorter, Hear Me, 305, 312-13.
52. McWhorter, Hear Me, 309-10.
53. Trimble, "Battle of the Clearwater," 143.
54. On this tendency of the Indians, see the report of Captain George H. Burton in "Summary of Reports . . . Non-Effectiveness."
55. McCarthy, Diary, July 11, 1877. See also McCarthy, "Journal," 22.
56. Comment by Captain Whipple in "Proceedings [of] Court of Inquiry."
57. McCarthy, Diary, July 11, 1877.
58. Trimble, "Battle of the Clearwater," 144-45.
59. Howard's report states that "during the night stone barricades and rifle-pits were constructed by ourselves and the enemy." Howard, "Report," 605.
60. Harry Bailey, "An Infantry Second Lieutenant," 16.
61. Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, July 19, 1877.
62. McCarthy wrote that "some of the Infantry armed with trowel bayonets finding themselves where there was [sic] no stones dug little rifle pits. Where there was most danger the breastworks were larger and contained sometimes 2, 3, and I believe even 4 men. On our side of the semicircle, the least exposed [side], the men occupied each alternate breastwork during the night." McCarthy, Diary, July 11, 1877.
63. This reference to warriors firing from treetops appears in several accounts. The Nez Perce Many Wounds told McWhorter that his informants always denied that sharpshooters fired from the tops, but allowed that "soldiers might have thought shots came from among the branches of the trees." Grizzly Bear Blanket "was on a point or knoll back of [a] tree from where he could see whole group of soldiers. To them it must have looked like he was up the tree." McWhorter, Hear Me, 306.
64. First Lieutenant Melville C. Wilkinson letter, July 17, 1877, in Army and Navy Journal, August 18, 1877.
65. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 92; McWhorter, Hear Me, 312-13; Pouliot and White, "Clearwater Battlefield," 6.
66. First Lieutenant Melville C. Wilkinson letter, July 17, 1877, in Army and Navy Journal, August 18, 1877.
67. Lieutenant Bailey was appointed to prepare the line troops to attack in support of Miller's charge. He recalled that none of the other officers wanted to help arrange the soldiers, and that he and First Lieutenant Charles F. Humphrey had to do it alone. "When approaching the trench of Capt. [First Lieutenant] [James A.] Haugh[e]y and [Second] Lieut. [Francis E.] Eltonhead, they yelled at me to 'lie down,' as I was drawing fire. . . . They had stuck to their trench all thru, and certainly looked very sweaty and dirty." Harry Bailey, "An Infantry Second Lieutenant," 18. Bailey had trouble with the enlisted men, too. "I had . . . difficulty in making the men KEEP the skirmish line after I had arranged them, for they would run back and jump into the holes." Bailey to McWhorter, January 12, 1931, folder 182, McWhorter Papers.
68. Lewiston Teller, July 21, 1877.
69. Miller to Assistant Adjutant General, Department of the Columbia, July 18, 1877, in Leary, Appointment, Commission, and Personal File.
71. Farrow to James T. Gray, July 16, 1877, Gray, Correspondence.
72. McCarthy, Diary, July 12, 1877.
73. Ibid. See also McCarthy, "Journal," 24-25.
74. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 96 n. 2; and McWhorter, Hear Me, 314-15. One of the men, Teeweeyownah (Over the Point), went to the smoking lodge and found many warriors, who had been riding back and forth from the village, "sitting around smoking." He scolded them repeatedly for their dereliction, then untied and released their horses. This angered the warriors. Over the Point then returned to the ravine and notified the others about what was happening, and the leaders decided that without the warriors' support it would be better to protect the camp.They left and were followed by those from the smoking lodge. McWhorter, Hear Me, 315-16 n. 35. Haines stated that the disagreement actually began during the fighting on July 11 and carried over to the twelfth. Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 237; Francis Haines, "Chief Joseph," 5.
75. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 100-101.
77. Quoted in McWhorter, Hear Me, 314-15.
79. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 97; and McWhorter, Hear Me, 320. Another Nez Perce account stated that Looking Glass was responsible for directing the camp to move. MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 244.
80. Parnell, "Salmon River Expedition," 132. Captain Perry once more came under criticism for not pressing the pursuit of the fleeing Nez Perces beyond the river, the argument being that this was the first and most logical opportunity since the battle started to make efficient use of the cavalry. Together with his actions at White Bird and Cottonwood, it became a lively topic of conversation in the command, as well as an element for investigation in Perry's subsequent court of inquiry. The court exonerated him from blame at Clearwater, specifying that Perry "appears to have done all required of him, and all that, under the circumstances, could have been reasonably expected of him,the Commanding General being present." "Proceedings [of] Court of Inquiry."
81. Wilkinson to McConville, July 12, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
82. C. E. S. Wood, "Journal," July 11, 1877.
83. The caches were hollows in the ground so well covered with sod that their presence was nearly imperceptible and would likely not have been discovered but for the citizen guides who were familiar with the practice. Harry Bailey, "An Infantry Second Lieutenant," 18. In another description, Bailey wrote that the caches "were holes in the ground or rocks about three or four feet wide and about six feet deep, and cunningly covered with earth and ashes and trampled over with horses. The manner of finding them was by punching ramrods or stakes into the ground until the feel of buffalo hides a few feet below the surface gave the evidence." Quoted in Mrs. Harry B. Longworth to McWhorter, January 12, 1943, folder 182, McWhorter Papers.
84. On the other hand, a message from Howard noted that there were "arms captured in the battle of the 11th & 12th," along with "several hundred rounds of metallic ammunition . . . found in the hostile camp." This and other factors led army officers to conclude that the Nez Perces armed themselves with Henrys, Winchesters, Springfield carbines and rifles, "and apparently some long range target riflesname unknown." Howard to Assistant Adjutant General, Division of the Pacific, July 28, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
85. Lieutenant Bailey retrieved several items from the South Fork village. In 1927 he donated a fringed buckskin shirt, a powder horn, a beaded sheath, and six bronze bells to the Allen County Historical and Archeological Society at Lima, Ohio. Longworth to McWhorter, January 12, 1943, folder 182, McWhorter Papers. Some of these items were returned to the Nez Perces in 1999.
In addition to the materials previously cited, this account of the Clearwater engagement is reconstructed from an amalgam of data drawn from the following materials: McDowell to Adjutant General, telegram (Howard's initial report), July 14, 1877, item 3973, roll 336, Nez Perce War Papers; Surgeon (Major) Charles T. Alexander to Medical Director, Department of the Columbia, July 14, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General; C. E. S. Wood, "Notes on Nez Perces Expedition," July 11, 12, 1877; pen and ink sketch titled, "Battle of Clearwater," inset drawing in Fletcher, "Department of Columbia Map"; Brimlow, "Nez Perce War Diary," 30; Albert G. Forse to Howard, April 4, 1895, Forse Papers; Harry L. Bailey to McWhorter, December 9, 1932, folder 182, McWhorter Papers; Bailey to McWhorter (including sketch map), January 29, 1934, item 88, McWhorter Papers; C. E. S. Wood to C. J. Brosnan, January 7, 1918, in The Bookmark, a ca. 1940 publication of the University of Idaho Library, p. 236, Brosnan Collection; Portland Daily Oregonian, July 16, 1877; Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, July 17, 1877; Portland Daily Standard, July 14, 1877; Howard, "Nez Perces Campaign of 1877," September 26, 1878, and October 3, 1878; Howard, My Life and Experiences, 288-89; R. P. Page Wainwright, "The First Regiment of Cavalry," in Rodenbough and Haskin, Army of the United States, 169; Alexander B. Dyer, "The Fourth Regiment of Artillery," in ibid., 373-74; Fred H. E. Ebstein, "Twenty-first Regiment of Infantry," in ibid., 677; Sternberg, George Miller Sternberg, 60-61; Charles Rhodes, "Chief Joseph," 219-20; Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 235-38; and Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 546-52. Contemporary artistic renditions of events associated with the Clearwater engagement, based upon "sketches by an officer of General Howard's staff," appear in the New York Daily Graphic, August 3, 1877.
Nee-Me-Poo accounts of the Clearwater action are few and, except for those noted above (mostly in McWhorter's books or materials), are generally vague as to specifics and locale. McWhorter's Yellow Wolf and Hear Me contain much more conversationally derived and descriptive anecdotal material; the essence alone is presented here. Nonetheless, for other Nez Perce accounts not previously cited, see "Story of Kawownonilpilp"; Weptas Nut (No Feather), Interview; and Joseph [Heinmot Tooyalakekt], "An Indian's Views," 426. Two possible pictographic renderings of incidents at the Clearwater battle appear in a sketchbook in the Special Collections of the University of Oregon Library, Eugene. See Stern, Schmitt, and Halfmoon, "A Cayuse-Nez Perce Sketchbook," 360-62.
86. "List of Wounded in Gen. Howard's expedition . . . Battle of Clear Water"; Captain Evan Miles to Adjutant General, November 24, 1877, entry 624, box 1 (two sheets), Office of the Adjutant General; "Report of the Killed, Wounded and Missing"; "Classified Return . . . Battle of Clearwater." A complete list of army casualties is in Appendix A. Regarding the missing man, he was Private Charles E. Simonds, Battery G, Fourth Artillery, who was reported missing effective July 12. Yellow Wolf mentioned seeing a dead soldier on the previous day and presumed he had deserted. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 85. And about twenty years after the battle, settlers in the area found the remains of a soldier "back of one of the hills near Stites," along with four canteens, some army buttons, and silver coins. Nez Perce Indians Wars 2, 153, Camp Manuscript Field Notes, Camp Papers, LBNM.
87. C. E. S. Wood, "Chief Joseph, the Nez Perce," 137.
88. McCarthy, Diary, July 12, 1877. Captain Jocelyn alluded to a diagram that located the grave "just in rear of the hospital, within the limits of the camp held by the troops during the engagement." Jocelyn, Mostly Alkali, 237. Presumably, but not certainly, the dead were eventually removed to Fort Lapwai, and later to the post cemetery at Fort Walla Walla, where a small granite marker is all that recognizes the thirteen killed at Clearwater. Thompson, "Thirteen U.S. Soldiers," 47, 63.
89. Two men died en route. One was buried along the road and the other at Grangeville. Sternberg to Colonel E. I. Baily, Medical Director, Department of the Columbia, July 15, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General (also published in "Report of the Surgeon-General," in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1878, 428.) See also a variant form of this letter in Sternberg to the Surgeon General, July 15, 1877, in ibid.
90. Sternberg to the Surgeon General, July 22, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General; Sternberg, George Miller Sternberg, 62-63; and Kober, Reminiscences of George Martin Kober, 358, 359. For a contemporary discussion of the matter of moving the wounded by mule litter during the Indian wars, see Otis, Transport of Sick and Wounded.
91. Howard, "Report," 606. Howard reported that "about 300 warriors, aided by their women," (ibid.) faced his command at the Clearwater, a figure thatbased on approximations of the strength of the various bandsis unreasonable. It is more likely that the Nez Perce warriors at the Clearwater numbered fewer than 150about half of Howard's strength.
92. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 98-100; McWhorter, Hear Me, 323; and "An Indian's Views," 426. Duncan MacDonald's informants told him that the Nez Perces lost four killed and four wounded, all on the first day of the battle. MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 244. See listing in Appendix B.
93. "Report of the General of the Army," November 7, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 10; Sutherland, Howard's Campaign, 13; John Carpenter, Sword and Olive Branch, 251; and Francis Haines, "Chief Joseph," 5.
94. Wood to Hayes, telegram, July 14, 1877, entry 107, box 2, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands; Corbett to McCrary, July 14, 1877, ibid: and Dolph to Hayes, July 14, 1877, ibid. McDowell informed Wood that he "as Division Commander reserves to himself alone the privilege of communicating direct with the President." Lieutenant Colonel John C. Kelton to Wood, July 21, 1877, ibid. The New York World, July 14, 1877, reported that "Howard's inefficiency" had caused the administration to consider replacing him with Crook and that "it is entirely possible Howard may be superseded to-morrow." See also John Carpenter, "General Howard," 134-35.
95. Grostein and Binnard to Howard, July 26, 1877, entry 107, box 2, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
96. General Field Orders No. 2, Headquarters, Department of the Columbia (In the Field), July 16, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
97. Beyer and Keydel, Deeds of Valor, 2:244; The Medal of Honor, 230; U.S. Army Gallantry and Meritorious Conduct, 75-77, 87.
Chapter 5
1. McCarthy, Diary, July 13, 1877. The Nez Perces crossed the river adjacent to the geologic and cultural feature Heart of the Monster, which figures prominently in Nee-Me-Poo origin folklore and history and is an interpretive unit of Nez Perce National Historical Park. In 1877, a wire ferry that forded passengers across the river had been disabled prior to Howard's arrival. Lillian Pethtel, communication with author, Kamiah, Idaho, February 28, 1995.
2. McCarthy, Diary, July 13, 1877; Trimble's testimony in "Proceedings [of] Court of Inquiry"; and McCarthy, "Journal," 16. The order of the troops as they descended the bluffs to Kamiah was as follows: "Captain Jackson's Co. in advanced [sic], Miles' command, gatling [sic] guns, howitzers, then Miller's artillery command, Cavalry, pack train, Trimble as rear guard." C. E. S. Wood, "Journal," July 13, 1877.
3. Whipple's testimony in "Proceedings [of] Court of Inquiry."
4. "Summary of Reports . . . Non-Effectiveness," 2.
5. Brimlow, "Nez Perce War Diary," 30.
6. Sutherland, Howard's Campaign, 15.
7. Trimble's testimony in "Proceedings [of] Court of Inquiry." Trimble also wrote that the cavalry approached the river "rather incautiously and receiving several volleys retired in some haste, if not confusion." Trimble, "Battle of the Clearwater," 149. Oddly, although many senior officers considered sabres outmoded for cavalry combat by 1877, Howard endorsed their use: "The effect of a charge in a body was seen when our Cavalry came down the steep hills upon the retreating Indians at Kamiah. Sabres would have added to the terror-inspiring movement." "Summary of Reports . . . Non-Effectiveness," 3.
8. One man was apparently wounded superficially and thus not formally reported in the medical log (a common procedure in Indian combat), although the casualty is mentioned in the official reports. See, for example, Howard to Adjutant General, Division of the Pacific, July 15, 1877, items 6718 and 6724, roll 338, Nez Perce War Papers. The severely wounded man was Corporal William Mulcahy, Company A, Fourth Artillery, who was evidently on duty with the cavalry and was shot in the head. McDowell, "Report," 133.
9. Brooks to sister, July 21, 1877, in Bennett, "History and Legend of . . . Brooks," 39.
10. Harry L. Bailey to C. W. Risley, July 26, 1877, folder 182, McWhorter Papers. McWhorter's sources indicated that no Nez Perces were injured in this brief action. McWhorter, Hear Me, 328 n. 7; McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 103. See also Yellow Bull account in Curtis, North American Indian, 8:166.
11. Howard's encampment was where the Kamiah airport is today. Probably his soldiers raised earthworks at appropriate points about the bivouac. See McWhorter, Hear Me, 330. For the events at Kamiah, see also Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 553.
12. Howard to McDowell, July 15, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands; Portland Daily Oregonian, July 19, 1877; and Army and Navy Journal, July 28, 1877.
13. Contained in entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands. The intended recipient of this message is not known. Sutherland, Howard's Campaign, 17, published one that was practically identical, stating that it was "Howard's answer to Joseph" regarding his proposed surrender. However, too many internal nuances suggest otherwise, and that the word "may" was intended in the conditional, rather than the permissive, sense. Perhaps it was an informal note for his adjutant at Portland or for General McDowell. Regardless, Major Mason, as in Howard's formal missive, was more definite, stating that "Joseph promises to come in tomorrow morning with all his people and surrender immediately." Mason to wife, July 15, 1877, quoted in Mark Brown, "Joseph Myth," 7. Yellow Wolf identified the Nez Perce messenger as Zya Timenna (No Heart). McWhorter, Hear Me, 329.
14. John Carpenter, "General Howard" 135. On the sixteenth, Lieutenant Farrow wrote a friend: "We are expecting Joseph to come and surrender to dayhe says he can't fight any more, and that he is whipped and wants to give up. We demand an unconditional surrender. If he surrenders Looking Glass and White Bird will claim our attention." Edward S. Farrow to James T. Gray, July 16, 1877, Gray, Correspondence.
15. The group, eventually imprisoned at Fort Vancouver, Washington Territory, included the following people: "Old" Chief Red Heart, Nenetsukusten (son of Red Heart), Tmenah Ilppilp (son of Red Heart), "Old Man" Halfmoon, Tsalahe, Nosm, John Reuben, Little Bear, Alex Hayes, Teponoth, Hahatsi Hekelantsa, "Old" Chief Jacob, Ayokkasie, Pile of Clouds, Walweyes, James Hines, Quul Quul Tami, Jim Powers, Pacuslawatakth, George Raymond, Kaiyewich, Tsacope, Hemakio Autway, Petolwetalooth, Hamolitshamolits, Petolackyoth, Wetahweenonmi, Talwenommi, Ilsoopop, and an unnamed son of Little Bear. List compiled by Black Eagle in May 1930, and provided to the author by Otis Halfmoon, Nez Perce National Historical Park, Spalding, Idaho, December 12, 1995. The events of July 15 are described in McCarthy, Diary, July 16, 1877; Trimble's testimony in "Proceedings [of] Court of Inquiry"; Howard, "Report," 606; McConville to Governor Mason Brayman, August, 1877, in "Nez Perce War Letters," 68; Howard, "Nez Perces Campaign of 1877," October 3, 1878; Wilmot, "Battle of the Clearwater"; McDowell to Adjutant General, July 19, 1877, item 4110, roll 336, Nez Perce War Papers; Sutherland, Howard's Campaign, 16; Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, August 4, 1877; Forse, "Chief Joseph as a Commander," 5-6; Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 554-55; and Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 275-76. There is a story, perhaps apocryphal, that the messenger kept Howard occupied while the Indians packed toward the Lolo trail. He then "fired a shot from his rifle in Howard's direction, slapped that portion of his anatomy which his leggins did not reach, and rode off." Eugene Wilson, "Nez Perce Campaign," 10-11. See also McWhorter, Hear Me, 329. Red Heart had apparently been in Looking Glass's village when it was attacked on July 1, but had decided against subsequently joining in the fighting against the soldiers. McWhorter, Hear Me, 332. See also McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 104-5, 310-12; and Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 239-40.
16. Captain Babbitt wrote that the Nez Perces "are said to be divided in opinion and quarreling among themselves. Small parties are constantly breaking away from the main band and surrendering." Quoted in Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, July 21, 1877.
17. McCarthy, Diary, July 16, 1877. See also Brimlow, "Nez Perce War Diary," 31. Because the ferry was out of commission, the troops crossed ten at a time in the single boat available. Redfield, "Reminiscences of Francis M. Redfield," 75. The order of crossing was infantry, artillery, and cavalry, with Jackson's company fording last. Howard to Perry, July 15, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
18. Eugene Wilson, "Nez Perce Campaign," 13.
20. McConville to Governor Mason Brayman, August 1877, in "Nez Perce War Letters," 69.
21. During a halt soon after this incident, Lieutenant Parnell and others discovered sawdust on the ground. Parnell maintained that "many of the trees had been sawed off . . . leaving the trees still standing on their stumps." The object, theorized Parnell, was "to let us pass until our rearguard had advanced beyond that point, whereupon some fifty or sixty warriors . . . were to drop the trees across the trail and block our retreat while they would attack us." Parnell, "Salmon River Expedition," 134-35. McWhorter's Nez Perce informants denied using this improbable tactic, and McWhorter dismissed it as sensationalism. McWhorter, Hear Me, 341-42.
22. Eugene Wilson, "Nez Perce Campaign," 16-17; McCarthy, Diary, July 17, 1877; Trimble's testimony in "Proceedings [of] Court of Inquiry"; McCarthy, "Journal," 16-17; Brimlow, "Nez Perce War Diary," 31; Monteith to Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Q. Smith, July 31, 1877, item 6877, roll 337, Nez Perce War Papers; Howard, "Report," 606; McConville to Brayman, August, 1877, in "Nez Perce War Letters," 68-69; Portland Daily Standard, July 21, 1877; Portland Daily Standard, August 4, 1877; Sutherland, Howard's Campaign, 18; Howard, "Nez Perces Campaign of 1877," October 3, 1878; Trimble, "Battle of the Clearwater," 149-50; Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 558-59. Trimble, as well as other officers, believed that "the Cavalry retreated rather quickly" in this affair. "Proceedings [of] Court of Inquiry." Scout Abraham Brooks eventually died at Lapwai from his wounds. McWhorter, Hear Me, 338-39. See the accounts of Seekumses Kunnin (Horse Blanket) and Two Moon in McWhorter, Hear Me, 338, 340; and that of Yellow Wolf in McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 106. Yet another Nez Perce account of their confrontation with the army scoutsthis one containing much verbal reprimand directed against themis in MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 245-46. The volunteers' simmering dislike of the regulars is pervasive in nearly all documents generated by the volunteers in the Idaho portion of the conflict. For example, George Hunter described the Lolo reconnaissance as follows: "The Indian scouts, through their tactics, drew the attention of the hostiles, so as to let McConville and his men out of the snap, and seeing that the whole force of the regulars had taken to flight, he found it necessary to follow them rather than suffer his handful of men to be cut off." Portland Daily Oregonian, July 21, 1877.
23. McCarthy, Diary, July 15, 16, 17, 18, 1877.
24. Portland Daily Oregonian, July 17, 1877; Howard to George Shearer, July 18, 1877, Shearer Papers; and Memorandum Order, August 28, 1877, Headquarters, North Idaho Volunteers, ibid. For details of the subsequent work of the volunteers, see Boise, Idaho Weekly Statesman, August 11, 1877.
25. McCarthy, Diary, July 20, 1877.
26. McDowell to Adjutant General, July 19, 1877, item 4110, roll 336, Nez Perce War Papers; Howard, "Report," 607; McCarthy, Diary, July 20, 1877; McCarthy, "Journal," 26; MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 245; and Monteith to Smith, July 31, 1877, item 6877, roll 337, Nez Perce War Papers. Wrote Monteith in ibid.: "The treaty Indians have lost a great deal by the hostiles, and the troops have destroyed fences, crops, &c., belonging to the Kamiah Indians, which will leave many in want. Col. Watkins [Indian Inspector] will probably . . . recommend an appropriation to reimburse them. They should receive the same consideration as settlers who have lost by the hostiles." See also Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 560; and Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 278.
27. Croasdaile filed a claim for damage incurred not only by the Nez Perces but by the army. Wrote Major Canby in August 1877: "His house at Sheep Ranch ° mile from residence is occupied by Colonel John Green as Headquarters, & his barn, corral, & fields, occupied by troops and horses. . . . The Indians entered the [dwelling] house first and destroyed most of the furniture &c and were followed by the soldiers & volunteers, who completed the destruction." Canby, "Report of Indian depredations." Of significance were some explosive bullets taken from the homestead of Croasdaile, a retired British officer. Some of the cartridges saw later use by Nez Perce warriors at the battles of the Big Hole and Bear's Paw Mountains (see discussion in chapter 13).
28. Howard, "Report," 607-8; General Field Orders No. 3, Headquarters Department of the Columbia (in the field), July 23, 1877, entry 107, box 2, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands; "Department of the Columbia, Roster of Troops"; Army and Navy Journal, August 4, 1877; Portland Daily Oregonian, July 27, 1877; William M. Wright, "The Second Regiment of Infantry," in Rodenbough and Haskins, Army of the United States, 430.
29. Howard, "Report," 608; C. E. S. Wood, "Journal," July 28, 29, and 30, 1877; McDowell to Adjutant General, July 6, 1877, item 3792, roll 336, Nez Perce War Papers; Howard to Colonel Alfred Sully, July 24, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands; Jocelyn, Mostly Alkali, 239-41; Sutherland, Howard's Campaign, 18-19; Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, July 21, 1877; Portland Daily Oregonian, July 27, 1877; FitzGerald, Army Doctor's Wife, 283, 284; R. P. Page Wainwright, "The First Regiment of Cavalry," in Rodenbough and Haskin, Army of the United States, 169; Alexander B. Dyer, "The Fourth Regiment of Artillery," in ibid., 374. For background on the Bannocks, see Madsen, Bannock of Idaho. The Coehorn was a small, bronze 24-pounder Model 1841 siege and garrison mortar mounted on a small wooden bed. It had a maximum range of 1,200 yards. The piece, including its bed, weighed about 296 pounds and was easily transportable. Ripley, Artillery and Ammunition, 58-59. This gun was not used in the Clearwater battle and presumably arrived with the fresh Fourth Artillery companies from San Francisco.
30. Lindgren, Geological Reconnaissance, 33, 34; Dingler and Breckenridge, "Glacial Reconnaissance," 645, 646; and Space, Lolo Trail, 1-4, 43-45 (much of this work is encompassed in Space's larger study, Space, Clearwater Story). McWhorter gave the name of the fur trapper as Joseph Lolo, or Lulu, killed by a bear in 1852. For details, see McWhorter, Hear Me, 343 n. 1.
31. The Weippe council and its aftermath is in McWhorter, Hear Me, 334-36, 340; McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 104-5; MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 245; Yellow Bull account in Curtis, North American Indian, 8:166; Yellow Bull, Account; Francis Haines, "Chief Joseph," 5-6; and Otis Halfmoon, communication with author, Nez Perce National Historical Park, Spalding, Idaho, December 12, 1995. See also Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 555-57; and Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 274-75.
32. The Nee-Me-Poo Albert Moore commented on the traditional use of the site: "We always camped below the Lolo Hot Springs. We camped coming through there on our way home to the Bitterroot. . . . We would make a tipi and stay two or three nights. When we moved on, we piled up these poles to have there when we returned." Thomas, "Pi.Lu'.Ye.Kin," 2.
33. MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 247.
34. Thian, Notes Illustrating the Military Geography, 24, 58.
35. Frazer, Forts of the West, 83.
36. Rawn to Acting Assistant Adjutant General, District of Montana, July 16, 1877, Fort Missoula Letterbook. Background on Rawn is in Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary, 1:817. Fortification of the Missoula post is discussed in Charles N. Loynes, "Battle of the 'Big Hole,'" Winners of the West, March 1925 (this account also appears in Winners of the West, April and May, 1924, under the title, "With the Seventh Infantry in Montana"). For the Flathead factor, see Fahey, Flathead Indians, 189-90.
38. The news that reached the Bitterroot Valley about the appearance of the Nez Perces was augmented by the report of their presence at Lolo Hot Springs brought by two youths, William Silverthorn and Peter Matt, of Stevensville, who encountered the tribesmen while on a holiday at the springs. The Nez Perces detained them, but the two managed to escape and reached Stevensville to alert the residents. Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 15. The Salt Lake Daily Tribune, July 26, 1877, reported that Silverthorn (no mention of Matt) had been en route to Lewiston when captured by the Nez Perces, who held him for eight days. Silverthorn escaped during the night of July 22 and reached Woodbridge's pickets.
39. Captain Charles C. Rawn report, September 30, 1877, in Terry, "Report," 500-501. There was some opinion that the Nez Perces might circumvent Rawn's command, taking one of several trails and ravines out of Lolo Canyon either to reach the Jocko (Kutenai) Reservation to the north or to head east directly through Missoula and up the Big Blackfoot River. Ferdinand Kennett letter, July 25, 1877, copy in vertical files, IndiansWars1877, Parmly Billings Library, Billings, Mont.
40. Corporal Charles Loynes account in McWhorter, Hear Me, 347.
41. Rawn to First Lieutenant Levi F. Burnett, July 25, 1877, Fort Missoula Letterbook; and Portland Daily Oregonian, July 27, 1877
42. Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 18; Mark Brown, "Joseph Legend," 51. Rawn stated that he arranged the second meeting "for the purpose of gaining time for General Howard's forces to get up and for General Gibbon to arrive from Fort Shaw." Captain Charles C. Rawn report, September 30, 1877, in Terry, "Report," 501. It is clear that Looking Glass was in charge of these events from the Nez Perce side, and that Joseph's role was at this point subordinate. See MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 248. Henry Buck identified the principals with Rawn as volunteers William Baker, Amos Buck, and Cole B. Sanders. Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 18.
43. Helena Daily IndependentExtra, July 29, 1877; and Barsness and Dickinson, "Minutemen of Montana," 4-5.
44. Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 19; and Volunteer Alfred Cave account in Boise, Idaho Weekly Statesman, September 6, 1877.
45. "Narrative of John Buckhouse."
46. Wilson Harlan, "Fiasco at 'Fort Fizzle,'" 65 (Harlan's reminiscence also appears in Gilbert Harlan, "Diary of Wilson Barber Harlan"). Information about Delaware Jim, who had reportedly scouted for John C. Frémont in the 1840s and had worked in the area during the 1850s and 1860s as a hunter, guide, and interpreter, is in Weisel, Men and Trade, 117-18.
47. Captain Charles C. Rawn report, September 30, 1877, in Terry, "Report," 501. According to the Nez Perces, Rawn told Looking Glass that "any further communication he had to make must be made under a flag of truce at the fortified camp." MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 250. Governor Potts's political interests are outlined in Olson, "The Nez Perce," 165, 192-95. See also Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 568-69.
48. Rawn to Burnett, July 27, 1877, Fort Missoula Letterbook. Rawn's report of September 30, 1877, apparently confuses the dates of the various meetings with the Nez Perces. Nez Perce sources maintained that only one meeting was held with Rawn. See the accounts of Two Moon and Wottolen in McWhorter, Hear Me, 352-54, and that of Yellow Wolf in McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 106-7.
49. Charles N. Loynes, "Battle of the 'Big Hole,'" Winners of the West, March 1925. While the full extent and configuration of the works is unknown, one axis that is today marked ran east and west with a probable "L" to the north at the west end, all occupying the higher alluvial fan bench north of Lolo Creek. Kermit M. Edmonds, telephone communication with author, January 25, 1996.
50. "Narrative of John Buckhouse."
51. Wilson Harlan, "Fiasco at 'Fort Fizzle,'" 65.
52. Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 19; and Fahey, Flathead Indians, 194.
53. Captain Charles C. Rawn report, September 30, 1877, in Terry, "Report," 501; and Rawn to Adjutant General, Department of the Columbia, August 1, 1877, Fort Missoula Letterbook. One feasible interpretation of Rawn's meeting on July 27 is that the Nez Perces agreed not to cause harm if allowed to pass through the Bitterroot without hindrance, and that Governor Potts and Rawn fashioned a "treaty" or secret nonaggression pact with them to that effect. See Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 247. For a thorough airing of the circumstantial evidence favoring this explanation, see Olson, "The Nez Perce," 165, 192-94. In support of this view, it should be noted that Joseph later told of having "made a treaty with these soldiers" just before the Fort Fizzle episode. Joseph [Heinmot Tooyalakekt], "An Indian's Views," 426. And Howard reported that: "It seems that the Indians really negotiated their way by promising the citizens that they would do them no harm if permitted to pass by unmolested. Captain Rawn thought it wiser under the circumstances to let them go than attempt a fight, which he feared would be disastrous." Howard, "Report," 609. Yet another contemporary reference stated: "As usual the volunteers weakened, particularly when the Indians, upon being interviewed, agreed to pass through the valley doing no harm if they were themselves unmolested." Captain Stephen P. Jocelyn letter, August 9, 1877, in Jocelyn, Mostly Alkali, 243.
54. McWhorter identified the three as Tom Hill, Thunder Eyes (George Amos), and an elderly man named Honan, or Kannah. The three had gone to see the soldiers over the objections of the Nez Perce leadership. The army jailed them at the Missoula post for the remainder of the war. McWhorter, Hear Me, 348 n. 14, 349 n. 15. (However, Hill was present at Bear's Paw in September.) Corporal Loynes remembered that there were four people in the party. "They were conducted to the rear, their feet and hands tied, and a guard placed over them." Charles N. Loynes, "Battle of the 'Big Hole,'" Winners of the West, March 1925. For a Nez Perce explanation of the events attendant on the arrival of Hill and the others, see MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 247.
55. Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, August 21, 1877, quoting the Deer Lodge New North-West. This reporter perhaps overextolled the Nez Perces' maneuver as "the boldest, most fearless, audacious and confident tactical movement we have known. It surpassed McClellan's flank movement from the Chickahomany [sic] to James River, or Grant's from the Rapidan to Richmond." The side movement led out of Lolo Canyon to Sleeman Creek and rejoined Lolo Creek about two and one-half miles west of its junction with the Bitterroot River. Space, Lolo Trail, 46.
56. Wilson Harlan, "Fiasco at 'Fort Fizzle,'" 66. Harlan believed that Rawn was incapacitated by drink during the incident of the Nez Perces' passing by his command. For an account that suggests that Rawn's pickets were purposely withdrawn to facilitate the Indians' movement (thereby endorsing the "secret agreement" scenario), see that of former Missoula volunteer John L. Humble in McWhorter, Hear Me, 351 n. 21.
57. Charles N. Loynes account in McWhorter, Hear Me, 352; Charles N. Loynes, "Battle of the 'Big Hole,'" Winners of the West, March 1925; Wilson Harlan, "Fiasco at 'Fort Fizzle,'"66. Quote is from Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 22. At least one volunteer ascribed the Nez Perces' reluctance to attack Rawn to the presence of the Flatheads with the command. Amos Buck, "Battle of the Big Hole," 119-20. See also Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 567-72; and Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 284.
58. Captain Charles C. Rawn report, September 30, 1877, in Terry, "Report," 501. Aggressive logging and skidding operations, along with a fire in 1934, destroyed surface evidence of Fort Fizzle in Lolo Canyon. Barsness and Dickinson, "Minutemen of Montana," 7 n. 8. Today U.S. Highway 12 and a U.S. Forest Service picnic and recreation area cover the southern periphery of the site.
59. A Bitterroot volunteer described the aftermath somewhat more anticlimactically, perhaps indicative of the rather loose state of affairs among the Nez Perces, having left Idaho behind: "A squad of our men had been ordered down the creek [by Rawn], and had got mixed up with the Indians, and finally had a talk with them, and after this others, of our men, met or overtook them and talked with them, when they avowed their intentions to pass through the valley peaceably, if possible. About sundown a number of the valley men met Looking Glass and he agreed to molest no one, and go on through the valley as fast as possible if he was not molested." Alfred Cave account in Boise, Idaho Weekly Statesman, September 6, 1877.
60. Deer Lodge New North-West, quoted in Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, August 21, 1877.
61. Boise, Idaho Weekly Statesman, September 6, 1877.
62. Helena Daily Herald, July 30, 1877.
63. Alfred Cave account in Boise, Idaho Weekly Statesman, September 6, 1877.
64. Portland Daily Standard, September 6, 1877.
65. MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 251.
66. For the accusations against Rawn, as well as notice of the dissension appearing among the different Montana communities regarding what was or was not done at Fort Fizzle, see Olson, "The Nez Perce," 164-70. Thorough coverage of the Fort Fizzle affair, together with a discussion of events in Montana preceding the episode, is in Aubrey Haines, An Elusive Victory, 7-30.
67. The delay incensed General McDowell, who later critiqued his department commander: "Whilst Howard delayed to organize this combined movement of his two columns and a reserve, the indians [sic] all get beyond Missoula! The day this order was issuedJuly 23Gov. Potts reports the indians seeking to pass through Montana. July [illeg.] they are reported on the Lolo trail thirty miles from Missoula!and July 28th reported as having turned Rawn's position and gone to the Buffalo country!!! And Howard's march was to commence July 30th." Marginal notations by McDowell in "Copies of letters and telegrams."
68. New York Herald, September 1, 1877.
70. FitzGerald, Army Doctor's Wife, 291.
71. Boise, Idaho Weekly Statesman, August 18, 21, 1877; "Summary of Reports . . . Non-Effectiveness," 6; Mason to Sanford, August 2, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands; Howard to Commanding Officer, Missoula, August 3, 1877, ibid.; and Boise, Idaho Weekly Statesman, August 11, 1877.
72. Boise, Idaho Weekly Statesman, August 18, 1877.
73. On August 1, Lieutenant Wood observed that dispatches received indicated that the Nez Perces were "said to be blocked at the mouth of the trail in Montana." C. E. S. Wood, "Journal," August 1, 1877. On August 2 or 3, Captain Jocelyn wrote: "Two Co's at Missoula were holding them in check. If we can strike them from this side they are in a close place. I do not however expect it. They doubtless know of our movements and will get away. . . . " Jocelyn, Mostly Alkali, 241.
74. C. E. S. Wood, "Chief Joseph, the Nez Perce," 138.
75. FitzGerald, Army Doctor's Wife, 296. The modern locations of Howard's bivouacs along the Lolo trail are believed to be as follows: July 30, Weippe Prairie; July 31, Musselshell Meadows; August 1, Soldier Meadows; August 2, Weitas Meadows; August 3, Bald Mountain; August 4, Camp Howard; August 5, where Lolo trail crosses Crooked Fork; August 6, Lolo Hot Springs; and August 7, present site of Lolo, Montana. Space, Lolo Trail, 46-47.
76. John Carpenter, Sword and Olive Branch, 255; and Jocelyn, Mostly Alkali, 243.
77. Howard, "Report," 609; and Monteith to Smith, July 31, 1877, item 6877, roll 337, Nez Perce War Papers.
78. Howard to Gibbon, August 6, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands. See also C. E. S. Wood, "Journal," August 4, 1877. In later years, cannonballs thought to be for use with Howard's guns were found at Bald Mountain and Camp Howard. Also, legend has it that one of Howard's howitzers was abandoned on the trail, a most unlikely occurrence. See Space, Lolo Trail, 47-48.
79. Howard to First Lieutenant Joseph A. Sladen, August 5, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
80. Howard to Gibbon, August 6, 1877 entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
82. Howard to Wheaton, August 7 [9], 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands; and Wheaton to Howard, August 18, 1877, in Howard, "Report," 652-53. After leaving Lewiston on July 30, Wheaton's force camped atop the Lewiston grade, then followed a route that took them to the site of present Moscow, Idaho, then on to Palouse City, the site of present Farmington, then followed Hangman's Creek to the Mullan Road, and arrived at Spokane Falls, Washington Territory, on August 10, 1877. Burgunder, "Nez Perce War." Wheaton had, in effect, traveled in an opposite direction from Howard. When he learned that the Nez Perces had turned south up the Bitterroot, he wrote the general that "this column . . . can hardly hope to cooperate very directly with the pursuing troops, who are separated from us by a range of great mountains, and moving in a different direction." Wheaton to Howard, August 10, 1877, in Howard, "Report," 652.
Chapter 6
1. McWhorter's informants identified the men as two Nez Perces and a YakimaUgly Grizzly Bear Boy, Tepsus (Horn Hide Dresser), and Owhi (the Yakima). McWhorter, Hear Me, 357.
2. Another preferred route was up the Big Blackfoot, then through Deer Lodge Valley and down Madison River to the Yellowstone country. Unidentified newspaper (Billings Gazette?), November 16, 1928, clipping, entry "Nez PerceBlackfeet," scrapbooks, Parmly Billings Library, Billings, Mont.
3. Yellow Bull identified this individual as Pile of Clouds. He was not Eapalekthiloom, the Nez Perce war leader of the same name who died in 1859. McWhorter, Hear Me, 553-57. The name could have been erroneously interpreted.
4. Yellow Bull mentioned the indecision among the Nee-Me-Poo after the Lolo trail experience over where to go, with some advocating going back into Idaho or heading east "to seek asylum among the Crows." Yellow Bull, Interview, BYU; and "Yellow Bull's Story." One of the people's traditional routes from Idaho to the buffalo plains lay through Nez Perce Pass, then through Big Hole Basin and streams east to the Yellowstone. For mention of Nez Perce Pass, see note by Theodore Swarts, unclassified envelope 122, 564, Camp Manuscript Field Notes, Camp Papers, LBNM.
5. No Feather recalled in 1915 that "when we started we did not know where we were going, nor did we at the time of the battle of Big Hole. At that time we had not thought of going to Canada. Tuhul Hutsut [Toohoolhoolzote] wanted to go over to the Crow Reservation." Weptas Nut (No Feather), Interview. However, McWhorter stated that Toohoolhoolzote aligned with White Bird on the matter. McWhorter, Hear Me, 357. See also Walter M. Camp to Brigadier General Hugh L. Scott, January 11, 1914, folder 1, box 2, Camp Papers, BYU.
6. The essence of this critical meeting of the Nee-Me-Poo leadership is here fused from the several Nez Perce sources that treat it. See, in particular, MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 252-53, 255 (which clearly mentions the British Possessions as an objective); Yellow Bull account in Curtis, North American Indian, 8:166; and McWhorter, Hear Me, 357-58 (which does not at this point entertain the possibility of Canada being an objective). See also the discussion in Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 248-49.
7. Fahey, Flathead Indians, 196; Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 249; and Dunlay, Wolves, 120. Nez Perce sources state that Looking Glass tried to visit Charlo, whereupon the Flathead refused to shake his hand, saying, "Why should I shake hands with men whose hands are bloody?" Looking Glass replied, "Your hands are as bloody as ours." MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 256.
8. In one well-documented example of Crow-Nez Perce mutual assistance, the Nez Perces of Looking Glass helped turn back an attack by Sioux at the mouth of Pryor Creek in 1874. Linderman, American, 260; and Marquis, Memoirs of a White Crow Indian, 88-97.
9. Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 250-51; Bradley, The Handsome People, 97-99; Marquis, Memoirs of a White Crow Indian, 97-98; and William White, Custer, Cavalry, and Crows, 134. For the Crows, see Hoxie, Parading through History.
10. Athearn, William Tecumseh Sherman, 317; and Dunlay, Wolves, 120. As an example of the continuing Nez Perce presence in Montana, on April 5, 1877, an army detachment from Fort Benton on the upper Missouri River escorted twenty-five lodges of Nez Perces, returning from a hunt on Milk River, past the settlements near Fort Shaw. Terry, "Report," 554. And a party of Nez Perces and Umatillas was encountered near the community of Yellowstone, Montana Territory, on April 14. Bozeman Times, April 19, 1877.
11. Lindgren, Geological Reconnaissance, 28. For the history of Fort Owen, see Weisel, Men and Trade, 135-36, 139-40; and Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 8-11. "The old historic fort was made of adobe or sun-dried bricks and covered an area 250 feet north and south by 125 feet east and west; the walls were 15 feet high and two feet thick. On the south end were two square bastions built and raised to two stories high, one on each corner. Long narrow perpendicular port holes were constructed on either side to serve as look-outs and for rifle shooting in case of attack. Prior to the Nez Perce war there had been four of these bastions, one on each of the four corners of the inclosure, but by 1877 only the two at the south end were standing." See Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 9-10, for further specifics of Fort Owen.
12. Although only Stevensville and Corvallis existed in 1877, the course of the Nez Perces through the Bitterroot took them through or near what are today the towns of Lolo, Florence, Stevensville, Corvallis, Hamilton, Como, Darby, Conner, and Sula. Dusenberry, "Chief Joseph's Flight," 47.
13. Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 11-12, 14; and Myers, "Settlers and the Nez Perce," 22. Another account indicated that the citizens of Skalkaho "built a stockade of logs, and then built a house inside large enough to accommodate the women and children." Catlin, "The Battle of the Big Hole."
14. Harlan to Potts (?), July 10, 1877, in Paul Phillips, "Battle of the Big Hole," 66.
15. The most extensive reminiscent account of the meeting between the Bitterroot volunteers and Looking Glass is in Wilson Harlan, "Fiasco at 'Fort Fizzle,'" 67-68. In essence, at their request, the chief came to speak with them, and at first upbraided them for having earlier borne arms against his people, but concluded that the men could go through to their homes. Wrote Wilson Harlan: "He and his warriors then rode back to camp, we following slowly in single file. The Indians were lined up on both sides of the road with guns in their hands. . . . As we passed the last Redskin, each of us urged his horse to a lope and stopped for nothing until we had reached the fort." See also the remarkably similar Nez Perce recollections in MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 252.
16. Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 23-24.
17. Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, August 21, 1877.
18. Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 26.
19. Fahey, Flathead Indians, 196.
20. Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 27.
22. Boise, Idaho Statesman, September 6, 1877.
23. Gibbon, "Report of Colonel Gibbon," 68.
24. Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 30-31, 32-33, 36-37. Buck misidentified the chief as White Bird. See ibid., 28, 29, 32. For coverage of the Stevensville visitation, see also Wilson Harlan, "Fiasco at 'Fort Fizzle,'" 68-69; MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 256-57; Washington McCormick to Potts, August 3, 1877, in Paul Phillips, "Battle of the Big Hole," 75; Gibbon, "Pursuit of Joseph," 325-26; Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 252; and Fahey, Flathead Indians, 196-97.
25. Duncan MacDonald believed that this band was headed by a man named Perish Bull Head and that Poker Joe was a warrior in the group. McWhorter, Hear Me, 360 n. 6.
26. Rawn to Gibbon, August 1, 1877; Rawn to Captain C. P. Higgins, August 1, 1877; Rawn to Potts, August 1, 1877; Rawn to Adjutant General, Department of the Columbia, August 1, 1877; Rawn to Gibbon, August 2, 1877 (quoted); all in Fort Missoula Letterbook.
27. Sherman to Secretary of War George W. McCrary, August 3, 1877, in Sheridan and Sherman, Report, 32.
28. Helena Daily Herald, July 30, 1877; Helena Daily HeraldExtra, July 31, 1877; Deer Lodge New North-WestExtra, August 3, 1877; Barsness and Dickinson, "Minutemen of Montana," 5; Athearn, William Tecumseh Sherman, 316-17; Athearn, "Frontier Critics," 26-27; and Olson, "The Nez Perce," 170-71.
29. Sherman to McCrary, August 3, 1877, in Sheridan and Sherman, Report, 32.
30. This enormous eighteenth-century ponderosa pine still stands east of U.S. Highway 93 a few miles south of Darby, Montana. For its background, see McWhorter, Hear Me, 364.
31. MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 257-58; McWhorter, Hear Me, 361; Yellow Bull, Account; miscellaneous notes, Camp Manuscripts, IU; Sutherland, Howard's Campaign, 29; Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 252, 254; and Fahey, Flathead Indians, 197-98.
33. Gibbon, "Report of Colonel Gibbon," 68; Rawn to Gibbon, August 2, 1877, Fort Missoula Letterbook; and Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 38. Gibbon had anticipated possibly meeting the Nez Perces if they attempted to come through Cadotte Pass, writing Governor Potts that "I might be unable to do more than check them" and encouraging the governor to provide armed militia to assist Rawn, who would necessarily follow the tribesmen up the Blackfoot. Gibbon to Potts, July 27, 1877, in Paul Phillips, "Battle of the Big Hole," 73.
34. Gibbon to Potts, August 2, 1877, in Paul Phillips, "Battle of the Big Hole," 73-74. Initially, Gibbon hoped to catch the Nez Perces before they left the Bitterroot Valley and by hard marching overtake them in two days. McCormick to Potts, August 3, 1877, in Paul Phillips, "Battle of the Big Hole," 75.
35. Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary, 1:452; and Dennis S. Lavery, "John Gibbon," in Spiller, Dictionary of American Military Biography, 1:380-83. For a selection of Gibbon's writings, see Gibbon, Adventures, which includes Gibbon's reminiscence of the Battle of the Big Hole (203-18).
36. Gibbon, "Report of Colonel Gibbon," 69; and Gibbon, "Pursuit of Joseph," 328.
37. Gibbon, "Report of Colonel Gibbon," 69; Gibbon, "Pursuit of Joseph," 329-30; Terry, "Report," 501; Army and Navy Journal, August 11, 1877, citing dispatches from the Department of the Columbia; Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 38-39; Catlin, "The Battle of the Big Hole," 2; Gibbon, "Pursuit of Joseph," 327-28; and Charles N. Loynes, "Battle of the 'Big Hole,'" Winners of the West, March 1925.
38. Gibbon, "Report of Colonel Gibbon," 69.
39. Hardin, Diary, August 8, 1877; and Charles Woodruff, "Battle of the Big Hole," 105, 107. Corporal Loynes recalled that "in places the trail was so steep that the mules were detached from the army wagons, and with ropes were drawn up the steep sides." Charles N. Loynes, "Battle of the 'Big Hole,'" Winners of the West, March 1925.
40. Gibbon, "Pursuit of Joseph," 332.
41. Charles Woodruff, "Battle of the Big Hole," 106.
42. Gibbon, "Report of Colonel Gibbon," 69; Gibbon, "Pursuit of Joseph," 331-32; and Charles Woodruff, "Battle of the Big Hole," 106-7.
43. Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary, 1:238; Deer Lodge New North-West, August 17, 1877; Bozeman Times, March 15, April 5, 1877; and Army and Navy Journal, September 1, 1877.
44. Gibbon, "Pursuit of Joseph," 334.
45. Gibbon, "Report of Colonel Gibbon," 69.
47. Gibbon, "Pursuit of Joseph," 335-36; Charles Woodruff, "Battle of the Big Hole," 107; and Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 42-43.
48. Gibbon, "Report of Colonel Gibbon," 70.
49. Horace B. Mulkey letter in National Tribune, August 29, 1929.
50. Charles N. Loynes, "Battle of the 'Big Hole,'" Winners of the West, March 1925.
51. Charles Woodruff, "Battle of the Big Hole," 109.
53. The loss of Bradley elicited mourning throughout the region, where he was well known, and he was commemorated in a poem entitled, "Bradley the Brave." Norris, The Calumet, 90-91.
54. Account based on information of William H. Edwards in the Deer Lodge New North-West, August 17, 1877.
55. Horace B. Mulkey letter in National Tribune, August 29, 1929.
57. "Battle Briefs Gleaned from Enlisted Men of the Seventh Infantry," Helena Daily Herald, August 23, 1877. "Officers [had] issued orders against killing non-combattant [sic] squaws or children and the order was respected, but . . . in numerous instances both were found fighting with pistol, gun and knife. Many were doubtless killed in the charge of the tepees." Deer Lodge New North-West, August 24, 1877.
58. Charles N. Loynes, "Battle of the 'Big Hole,'" Winners of the West, March 1925.
59. Gibbon, "Pursuit of Joseph," 336-37.
60. Otis Halfmoon, telephone communication with author, January 25, 1996.
61. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 115.
62. "Wounded Head's Narrative," in McWhorter, Hear Me, 372.
63. "Young White Bird's Story," in ibid., 376.
64. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 118.
65. "Story of Kawownonilpilp."
66. Gibbon, "Report of Colonel Gibbon," 70.
67. Charles Woodruff, Letter. A published version appears in Stewart, "Letters from the Big Hole," 55-56.
68. Gibbon, "Battle of the Big Hole," 4. Gibbon testified that the warriors at this point "got off on the hills and in the brush, and while we had to be up and at work, of course they laid low, and at almost every shot of their rifles one of our men fell, and this, too, when our men were at a distance from the enemy, such as rendered it utterly impossible for them to compete with the Indians [armed with Winchesters, or "hunting rifles"] in their accuracy of fire." U.S. House, Report of a Sub-Committee . . . Relating to the Reorganization of the Army, 264.
69. MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 260-61.
70. "Peopeo Tholekt's Story," in McWhorter, Hear Me, 392.
72. Woodruff, "Battle of the Big Hole," 111.
73. Gibbon, "Report of Colonel Gibbon," 70-71; Howard, "Report," 609; and Hunt, "Sergeant Sutherland's Ride," 39-46.
74. Gibbon, "Report of Colonel Gibbon," 71; "Report of the Surgeon-General," in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 428; Gibbon, "Pursuit of Joseph," 342; Hardin, Diary, August 10, 1877; and Horace B. Mulkey letter in National Tribune, August 29, 1929. A complete list of army casualties is in Appendix A. This overview of the Battle of the Big Hole is drawn from the several primary accounts from which quoted material presented above is cited, in addition to the following: reports of Captain Richard Comba and Colonel John Gibbon, in Terry, "Report," 561-63; Record of Engagements, 70-71; Helena Daily Independent, August 12, 1877; Deer Lodge New North-West, August 24, 1877; Army and Navy Journal, August 18, 25, September 22, 1877; New York Herald, September 10, 1877; Sherrill, "Battle of the Big Hole"; Shields, "Battle of the Big Hole"; and excerpts from Coon, "Outbreak of Chief Joseph," also in Rickey, Forty Miles a Day, 293-94. These sources and many more are the basis of the principal published authority on the battle, on which this description has liberally depended, Aubrey Haines, An Elusive Victory. In addition, a thorough analysis of the troops' deployment and progressive movements, as well as Nez Perce movements throughout the battle, based on archeological discoveries and on knowledge of contemporary tactical dispositions and group and individual behavioral patterns, is in Douglas D. Scott, A Sharp Little Affair. This volume also contains discussions about army and Nez Perce material culture, including clothing, weapons, and equipment, based on investigations conducted at Big Hole National Battlefield in 1990.
Next to the Battle of the Little Bighorn, that of the Big Hole is doubtless the best-chronicled in terms of Indian participant accounts of all the trans-Mississippi Indian-white battles, thanks largely to the efforts of Lucullus V. McWhorter early in the twentieth century. Besides those quoted above, this account has benefitted from the following: "Two Moons's Narrative," in McWhorter, Hear Me, 384-88; the accounts of Eloosykasit (Standing on a Point), Penahwenonmi (Helping Another), Owyeen (Wounded), WetatonmiOllokot's wife, Young White Bird (a fuller account than in Hear Me), Red Elk, Eelahweemah (About Asleep), Pahit Palikt, Kowtoliks, Black Eagle, and Samuel Tilden, in McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 134-46; Yellow Bull account in Curtis, North American Indian, 8:167; unclassified envelope 127, 563, Camp Manuscript Field Notes, Camp Papers, LBNM; Yellow Bull, Interview, BYU; Joseph [Heinmot Tooyalakekt], "An Indian's Views," 426-27; and Alcorn and Alcorn, "Old Nez Perce Recalls," 66-67. More reminiscent Indian sources are integrated in the thorough Aubrey Haines, An Elusive Victory, and for modern accounts weighted heavily toward the Nez Perce perspective, though utilizing other sources, too, see Garcia, Tough Trip Through Paradise, 286-92; Trafzer and Scheureman, Chief Joseph's Allies, 19-20; Francis Haines, "Chief Joseph," 6; Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 255-56; and, especially, Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 580-88. Nez Perce historical pictographic sources possibly related to Big Hole are discussed in Stern, Schmitt, and Halfmoon, "A Cayuse-Nez Perce Sketchbook," 361-62.
75. Although the Nez Perces had learned of Howard's imminent arrival, it was not for that reason that they refrained from further combat with the command. In 1889 Joseph told Gibbon that his warriors watched the troops in the aftermath of the fighting on the tenth and that both Joseph and Looking Glass agreed to leave the soldiers alone. "I said let us give up this thing; it is not a fair fight; I do not like this kind of fighting; in the morning, if they catch up with us, we will fight to the death. Looking Glass said, 'Very well; let us go.'" Letter from Gibbon to the editor of the Portland Oregonian, as reprinted in Army and Navy Register, December 14, 1889.
76. Gibbon, "Report of Colonel Gibbon," 71; Howard, "Report," 609-10; "Report of the Surgeon-General," in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 428; Jocelyn, Mostly Alkali, 242-43; C. E. S. Wood, "Journal," August 11, 12, 1988; FitzGerald, Army Doctor's Wife, 302-5; Davison, "A Century Ago," 8-10; and John Carpenter, "General Howard," 136-37.
77. Army and Navy Journal, August 18, 1877.
78. U.S. Army Gallantry and Meritorious Conduct. Medal winners were First Sergeant William D. Edwards, Sergeant Patrick Rogan, Private Lorenzo D. Brown, Musician John McLennon, and Sergeant Milden H. Wilson, all of the Seventh Infantry; and Private Wilfred Clark, Second Cavalry, whose award was partly for Big Hole and partly for his participation in the fight at Camas Meadows, Idaho Territory. The Medal of Honor, 230-31. The Montana Volunteers won belated validation for their part in the Nez Perce War in 1881, when the federal government authorized payment to them of one dollar per day and entitled those wounded or disabled, and the heirs of those killed while assisting the regular troops, to applicable pension benefits. The volunteers were also reimbursed for horses and guns lost during their service. Statutes . . . 1879 . . . 1881, 641.
Chapter 7
1. Gibbon,"Report of Colonel Gibbon," 71; Howard, "Report," 610; Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 51; and Charles N. Loynes, "Battle of the 'Big Hole,'" Winners of the West, March 1925. In September a party from Deer Lodge under Lieutenant Van Orsdale returned to the battlefield and reburied the army dead, fourteen of whom had been disinterred in the interim and the officers' remains scalped. Van Orsdale counted the remains of eighty Indians "visible or partially so" in the makeshift graves. Van Orsdale to Adjutant, Post at Missoula, September 29, 1877, in Terry, "Report," 549-50.
2. Howard, "Report," 610; and Regimental Returns . . . Fourth Artillery, August 1877, roll 30.
3. Mason to wife, August 13, 1877, in Davison, "A Century Ago," 9-10. In 1877 the Department of the Platte included "so much of the Territory of Idaho as lies east of a line formed by the extension of the western boundary of Utah to the northeastern boundary of Idaho, embracing Fort Hall [near present Pocatello]." Thian, Notes Illustrating the Military Geography, 89. On August 14, Howard notified McDowell that he was entering the Department of the Platte that day; three days later, McDowell relayed that information to Sheridan at Chicago. Nez Perce War, 1877, Division of the Missouri, Special File, roll 5.
4. Howard, "Report," 610; and Howard to Adjutant General, Military Division of the Pacific, August 14, 1877, quoted in John Carpenter, Sword and Olive Branch, 255. In a letter of August 14, Surgeon FitzGerald informed his wife that indications were that the Indians "were moving rapidly toward headwaters of the Yellowstone River via a place on the maps designated Pleasant Valley. General Howard said . . . he would pursue them as far as that point. Then if he did not succeed in overtaking them, he would notify General McDowell and terminate the campaign." FitzGerald, Army Doctor's Wife, 304-5.
5. Howard to Miller, August 13, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands; and Portland Daily Standard, August 28, 1877.
6. Despite published references to the contrary in secondary literature about the 1877 war, there is no documentation in the Nez Perce sources to support the contention that the people altered by any great degree their intended route to the Yellowstone country following the Big Hole encounter. See, for example, Mark Brown, "Joseph Myth," 9.
7. For a participant account of the citizens' reaction to the Nez Perces' presence in the area, see Barrett, "A Near Encounter." (Also published in Dillon Examiner, July 25, 1962.) Comprehensive trail studies of the route of the Nez Perces after leaving the Bitterroot Valley through the Battle of the Big Hole and until they reached the Lemhi Valley of southeast Idaho Territory are in Hagelin, Nez Perce . . . Trail; and Gard, Nez Perce . . . Trail.
8. This brief account of the activity on Horse Prairie is based on information contained in Helena Daily Herald, August 13, 15, 1877; Deer Lodge New North-West, August 24, 1877; Cruikshank, "Chasing Hostile Indians"; Alva Noyes, "Story of Andrews [sic] Myers"; Redington, "Scouting in Montana," 57; Vaughn, Then and Now, 220-21; McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 162 n. 2; and McWhorter, Hear Me, 407-8. The view that the strikes were motivated by the fury of the people in the wake of the Big Hole is consistent with Nez Perce revelations given Duncan MacDonald and presented in MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 265.
9. Dusenberry, "Chief Joseph's Flight," 48; Roeser, "Territory of Idaho."
10. Quoted in McWhorter, Hear Me, 406.
11. Ibid., 406-7. This probable marching order is based on information in Thomas, "Pi.Lu'.Ye.Kin," 7, quoting Curtis, North American Indian, 8:46; Coale, "Ethnohistorical Sources," pt. 1, 250; "Yellow Bull's Story"; and unclassified envelope 91, 541, Camp Manuscript Field Notes, Camp Papers, LBNM. A settler at Junction, Idaho Territory, described the marching order of the procession as: women "and families leading, next quite a number of drags or litters, carrying the wounded, then . . . 1,500 or more ponies, ending with about 300 warriors." Clough, "Recollections."
12. Rifle pits discovered in 1965 numbered about thirty in an area covering three acres. Missoula Missoulian, December 28, 1965. For the Junction settlers' preparations and response to the Nez Perces' presence, see Clough, "Recollections."
13. Fred Phillips claim, no. 1782, April 13, 1878, entry 700, Claim for Indian Depredations, U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. The freight train belonged to Fred Phillips, who was not present during the incident.
14. Deer Lodge New North-West, August 31, 1877; Clough, "Recollections"; J. D. Wood, Reminiscence; Cruikshank, "Chasing Hostile Indians"; Cruikshank, "Birch Creek"; clipping of newspaper article by Alexander Cruikshank, vertical files, Parmly Billings Library, Billings, Mont.; and Shoup, "Birch Creek Massacre" (originally published in the Salmon City, Idaho, Recorder-Herald, August 22, 1940). The incident, as told through Albert Lyon, appears in DeCost Smith, Indian Experiences, 258-69; and M. I. McCreight, "An Incident in Chief Joseph's War," unidentified periodical, clipping ca. 1952, Yellowstone National Park Research Library, Mammoth, Wyo. Accounts from the Nez Perce perspective, which cite the influence of whiskey on the warriors' actions, are in Curtis, North American Indian, 8:167; McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 164-65, 164 n. 4; McWhorter, Hear Me, 409-10; and MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 265-66. "While under the influence of the whiskey captured from the train, one of the bravest and best warriors in the Nez Perce band was killed and another narrowly escaped death at the hands of their comrades." MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 266. McWhorter's informants identified the dead warrior as Stripes Turned Down, who had helped capture the howitzer at the Big Hole. McWhorter, Hear Me, 410. In later years, the site attracted passersby who placed rocks on a cairn at the place the train was attacked. By the 1940s, the cairn had become indistinguishable. DeCost Smith, Indian Experiences, 269. The grave of one of the unidentified victims is one mile from the site. The four other dead were removed in January 1878 for reburial in Salmon City, where a monument was erected to their memory. Clough, "Recollections"; and Falkner, Letter. For the route from Utah, see Madsen and Madsen, "Diamond-R Rolls Out."
15. Granville Stuart in Nez Perce Indian Wars 1, 160, Camp Manuscript Field Notes, Camp Papers, LBNM; Bozeman Times, August 23, 1877; Dusenberry, "Chief Joseph's Flight," 43; and Chicago Tribune, August 24, 1877. Sutherland wrote that the Nez Perces passed through "cutting and carefully coiling the telegraph wire before leaving." Portland Daily Standard, September 6, 1877. For discussion of the construction and maintenance of the telegraph line between Salt Lake City and Virginia City and Helena, see Madsen and Madsen, North to Montana!, 108-9.
16. Quoted in Davison, "A Century Ago," 10. See also Sutherland, Howard's Campaign, 32.
17. Sutherland, Howard's Campaign, 32. Howard responded to Shoup, telling him, "The more you can do to draw them towards you the better till I get upon the old Mormon Road. I expect to reach a point near the mouth of the [Medicine Lodge Creek?] canyon tomorrow night. If I get word that the Indians have gone up the Mormon Road, that is, eastward, I shall make a wider detour to the left as quick as possible to try & intercept them." Howard to Shoup, August 15, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands. See also C. E. S. Wood, "Journal," August 15, 16, 1877.
18. Howard asked the volunteers to cooperate with his plan, but they insisted on following their own course, which the general feared would "result as a diversion in favor of the enemy." Howard, "Report," 610. Howard's instructions to the volunteers are in Wood to Captain William A. Clark, Montana Volunteers, August 16, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands. But see also the lengthy explanation for this dispute in C. E. S. Wood, "Journal," August 16, 1877. Bozeman Times, August 23, 1877, reported that the volunteers became miffed and returned home when Howard directed them to "march in the rear, or retire altogether." Sutherland wrote of this episode: "Sixty volunteers, under Messrs. Stuart and Clark, from Deer Lodge, joined us, but apparently not wishing to fight the Indians if they had to chase them for it, they returned home after traveling about five miles in the direction of the hostiles." Sutherland, Howard's Campaign, 32.
19. Howard to Miller, August 16, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
20. Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 55.
21. Howard's orders to Bacon were as follows: "You will proceed with your command to the vicinity of Henry Lake and Reynolds [sicRaynolds] Pass. The object of the expedition is to ascertain whether the hostile Indians are passing into the buffalo country by the above-mentioned route. Should you find the Indians you will take a defensible position and while observing their movements do all you can with your force to harass them. Exercise at the same time prudence and caution. You will send a courier back to these headquarters with information as soon as you discover the Indians and form an opinion of their intended movement. Should you not at the expiration of 48 hours discover any trace of the hostiles, you will return to this camp by easy marches, sending a courier in advance." Quoted in Davison, "A Century Ago," 11-12.
22. Howard, "Report," 610-11; C. E. S. Wood, "Journal," August 17, 1877; Sutherland, Howard's Campaign, 32; Lew L. Callaway to L. V. McWhorter, May 1, 1931, folder 158, McWhorter Papers; and Helena Daily Independent, June 13, 1896.
23. Davis, "Incident," 561. (This article, retitled, "The Battle of Camas Meadows," is reprinted in Brady, Northwestern Fights and Fighters, 191-97.)
24. Major James S. Brisbin to Assistant Adjutant General, Department of Dakota, October 26, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 553; Regimental Returns . . . Second Cavalry, August 1877, roll 166; Mason to wife, August 19, 1877, in Davison, "A Century Ago," 10; Chicago Tribune, August 24, 1877; Sutherland, Howard's Campaign, 33; C. E. S. Wood, "Journal," August 18, 1877; and Howard to Mason containing sketch map of the Nez Perces' route crossing stage route possibly headed to a southeastwardly leading trail along the Teton River, with scout's notation: "I think from the cors [sic] the Indians are taking they are trying to go to Wind River." Howard to Mason, August 18, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
25. General Land Office Survey Plat. Geological data is from Embree, McBroome, and Doherty, "Preliminary Stratigraphic Framework," 333-34.
26. Howard, "Report," 611. A man in the ranks stated that the troops pitched camp "on a knoll of lava rocks." New York Herald, September 10, 1877. Howard remembered that the meadow had been cut and that "large stacks of meadow hay" lay scattered across the ground. Howard, Nez Perce Joseph, 221. Wood stated that the camp was "double picketed." C. E. S. Wood, "Journal," August 19, 1877.
27. Howard, Nez Perce Joseph, 224-25.
28. The following citizens were present at Camas Meadows: James E. Callaway (captain), G. W. Peck, George Thexton, Henry Sermon, J. Harkness, C. Chadduck, J. S. McCormick, J. B. Allebaugh, Hugh Kelly, J. Bucklin, Henry Fishback, Thomas Garvey, L. C. Smith, R. O. Hickman, Frank Lelleher, Dr. E. T. Yager, J. Bogin [Rogin?], Thomas T. Baker, Henry Browne, Henry O'Donnell, D. W. Sumner, Walter Wynne, W. H. Patrick, Sargent Hall, A. Shellbarger, J. W. Barley, Frank Daddow, W. W. Stevens, George Odell, J. M. Kyle, W. M. Alward, James Mitchell, J. F. Hart, Thomas Baker, A. Talbott, C. B. Houser, Thomas J. Farrell, Simeon R. Buford, William Morris, and Samuel Word. "Special correspondent" Thomas T. Baker account in Virginia City Madisonian, August 25, 1877. The identity of Baker is confirmed in Helena Daily Independent, June 13, 1896.
29. Virginia City Madisonian, August 25, 1877. Sergeant Davis wrote years later that "at night guards were posted, and a picket post was established some five hundred yards upstream, near the creek and on a rocky knoll, and two at other points." Davis, "Incident," 562.
30. Howard, "Report," 611; and Sutherland, Howard's Campaign, 34. However, Sutherland stated that "all the cavalry horses and wagon mules were tied up on the rocky mound where we were encamped." Ibid., 35. See also the sketch map by Edmonds, "Howard's Camp."
32. Powell, Powell's Records, 13, 57, 112, 155, 308, 520. In addition, for Sanford, see Hagemann, Fighting Rebels and Redskins; however, this is largely a Civil War memoir.
33. The complainant continued: "He has leave of absence on Sick account, but judging from the number of women that he states he is 'Intimate' withHe cannot be very sick. . . . The people here think it an outrage." S. B. Underwood to Secretary of War, January 21, 1876, in Norwood, Appointment, Commission, and Personal File. Norwood eventually retired from the army in 1889 on disability; he died May 24, 1901. Powell, Powell's Records, 439; Norwood, Appointment, Commission, and Personal File; and Greene, Yellowstone Command, 206-11.
34. At least two accounts mention the rainy weather and the moon; however, Howard described the night as "starlight, but no moon." Howard, Nez Perce Joseph, 225.
35. Accounts vary as to the time of the Nez Perces' attack, with most specifying either 3:00 a.m. or 4:00 a.m. or sometime in between. See, for examples, Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, September 18, 1877; and New York Herald, September 10, 1877. Wood stated that the command was "awakened at 4 a.m. by reveille of musketry." C. E. S. Wood, "Journal," August 20, 1877.
36. Ibid., September 10, 1877.
37. Norwood to Gibbon, August 24, 1877, item 6154, roll 338, Nez Perce War Papers.
38. Virginia City Madisonian, August 25, 1877. "We discovered that a band of screaming Indians were behind our entire mule train, 110 in number, and our loose horses." New York Herald, September 10, 1877.
39. Frank T. Conway reminiscence in Helena Daily Independent, June 13, 1896. Howard was critical of the volunteers' response. "One takes another's gun, some get the wrong belts, others drop their percussion caps; their horses get into a regular stampede, and rush in the darkness toward the herd of mules, and all the animals scamper off together, while the citizens plunge into the water above their knees, and cross to the regular troops at a double-quick." Howard, Nez Perce Joseph, 226.
40. Frank T. Conway, a twelve-year-old helper with a freight train from Corrine that had attached itself to the command until the Nez Perce threat passed, recalled the following incident during the attack: "A well known [Virginia City] stockman, it is said, for some reason best known to himself, climbed into the forks of a big cottonwood tree and was halloing for some one to do something, when a famous criminal lawyer, who had made a dive through the creek, and was wet up to his neck, took shelter beneath the same tree, and called through his chattering teeth: 'For God's sake, dry up, Tom, it is a general attack.'" The remark inspired the following doggerel, entitled, "Our Volunteers": "Lay low boys, it is a general attack/Down in the creek or you'll get shot in the back,/I pledge you my word I wish I hadn't come,/And I'll bet you ten to one we'll have to foot it home./Oh, I am one of the volunteers, who marched right home on the tramp, the tramp,/When Joseph set the boys afoot, At the battle of Callaway's camp." Helena Daily Independent, June 13, 1896.
41. Davis, "Incident," 562. Another account stated that "everybody sprung out of their blankets, cartridge belt and rifle in hand." Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, September 18, 1877.
42. Virginia City Madisonian, August 25, 1877.
43. Sutherland, Howard's Campaign, 34. See also Sutherland's account in Portland Daily Standard, September 6, 1877.
45. Howard, "Report," 611. Citizen John Davis received a slight wound in the head, and Dr. E. T. Yager was hit in the knee by a spent bullet. Helena Daily Herald, August 30, 1877. (This account also appears in Army and Navy Journal, October 6, 1877.) A rough drawing of the area of the Camas Meadows attack, however, suggests that the warriors headed northwest, toward the Centennial Range, a seemingly implausible direction considering the subsequent chase by the cavalry companies. See "Fight at Camas Meadows," inset drawing in Fletcher, "Department of Columbia Map." For a sketch showing the layout of the army camp at the outset of the Nez Perces' attack, see the New York Daily Graphic, September 8, 1877.
46. See MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 266-67; and McWhorter, Hear Me, 417.
47. Yellow Bull stated that Looking Glass had counseled against attacking the soldiers, but was overruled. Yellow Bull, Interview, LBNM, 165.
48. McWhorter, Hear Me, 421 n. 45; Yellow Bull account in Curtis, North American Indian, 8:167; and MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 267.
49. See "Story of Kawownonilpilp."
50. To which the verbal response among the Nez Perces was something like "Ise tanin kenek kun nawas kunya tim onina padkuta?""Who in hell fire that gun?" McWhorter, Hear Me, 167 n. 5; see also account of Wottolen in McWhorter, Hear Me, 419.
51. See the following Nez Perce sources, upon which this synopsis of their testimony is based: MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 266-68; McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 165-68; and McWhorter, Hear Me, 414-23, which includes the accounts of Peopeo Tholekt and Wottolen. Yellow Wolf succinctly stated that "Joseph was not along." McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 166; and Alcorn and Alcorn, "Old Nez Perce Recalls," 69. For synthesized accounts drawing heavily on Nez Perce testimony, see Francis Haines, "Chief Joseph," 6-7; Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 260-61; and Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 595-96. In his own account, Joseph [Heinmot Tooyalakekt], "An Indian's Views," 427, Joseph barely acknowledged the action. In an alternative explanation for the fight at Camas Meadows, Yellow Bull explained that: "We decided to attack the soldiers in their camp at night as they had done to us at Big Hole. We tried to do this but blundered in some way . . . and the noise of the firing stampeded the pack mules. Having failed to jump the camp of the soldiers, we took the stampeded mules, which was the only advantage gained, and they fell to us more by accident than by design, or as a stroke of good luck." Yellow Bull, Interview, LBNM, 165.
54. Davis claimed that the recovered animals had been "dropped" by the tribesmen. Ibid. Another account stated that Norwood "ordered a citizen and a soldier to get ahead of and drive back about 40 or 50 animals that had been cut off from the herd." Account by "Participant" in Helena Daily Herald, August 30, 1877. Yet another account declared that it was Captain Carr's company that retook the mounts. New York Herald, September 10, 1877.
55. See New York Herald, September 10, 1877. Howard indicated years later that he "was surprised and somewhat vexed" at the retirement of the cavalry. Howard to then-Major James Jackson, October 3, 1895, copy provided by Eileen Bennett, Kilgore, Idaho.
56. The twenty-one-year-old Brooks had enlisted in October 1875, at age nineteen, having received his parents' permission. A contemporary account reported that Brooks was killed while delivering a message. "He was a very promising youth, and his loss was mourned by all who knew him." Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, September 18, 1877. A literary account of the death of Brooks appears in Redington, "Bugler Brooks." This article is reprinted, with additions, in Redington, "Story of Bugler Brooks." (Technically, Brooks was a trumpeter of the Second Cavalry; the bugle was the instrument of the infantry.) The latter piece states that Charles Gibbons purportedly shot the warrior who had killed Brooks. Redington, "Story of Bugler Brooks," 200 n. Five days earlier, Brooks had written his last letter home from a drugstore in Bannack City, where he had gone with officers from Howard's command to purchase horses. "Good by [sic] for the present. You will hear from me soon again," he penned his sister, who, through some bureaucratic oversight, learned nothing of Brooks's death from the War Department until the following summer. Bennett, "History and Legend of . . . Brooks," 41-42.
57. Howard, "Report," 611-12; and Helena Daily Herald, August 30, 1877.
59. Notation by Norwood accompanying clipping in Virginia City Madisonian, August 25, 1877, item 5816, roll 338, Nez Perce War Papers.
60. Norwood to Gibbon, August 24, 1877, item 6154, roll 338, Nez Perce War Papers.
62. There is disagreement among the accounts over the distance of the withdrawal to where Norwood made his stand. Whereas the captain stated that he withdrew twelve hundred yards, the account of "Participant" made the distance "about 1,000 yards." Helena Daily Herald, August 30, 1877. Sergeant Davis, writing more than twenty-five years after the events, thought that the distance was "more than five hundred yards." Davis, "Incident," 563. Yet another source stated that Norwood withdrew "half a mile," which would have been some five hundred yards farther than the figure given by the captain. Virginia City Madisonian, August 25, 1877. Because Norwood's and "Participant's" statements are immediate to the event, the distance of one thousand to twelve hundred yards is probably close to correct.
63. Norwood to Gibbon, August 24, 1877, item 6154, roll 338, Nez Perce War Papers. (Norwood's report was also published in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 572-73). A source told the Virginia City Madisonian, August 25, 1877, that Norwood's fight lasted a rather specific "two hours and forty-five minutes," while Sergeant Davis thought that it took "two hours." Davis, "Incident," 563. Four hours is likely the total time of Norwood's engagement, from the inception of the fighting through Norwood's withdrawal and fight at the "frying pan." Helena Daily Herald, August 30, 1877.
65. Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, September 18, 1877. The other casualties were: First Sergeant Henry Wilkins, scalp wound; Farrier William Jones, right knee, slightly; and Private Wilfred Clark, left shoulder, slightly. Field Return, Battalion Second Cavalry, August 1877, Regimental Returns . . . Second Cavalry, roll 166. One man of Company I, Farrier James King, was also wounded. "List of Wounded in Skirmish on Camas Meadow." Another listing of casualties stated that "during the same action many slight flesh wounds [were] received by men of Companies 'B' & 'I' 1st Cavalry." Sanford to Assistant Adjutant General, Department of the Columbia, December 6, 1877, box 1, entry 624, Office of the Adjutant General. See also Davis, "Incident," 563. A complete account of army casualties at Camas Meadows is in appendix A. Scout Willie L. Curry, who was with Norwood, was the son of the governor of Oregon. Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, September 20, 1877.
66. "Story of Kawownonilpilp"; and Deer Lodge New North-West, September 14, 1877.
67. McWhorter ascribed this call to Trumpeter Brooks, who was with Company B, First Cavalry. McWhorter, Hear Me, 425 n. 54. But it almost precisely conforms to the account of Sergeant Davis, "Incident," 563, who was with Norwood's Company L. Moreover, the movement described by Peopeo Tholekt aligns with that known to have occurred during Norwood's withdrawal from his advanced skirmish position.
68. McWhorter, Hear Me, 424-25. See also McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 168-69. MacDonald's informants told him that Looking Glass tried to trap Norwood's company by positioning two lines on either side, but Norwood failed to advance between the lines and instead "retreated to a point of timber." MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 268.
69. Howard, Nez Perce Joseph, 227.
70. Penciled, undated note, "Headquarters, Department of Columbia," part 3, 1877, box 2, entry 107, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
72. Howard, "Report," 612. The exchange between Howard and Sanford is in Howard, Nez Perce Joseph, 228.
73. Norwood to Gibbon, August 24, 1877, roll 338, item 6154, Nez Perce War Papers.
74. Helena Daily Independent, June 13, 1896.
75. This is a liberal estimate based on knowledge of the approximate start of the Nez Perce raid, say 3:30 a.m., to probably 4:15 a.m., when the troops went in chase of the pack animals and horses, to perhaps 5:30 a.m. when they fell into line facing the warriors, to about 9:30 a.m., when the warriors retired before Norwood's final position, to 11:30 a.m. or even mid-afternoon, when the troops likely arrived back in camp with the dead and wounded. However, Howard's aide, Lieutenant Wood, wrote eleven years later that the fighting ended at 2:00 p.m. C. E. S. Wood, "Chief Joseph, the Nez Perce," 140.
76. Virginia City Madisonian, August 25, 1877. Davis wrote: "I could never understand how those two companies of the 1st Cavalry could have missed the Indians [sicthey did not] and gotten entirely out of touch with us, when we started together and we were fighting within half an hour and kept it up for nearly three hours." Davis, "Incident," 564.
77. New York Herald, September 10, 1877.
78. C. E. S. Wood, "Journal," August 20, 1877.
79. Howard, Nez Perce Joseph, 229.
80. Howard, "Report," 612; and Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 60-61. Other sources, besides those cited above, that have contributed to this record of the Camas Meadows fight are: McDowell to Adjutant General, Washington, D.C. (containing Howard's initial report of the event), August 22, 1877, roll 337, item 5282, Nez Perce War Papers; Portland Daily Standard, September 6, 1877; FitzGerald, Army Doctor's Wife, 307; Lew L. Callaway account in Great Falls Rocky Mountain Husbandman, September 4, 1941; C. E. S. Wood, "Indian Epic is Re-Told"; Charles Rhodes, "Chief Joseph," 224; and Baily, "Nez Perces in Yellowstone," 5-7.
81. Medal of Honor, Special File; The Medal of Honor, 229-31; copies of Jackson Medal of Honor documents provided by Eileen Bennett, Kilgore, Idaho; Beyer and Keydel, Deeds of Valor, 2:248; and U.S. Army Gallantry and Meritorious Conduct, 80-81.
82. Glass's grave, complete with U.S. Quartermaster Department-provided marker, overlooks Pleasant Valley west of Interstate 15. It can be reached via the exit at the community of Humphreys, then south on an old two-lane highway for nearly three miles, then under the interstate and north on a gravel road for about one mile to the solitary grave above the valley.
83. Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 63.
84. Howard, "Report," 612; Chicago Tribune, August 24, 1877; and Army and Navy Journal, September 1, 1877.
85. New York Herald, September 10, 1877.
86. Howard to Bainbridge, August 21, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands. The Bannocks proved to be effective scouts for the army, despite the stated desire of their leader, Buffalo Horn, to kill the Nez Perce herders with the command, a request that Howard quickly refused. Howard, Nez Perce Joseph, 175. Howard also expected to receive forty Lemhi Shoshones under Chief Tendoy who he wanted also to go after the stolen animals. "If Ten-Doy comes up," he wrote Bainbridge, "he can join you as I believe his people and yours are friendly." Howard, Nez Perce Joseph, 175. See also Howard to Shoup, August 20, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
87. Years later, Howard complained that "Lieutenant Bacon let him [Joseph] go by and pass through the narrow gateway [Targhee Pass] without firing a shot." Howard, My Life and Experiences, 293. Yet it is obvious in his orders that Bacon was to scout Raynolds Pass, not Targhee. Davison, "A Century Ago," 12.
88. For extracts of medical reports testifying to the poor condition of the men, see Howard, "Report," 617.
89. Ibid., 612; Sutherland, Howard's Campaign, 36-37; Chicago Tribune, August 24, 1877; and Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 64-70.
91. Mason to wife, August 24, 1877, quoted in Davison, "A Century Ago," 12.
92. Captain Robert Pollock to wife, August 25, 1877, in Pollock, Grandfather, Chief Joseph and Psychodynamics, 83.
93. New York Herald, September 10, 1877.
94. Howard to Assistant Adjutant General, Military Division of the Pacific, August 24, 1877, quoted in John Carpenter, Sword and Olive Branch, 257.
95. "Report of the General of the Army," November 7, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 12-13.
97. Ibid. See the in-depth discussion of the Howard-McDowell-Sherman telegraphic round robin in John Carpenter, Sword and Olive Branch, 254-57.
Chapter 8
1. Sheridan to Terry, telegrams, August 13, 1877, and Terry to Howard, August 14, 1877, folder: Nez Perce War, box 3, Sladen Family Papers.
2. Miles to Doane, August 3, 1877, Baird Papers.
3. Doane's army career, including his work with the Crow scouts, is detailed in Bonney and Bonney, Battle Drums and Geysers, 71-87.
5. First Lieutenant George W. Baird to Doane, August 12, 1877, Baird Papers.
6. Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis report, December 5, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 507-8. See also Army and Navy Journal, April 30, 1878.
7. Howard to Sturgis, August 25, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
8. Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis report, December 5, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 508; and Bonney and Bonney, Battle Drums and Geysers, 76-77.
10. Howard's orders to Cushing are in ibid.
11. Sherman to Sheridan, August 29, 1877, roll 5, Nez Perce War, 1877, Division of the Missouri, Special File.
13. Sherman to Howard, August 29, 1877, roll 5, Nez Perce War, 1877, Division of the Missouri, Special File.
14. Sherman to Sheridan, August 31, 1877, item 5542, roll 338, Nez Perce War Papers.
16. U.S. Senate, Letter from the Secretary of the Interior . . . 1872, 1-2; "Report on the Yellowstone National Park," 841; and Chittenden, Yellowstone National Park, 175-76. For the background and history of Yellowstone National Park, see Aubrey Haines, Yellowstone Story; Bartlett, Yellowstone; Aubrey Haines, Yellowstone National Park; and Beal, Story of Man in Yellowstone.
17. August 3, 1877, letter, in Sheridan and Sherman, Report, 33. The statement about native beliefs was untrue. Indians were not afraid of the park's hot springs, but thanks to Sherman's statement and others like it (from Euro-Americans who did not know the truth), Yellowstone National Park has been plagued by that misconception ever since. Historian Lee H. Whittlesey, letter to author, May 1995. Confirming this view, at least one aged Nez Perce recalled that his people had used the hot springs for cooking food during their passage in 1877. Kearns, "Nez Perce Chief," 41.
18. Sherman to McCrary, August 19, 1877, in Sheridan and Sherman, Report, 35.
19. Sherman to McCrary, August 29, 1877, ibid., 37.
21. Gibbon, "Wonders of the Yellowstone"; and Gibbon, "Rambles in the Rocky Mountains," 312-36, 455-75 (reprinted in Gibbon, Adventures).
22. Gibbon to Howard, August 26, 1877, entry 395, 141-42, part 3, Letterbook, January 1870-April 1879, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
23. The sole substantive Nez Perce account that is known to date is that of Yellow Wolf, given to L. V. McWhorter early in the twentieth century. Yellow Wolf, however, as will be seen, was part of a group of warriors that splintered off from the main column and traveled north, so that his recollections are limited in explaining the extent of movement of the principal assemblage. See McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 170-80; and Guie and McWhorter, Adventures in Geyser Land. The primary first-person non-Indian account that posits the locations of the Nez Perces through much of their passage through the park is that of Fisher, in charge of the Bannock scouts, as contained in Fisher, "Journal of S. G. Fisher." A typescript of Fisher's original journal, which contains slight differences in wording and phrasing from the published version, is Fisher, Journal, Idaho State Historical Society. A reminiscent account of some value is in Woodward, "Service of J. W. Redington" which contains not only Redington's recollections of his days in Yellowstone working with Fisher, but verbatim excerpts from period tabloids covering his experiences.
For a sampling of recent thinking regarding the route of the Nez Perces through Yellowstone based partly on the above materials but with widely divergent results, see Goodenough, "Lost on Cold Creek"; and Lang, "Where Did the Nez Perces Go?".
24. Fisher, "Journal of S. G. Fisher," 270-71.
25. For details of the course of the Bannock Trail and its many divisions, see Replogle, Yellowstone's Bannock Indian Trails, 22-30. See also Aubrey Haines, Yellowstone Story, 1:27-29; and Aubrey Haines, "Bannock Indian Trails."
26. John Shively gave his age as sixty-two in March 1887, when he filed for losses incurred from his experience with the Nez Perces ten years earlier. By all accounts, he must have appeared older than his age. Frank D. Carpenter, one of the Radersburg tourists, called him "the most wretched looking specimen of humanity I had ever seen." Guie and McWhorter, Adventures in Geyser Land, 68. See, John Shively claim, no. 4049, entry 700, Claim for Indian Depredations, U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Shively's accounts appear in the Bozeman Times, September 13, 1877; Deer Lodge New North-West, September 14, 1877; and Helena Daily Independent, September 12, 1877. See also Shively's narrative in Stanley, Rambles in Wonderland, 175-79.
27. See the concerned accounts, as follows: Fisher, "Journal of S. G. Fisher," 270; McWhorter, Hear Me, 435; McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 170-71; "Yellow Wolf's Story," in Guie and McWhorter, Adventures in Geyser Land, 275; and "Shively, Guide for the Nez Perces," in ibid., 281.
28. See Norris, The Calumet, 250, for a close-to-contemporary description of this site.
29. Fisher, "Journal of S. G. Fisher," 272-73; Bozeman Times, September 30, 1877; and McWhorter, Hear Me, 436-37 .
30. Hayden, "Yellowstone National Park"; and "Sketch of the Yellowstone Lake and . . . Upper Yellowstone River." Pelican Creek was named in 1864. Whittlesey, Yellowstone Place Names, 119.
31. Deer Lodge New North-West, September 14, 1877; and Bozeman Times, September 13, 1877. On being informed that they were on the Yellowstone, Shively recalled, "there was more rejoicing among them than among the children of Israel when they first viewed the Promised Land." Bozeman Times, September 13, 1877.
32. Fisher, "Journal of S. G. Fisher," 274.
33. Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, September 20, 1877. An abbreviated version of the dispatch is in Howard to Commanding Officer, Fort Ellis, September 2, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands. Private Irwin had been discharged on July 17 on surgeon's certificate of disability. Regimental Returns . . . Second Cavalry, August 1877, roll 166.
34. Portland Daily Standard, September 30, 1877.
35. Fisher, "Journal of S. G. Fisher," 274.
37. Lake District Ranger John Lounsbury, telephone communication with author, April 25, 1995.
38. It should be noted that Scout John W. Redington said that he reached Fisher on the morning of September 4 by traveling "up Pelican creek" on the third and passing through an "awful stretch of down timber." In an article published in 1933, fifty-six years after the events, Redington recalled that on the morning of September 4, Fisher "took me up to the top of a ridge, from which we could look across a deep canyon and see the Nez Perce camp on the next ridge." Redington, "Scouting in Montana," 58. In a statement made in 1934, Redington said that he and Fisher "surveyed the camp in the next valley." Woodward, "Service of J. W. Redington," 5.
39. Fisher, "Journal of S. G. Fisher," 275.
40. See Goodenough, "Lost on Cold Creek," 26, 28.
41. Fisher, "Journal of S. G. Fisher," 275.
42. Shively carefully prepared a brush shelter, then stole away in the night, heading northwest for Baronett's bridge. He was guided by Soda Butte and the North Star. He reached Bozeman on September 5. Deer Lodge New North-West, September 14, 1877.
43. Quoted in Kearns, "Nez Perce Retreat," 36.
44. Fisher, "Journal of S. G. Fisher," 276.
45. Fisher's manuscript journal is slightly different, but just as imprecise, stating that the scouts encountered "the enemy's trail" at "a point where it [East Fork] formed a junction with another Stream [Cache Creek?] betwixt the Stream we followed down [Miller Creek?] and Soda Butte Creek. They [the Nez Perces] then turned South of East following up this middle stream." Quoted, without bracketed inserts, in Lang, "Where Did the Nez Perces Go?," 27. Discussion of the likelihood that the Nez Perces had separated into two or more groups (perhaps by bands) is in Lang, "Where Did the Nez Perces Go?," 28.
46. This course would have put the Nez Perces on what was essentially the last leg of the main Bannock Trail leading out of the park to Clark's Fork River. See Replogle, Yellowstone's Bannock Indian Trails, 30.
47. The cattle belonged to James C. Beatty, who grazed the animals in the area of the East Fork of the Yellowstone in exchange for providing milk to the park superintendent. Goodenough, "Lost on Cold Creek," 29; and Bozeman Times, September 2, 1877.
48. Fisher, "Journal of S. G. Fisher," 276.
49. Bozeman Times, September 13, 1877; and Deer Lodge New North-West, September 14, 1877.
50. Historian Aubrey L. Haines staked the site of the camp in 1962 as based on the substantiation of Jack Ellis Haynes, who had been present in 1902 when the Cowans identified the site for Park Engineer Hiram M. Chittenden. Aubrey L. Haines, letter to author, August 23, 1995. Haines marked the site on the copy of Hague, Atlas, Geology Sheet XX, in the Yellowstone National Park Research Library, Mammoth, Wyo.
51. Guie and McWhorter, Adventures in Geyser Land, 97.
52. Cowan and Arnold said that they were encouraged to start for home by "one of the Indians who told them that they need apprehend no danger, as they were friends to the white man, and he would himself escort the party safely by all of the band, and they could then proceed without molestation toward home. They were, however, soon surrounded by about seventy-five or one hundred warriors who told them that it would not be safe to travel that road as there were some bad Indians behind who would probably meet them . . . [and] that their only safe plan would be to turn back and go with them; that they would protect them from the bad Indians." Bozeman Times, September 27, 1877. Yellow Wolf, who was one of the warriors who initially approached the tourists, said that he tried to explain that the Indians were "double-minded," or of mixed temperament, toward the whites, and that Cowan's party had insisted upon seeing Chief Joseph. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 174 n. 4.
53. Cowan, "Reminiscences," 168. Yellow Wolf indicated that the "other Indians" the rearguard of the train supposedly composed of hotheadstook over at this point. "They did not listen to anybody. Mad, those warriors took the white people from us." McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 175. Yellow Bull said that "they were young men from Lapwai, who had joined us after the fighting began." Yellow Bull account in Curtis, North American Indian, 8:167.
54. Carpenter met Looking Glass and described him thus: "Looking Glass is a man of medium height, and is apparently forty-five years of age, his hair being streaked with grey. He has a wide, flat face, almost square, with a small mouth running from ear to ear. His ears were decorated with rings of purest brass, and down the side of his face hung a braid of hair, adorned at the end with brass wire wound around it. The ornament worn by him, that was most conspicuous, was a tin lookinglass, which he wore about his neck and suspended in front. . . . He wore nothing on his head and had two or three feathers plaited in his back hair." Guie and McWhorter, Adventures in Geyser Land, 103.
55. When Carpenter met this individual he thought he was White Bird. Ibid., 104.
56. Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, September 18, 1877.
57. Bozeman Times, September 27, 1877.
58. Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, September 18, 1877.
59. Bozeman Times, September 27, 1877. The Nez Perces said later that the man who shot Cowan was Umtillilpcown. Duncan MacDonald, "The Captives Attacked," excerpt from 1879 series in the Deer Lodge New North-West, in Guie and McWhorter, Adventures in Geyser Land, 216.
60. Cowan, "Reminiscences," 171.
61. The man who confronted Frank Carpenter was Red Scout. Duncan MacDonald, "The Captives Attacked," excerpt from 1879 series in the Deer Lodge New North-West, in Guie and McWhorter, Adventures in Geyser Land, 216.
62. Ten years later, Arnold filed a claim for loss of property valued at $305. Andrew J. Arnold claim, no. 4185, November 1887, entry 700, Claim for Indian Depredations, U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.
63. George F. Cowan, born in Ohio in 1842, had served in the Civil War in the Wisconsin volunteer infantry. Great Falls Tribune, December 26, 1926.
64. Yellow Wolf, who was with the main caravan when the trouble erupted on the back trail, remembered that "it was the bad boys killing some of the white men." McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 176.
65. Cowan, "Reminiscences," 172.
67. Guie and McWhorter, Adventures in Geyser Land, 129. Philetus W. Norris wrote in 1883: "In the open pines of the summit, just east of the lake, is the remains of Chief Joseph's corral in 1877." Norris, The Calumet, 260.
68. Guie and McWhorter, Adventures in Geyser Land, 135.
69. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 177. In Joseph [Heinmot Tooyalakekt], "An Indian's Views," 427, Joseph is quoted as saying of the three captives, "They were treated kindly. The women were not insulted." Frank Carpenter, however, through the veiled language of the time strongly hinted that Emma Cowan and Ida Carpenter had been abused during their captivity. See Guie and McWhorter, Adventures in Geyser Land, 133, 155.
70. One of those who accompanied the Cowan-Carpenter group from the park was the inimitable John B. ("Texas Jack") Omohundro, erstwhile army scout, showman, and colleague of William F. ("Buffalo Bill") Cody, who had been guiding some Englishmen (the Earl of Dunraven and Dr. George Kingsley) around "Wonderland," but had headed to Mammoth on learning of the presence of the Nez Perces. Omohundro gave the papers a ridiculous yarn about Frank Carpenter being tied to a tree "to be burned, when he was recognized by Joseph, his father having formerly been a trader among the Nez Perces, and by order of that chieftain was, with the two ladies, released." Cheyenne Daily Leader, September 12, 1877.
71. This account of the Radersburg party's encounter with the Nez Perces is compiled from the following materials: Bozeman Times, September 27, 1877; Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, September 15, 18, 1877; Helena Daily Herald, August 27, 1877; New York Herald, September 18, 1877; Cowan, "Reminiscences," 178-85; Albert Oldham account in Forest & Stream undated clipping, scrapbook 4208, 124, Yellowstone National Park Research Library, Mammoth, Wyo.; Frank Carpenter's account in Guie and McWhorter, Adventures in Geyser Land, 91-186; Oldham's account in ibid., 201-5; George F. Cowan's account in ibid., 206-16; A. J. Arnold's account in ibid., 217-31; McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 173-77; Topping, Chronicles of the Yellowstone, 213-15; Chittenden, Yellowstone National Park, 152-62; Walgamott, Reminiscences, 44-47; and Aubrey Haines, Yellowstone Story, 1:222-27. In 1888, both Cowan and Oldham filed depredations claims against the Nez Perces for their losses. Cowan claimed $3,910 for the theft of his horses and property and damages to himself, while Oldham claimed $2,011 for "property stolen &c., personal injuries." George Cowan claim, no. 4186, entry 700, and Albert Oldham claim, no. 4187, entry 700, Claim for Indian Depredations, U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Cowans revisited the park in 1882 and 1901 and, during the latter tour, helped identify places significant to the routes of the Nez Perces and Howard's army in 1877. Topping, Chronicles of the Yellowstone, 215; and Chittenden, Yellowstone National Park, 162 n.
72. Ben Stone's account in Bozeman Avant Courier, September 6, 1877.
73. Weikert, "Journal of the Tour," 159. Hiram M. Chittenden, an early park engineer and historian, examined the site of the Helena group's camp and commented as follows: "The camp site on Otter Creek was well chosen for defense, but its natural advantages were absolutely ignored by the party. It was a triangular knoll between the forks of the stream, and some twenty feet above them. It commanded every approach, and with the slightest vigilance and intelligent preparation, could have been made impregnable to the . . . Indians who attacked it. But while the camp was properly pitched in a little depression back of the crest, the men themselves all staid back where the view around them was entirely cut off. They kept no guard, and were, therefore, in a worse position than if actually out in the open plain below. The Indians approached under cover of the hill, climbed its sides, and burst over its crest directly into camp before any one suspected their presence." Chittenden, Yellowstone National Park, 165. For a fairly contemporary description of this site, see Norris, The Calumet, 265.
74. Before dawn on August 26, Emma Cowan, Frank Carpenter, and Ida Carpenter, released the previous day by the Nez Perces, passed by the Helena party's camp and could hear somebody chopping wood. Fearful of being captured again by the Nez Perces, they kept moving north toward Tower Fall. Cowan, "Reminiscences," 171.
75. Irwin later came under criticism for what he apparently told the Nez Perces about tourists in the park. Because he was still in uniform (he said he had brought it from the Black Hills), Irwin told the tribesmen that he belonged to one of the excursion parties. "His sole motive in his talk and movements were to preserve his own life, which is a natural impulse." Bozeman Times, September 20, 1877.
76. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 177.
77. Stone's account in Bozeman Avant Courier, September 6, 1877.
78. John Stewart's account in Bozeman Avant Courier, September 27, 1877.
79. In 1887, Leslie N. Wilkie and Leander Duncan claimed $675.75 for items taken by the Nez Perces, including horses, pack saddles, a cooking outfit, an ax, various wearing apparel, and fishing tackle. "List of articles stolen from Leslie N. Wilkie and Leander Duncan." Andrew Weikert also filed a claim for "property stolen or destroyed and injuries." Andrew Weikert claim, August 1877, no. 4189, entry 700, Claim for Indian Depredations, U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.
80. One contemporary secondary account stated that this incident occurred "on the plateau between Blacktail [Deer] creek and Gardiner [sic] river," an area now designated Blacktail Deer Plateau. Topping, Chronicles of the Yellowstone, 217.
81. Weikert, "Journal of the Tour," 171.
82. This account of the Helena party is drawn from the following sources: Weikert, "Journal of the Tour," 153-74; Stone's accounts in Bozeman Avant Courier, September 6, 13, 1877; Frederic J. Pfister's account in Bozeman Times, August 30, 1877; John Stewart's account in Bozeman Avant Courier, September 27, 1877; Cowan, "Reminiscences," 178; Chittenden, Yellowstone National Park, 163-66; and Aubrey Haines, Yellowstone Story, 1:220-31.
83. It is not known if this was the same body of warriors that struck the Helena tourists or an altogether different group. According to Yellow Wolf, he was with the party that later struck Mammoth and Henderson's Ranch. While it is possible that this group had nothing to do with the earlier raid, available Nez Perce sources unfortunately provide little that might clarify the matter. Historian William L. Lang concluded that the bodies of warriors that hit Henderson's Ranch and the Helena party were different and that the men involved in the former incident made their way up the Yellowstone and forded the river at Tower Fall before passing up the East Fork (Lamar) to rejoin the main Nez Perce assemblage. Lang, "Where Did the Nez Perces Go?," 17, 24.
84. Gibbon to Assistant Adjutant General, Department of Dakota, October 18, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 522.
85. Private William H. White claimed to have been riding in advance with some of Doane's scouts when they came on the ongoing action at Henderson's. White rode back to the column and told the officers what was happening, but they did nothing. "No direct relief went from any of the soldiers to the white men being attacked. But the ordinary course of movement of the entire body brought them nearer to the scene. By this undesigned means the Indians were frightened away." William White, Custer, Cavalry, and Crows, 136-37.
86. Yellow Wolf was with the group that killed Dietrich: "I shot at him, but I missed. At the same time he makes for his gun, but the next Indian by me, shot him before he could reach his gun. Then we go into the house and we take everything we could, especially in clothes." McWhorter, Hear Me, 439. However, in McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 177, Yellow Wolf stated that Naked-footed Bull only winged Dietrich and identified Yettahtapnat Alwum (Shooting Thunder) as the man who killed him by shooting him in the stomach. Yellow Wolf also cited a skirmish with the soldiers near the hotel at about dusk, but other sources do not bear this out. See McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 178-79. For background on Dietrich, see Whittlesey, Death in Yellowstone, 134-35.
87. Hugh Scott, Some Memories of a Soldier, 62.
88. In later years, Hugh Scott believed that his presence at Mammoth Hot Springs in the wake of the attack on Henderson's ranch convinced the Nez Perce leadership not to head out of the park by that route. In 1913, the then General Scott wrote that Joseph had told him after the surrender that "my [Scott's] rapid advance with 10 men at Mammoth hot springs & chase of his advance guard or rather scouts . . . made him think I had a strong force behind me and he turned off at the Mud Geysers, crossed the Yellowstone there below the lake, went up Pelican Creek & East Fork, then down Clarks Fork, crossing the Yellowstone about 100 miles nearer Gen. Miles at Fort Keogh [sicTongue River Cantonment]. . . . Had the 7th Cav messenger had 100 miles more to take Miles the news he would have gotten across the [British] line [or to the buffalo grounds if that was still an objective]. Miles would never have caught him." Scott to Walter M. Camp, September 22, 1913, folder 23, box 1, Camp Papers, BYU. See also Hugh Scott, Some Memories of a Soldier, 65. In fact, the date (August 31) conforms with the main camp's likely presence along the upper East Fork, rather than the ford near Mud Volcano. The Nez Perces also told Scott "that before such change of plan [in their route] they had not intended going to Canada; before that they had intended going only as far as the buffalo country." Scott to Camp, January 11, 1914, folder 1, box 2, Camp Papers, BYU.
89. Ben Stone's account in Bozeman Avant Courier, September 13, 1877; Bozeman Times, September 6, 1877; Weikert, "Journal of the Tour," 174; Hugh Scott, Some Memories of a Soldier, 61-63; Topping, Chronicles of the Yellowstone, 217-18; McWhorter, Hear Me, 438-41 (which has confused the sequence of events); Aubrey Haines, Yellowstone Story, 1:232-33; Aubrey Haines, "Burning of Henderson's Ranch"; and Mark Brown, "Yellowstone Tourists and the Nez Perce." A purported account by Ben Stone of unknown derivation and suspected veracity, complete with affected Negro dialect (Stone was black), is provided by Frank Carpenter in Guie and McWhorter, Adventures in Geyser Land, 194-95. Kenck and Dietrich were the first Euro-Americans known to be killed by Indians in the area constituting the national park since 1839, when Piegan tribesmen killed five fur trappers near present Indian Pond. Whittlesey, Death in Yellowstone, 131-32.
90. Scott claimed that Doane had initially directed Lieutenant Charles C. DeRudio to lead the scout, but that "DeRudio flatly refused to go." Camp Manuscript Field Notes, 181, Camp Papers, BYU.
91. Hugh Scott, Some Memories of a Soldier, 63. A more detailed description of Scott's scouting technique is in Camp Manuscript Field Notes, 181, Camp Papers, BYU.
92. One reference to this incident stated that it occurred near the head of Little Blacktail Deer Creek and that Leonard and Groff had fought off the attackers from a point of rocks by the trail. Topping, Chronicles of the Yellowstone, 219.
93. For Doane's background, see Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary, 1:375. While noted for his regional explorations (he authored Journals of Yellowstone Exploration of 1870 and Snake River Explorations of 1876-77) as well as for his work with the Crow scouts, Doane received heavy criticism from the Crow agent, George W. Frost, and Major James S. Brisbin, Second Cavalry. The former complained that Doane had exceeded his authority and that the Crows harbored "a very bitter feeling against him," while Brisbin said that Doane "consorted with squaws and he and his men greatly demoralized the Crow camp." Frost to Brisbin, October 10, 1877, with Brisbin's endorsement, October 21, 1877, entry 107, box 3, part 3, "Letters and Telegrams Received by District of the Yellowstone Headquarters, September 1877-April 1878," U.S. Army Continental Commands.
94. Quoted in Bonney and Bonney, Battle Drums and Geysers, 83.
96. Hugh Scott, Some Memories of a Soldier, 68.
97. Phinney, Jirah Isham Allen, 99.
98. Gilbert to Assistant Adjutant General, Department of Dakota, October 2, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 561; Hugh Scott, Some Memories of a Soldier, 67-69; Camp Manuscript Field Notes, 183, Camp Papers, BYU; Bozeman Times, September 6, 1877; Phinney, Jirah Isham Allen, 97-100; Grinnell, Hunting at High Altitudes, 60, 62; Topping, Chronicles of the Yellowstone, 218-19; Bonney and Bonney, Battle Drums and Geysers, 84-86; and "Charles Champion Gilbert," in Warner, Generals in Blue, 173-74. In an incident of Gilbert's march, Scout Jirah Isham Allen was directed to help several dismounted Seventh Cavalry troopers in fording streams on the way to camp. He found that their sabres so hampered them when afoot that he ordered the men stick them in the ground and leave them, an action for which he was chastised for disarming the soldiers. Jirah Isham Allen, Letter.
100. Howard to Commanding Officer, Fort Ellis, August 29, 1877, in ibid.
101. General Field Order No. 6, in ibid., 619.
102. Mason to wife, August 29, in Davison, "A Century Ago," 13.
103. Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 72-73. In his report, Howard stated that Oldham was found on August 28, while Buck, writing many years after the events, stated that Oldham was found on the thirtieth. The date of August 29 was given by Mason in a letter written on that day.
105. Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 76. In 1923, Henry Buck relocated Howard's camp on Nez Perce Creek, about one mile above its mouth. "I pointed out . . . the ground occupied by our wagon train, next, the infantry camp, and above that the cavalry." Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," Appendix B, 7.
106. In 1923, Henry Buck visited the 1877 trail below Mary Mountain, reporting that "in places the old road was quite visible showing the remains of corduroy laid across swampy places. In one instance the wreckage of a bridge over a small stream was still in evidence." Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," Appendix B, 8.
107. Henry Buck revisited this site in 1923, noting that at that date a signboard nailed to a tree specified the spot as the place where the Nez Perces deliberated regarding the fate of the Cowan party. Buck stated that "this spot was also the place where the command made camp on the night of August 31st." Ibid.
108. William F. Spurgin (1838-1907) served from Indiana during the Civil War and afterwards saw duty with the Freedmen's Bureau, which Howard headed. He rose to the rank of brigadier general in 1902, in which year he retired. Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary, 1:913. The skilled laborers comprised fifty-two frontiersmen organized as a company of engineers. Armed as infantry, they brought their own horses and received three dollars per day plus rations. Chittenden, Yellowstone National Park, 170.
109. Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 83.
110. The approximate route of Howard's road is in Hayden, "Yellowstone National Park."
111. New York Herald, September 18, 1877.
112. Henry Buck in 1923 stated that in 1877 "on account of so much sulphur present we christened this 'Sulphur Mountain,' but this is several miles west of what is now called 'Sulphur Mountain.'" Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," Appendix B, 10. Buck was probably talking about present Highland Hot Springs. Historian Lee H. Whittlesey, telephone communication with author, May 1995.
113. Henry Buck,"Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 87-88. In 1921, Henry Buck traveled his 1877 route through Yellowstone National Park. He and his son climbed the ridge where the "beaver slide" enabled the wagons to descend. Wrote Buck: "We counted ten trees rope burned that will ever give evidence as long as the trees may stand of the spot where we took our slide down five hundred feet." Henry Buck,"Nez Perce Indian Campaign," Appendix A, 5. Unfortunately, the fires of 1988 in Yellowstone evidently destroyed the rope-burned trees that remained from the "beaver slide." Lake District Ranger John Lounsbury, communication with author, Yellowstone National Park, June 5, 1994.
114. Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 89.
115. Ibid. Evidence of the cutting of timber for Spurgin's road is still present in the area of Cascade Creek. Historian Aubrey L. Haines, letter to author, August 23, 1995.
116. Pollock to wife, September 2, 1877, in Pollock, Grandfather, Chief Joseph and Psychodynamics, 97. Scout John W. Redington recalled years later: "We had a rather hungry time in Yellowstone Park, but found plenty of wormy trout to fill up on. Tobacco was all out, but chewers found something just as good by cutting out the pockets where they had carried tobacco and chewing the rags." Redington, Letter.
118. Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 88.
119. First Lieutenant Robert H. Fletcher to Second Lieutenant Charles A. Worden, September 4, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands. The white scout Thomas H. Leforge said that he met with Looking Glass and assured him that he would try and dissuade the Crows from helping to intercept the Nez Perces on their way through the reservation. Marquis, Memoirs of a White Crow Indian, 128. See also Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 263.
120. Henry Buck, "Nez Perce Indian Campaign," 90-98. Spurgin was cited "for conspicuous and arduous service in advance of the column which pursued the hostile Nez Perce Indians, from Kamiah, Idaho, to the Yellowstone River, commanding the pioneer party." U.S. Army Gallantry and Meritorious Conduct, 78. In August 1962, historian Aubrey L. Haines and Wayne Replogle traced 1,237 feet of Captain Spurgin's road from Hayden Valley to the Yellowstone Canyon. For a description of the road's appearance at that time, see Aubrey Haines, "Retracement of Spurgin's road"; and letter, Haines to author, August 24, 1995. Vestiges of Spurgin's road are still evident along the north side of Dunraven Pass and on the flat where Carnelian Creek joins with Tower Creek. Lake District Ranger John Lounsbury, letter to author, June 4, 1995; Historian Aubrey L. Haines, letter to author, August 23, 1995.
Spurgin reached Fort Ellis on September 15. After a few days, he refitted his wagons and started down the Yellowstone to meet Howard. He reached a point 120 miles below Fort Ellis when orders directed his return to that post. At Fort Ellis, Spurgin discharged his engineers and journeyed back to Lewiston, Idaho, via stagecoach, train, and steamer. He wrote his parents in Indiana; "I lost 27 pounds this summer. My clothes are all too large." Letter in Greencastle Banner, December 6, 1877.
121. Deer Lodge New North-West, September 14, 1877; and Lang, "Where Did the Nez Perces Go in Yellowstone?," 24.
122. Howard to Cushing, September 8, 1877, in Howard, "Report," 620.
123. Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, September 29, 1877.
124. Information about Howard's course through the park is from Howard, "Report," 620-22; New York Herald, October 1, 1877; Connolly, Diary, August 30-September 6, 1877; Sutherland, Howard's Campaign, 38-39; Jocelyn, Mostly Alkali, 255; Chittenden, Yellowstone National Park, 170-73; Howard, My Life and Experiences, 293-94; and Davison, "A Century Ago," 13-15.
Chapter 9
1. Sherman to Sheridan, August 26, 1877, roll 5, Nez Perce War, 1877, Division of the Missouri, Special File.
2. Five of these companies had but recently returned from Omaha and Chicago, where they were posted during the railroad riots in July. Price, Across the Continent, 167-68. For a history of Camp Brown, see McDermott, Dangerous Duty, 105-11.
3. Crook, "Report," 90; Cheyenne Daily Leader, August 31, 1877; and Hart to Sheridan, telegram, September 5, 1877, roll 5, Nez Perce War, 1877, Division of the Missouri, Special File. As of August 30, Sheridan wanted Crook to send out some Shoshone scouts and "invite unconditional surrender of Joseph's band." In preparation for confronting the Nez Perces, however, Sheridan directed that 250 Sioux scouts under White Horse be sent to accompany Major Hart's battalion. Sheridan to Sherman, telegram, August 30, 1877, item 5542, roll 338, Nez Perce War Papers; and Cheyenne Daily Leader, November 2, 1877. Only 150 actually departed Red Cloud Agency on August 30 for Hart's command. Apparently, the scouts were recalled on Crook's advice. Lieutenant Colonel Robert Williams, Assistant Adjutant General, Department of the Platte, to Sheridan, telegram, August 30, 1877, roll 282, Letters Received, Adjutant General's Office, June 1877-October 1877, Sioux War Papers. For Crook's involvement in the Nez Perce campaign vis-à-vis the unfolding events at Camp Robinson, Nebraska, surrounding Crazy Horse's death, see Buecker, Fort Robinson, 110-13.
4. Sheridan sent word to Hart to "make for Stinking Water." With the help of the Sioux scouts, Sheridan wrote, "you will be able to kill or capture the hostile band of Nez-Perces . . . ," and "if you should get on their trail do not give it up till you overtake them." Enclosed in Sheridan to Williams, Assistant Adjutant General, Department of the Platte, August 30, 1877, roll 282, Letters Received, AGO, June 1877-October 1877, Sioux War Papers. Major Hart's battalion consisted of Companies B (Captain Robert H. Montgomery), H (Captain John M. Hamilton), I (Captain Sanford C. Kellogg), and L (First Lieutenant Charles H. Rockwell), along with twenty-five scouts headed by the noted frontiersman Frank Grouard. Second Lieutenant Edwin P. Andrus was adjutant. Wheeler, Buffalo Days, 202-3. On September 4, Sheridan had received a suggestion from Gibbon "that Hart be pushed up Stinking Water as far as he can go. Would it not be well to put Merritt up into the park on [Captain William A.] Jones [1873] trail [east of Yellowstone Lake] to pick up any straggling hostiles[?] . . . It is not impossible finding themselves headed off by Sturgis that they may turn back & make their way south by the trail East of the lake & so reach Snake river again." Gibbon to Sheridan, telegram, September 4, 1877, roll 5, Nez Perce War, 1877, Division of the Missouri, Special File.
5. Crook to Sheridan, September 10, 1877, roll 5, Nez Perce War, 1877, Division of the Missouri, Special File.
6. Ibid.; Assistant Adjutant General (Robert Williams) to Sheridan, August 27, 1877, roll 5, Nez Perce War, 1877, Division of the Missouri, Special File; Sheridan to Adjutant General (E. D. Townsend), August 28, 1877, item 5398, roll 337, Nez Perce War Papers; Cheyenne Daily Leader, September 13, 1877; Chicago Tribune, September 12, 1877; and King, Indian Campaigns, 86. Merritt's command consisted of Companies C (Captain Emil Adams), D (Captain Samuel S. Sumner), E (Captain George F. Price), F (Captain J. Scott Payne), K (Captain Albert E. Woodson), and M (Second Lieutenant Charles H. Watts), Fifth Cavalry; and Company K (Captain Gerald Russell), Third Cavalry. Merritt's adjutant was Charles King, his regimental quartermaster First Lieutenant William P. Hall, and his medical officer Assistant Surgeon Charles Smart. Second Lieutenant Hoel S. Bishop commanded the Shoshone scouts. Army and Navy Journal, September 23, 1877.
7. Crook, "Report," 89-90; Army and Navy Journal, September 23, 1877; New York Herald, September 23, 1877; "Record of Medical History of Fort Washakie," 55, 56, 59; King, Indian Campaigns, 86-88; Price, Across the Continent, 168; Wheeler, Buffalo Days, 202-4, 206; DeBarthe, Life and Adventures of Frank Grouard, 188-89 (in which Grouard confused Hart's command, with which he served, with Merritt's); Daly, "U.S. vs. Joseph," 44; and Hedren, "Eben Swift's Army Service," 148-49.
8. First Lieutenant George W. Baird to Sturgis, August 11, 1877, Baird Papers.
9. Miles to Sturgis, August 12, 1877, ibid.
10. With Sturgis, the questions seemed not to do with his bravery but with his judgment. For his background, see Cullum, Biographical Register, 2:278-80; Warner, Generals in Blue, 486-87; Boatner, Civil War Dictionary, 816-17; and Hammer, Biographies of the Seventh Cavalry, 5.
11. Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis report, December 5, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 507; Regimental Returns . . . Seventh Cavalry, August 1877, roll 72; and Mills, Harvest of Barren Regrets, 298. General Terry's original plan was to send out the battalion of Second Cavalry that was under Miles's command, but as that unit was scouting for Sioux in the Little Missouri country to the east, Milesanticipating the need for troops to head off the Nez Perceshad already dispatched Sturgis's Seventh cavalrymen by the time Terry's directive arrived. Miles to Assistant Adjutant General, Department of Dakota, August 19, 1877, roll 5, Nez Perce War, 1877, Division of the Missouri, Special File.
12. For details of the rations problem, see Goldin, Bit of the Nez Perce Campaign, 4-8.
13. Baird to Sturgis, August 16, 1877; and Miles to Sturgis, August 19, 1877, Baird Papers.
14. Hare, "Report of Lieut. L. R. Hare," 1677 (reprinted as After the Battle).
15. Fuller left the Tongue River Cantonment on the night of August 11. Years later he stated that "I was ordered to make all practicable speed, and if practicable, reach Ft. Ellis in five days, there to deliver my dispatches to the commanding officer to be forwarded to General Sherman, who was then in the national park, and whom [Brevet] General Miles desired to have advised that the Indians might pass through the Park, as they afterwards did, after which I was to get into communication with the Governor of Montana and General Gibbon, then colonel of the Seventh Infantry. . . . In the meantime, any information [that] might be received was to be communicated to [Brevet] General Sturgis." Fuller's account in Goldin, Biography, chap. 14, 289-97.
16. Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis report, December 5, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 508.
17. Miles to Sturgis, August 26, 1877, ibid.
18. Miles to Sturgis, August 27, 1877, ibid.
19. Beyond the sources cited above, the early movements of Sturgis's command are described variously in Goldin to L. V. McWhorter, August 30, 1929, and September 10, 1929, folder 177, McWhorter Papers; Hare, "Report of Lieut. L. R. Hare," 1676-78; Goldin, Biography, 288-89, 297-301; Goldin, "Seventh Cavalry at Cañon Creek," 204-6; Benteen to wife, August 11, 1877, in Carroll, Camp Talk, 84-85; Sturgis to Potts, August 23, 1877, reprinted in Paul Phillips, "Battle of the Big Hole," 79; and Bonney and Bonney, Battle Drums and Geysers, 76-77.
20. Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis report, December 5, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 509.
21. On this date, Captain Benteen wrote: "To-day we labored under the impression for a while that we found the Nez Perces, caused by six of our indian [sic] scouts . . . firing into a herd of elk. M Co. went out to ascertain the cause of the firingand commenced shooting elk themselves. 'Boots and Saddles' were soundedand we awaited developments. Soon the six indians came in." Benteen to wife, September 5, 1877, in Carroll, Camp Talk, 90-91. For descriptions of the fishing, see Goldin, Bit of the Nez Perce Campaign, 8; and Benteen, "Trouting on Clark's Fork," 234-35.
22. Sturgis's September 6, 1877, notice "To the Miners and others at the Smelting Works" was also published in the Bozeman Times, September 13, 1877.
23. Yellow Wolf and Otskai shot these men while scouting for the main body of the Nez Perces. Yellow Wolf also claimed they attacked the party transporting the wounded man to the agency. For particulars, see McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 182-84.
24. Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis report, December 5, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 510.
25. In his often confused accounts of Sturgis's movements, Goldin stated that on this or another night pickets fired on a horseman in the darkness and next morning found unshod pony tracks in the vicinity. See, for example, Goldin, "Seventh Cavalry at Cañon Creek," 210-11; and Goldin to McWhorter, September 27, 1933, folder 177, McWhorter Papers.
26. Hare, "Report of Lieut. L. R. Hare," 1678. Details of the march to the Stinking Water, from a former enlisted man's perspective, are in Goldin, Bit of the Nez Perce Campaign, 10-11; Goldin, Biography, 301-9; and Goldin, "Seventh Cavalry at Cañon Creek," 206-12.
27. It was Sturgis's trail in this area that Merritt found one week later.
28. On the eleventh, Hare commented, "on coming down the mountain-side it was found that the Indians had gone down Clark's Fork the same day that we had started for the Stinkingwater." Hare, "Report of Lieut. L. R. Hare," 1679. This assessment of Sturgis's maneuver to the Stinking Water is based upon data contained in the above-cited works, as well as in Regimental Returns . . . Seventh Cavalry, September 1877, roll 72; Goldin to McWhorter, March 20, 1939, August 30, 1929, and December 4, 1934, folders 159 and 177, McWhorter Papers; and Roy Johnson, Jacob Horner, 17-18. A route at some variance with the above is given in Mills, Harvest of Barren Regrets, 299-303.
29. Howard to Sturgis, September 8, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
30. Fisher, "Journal of S. G. Fisher," 277.
31. This assessment of the Nez Perces' course in reaching Clark's Fork is based on communication with Stuart Conner, Michael Bryant, and Kenneth J. Feyhl, of Billings, Mont., who jointly over many years have worked to determine that route as precisely as possible. Of great benefit to this study has been Stuart Conner, letters to author, January 18, 1996, February 2, 1996, February 9, 1996, and April 11, 1996; Kenneth J. Feyhl, letter to author, February 8, 1996; and Michael Bryant, Stuart Conner, and Kenneth J. Feyhl, various telephone communications with author, February 1996.
32. Mason to wife, September 11, 1877, in Davison, "A Century Ago," 15.
33. It is unclear exactly how many prospectors were killed, or whether they had been killed in one spot or several. Fisher accounted for three bodies found on Clark's Fork ("they were Danes or Norwegians from the Black Hills") and mentioned finding the German whose two colleagues had been killed on Crandall Creek. Fisher, "Journal of S. G. Fisher," 277. Redington, in "Scouting in Montana," 59, stated only that the scouts had found where the Nez Perces "had cleaned out a prospector's camp." He gave no number. Sutherland, writing in the Portland Daily Standard, October 5, 1877, said that eight men had been killed, four of them Scandinavians named Olsen, Kannard, Anderson, and Nelson.
34. Mason to wife, September 11, 1877, in Davison, "A Century Ago," 15.
35. Howard to Sturgis, September 10, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
36. Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis report, December 5, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 510.
37. New York Herald, October 1, 1877. "What hurt us worse than all else," remembered Private Goldin years later, "was the discovery that the Indian trail entered the valley hardly more than a mile or two above the camp from which we had so recently started on that night march [September 8]. Had we remained where we were the Indians would almost have walked into our arms." Goldin, Biography, 310.
38. See Howard to Sturgis, September 11, 1877, in Howard, "Report," 622. Sturgis originally desired to send one of his battalions under Major Merrill or Captain Benteen rapidly ahead to find the Indians, but was deterred by his officers from thus splitting his command. Benteen to Goldin, November 17, 1891, in Carroll, Benteen-Goldin Letters, 203.
39. Howard, "Report," 623. See also Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis report, December 5, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 510.
41. Goldin, Bit of the Nez Perce Campaign, 13.
42. The movements of Howard and Sturgis on Clark's Fork are documented in the sources quoted above, as well as in Hare, "Report of Lieut. L. R. Hare," 1679; Fisher, "Journal of S. G. Fisher," 277-78; Connolly, Diary, September 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 1877; Goldin to McWhorter, February 27, 1929, folder 159, McWhorter Papers; Goldin to Earl A. Brininstool, January 13, 1929, Brininstool Collection; Redington, "Scouting in Montana," 58-59; Sutherland, Howard's Campaign, 40-41; William White, Custer, Cavalry, and Crows, 140-41; Pickard, Interview; Andrew Garcia account in Billings Gazette, August 14, 1932; Goldin, "Seventh Cavalry at Cañon Creek," 213-15; and John Carpenter, "General Howard," 140.
43. Weptas Nut (No Feather), Interview; and Yellow Bull's account in Curtis, North American Indian, 8:168. See also Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 265-66; and Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 606-8. On their way down Clark's Fork, the tribesmen passed through or near the sites of the modern communities of Belfry, Bridger, Fromberg, Edgar, and Silesia, approximating the route of part of U.S. Highway 310 into Laurel. Dusenberry, "Chief Joseph's Flight," 49.
44. Harold Hagan, communication with author, Billings, Mont., May 24, 1995.
45. Redington, "Scouting in Montana," 61.
46. McWhorter's informants identified the six members of the Nez Perce party as Kalotas, Yellow Wolf, Sr., Iskiloom, Wattes Kunnin (Earth Blanket), John Mulkamkan, and Owhi. McWhorter, Hear Me, 457-58 n. 26. In another list, a seventh man's name was given as Tomsusliwi (complete name is illegible, but is probably Tumsuslehit [Rosebush]). List of Nez Perce informants to L. V. McWhorter.
47. The warriors who traveled as far as thirty miles to reach the area of present Huntley probably did not rejoin the main group until late that day, after the fight with Sturgis was over. Accounts of the Yellowstone Valley raiding by the Nez Perces on September 13, 1877, are often confusing and unclear, seemingly sometimes combining two or more events into one. This account is based on information in Bozeman Times, September 20, 1877; Portland Daily Standard, October 5, 1877; Fort Benton Record, September 21, 1877; Carroll, Benteen-Goldin Letters, 201-2; Topping, Chronicles of the Yellowstone, 221-22; Cascade Courier, February 28, 1930; Billings Gazette, June 30, 1927; Forrest Young account in "Forrest Young," Billings Gazette, undated clipping (ca. 1945), IndiansWars1877, vertical files, Parmly Billings Library, Billings, Mont.; Ed Forrest account in Billings Gazette, September 14, 1941; "Joe Cochran, 'First Resident of Billings,'" unidentified newspaper (Billings Gazette?), clipping apparently dated 1934, Montana scrapbook 3, Parmly Billings Library, Billings Mont.; Billings Gazette, July 6, 1958; Redington, "Scouting in Montana," 59, 60; and Redington, "The Stolen Stage Coach." See also Joseph M. V. Cochran claim, no. 2391, entry 700, and Bela B. Brockway claim, no. 3202, entry 700, Claim for Indian Depredations, U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. In 1882, the Indian agent on the Oakland Reservation, Indian Territory, presented Cochran's claim to Joseph and other Nez Perces. A warrior named Multitude said that he had taken part in the raid and acknowledged having taken some items, but that most had been abandoned soon afterwards. Joseph told the agent: "When the war broke out between my people and the whites, the property of either that fell into the other's hands was considered to belong to the captors; it was the fortune of war. . . . If we had money we might consider this claim and perhaps pay it; but we have nothing now to pay with. All our property fell into the hands of the whites." "Proceedings of a Council." Cochran never received payment. Billings Gazette, June 30, 1927, April 18, 1991. In an apparent tongue-in-cheek story related to his experiences on the campaign, J. W. Redington described the claim of a settler against the government for, among other things, a seven hundred dollar piano. Captain Fisher purportedly remarked: "Everything the scouts had was always in plain sight on their horses, and a piano would make a sightly package. There was no piano in the hostile camp at the wind-up; none dropped along the trail. There must be a mistake. It may have been a jewsharp that was stolen." Redington, "Who Stole the Piano?," 292-93.
48. Theodore Goldin identified this scout as Pawnee Tom. Goldin, Biography, 311. John W. Redington stated in 1930 that Sturgis's scouts saw a Nez Perce scout "on the northern bluffs" who disappeared as the command started on the trail. Redington, "The Stolen Stage Coach."
49. Fisher, "Journal of S. G. Fisher," 278. Goldin recalled hearing gunfire from downstream. Goldin, Biography, 311.
50. Redington, who watched the Nez Perces' procession up Canyon Creek, stated that the captured stage coach with its horses was following behind, driven by a warrior, and that "when these hostiles saw us they quickly unhitched the stage horses, mounted their cayuses, and dashed into skirmish line flanking their outfit. . . . The old stage was abandoned in the sagebrush." Redington, "The Stolen Stage Coach." See also Redington, "Scouting in Montana," 60; and Jocelyn, Mostly Alkali, 257. The firm of Gilman and Saulsbury, of Bozeman, operated the Bozeman-Miles City stage line, and the coach belonged to them. The vehicle was not a Concord coach, but a "jerky""a springless wagon with a covered body and two boots, fore and aft." The coach eventually went back into service on the line. "Wiley King, Tells of Stage-Coaching," unidentified newspaper (Billings Gazette?), undated clipping, Montana scrapbook 3, Parmly Billings Library, Billings, Mont.
51. Both Merrill and Benteen were officers of wide experience. Both had seen extensive Civil War service and had received numerous brevets for their respective performances in that conflict. Merrill (1834-1896) had joined the Seventh Cavalry in 1868 and had accompanied the regiment during its tenures in the West and South, but was on duty in the East when the Little Bighorn disaster occurred in June 1876. Cullum, Biographical Register, 2:624-25; and Hammer, Biographies of the Seventh Cavalry, 7. Benteen (1834-1898) was a forty-three-year-old Virginian who had joined the Seventh in 1866 and took part in much of its Indian campaigning and Reconstruction activities thereafter. As one of Custer's two principal subordinates at the Little Bighorn, Benteen found himself entangled in controversy for the rest of his military career. A brave officer, Benteen was also a chronic complainer who was ever ready to criticize those he considered his inferiors, which included just about everybody. Mills, Harvest of Barren Regrets; Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary, 1:212; and Carroll and Price, Roll Call on the Little Big Horn, 117.
52. Fisher, "Journal of S. G. Fisher," 278.
53. Major Lewis Merrill report, September 18, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . .1877, 570. General Howard, reporting later on the character of the soldiers' arms during the war with the Nez Perces, noted that "quite a number" of the Seventh Cavalry carried Springfield rifles rather than carbines, an exchange that Howard approved because "there is greater distance between the sights, and . . . the larger charge gives relatively greater velocity to the ball." He further believed that the cavalrymen "all felt increase of confidence from this fact." "Summary of Reports . . . Non-Effectiveness," 3. See also McChristian, Army of Marksmen, 37-38. The Seventh Cavalrymen at Canyon Creek did not carry the regulation M1858 cavalry sabres, according to Theodore Goldin. They had been turned in at the Tongue River Cantonment before the troops started for the field. "They were a useless appendage in an Indian campaign. . . . We [previously] used them as toasting forks, rattle snake killers and . . . tent poles for our dog [shelter] tents." Goldin to McWhorter, July 12, 1932, folder 32, McWhorter Papers.
54. Major Lewis Merrill report, September 18, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 570.
55. Fisher, "Journal of S. G. Fisher," 278.
56. Benteen maintained that it was he who suggested this initiative to Sturgis. Carroll, Benteen-Goldin Letters, 203. Private Jacob Horner also confirmed that Benteen approached Sturgis and got permission for his movement. Roy Johnson, Jacob Horner, 20.
57. Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis report, December 5, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 511.
59. The withdrawal of Benteen's command, not mentioned in the official reports, is referenced in Fisher, "Journal of S. G. Fisher," 279. One of Howard's scouts who witnessed the engagement confirmed what apparently was this maneuver. The soldiers "would charge to the creek bank where the Nez Perces lay concealed, and who held their fire until the soldiers came close by, when the Indians would discharge a murderous volley, resulting in a confused stampede wherein were horses running in every direction; some with empty saddles, some unmanageable and running away with soldiers and men being wounded and others shot to pieces." Cruikshank, "Chasing Hostile Indians," 13.
60. Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis report, December 5, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 511. Wrote Goldin many years later: "So far as I ever knew, Benteen did not capture any part of the pony herd which, with the retreating village was well out in the valley out of long range fire from our [Benteen's] column. Seeing that we could not reach the village, Benteen deployed in some scrub timber and had a long range fight with the Indians on the side of the bluffs and at the entrance to the canyon affecting but little." Goldin to McWhorter, August 13, 1933, folder 159, McWhorter Papers. A soldier named Pickard claimed that "we got several hundred of their horses. Our Indian scouts captured these." Pickard, Interview. And Sutherland wrote for the Portland Daily Standard, October 5, 1877, that about one hundred ponies "were run off by the Crow Indians."
61. Fisher, "Journal of S. G. Fisher," 279.
62. Major Lewis Merrill report, September 18, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 570.
63. Fisher, "Journal of S. G. Fisher," 279. In most of his various writings, Goldin erroneously identified the officer in charge of the howitzers as Howard's son, Second Lieutenant Guy Howard, of the Twelfth Infantry, who had been in the army for less than one year (and who was probably not present at Canyon Creek but with his father coming down Clark's Fork). See, for example, Goldin, Bit of the Nez Perce Campaign, 15, wherein Goldin stated that Lieutenant Howard fired the howitzers while they were still strapped to the pack mules in an incident so ridiculous that it could never have happened as described.
64. This despite claims to the contrary by Goldin and others. See, for example, Goldin, "Seventh Cavalry at Cañon Creek," 217; Goldin, Biography, 313; and an account of teamster Andrew Garcia in Billings Gazette, August 14, 1932. A former trooper told McWhorter that Sturgis directed a howitzer round be fired into the Nez Perces' pony herd to start the fighting. William C. Slaper to McWhorter, April 22, 1929, folder 159, McWhorter Papers. A newspaper correspondent suggested that the howitzer was to have played a major role in securing a victory at Canyon Creek. "An attempt was made to hem the hostiles in by taking possession of the rear end of the cañon with a howitzer, but, as the heights were all so steep, it was found impossible to drag the gun up, and the plan had to be abandoned and the Indians escaped." New York Herald, October 1, 1877. Wrote Sturgis: "In spite of energetic efforts on the part of Lieutenant Otis, that officer was unable to render his little gun available, as his animals were totally worn out." Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis report, December 5, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 511.
65. Goldin, Bit of the Nez Perce Campaign, 15-16.
66. Goldin, Biography, 313-14. In a letter to McWhorter, Goldin provided more data about this movement. "I have no recollection that any communication came from Sturgis to Benteen [in fact, it did], but the latter finding he was making no headway [in the valley] figured that by moving to the left and passing around the end of this high bluff he might be able to force the Indian position. The squadron was mounted, G Troop under Lieut. Wallace on the right and the squadron at a gallop struck back along this high bluff. All went well for a short time, but the Indians were evidently closely watching our movement as ere we had gone half the distance along the face of this bluff, we were assailed by a heavy fire from the top. Lieut. Wallace charged on through, while H [M?] and I think it was B [Bendire's K, First Cavalry?] Troops hesitated for a few moments then, apparently without orders, the men charged the bluff. Only a few shots were fired and when we reached the top not an Indian was to be seen. We moved cautiously across the level plateau on top of the bluff until we reached the farther side, when we discovered the Indian[s] beyond rifle shot among the ravines. There was no use in pursuing them [as] they had every advantage." Goldin to McWhorter, February 3, 1933, folder 35, McWhorter Papers.
67. Fisher, "Journal of S. G. Fisher," 279-80.
68. Ibid., 280. Times for the start and end of the action were given by the wounded to Assistant Surgeon Holmes O. Paulding at the Tongue River Cantonment. Paulding to Medical Director, Department of Dakota, September 22, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General; and also Return for Company G, September 1877, roll 72, Regimental Returns . . . Seventh Cavalry. In addition, this reconstruction of the Canyon Creek action is drawn from the following sources: Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis report, December 5, 1877, Major Lewis Merrill report, September 18, 1877, Benteen to Adjutant, Seventh Cavalry, September 18, 1877, and October 8, 1877, all in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 511-12, 569-71, 572, respectively; Regimental Returns . . . Seventh Cavalry, September 1877, roll 72; pen and ink sketch titled, "Fight at Cañon Creek, Sturgis," inset drawing in Fletcher, "Department of Columbia Map"; Fisher, "Plan of the [Canyon Creek] Battle Ground," (this manuscript map was prepared to accompany publication of Fisher's journal but was deleted before the volume went to press); Record of Engagements, 72; sketch map of Canyon Creek by John W. Redington, in Redington to McWhorter, April 1930, folder 159, McWhorter Papers; sketch map by I. D. O'Donnell, 1944, ibid.; Pickard, Interview; Lynch, Interview; Sutherland (who arrived later with Howard), Howard's Campaign, 41; Forrest Young account in "Forrest Young," Billings Gazette, undated clipping (ca. 1945), IndiansWars1877, vertical files, Parmly Billings Library, Billings, Mont. (see also Forrest Young account in Stanford Judith Basin County Press, February 13, 1930); Andrew Garcia account in Laurel Outlook, June 23, 1937 (reprinted in Laurel Outlook, August 5, 1954, and August 2, 1989); and particularly valuable research conclusions based upon on-site archeological finds contributed by Michael Blohm of Laurel, Mont. See Douglas D. Scott, "Historical Archaeological Overview . . . Canyon Creek,"4-6. See also Taylor, "Canyon Creek Battlefield," which is especially useful in its on-ground placement of activities during the battle and post-battle phases according to section/township designation.
The numerous materials associated with enlisted man Theodore W. Goldin appear to be of dubious merit and have been used cautiously. While Goldin did much writing late in his life, his memory appears to have been faulty on numerous matters relating to Canyon Creek, particularly as it related to command objectives and other affairs in which he as a private soldier had no special knowledge. He was, moreover, prone to exaggeration and apparent creation of yarns to add color to his accounts. His materials, however, are useful for events in which he personally participated. The sources in question are: Goldin, Biography, 311-14; Goldin, Bit of the Nez Perce Campaign, 13-17; Goldin, "Seventh Cavalry at Cañon Creek," 215-20 (which Goldin accused Brady, Northwestern Fights and Fighters, of rewriting for his book); letters to McWhorter, February 27, 1929, March 20, 1929, March 14, 1932, July 12, 1932, August 1, 1932, February 3, 1933, August 13, 1933, and December 4, 1934, all in folders 159 and 177, McWhorter Papers; and Goldin to Brininstool, January 13, 1929, Brininstool Collection. Goldin was a participant in the Little Bighorn battle, too, and his recollections of that affair are likewise suspect in several areas. For a sketch of his life and service, see Hammer, Biographies of the Seventh Cavalry, 143-44.
69. Quoted in Sheridan to Adjutant General, September 17, 1877, item 5828, roll 338, Nez Perce War Papers.
70. Paulding to Medical Director, Department of Dakota, September 22, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General; "List of Wounded . . . Cañon Creek"; and New York Herald, September 23, 1877. In addition, Lieutenants Gresham and Nicholson appear to have suffered very slight wounds of unspecified nature. Cheyenne Daily Leader, September 23, 1877; Sheridan to Adjutant General, September 26, 1877, item 6002, roll 338, Nez Perce War Papers; addendum to Major Lewis Merrill report, September 18, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 571; and Benteen to Adjutant, Seventh Cavalry, September 18, 1877, and October 8, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 571-72. A capsule biography of Brown (as well as several of the Canyon Creek wounded) is in Hammer, Biographies of the Seventh Cavalry, 210 and passim. See Appendix A for a complete list of the Canyon Creek army casualties.
71. Cruikshank, "Chasing Hostile Indians," 15. It must be stated that while Cruikshank's procedural description of the burials is likely correct, he was altogether wrong in his recollection of the number of casualties. Two of the Canyon Creek burials were exposed in December 1915 by workmen on the Cove Orchard Project. The remains, found about two hundred yards from Horse Cache Butte, were removed for reburial in Custer Battlefield National Cemetery, where they lie today. Billings Gazette, December 6, 1960 (citing issue of December 6, 1915). See also Glendolin Wagner, Old Neutriment, 223-26 n. 18.
72. Fisher, "Journal of S. G. Fisher," 280-81.
73. Major Lewis Merrill report, September 18, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 571.
74. San Francisco Chronicle, August 15, 1927.
75. Redington, "Scouting in Montana," 60.
77. Quoted in Roy Johnson, Jacob Horner, 19. See also Burdick and Hart, Jacob Horner, 21-22.
78. Quoted in Roy Johnson, Jacob Horner, 19.
80. Lynch, Interview. Benteen acknowledged that he had carried a fishing pole in at least part of the action at Canyon Creek. See Benteen to Goldin, November 17, 1891, in Carroll, Benteen-Goldin Letters, 204. For examples of criticism directed toward Sturgis ("Sturgis should have given the word to charge in on that sagebrush flat and wind up the war."), see Redington to Colonel William Carey Brown, October 28, 1926, folder 8, box 12, William Brown Papers; Redington, "Scouting in Montana," 60; and Goldin to McWhorter, various letters as cited above, and his sundry accounts. And the scout Alexander Cruikshank said that "everyone felt that the General had blundered as he surely had a sufficient force to have corralled the entire Indian outfit." Cruikshank, "Chasing Hostile Indians," 14. The characteristically blunt Benteen wrote Goldin (whose views may have been thus colored): "From the fact of having struck the reds at Canyon Creek, what was left of Sturgis's reputation was saved. . . . Sturgis was never very warm with me after the Canyon Creek affair. Why? Because he knew that I thought he was a coward." Carroll, Benteen-Goldin Letters, 204. Strong censure was directed at Sturgis by Ami Frank Mulford in a generally worthless (yet frequently cited) account: "Sturgis posted himself on a bluff, with a body guard, fully a mile from the reds, and viewed proceedings through his field glass. A bullet from a long-range gun in the hands of an Indian . . . struck the ground a short distance in front of the General, who lowered his glass, remarking that it was getting dangerous up there, and got out of danger." Mulford, Fighting Indians!, 115. This is hearsay, if Mulford was where he was supposed to be during the combat. Furthermore, the commanding officer's position in the rear supervising the engagement would have been entirely appropriate. For Horner's complimentary remarks, see Burdick and Hart, Jacob Horner, 22. It must be noted that even had Sturgis managed to block the mouth of the canyon, there existed two other routes allowing egress to the plains just five miles east of Canyon Creek. Harold Hagan, communication with author, Billings, Mont., May 24, 1995.
81. Goldin to McWhorter, February 27, 1929, folder 159, Goldin to McWhorter, August 1, 1932, folder 177, and Goldin to McWhorter, September 10, 1929, folder 159, McWhorter Papers.
82. Slaper to McWhorter, April 22, 1929, folder 129, McWhorter Papers.
83. FitzGerald to wife, September 16, 1877, in FitzGerald, Army Doctor's Wife, 312.
84. McWhorter and Many Wounds, "Colonel Sturgis Fight"; and McWhorter, Hear Me, 461.
85. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 185.
87. Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis report, December 5, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 512; and McWhorter, "Fight with Sturgis." However, in McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 194, Yellow Wolf indicated that the Crows killed this man along with another named Wetyetmas Hapima (Surrounded Goose) the next day. Yellow Wolf stated that the only casualties were the three wounded men. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 186 n. 5. William Connolly recorded that he "saw 4 dedd [sic] Indians" on the battlefield. Connolly, "Diary," September 13, 1877. The reporter Thomas Sutherland (Howard's Campaign, 41) stated that six Nez Perce bodies were found on the field, a figure uncorroborated by other accounts.
88. McWhorter, Hear Me, 462. According to McWhorter, Teeto Hoonnod was "noted for his courage and strategic ability." In his defense, he was joined for a time by Swan Necklace, but evidently maintained his position alone until the families and horses passed inside the canyon walls. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 185 n. 3; and McWhorter, Hear Me, 462.
89. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 186-87. Theodore Goldin confirmed the presence of this barricade, writing that in the chase the next day, September 14, "we found the trail blocked by logs and boulders, evidently placed there by the fleeing Indians, and as we struggled through these obstacles or sought to remove them, we realized how completely we would have been exposed to ambush and annihilation." Goldin, Biography, 315.
90. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 187. In 1935 the aged warrior White Hawk told McWhorter that the Nee-Me-Poo camped a very far distance up the creek bottom. "Far across an open valley hemmed in by sloping hills, he designated where the trail entered a dark woods. Their camp that night, he said, was a considerable distance beyond, and he could not recall whether it was pitched by a stream or a spring." McWhorter and Many Wounds, "Colonel Sturgis Fight." See also McWhorter to Major Thomas A. Reiner, December 18, 1935, folder 159, McWhorter Papers. The modern route of the Burlington Northern Railroad along Canyon Creek probably closelyif not directlyparallels the Nez Perces' historical route for its entire distance through the canyon.
Nez Perce accounts of Canyon Creek testify to the loud reports of one of their guns during the fighting. On being questioned years later by L. V. McWhorter, the aged warrior Many Wounds recounted that a rifle capable of making such a noise had been for many years among the Nee-Me-Poo. McWhorter later learned that a large-caliber weapon, possibly a long-range Sharps buffalo gun weighing as much as fifteen pounds, had been captured on the Salmon by the young man, Shore Crossing (subsequently killed at the Big Hole). He further learned from Peopeo Tholekt that Poker Joe possessed such an arm at Canyon Creek and, after exhausting his ammunition for it, disposed of it by burying it among the rocks at the Nez Perce camp that night. McWhorter, Hear Me, 462-63 n. 37; McWhorter, "Poker Joe's Big Rifle"; and McWhorter to Reiner, December 18, 1935, folder 159, McWhorter Papers. Regarding Canyon Creek, correspondent Frank J. Parker noted that "that Indian with the loud reporting rifle was again heard, as he always is, and did his share of the killing." Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, October 2, 1877. See also Redington, "Scouting in Montana," 65.
91. Yellow Bull, Interview, BYU. For other brief accounts of Canyon Creek based largely on Nee-Me-Poo perspectives, see Garcia, Tough Trip Through Paradise, 292-93; Francis Haines, "Chief Joseph," 7; and Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 608-10.
92. "Yellow Bull's Story." See also Yellow Bull, Interview, BYU; unclassified envelope 91, 541, Camp Manuscript Field Notes, Camp Papers, BYU; and Camp Manuscript Field Notes, Nez Perce Indian Wars 1, 138, Camp Papers, LBNM. Also, the supply of ammunitionmostly taken from the soldiers at White Bird Canyon, Big Hole, and other engagementswas clearly dwindling by this time. McWhorter, "Fight with Sturgis."
93. For other Nez Perce mention of Canyon Creek, see Joseph [Heinmot Tooyalakekt], "An Indian's Views," 427; "Story of Kawownonilpilp"; and Yellow Bull account in Curtis, North American Indian, 8:168, wherein it is stated that during the night following the fighting fifty Nez Perce men captured twenty-seven horses (their own?) from the soldiers.
94. Paulding to Medical Director, Department of Dakota, September 22, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General; Major George Gibson to Assistant Adjutant General Department of Dakota, October 1, 1877, in Terry, "Report," 547; Burdick and Hart, Jacob Horner, 21; Coughlan, Varnum, 23; McWhorter, "Unpublished Incidents"; and Upton, Fort Custer, 40. A biographical sketch of Lawler is in Hammer, Biographies of the Seventh Cavalry, 146.
95. U.S. Army Gallantry and Meritorious Conduct, 82-84. All of the enlisted men had been recommended by Merrill and Benteen in their respective reports of September 1877.
Chapter 10
1. Dusenberry, "Chief Joseph's Flight," 50; and unclassified envelope 134, 656-57, Camp Manuscript Field Notes, Camp Papers, LBNM.
2. Agent George W. Frost of the Crow Agency explained the augmentation of the number of Crows with Sturgis. During the descent of Clark's Fork, the scouts had picked up a number of mounts abandoned by the Nez Perces and took them to the agency, causing frenzied excitement there and prompting many more covetous warriors to set forth in hopes of securing more Nez Perce ponies. Bozeman Times, September 20, 1877. Private Goldin remembered that the Crows had arrived during the night. "[They] came dashing into camp, shouting and singing, and from that time on until early dawn sleep was an impossibility." Goldin, Bit of the Nez Perce Campaign, 17.
3. Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis report, December 5, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 512.
4. Nez Perce casualties in the skirmish with the Crows and Bannocks are difficult to determine. According to McWhorter, Yellow Wolf claimed that the Crows killed but one warrior, Teeweeyownah, and two old men, Fish Trap and Surrounded Gooseall of whom were also listed as having been killed at Canyon Creek. Yellow Wolf reported that he received a slight thigh wound in the fighting with the Crows. For the discrepancy regarding Nez Perce casualties, see McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 188, 192, 193-94; McWhorter, Hear Me, 467; and McWhorter, "Fight with Sturgis."
5. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 187, 194. For the Nez Perces' reaction to seeing the Crows and Bannocks descending on them, see Yellow Wolf, 187-88.
6. See Walter M. Camp to Brigadier General Hugh L. Scott, September 22, 1913 (on which letter Scott responded), folder 23, box 1, Camp Papers, BYU. Yellow Wolf denied that the Crows took any large number of the Nez Perces' horses. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 188. Yellow Wolf's personal role in the attempt by the Crows and Bannocks to corral the non-combatants is in McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 190-93.
7. Goldin, Biography, 316. However, in a letter, Goldin stated that he did not see the action but was told of it later by a mixed-blood Crow. For further reference to the Crow-Nez Perce action, see Goldin to L. V. McWhorter, August 1, 1932, folder 177, McWhorter Papers. See also Goldin to McWhorter, February 27, 1929, Goldin to McWhorter, March 20, 1929, Goldin to McWhorter, September 10, 1929, Goldin to McWhorter, August 13, 1933, Goldin to McWhorter, December 4, 1934, ibid.; and Goldin, Bit of the Nez Perce Campaign, 17-18. On returning to their agency, the Crows reported that Sturgis had sent them home because the troops were not going to fight the Nez Perces any more. Captain Daniel W. Benham to Sheridan, September 22, 1877, quoted in Cheyenne Daily Leader, September 23, 1877. Crow accounts of what is probably this encounter are in Dixon, Vanishing Race, 148-49 (account of Goes Ahead); and Medicine Crow, From the Heart of Crow Country, 47-48 (account of Medicine Crow).
8. Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis report, December 5, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 512.
9. Brigadier General Edward S. Godfrey, who was at the Battle of the Bear's Paw as a captain in the Seventh Cavalry, recalled that the disease that afflicted Sturgis's horses also was found among the horses of the surrendered Nez Perces. If their flesh was injured "in any way it would fester up badly." Godfrey, Interview.
10. Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis report, December 5, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 512.
11. Quoted in Howard, "Report," 627.
12. Sturgis's order is from New York Herald, September 29, 1877. The critical comment is from Mulford, Fighting Indians!, 116.
13. Redington, "Scouting in Montana," 61. Information about Sturgis's movement to the Musselshell is in Fisher, "Journal of S. G. Fisher," 281; Hare, "Report of Lieut. L. R. Hare," 1679; Assistant Surgeon Holmes O. Paulding to Medical Director, Department of Dakota, September 22, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General; Regimental Returns . . . Seventh Cavalry, September 1877, roll 72; Mulford, Fighting Indians!, 116; Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, October 2, 1877; Cheyenne Daily Leader, September 23, 1877; Record of Engagements, 72; Ernest A. Garlington, "The Seventh Regiment of Cavalry," in Rodenbough and Haskin, Army of the United States, 261; and Goldin, "Seventh Cavalry at Cañon Creek," 220-21.
14. Howard, "Report," 627-28; Connolly, Diary, September 16-22, 1877; Mason to wife, September 15, 18, 1877, in Davison, "A Century Ago," 16; Jocelyn, Mostly Alkali, 256-57; Portland Daily Standard, September 23, 1877; and Forrest Young account in "Forrest Young," Billings Gazette, undated clipping (ca. 1945), IndiansWars1877, vertical files, Parmly Billings Library, Billings, Mont.
15. See Howard, "Report," 628; and Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis report, December 5, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 512. On September 20, Howard sent a message to Miles describing his current movements and noted: "We have stopped forced marching to get enough life into our fagged animals to make another vigorous push, intending to move forward, via Judith Gap, tomorrow. We shall not hasten the pursuit over much in order to give you time to get into position." Howard to Miles, September 20, 1877, entry 107, box 3, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
16. Letter of September 23, 1877, quoted in Jocelyn, Mostly Alkali, 257.
17. Redington, "Scouting in Montana," 62. Agent Frost referenced the presence of the River Crows in front of the troops in a dispatch to Captain Benham at Fort Ellis on September 14. Bozeman Times, September 20, 1877. "Dumb Bull" is perhaps "The Dumb" (or "Deaf Bull"?) who was among the River Crow headmen who assented to the agreement of 1873 redefining their reservation. See Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Report . . . 1873, 122.
18. The First cavalrymen arrived at Fort Ellis on October 3, left that post on the thirteenth, passed through Virginia City on the nineteenth, passing down the stage road to reach the railroad near Corrine, Utah Territory, on November 3. Company B arrived at Fort Klamath, Oregon, on November 19, 1877. Connolly, Diary, dates specified. Correspondent Frank J. Parker, among those departing with Sanford's troops, wrote: "We all left the main command with regret. So far as I can see no one had any fault to find, except a few chronic growlers. . . . In almost every instance I have found that the growlers belong to that class whose chief merit consists in always being among the first at the 'grub pile' and whose terrific onslaughts on the bean pot more than offsets their tardy assistance, begrudgingly given when work or service of any kind was required of them. In fact, they are invincible in peace and decidedly invisible in war." Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, October 16, 1877. The companies were assigned as follows: B (Jackson), Fort Klamath, Oregon; C (Wagner), Camp McDermitt, Nevada; I (Carr), Camp Halleck, California; K (Bendire), Camp Harney, Oregon. Orders No. 2, Headquarters, First Cavalry Battalion, Fort Ellis, Montana, October 4, 1877, entry E-633, U.S. Regular Army Mobile Units; "Orders . . . Major Sanford's Battalion," vol. 1.
19. Mason to wife, October 2, 1877, in Davison, "A Century Ago," 18. This description of the movements of Howard and Sturgis to the Missouri is based on data cited above and in Howard, "Report," 628-29; Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis report, December 5, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 512; Hare, "Report of Lieut. L. R. Hare," 1679-80; Regimental Returns . . . Seventh Cavalry, September 1877, roll 72; Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, October 9, 1877; and New York Herald, October 4, 1877.
20. See Stevens, "Missouri River 1877." The location of the depot above the mouth of Cow Creek has been verified through documentary and photographic research and through on-site investigation. See LeRoy Anderson, "Nez Perce Trail," 1.
21. The Nez Perces probably approached the Missouri through Woodhawk Canyon. See LeRoy Anderson, "Nez Perce Trail," passim.
22. The other soldiers present were Sergeant Briggs, Corporal Cookly, and Privates Clark, Denver, Ford, Krefer, Malvihill, Reap, Rice, Watson, and Williams. The other civilians were George Trautman, E. W. Buckwalter, and Hugh Huggins. Fort Benton Record, October 5, 1877; and Clendenin to Second Lieutenant Hobart K. Bailey, September 24, 1877, entry 107, box 3, part 3, Letters and Telegrams Received by District of the Yellowstone Headquarters, September 1877-April 1878, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
23. Reed's Fort was owned by Alonzo S. Reed. Miller and Cohen, Military and Trading Posts of Montana, 73; Fort Benton Record, September 21, 1877; and Redington, "Scouting in Montana," 62.
24. This route of crossing the river, explicitly stated by George Clendenin in his letter of the following day ("The Nez Perces . . . crossed above, below & directly opposite the landing at 2 p.m.") Clendenin to Bailey, September 24, 1877 (entry 107, box 3, part 3, Letters and Telegrams Received by District of the Yellowstone Headquarters, September 1877-April 1878, U.S. Army Continental Commands), conforms well with the immediate topography of the area as well as the known location of the Cow Island ford. Anderson, "Nez Perce Trail," 1.
25. Molchert, Letter. Michael Foley's own account of the proceedings, originally rendered early in the twentieth century, appeared in Great Falls Rocky Mountain Husbandman, January 8, 1942. It is substantially different from Molchert's, notably in recounting Foley's role in the discussion that preceded the assault and Molchert's virtual non-participation in it. In his account, Foley described a lengthy conversation between himself and leaders Joseph and Looking Glass that resulted in his permitting the people to take whatever provisions they wanted. "I went with them down to the freight pile and the squaws took several sacks of sugar, some hams, hardtack and a lot of other truck. They carried it about a half mile up the river, to a little benchland, where the whole lousy outfit had a feast and pow-wow." Regarding the defenders in the ensuing fight, Foley maintained that "I took command of that little party." In 1888, Foley filed a claim for lost personal possessions amounting to $598 in the destruction at Cow Island. Michael Foley claim, no. 4466, entry 700, Claims for Indian Depredations, U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.
26. Molchert, Letter. The number of charges by the warriors against the Cow Island entrenchments varies according to accounts. Major Guido Ilges wrote on September 24 that the warriors charged seven times. Ilges to Gibbon, in New York Herald, September 29, 1877.
27. Buckwalter received wounds in the hand and side, while Trautman was shot in the right shoulder. Fort Benton Record, October 5, 1877. However, Molchert accounted for the death of a private who was riding a horse down from Dauphin Rapids with which to tow a boat laden with provisions back up to the project. Wrote Molchert: "Before this fighting commenced we heard a shot and I told the boys, I bet that is Private Pearce . . . , and sure enough we [later] found his body and buried [him] right there at Cow Island." Molchert, Letter. This individual, in fact, was probably the same man mentioned in Second Lieutenant Edward E. Hardin's diary entry for September 28: "Found Pvt. Byron Martin Co. B 7th Infantry and buried him near the road on the right-hand side about 300 yds from the Bull creek crossing and about 20 yds from the road." Hardin, Diary.
28. Quoted in Fort Benton Record, October 5, 1877.
29. Fort Benton Record, October 5, 1877. Clendenin reported that the Nez Perces "took & destroyed 200 sks Sugar, a large pile of tobacco, 150 sacks Bacon, & everything I had (except the clothes I wore), books, papers, trunksa thorough clean-up." Clendenin to Bailey, September 24, 1877, entry 107, box 3, part 3, Letters and Telegrams Received by District of the Yellowstone Headquarters, September 1877-April 1878, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
30. In addition to the above-cited sources, this description of the Cow Island affair is compiled based on data in Terry, "Report," 516-17; Ilges to Gibbon, September 24, 1877, in New York Herald, September 29, 1877; Sheridan to Adjutant General, September 28, 1877 (enclosing Terry to Sheridan, September 27, 1877), item 6048, roll 338, Nez Perce War Papers; Record of Engagements, 73; James, "Sergeant Molchert's Perils," 63-65; and Mueller, "Prelude to Surrender." Primary Nez Perce sources are in McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 198-99; and McWhorter, Hear Me, 469-72. See Yellow Bull account in Curtis, North American Indian, 8:168; and Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 612-14.
31. Years later, Molchert remembered that he had been complimented by Ilges for his defense of Cow Island. "The Major looked over the whole thing and then sent for me and said to me, 'Sergt., you have done very well to save yourself and men, it was impossible for you to save the freight.'" Molchert, Letter.
32. Fort Benton Record, October 5, 1877.
33. For Ilges's background, see Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary, 1:562; and Henry, Military Record of Civilian Appointments, 347-48.
34. Ilges to Assistant Adjutant General, Department of Dakota, October 21, 1877, contained in Terry, "Report," 557.
36. It is unclear why Ilges waited until September 27 to send couriers to Miles respecting the location of the Nez Perces. In a letter to the editor of the Army and Navy Register, September 1, 1883, Ilges stated that he sent the two volunteers to Miles on the night of the twenty-fifth, paying them three hundred dollars to make the journey down the Missouri. But the dispatch was, in fact, dated the twenty-seventh. Entry 107, box 3, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands. A piece in the Helena Weekly Independent, October 11, 1877, stated that Ilges's couriers left for Miles's command on the morning of September 28.
37. See Stevens, "Missouri River 1877," which indicates a "Blockhouse" on the bank approximately four hundred feet above the area designated as "Landings."
38. In addition to the sources cited above, this account of Ilges's fight in Cow Creek Canyon and the burning of the wagon train is based on material drawn from the following: Ilges to Assistant Adjutant General, Department of Dakota, October 21, 1877, contained in Terry, "Report," 557; Ilges to Assistant Adjutant General, Department of Dakota, May 18, 1878 (enclosing Jonathan J. Donnelly to Ilges, May 10, 1878), roll 401, Nez Perce War Claims; Clendenin to Bailey, September 24, 1877, entry 107, box 3, part 3, Letters and Telegrams Received by District of the Yellowstone Headquarters, September 1877-April 1878, U.S. Army Continental Commands; Hardin, Diary, September 21-28, 1877; Terry, "Report," 516-17; Army and Navy Journal, October 6, 1877; Fort Benton Record, September 28, October 5, 1877; Record of Engagements, 73; Samples, Letter, describing the battle of Cow Creek Canyon; Michael Foley's account of Cow Island in Great Falls Rocky Mountain Husbandman, January 8, 1942; Al H. Wilkins account, unidentified newspaper, ca. 1927 clipping, IndiansWars1877, vertical files, Parmly Billings Library, Billings, Mont.; Chappell, "Early Life"; and McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 202. Ever after, Ilges believed that his command was ignored in the parceling out of praise following the Nez Perce campaign. "Although these services rendered by my command have for some unaccountable reason never been publicly recognized, either officially or otherwise, I hold in my possession a private note from General Miles of subsequent date, in which he acknowledges the receipt of my information and service rendered, of which he made good use." Army and Navy Register, September 1, 1883. The howitzer that accompanied Ilges for part of his movement is in the Museum of the Upper Missouri at Fort Benton.
39. Fort Benton Record, October 5, 1877.
40. The dispute between Looking Glass and Poker Joe was recounted by Many Wounds in McWhorter, Hear Me, 473-74, but see also McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 203, for McWhorter's commentary. The route north from Cow Island is authoritatively estimated in LeRoy Anderson, "Nez Perce Trail," 3. That the tribesmen were perfectly aware that they were not yet in Canada is specified in McWhorter, Hear Me, 473 and 473 n. 19; and McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 202.
Chapter 11
1. Gibbon, "Report of the Commanding General," 66. See also DeMontravel, "Miles," 269-70.
2. For the military operations against the Lakotas and Northern Cheyennes out of the Tongue River Cantonment, see Greene, Yellowstone Command.
3. Miles to Howard, February 1, 1877, correspondence (1877), Howard Collection.
4. The district consisted of "the Posts on the Tongue and Big Horn Rivers and Fort Peck; [and] such portion of the garrison of Fort Buford, D.T., as may, under authority received from Dept. Hdqrs, be called into the field. . . . The Hdqrs of the District will, until further orders, be at Cantonment on Tongue River, or with the Commanding Officer in the field." General Orders No. 1, Headquarters, District of the Yellowstone, Cantonment at Tongue River, M.T., September 4, 1877, entry 903, part 3, General Orders and Circulars, Sept. 1877-June 1881, District of the Yellowstone, U.S. Army Continental Commands. During the Indian campaigns of the post-Civil War period, Miles was in demand because of his proactive leadership and direct involvement, impressing not only his superior officers but also the enlisted men of his command. "General Miles [is] the Best Indian Fighter there is on the Prairie today since Custer Fell," wrote Private Oliver P. Howe, Company H, Second Cavalry, soon after the Nez Perce campaign. Howe to Samuel J. Howe, October 11, 1877, Howe Letters. Miles later became commanding general of the army before his retirement in 1903. For background on his career, see Wooster, Nelson A. Miles; Pohanka, Nelson A. Miles; DeMontravel, "Miles"; and Virginia Johnson, Unregimented General. Autobiographies are in Miles, Personal Recollections; and Miles, Serving the Republic.
5. Miles, Personal Recollections, 260-61; Regimental Returns . . . Fifth Infantry, September 1877, roll 58; and Kelly, "Yellowstone Kelly," 186.
6. Miles to Sturgis, August 19, 1877, Baird Papers.
7. Major George Gibson to Assistant Adjutant General, Department of Dakota, October 1, 1877, in Terry, "Report," 546-47; and Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 114. Originally, Company B, Seventh Cavalry, under Captain Thomas B. McDougall, was ordered to join the commission, but McDougall took sick ("drunk," according to Edward S. Godfrey's account) and Hale's unit started instead. Edward S. Godfrey, account of the Bear's Paw Campaign, October 31, 1877, Godfrey Papers, LC.
8. Miles later recalled receiving the dispatch: "During the afternoon of September 17th I observed a dark object appear over the high bluff to the west and move down the trail to the bank of the Yellowstone. He was soon ferried across, and, riding up, dismounted and saluted. Without waiting for him to report, I asked him if they had had a fight. He replied, 'No, but we have had a good chance.'" Miles, Serving the Republic, 172.
9. Terry, "Report," 514; and Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis report, December 5, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 73. The message was accompanied by a report from Sturgis accounting for his failure to stop the Nez Perces and blaming it on "the absence of a single guide, who had ever been in the country in which we were operating, taken in connection with our ignorance of it, and its exceeding rough and broken character, and my inability to learn anything of Howard's position, [all of which] enabled them to elude me at the very moment I felt sure of success. This is extremely mortifying to me." Sturgis to Miles, September 13, 1877, in Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis report, December 5, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report, 1877, 73-74. It must be stated that Terry's message was not an order directing Miles to action, but a request for assistance, since technically Howard was from another military department to which Miles was not subjected. According to military protocol, however, should the two meet in the field, Howard, by virtue of his rank, could assume command of a combined force; until then, Miles subscribed directly to the orders of Generals Terry and Sheridan, and Commanding General Sherman. For this discussion, see William H. C. Bowen to the editor, The Spectator, September 21, 1929, foldercorrespondence of William Bowen, 1908-1931, boxWilliam Bowen personal papers, Bowen Papers.
10. Miles to Terry, September 17, 1877, in Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis report, December 5, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 73. Miles sent Howard an almost identical message, explaining his plan for "intersecting the Nez Perces" before they could reach Sitting Bull's camp. Miles to Howard, September 17, 1877, copy in folder: Nez Perce War, box 3, Sladen Family Papers. The troops remaining on the Yellowstone included the First Infantry companies at Bighorn Post, and Companies A, C, D, E, Fifth Infantry, and Company C, Seventh Cavalry, which garrisoned the Tongue River Cantonment. Regimental Returns . . . Fifth Infantry, September 1877, roll 58; and Regimental Returns . . . Seventh Cavalry, September 1877, roll 72. Miles's adjutant, First Lieutenant George W. Baird, described Miles's proposed route of march as being "along the hypothenuse of a triangle, to intercept a rapidly marching force which was following the perpendicular and had had five days the start." Baird, "General Miles's Indian Campaigns," 363.
11. Miles to Howard, September 17, 1877, copy in folder: Nez Perce War, box 3, Sladen Family Papers.
12. An enlisted man remembered: "On September 17, just after midnight, there was loud knocking at the door of D Company, Fifth Infantry. We heard the headquarters orderly tell the first sergeant to turn out the company for a 30 days scout in light marching order. Fort Keogh [sic] was soon in a buzz of preparation for an Indian campaign. By daylight the next morning the command . . . was moving out." Winners of the West, October 30, 1936.
13. Snyder, "Diary," September 17, 1877.
14. Alice Baldwin, Memoirs . . . Baldwin, 191.
15. Miles, Personal Recollections, 262.
16. Fragmentary note dated October 3, 1877, in Edward S. Godfrey's hand, item 16, container 1, Godfrey Papers, LC; Gibson to Assistant Adjutant General, Department of Dakota, October 1, 1877, in Terry, "Report," 547; Miles, "Report," 527; Circular, September 17, 1877, entry 903, part 3, General Orders and Circulars, September 1877-June 1881, District of the Yellowstone, U.S. Army Continental Commands; and Army and Navy Journal, December 8, 1877. Most previous estimates of the size of Miles's command on the Nez Perce campaign have been far too low. This approximate figure is reconstructed based on examination of several sources, notably the following: Regimental Returns . . . Seventh Cavalry, August and September, 1877, roll 72; Regimental Returns . . . Second Cavalry, August and September, 1877, roll 19; Regimental Returns . . . Fifth Infantry, August and September, 1877, roll 58; Surgeon Henry R. Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General; and Godfrey, Interview.
17. Basic information about these officers is in Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary as follows: Hale (1:487), Biddle (1:217), Moylan (1:733), Godfrey (1:461), Eckerson (1:396), Tyler (1:977), McClernand (1:657), Jerome (1:573), Bennett (1:211), Woodruff (1:1058), Snyder (1:907), Romeyn (1:844), Carter (1:287), Baird (1:183), Long (1:640), Maus (1:698), Tilton (1:836), and Gardner (1:445). In addition, for Hale and Biddle, see Army and Navy Journal, October 13, 1877; and for Godfrey, whose extensive and action-filled frontier career commanded special interest, see Carroll and Price, Roll Call on the Little Big Horn, 61-63; and Chandler, Of Garry Owen in Glory, 360-62. Godfrey's article about the Little Bighorn is an oft-reprinted classic (Godfrey, "Custer's Last Battle").
18. First Lieutenant Frank D. Baldwin to Tyler, September 18, 1877, entry 107, box 3, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands. See also Tyler to Baldwin, September 19, 1877, ibid., which contains details of Tyler's and Hale's marches. Hale had been notified of the change on September 17 and had been directed to return his company to the cantonment. News of the Nez Perce situation, however, changed that directive, and instead of turning back, Hale awaited the arrival of Tyler's battalion. Biddle, Diary, September 17, 18, 1877.
19. Long, "Journal of the Marches," 1697.
20. Miles, Personal Recollections, 263. Lieutenant Henry Romeyn, writing long after the fact, maintained that these scouts had located "flankers" of the Nez Perce column. If so, the sightings went unacknowledged in the official reports. See Romeyn, "Capture of Chief Joseph," 285.
21. Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 117. Miles's directive prohibiting shooting is in Circular, September 21, 1877, entry 903, part 3, General Orders and Circulars, September 1877-June 1881, District of the Yellowstone, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
22. Tilton, "After the Nez Perces," 403. A condensation of this piece appears in Army and Navy Journal, February 9, 1878.
23. Howard to Miles, September 20, 1877, folder: Nez Perce War, box 3, Sladen Family Papers. Biddle's own account of the stopping of the Fontenelle is in Biddle to Mother, n.d. [September 24, 1877], box 2, Biddle Collection. Biddle's mother wrote on the top of this letter, "The last letter my darling ever wrote."
24. Johnson was a highly regarded scout who had served Miles valuably during the Sioux campaigns, and his death was keenly felt. He mistook the swift-running Missouri for the Musselshell and tried to swim his horse across. See Miles, Personal Recollections, 263; Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General; and, particularly, Barker, "Campaign and Capture," (December 1922): 7, 30.
25. Long, "Journal of the Marches," 1698. In his books, Miles, Personal Recollections (263) and Miles, Serving the Republic (173), Miles fondly boasted that his men marched fifty-two miles within twenty-four hours to reach the Missouri on September 23. In fact, in two days' marching on the twenty-second and twenty-third, the men made 57.45 miles35.83 miles the first day and 21.57 miles the secondaccording to Long, "Journal of the Marches," 1697-98. This description of Miles's march to the Missouri is drawn from material in Long, "Journal of the Marches," 1696-98; Miles, "Report," 527; Snyder, "Diary," September 18-23, 1877; Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General; Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 117-18; Romeyn, "Capture of Chief Joseph," 284-85; Army and Navy Journal, February 9, 1878; Baird, "Capture of Chief Joseph," 209-11; Baird, "General Miles's Indian Campaigns," 363; Miles, Personal Recollections, 261-64; and Miles, Serving the Republic, 173-74.
26. Biddle to Mother, n.d. [September 24, 1877], box 2, Biddle Collection.
27. Baldwin to Tyler, September 24, 1877, entry 107, box 3, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands. See also Miles, Personal Recollections, 264.
28. Miles to Terry, September 24, 1877, Department of Dakota, Letters Sent, item 4043, entry 1167, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
29. Snyder, "Diary," September 24, 1877; Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 118; Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General; Godfrey, Interview; and Circular, September 24, 1877, entry 903, part 3, General Orders and Circulars, September 1877-June 1881, District of the Yellowstone, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
30. Long, "Journal of the Marches," 1698.
31. Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General; Kelly, "Yellowstone Kelly," 186; and Kelly, "Capture of Nez Perces."
32. Bailey to Baldwin, 9:15 a.m., September 25, 1877, entry 107, box 3, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
33. Clendenin to Bailey, September 24, 1877, ibid. See also Barker, "Campaign and Capture," (December 1922): 30.
34. Miles, "Report," 528. See also Miles, "Report of Col. Nelson A. Miles," October 6, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 74.
35. The fuses on the projectiles were shortened to insure their bursting high in the air. Baldwin, Interview. See Miles, Personal Recollections, 265; Miles, Serving the Republic, 174-75; and Steinbach, Long March, 129-30. Godfrey stated that the Napoleon gun was used to signal the craft. Godfrey, Interview.
36. Long, "Journal of the Marches," 1698; Miles, "Report," 527; Snyder, "Diary," September 25, 1877; Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 118; Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General; Godfrey, Interview; and Kelly, "Capture of Nez Perces." Private Luther Barker remembered that the crossing necessitated unloading the supplies from the wagons and carrying them aboard the steamer. Then "the wagons had to be taken apart and carried a piece at a time on board the steamer." Barker, "Campaign and Capture," (January 1923): 7. For background on Kelly (1849-1928), Miles's most trusted civilian scout during his campaigns on the northern plains, see his autobiography, Kelly, "Yellowstone Kelly"; and Keenan, "Yellowstone Kelly."
37. Miles to Mary Miles, September 26, 1877, quoted in Virginia Johnson, Unregimented General, 197.
38. Long, "Journal of the Marches," 1699.
41. Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General.
42. Tilton, "After the Nez Perces," 403.
43. Snyder stated that this camp was on "Dry Fork of Milk River," but it might, in fact, have been on an affluent of the South Fork of Beaver Creek, an often dry tributary of Milk River. Snyder, "Diary," September 27, 1877. For activities of September 26 and 27, see appropriate entries in Snyder, "Diary"; Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 120; Long, "Journal of the Marches," 1699; Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General; Howe to Howe, November 11, 1877, Howe Letters; and Romeyn, "Capture of Chief Joseph," 285-86.
44. There is some evidence that a few of the Cheyenne scouts contacted the Nez Perces during this period, probably as the families moved north toward Snake Creek from Cow Creek Canyon. The Cheyennes reportedly lied, telling the Nez Perces they were not scouts, whereupon the tribesmen took them into their village and gave them food. By the time the Cheyennes returned to Miles with intelligence of the Nez Perces, the colonel already knew of the location of the village. See Stands In Timber and Liberty, Cheyenne Memories, 227; and Brown and Felton, Frontier Years, 107, 244 (citing Rufus Wallowing to the authors, April 1951).
45. Miles, Personal Recollections, 266.
46. Long, "Journal of the Marches," 1699.
47. Long described the route on September 28 thus: "Our trail still clings closely to the northern side of the Little Rockies, and at 4.10 p.m. we cross People's Creek; it has a gravelly bed, running spring-water, but no wood in sight. Passing over several small branches of this creek which wind among the foot-hills of the mountains at 6 p.m., after a march of 28.36 miles, we finally encamp on one of them near the gap or pass of the Little Rockies that tower above us. The pass is the only one through these mountains, and not a little difficulty is experienced in following its intricate windings." Ibid., 1699-700.
48. Ilges to Miles, September 27, 1877, entry 107, box 3, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands; Helena Weekly Independent, October 11, 1877; and Ilges's letter in Army and Navy Register, September 1, 1883.
49. Long, "Journal of the Marches," 1700.
51. Kelly, "Yellowstone Kelly," 188.
52. Miles, Personal Recollections, 267. The message from Howard to Miles, September 26, 1877, and Miles's response, September 29, 1877, are in folder: Nez Perce War, box 3, Sladen Family Papers. Miles might also have received two other dispatches at this time. (Private Ami Frank Mulford, Seventh Cavalry, claimed to have ridden from Sturgis to Miles before the Bear's Paw engagement opened. See Mulford, Fighting Indians!, 117). One, sent via Fort Ellis from Terry at Fort Shaw, offered plausible vindication for his future movements, stating: "I revoke any order forbidding movement to the North prior to the return of the Commission. I leave the whole subject to your discretion and best judgement." Terry to Miles, September 26, 1877, entry 107, box 3, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands. The other, a penciled personal note from Howard at the Musselshell, referenced Miles's dispatch of September 17 and bemoaned his continued criticism by the press. Howard to Miles, September 20, 1877, Miles Family Papers, LC. Beyond the material quoted above, this description of the events of September 28 and 29 is based on accounts in Miles, Personal Recollections, 266-67; Miles, "Report," 528; Miles, "Report of Col. Nelson A. Miles," October 6, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 74; Long, "Journal of the Marches," 1699-700; Snyder, "Diary," September 28, 29, 1877; Howe to Howe, November 11, 1877, Howe Letters; Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 121; Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General; Godfrey, Interview; Gaybower, Interview; Baird, "General Miles's Indian Campaigns," 363; Kelly, "Yellowstone Kelly," 188-90; and Romeyn, "Capture of Chief Joseph," 286.
53. William F. Schmalsle is mentioned in Bailey to Baldwin, September 25, 1877, entry 107, box 3, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands. In a 1914 letter, the retired Marion Maus wrote that "I had 32 Cheyennes besides the whites, Trippe [sic], Smalze [sic] and Yellowstone Kelly." Maus to Walter M. Camp, February 2, 1914, folder 1, box 2, Camp Papers, BYU. Maus's engagement with the Indians on September 29 is described in "Memoranda of Active Service . . . Maus." It is referenced in a letter, Miles to Adjutant General, March 26, 1894, Medal of Honor, Special File. In another letter, Maus wrote: "We had a fight with the Indians on the 29th wounding or killing two and capturing a herd of horses. This about 25 miles from the scene of fight & surrender at Bear Paw." Maus to Camp, February 2, 1914, folder 1, box 2, Camp Papers, BYU. "Yellowstone" Kelly described what was probably this encounter, but mistakenly had it occurring on the thirtieth. Kelly, "Yellowstone Kelly," 191-92. See also Kelly, "Capture of Nez Perces."
54. "Map of Milk River Indian Country." See Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 33-35, for general commentary on tribal interrelationships, but for a comprehensive discussion, see McGinnis, Counting Coup and Cutting Horses, passim.
55. Weed and Pirsson, "The Bearpaw Mountains," 283-87. On the origin of the range's name, the article states: "The name of the mountain group is itself derived from the Indian designation for Black Butte near Fort Assinniboine [1896], called by them the Bear's Paw. The mountains of course became known as the Mountains of the Bear's Paw." Weed and Pirsson, "The Bearpaw Mountains," 284. According to legend, however, the origin of the mountains, and hence their name, "Bear's Paw," came from area Indians (which tribe or tribes is not stated). Centennial Mountain, in the extreme part of the range, in shape resembles a dead or prostrate bear. The legend states that, because of the presence of many bears, the tribesmen never hunted there. One winter, however, a brave Indian hunter ventured to camp on Big Sandy Creek, killed a deer, and was leaving the mountains with the deer when the Master Bear appeared and held the warrior to the ground with his paw. The Indian, who needed the game for his starving people, appealed to a supreme deity, who ordered the bear to release him. When the bear refused, the deity let loose bolts of lightning that severed the animal's paw, freeing the Indian, and killing all the bears in the mountains. Appropriately, at the point of severance of the bear's paw near Centennial Mountain exists a geological fault that adds credence to the legend, while adjacent Box Elder Butte represents the paw. This account, attributed by geologist William Pecora to Montana state senator William Cowan, is in Pecora, Letter. See also Chinook Opinion, August 25, 1955. Through the years, the nomenclature has included Bear's Paw, Bearpaw (USGS, 1987), Bears Paw (USGS, 1987), and Bear Paw, in reference to this range; historically, however, the term, "Bear's Paw" predominated over all others, and for that reason it has been retained in the present narrative. The Nez Perces called them the Wolf's Paw Mountains. Yellow Bull, Interview, LBNM; and Camp to Romeyn, March 27, 1918, Ellison Collection. The U.S. Geological Survey has designated the range the Bearpaw Mountains, and the National Park Service, as of October 1994, determined that the name of the unit of Nez Perce National Historical Park would be Bear Paw Battlefield.
56. Yellow Bull, Interview, BYU.
57. This account is from "Yellow Bull's Story." See also McWhorter, Hear Me, 478; McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 204; and the recollections of Suhmkeen (later known as Samuel Tilden), in Alcorn and Alcorn, "Old Nez Perce Recalls," 70. The Nez Perce James Stewart told Camp that the people had a somewhat different reason for stopping: "[They] knew they had a big start on Howard and the women and children wanted to rest. Some of the warriors were for going on and all intended to do so the next day [September 30]. They knew they were near the Canadian border. Dissensions and jealousies had also arisen and some of those who had taken a leading part all along in conducting affairs became disgusted and the morale of the whole band had fallen into a rather bad way. These men knew the trails through the mountains and through the buffalo country." Unclassified envelope 91, Camp Manuscript Field Notes, Camp Papers, BYU. Most Nez Perce accounts are specific in stating that the people realized that they had not already crossed into Canada. Joseph claimed such in Joseph [Heinmot Tooyalakekt], "An Indian's Views," 429, soon after the warfare ended. Indian Superintendent James McLaughlin stated that he conversed with Joseph in 1900 about the 1877 war and that Joseph told him: "I had made a mistake by not crossing into the country of the Red Coats, also in not keeping the country scouted in my rear." McLaughlin, My Friend the Indian, 363 (see also 361).
58. This description of the location of the Nee-Me-Poo encampment is based upon information derived from James Magera, various communications with author, Havre, Mont., 1994 and 1995; author's field notes, June 9, 1994; New York Herald, October 11, 1877; C. Raymond Noyes, plat, "Battle of the Bear's Paw," NA; Romeyn, "Capture of Chief Joseph," 287; Alva Noyes, In the Land of the Chinook, 71-73; Francis Haines, "Chief Joseph," 7; Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 273; and Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 615-16. The camping sites of the different bands were identified by two aged warriors, Many Wounds and White Hawk, who had fought at Bear's Paw and who accompanied Lucullus V. McWhorter to the field in 1928 and 1935. Within specific camp circles, they identified the following individuals (presumably with families) as among the occupants: [Joseph's camp] Poker Joe, Young Buffalo Bull, Many Coyotes, Lone Bird, Red Spy, Kowtolikts, Black Trail, Lahpeealoot (Geese Three Times Alighting on Water), Joseph, Eagle Necklace Sr., John Dog, Howithowit, Ollokot, Red Wolf, and Koosouyeen (Going Alone); [Looking Glass's camp] Husis Kute, Kolkolhkequtolekt, Looking Glass, Sahpunmas (Vomiting), Toonahon, Peopeo Tholekt, White Bull, and No Hunt (Looking Glass's brother); [White Bird's camp] White Bird, Weyahsimlikt, Yellow Bull, Koolkool Snehee (Red Owl), Yellow Grizzly Bear, Wayatanatoo Latpah (Sun Tied), Peopeo Yahnaptah, Koolkool Stahlihken, Two Moons, Blacktail Eagle, and Shot in Head; and [Toohoolhoolzote's camp] Toohoolhoolzote, White Eagle, Struck by Lightning, Rainbow Sr., Five Times, Wenottahkahcikoon, No Fingers, Wottolen (Hair Combed Over Eyes), Ipnoutoosahkown, Shot in Breast, Tom Hill, Buffalo Horn, Eagle Necklace Sr. (also listed as being in Joseph's camp), Charging Hawk, and Nicyotscoohume. McWhorter, "Stake Tabulation, Chief Joseph's Camp" (this appears to be the first draft); and McWhorter, "Stake Tabulation of the Bear's Paw Mountain Battlefield." Both of these lists place the Palouse leader Husis Kute in Looking Glass's camp. Information on tabulation is correlated on C. Raymond Noyes, plat, "Battle of the Bear's Paw," NA. See also McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 323-38 (index); and McWhorter, Hear Me, 633-40 (index), for confirmation of individuals' names.
59. Maus's party seemingly did not return to the column until the battle at Snake Creek was well underway. See Kelly, "Yellowstone Kelly," 192.
\60. Shambo, "Reminiscences." Shambo's account is reprinted in Alva Noyes, In the Land of the Chinook, 73-77.
61. The Northern Cheyenne scouts with Miles included the following: Brave Wolf, Old Wolf, Magpie Eagle, Crazy Mule, Young Two Moon (John Two Moon), High Wolf, Starving Elk, Tall White Elk (or Tall White Antelope?), White Wolf, Little Sun, Spotted Blackbird (later known as Medicine Top), Little Yellow Man, Stands Different, Timber, Sa-huts, Yellow Weasel, Little Old Man, Medicine Flying, Ridge Bear, White Bear, White Bird, Big Head, War Bonnet, Bear Rope, Elk Shows His Horns, and Hail. Lakota scouts present included Hump, Roman Nosed Sioux, Iron Shield (or Iron Shirt?), and No Scalplock. A number of the listed Cheyennes were, in fact, not scouts but volunteers who hoped to acquire Nez Perce horses by participating in the venture. Two of the Cheyennes, White Bear and White Bird, apparently scouted so far away from the command that they did not participate in the action at Bear's Paw. This information has been compiled from Young Two Moon, Account. A slightly variant version is "Capture of the Nez Perces, Young Two Moon's Account." In a second-generation statement, John Stands-in-Timber contended in 1954 that Young Two Moon and High Wolf had discovered the Nez Perce village on September 29. Dusenberry, "Northern Cheyenne," 27.
62. Tilton, "After the Nez Perces," 403.
63. Romeyn, "Capture of Chief Joseph," 286. For the formation of the column, see also Moylan to Ernest Garlington, August 16, 1878, copy in Godfrey Papers, LC. (This document is reprinted in Chandler, Of Garry Owen in Glory, 74-76.)
64. Long to Miles, August 16, 1890, Long Papers; and Godfrey, Interview.
65. Description based on an interview with Charles K. Bucknam and G. H. Snow, New York Herald, October 11, 1877. (This account is abbreviated in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, October 27, 1877.) Bucknam was one of the Fort Benton volunteers dispatched by Ilges to Miles after the Cow Island/Cow Creek Canyon affairs. Army and Navy Register, September 1, 1883.
66. Godfrey, Interview. Former Private Fremont Kipp, Company D, Seventh Cavalry, told Walter M. Camp: "When we got within 5 or 6 miles of the camp that morning we got within 1000 yds of a Nez Perce outpost of 3 Inds [sic] who were sitting by a fire. When they saw us they rode off bare back, leaving their saddles. We were coming from the S.E. & had not struck the main trail yet. They evidently thought we were going direct to the village & so instead of trying to mislead us struck out for the village themselves & our scouts followed them." Kipp, Interview.
67. Undated fragmentary note penciled in Godfrey's hand, part of which is in container 1, folios 14-15, Godfrey Papers, LC, while a continuation page is in the Godfrey Papers, MHI. A contemporary account by Lieutenant Jerome of the Second Cavalry partly dispelled Hale's purported statement: "The story about Hale's saying, 'My God! am I going to be killed so early in the morning?' is probably a fiction. What did occur was this. When the command halted . . . , Hale, who was spoiling for a fight, but who was evidently nervous and troubled, took out a charm given to him by a lady, which he wore around his neck and said:'Jerome, if I should get killed this morning I want you to see that this gets back'mentioning the lady's name. I bantered him a moment about it. Then he took it in his hand and threw it with a gesture against his heart, laughed in his peculiar manner and exclaimed:'There, nothing is going to harm me now.'" New York Herald, October 30, 1877. Still another story of Hale's portent had him saying, on the eve of his departure from the cantonment: "Pray for me, for I am never coming back!" Alice Baldwin, Memoirs of . . . Baldwin, 192. See also Carriker and Carriker, An Army Wife, 106-7.
68. Titus, "Last Stand," 148. This article, while containing inaccurate and undocumented information, is to some degree useful because Titus was able to have then-Colonel Edward S. Godfrey, a participant, review and correct the manuscript. Godfrey evidently concurred with the statement regarding the viewing of the herd from the ridge "between Peoples Creek and Snake Creek." Nelson Titus to Godfrey, June 11, 1905, Godfrey Papers, LC.
69. Romeyn, "Capture of Chief Joseph," 286; Miles, Personal Recollections, 267. It is doubtful that Miles or any of his command, save perhaps the white scouts, ever knew the full extent of the pre-action involving the Northern Cheyennes at the Nez Perce camp; only their own accounts, given to selected whites years later, described the introductory skirmishing in any detail.
70. This description of the advance has been reconstructed from the sources quoted or cited in explanatory footnotes, besides the following: Miles, "Report," 528; Miles, "Report of Col. Nelson A. Miles," October 6, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 74; Long, "Journal of the Marches," 1700; Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 121-22; Snyder, "Diary," September 30, 1877; Howe to Howe, November 11, 1877, Howe Letters; Moylan to Garlington, August 16, 1878, copy in Godfrey Papers, LC; and Baird, "General Miles's Indian Campaigns," 363.
71. For details of the Lame Deer fight, see Greene, Yellowstone Command, 205-13. For descriptions and assessments of the army's tactical recourses during the so-called Indian wars of the 1870s, see ibid., 10-12; and Wooster, The Military and United States Indian Policy, 135-42. For an overview of the procedures and pitfalls of the system, including the surprise tactic, during this period, see Cook, "Art of Fighting Indians."
72. This estimate of the village population is derived from knowledge of the estimates given by Shively and Irwin in the national park, as well as the surrender figures given by McWhorter's Nez Perce sources in McWhorter, Hear Me, 499; and estimates by Black Eagle regarding the number of people who escaped to Canada, presented in McWhorter, Hear Me, 499. Also considered was the tabulation of surrendered Nez Perces given in "Report of Indians . . . District of the Yellowstone."
73. Pre-battle activities in the Nez Perce camp are described in McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 205; McWhorter, Hear Me, 478-81; Joseph [Heinmot Tooyalakekt], "An Indian's Views," 428; and Garcia, Tough Trip through Paradise, 293.
74. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 205. Ten-year-old Suhmkeen recalled that the man "yelled, then he fired his rifle in the air, at the same time he waved a blanket giving us the signal . . . 'Soldiers comingsoldiers coming.'" Alcorn and Alcorn, "Old Nez Perce Recalls," 71.
75. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 205. For the alarm in the camp, see McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 205; McWhorter, Hear Me, 479, 481; Yellow Bull, Interview, LBNM; MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 269; and Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 274-75.
Chapter 12
1. This is approximate, all the major Nez Perce and army sourcesmost stated long after the factspecifying only a range between approximately 7:30 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. for the time of attack, but with the majority coalescing around 8:30 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.. Private Abram Brant wrote home that the village was first sighted four miles ahead at 9:00 a.m. Brant, Letter.
2. Edward J. McClernand, With the Indian, 104.
3. In describing the advance, Miles wrote that "a more light-hearted, resolute body of men never moved over any field. An occasional laugh, a happy witticism, and radiant smiles were heard and seen along the lines, and one officer complacently rode into action humming the air 'What Shall the Harvest be?'the melody of the song timed to the footfalls of his galloping steed." Miles, Personal Recollections, 268.
4. For technical descriptions of the permutations of period cavalry, such as the force engaged at Bear's Paw, see Cavalry Tactics.
5. Lieutenant Henry Romeyn stated that, in the initial charge, the mounted Fifth infantrymen followed "about 800 or 900 yards behind" the Seventh Cavalry. Romeyn, Interview.
6. The evident mistake by Tyler in leading his battalion to the left rather than straight toward the camp was significantly ignored in Miles's battle reports, probably because it contributed importantly to the ultimate outcome of the fighting at Bear's Paw through the capture of most of the pony herd. (Tyler, most likely, would have gone after the herd after carrying his charge through the village, as was customary in such assaults.) In his annual report, in fact, Miles termed Tyler's movement "a slight detour, to attack in the rear and cut off and secure the herd." Miles, "Report," 528. And Adjutant Baird later maintained that he carried the order from Miles to Tyler, directing the latter to "sweep around to the left and cut off the camp from the herd"this, apparently, after Tyler's diversion left was well underway. Baird, "General Miles's Indian Campaigns," 363. This description (using much of the same verbiage) was echoed in Miles, Personal Recollections, 268. Of course, despite the first day's action, the ultimate military result of Bear's Paw was success with potential enhancement for Miles's reputation and career. Probably because of this, the error was ignored; that it occurred, however, is documented in Godfrey, Interview; and undated fragmentary note penciled in Godfrey's hand, part of which is in container 1, folios 14-15, Godfrey Papers, LC, while a continuation page is in the Godfrey Papers, MHI. Yet another fragmentary note by Godfrey stated the following: "Capt. Taylor [sic] with his 3 troops of the 2 Cavy was designated to make the attack, & the 3 troops of the 7" were to act as support. In his advance, however, Taylor had mistaken the direction & diverged so far to the left that the 7th were ordered to make the attack & Taylor was ordered to cut off the Pony herds." Godfrey, "Gen. Godfrey's Story." In an account that appeared in the Boston Sunday Post, however, Godfrey modified his position somewhat, stating that "Captain Tyler of the 2nd Cavalry immediately made for the herd [implying no mistake had been made]. Then the 7th Cavalry was ordered to make the attack." In a slightly variant account, enlisted man Frederick Gaybower recollected that "Miles ordered one co. of 2nd Cav. to take the herd, and by mistake all 3 cos. of 2nd Cav went after the horses." Gaybower, Interview. Another enlisted man of the Seventh told Camp virtually the same thing. James Clark, Interview.
7. This according to an interview with Charles K. Bucknam and G. H. Snow, New York Herald, October 11, 1877.
8. Miles, Personal Recollections, 268.
9. Moylan stated that, after cresting the divide leading toward Snake Creek, the battalion deployed into line formation, as opposed to columns of fours. Moylan to Ernest Garlington, August 16, 1878, copy in Godfrey Papers, LC. It is clear from Godfrey's account, however, that the charge was made by the three companies in column rather than in line, which would have been illogical given the topographical constraints encountered in the approach as well as at the site where the fighting erupted.
10. Godfrey remembered that "as the terrain appeared to give access to the village on Moylan's side, I started toward him. He had found the bluffs too abrupt along his assigned front, and had started toward my part of the line, so we bumped together." Boston Sunday Post, August 23, 1931.
13. Moylan to Garlington, August 16, 1878, copy in Godfrey Papers, LC.
15. Ibid.; Godfrey to Adjutant General, February 24, 1882, Godfrey Papers, LC. See also Moylan to Garlington, August 16, 1878, copy in Godfrey Papers, LC; and Mulford, Fighting Indians!, 122.
16. Moylan placed the distance at "200 or 300 yards to the rear" of the former position. Moylan to Garlington, August 16, 1878, copy in Godfrey Papers, LC. See also the discussion of the cavalry assault and repulse on the bluff and the advent of the Fifth Infantry in Walter M. Camp to Romeyn, March 27, 1912, and Romeyn's reply of June 13, 1912, on verso, item 19, Camp Papers, DPL.
17. The casualty figure is from Garlington, "Seventh Regiment," but see also Moylan to Garlington, August 16, 1878, copy in Godfrey Papers, LC. Godfrey later stated that "the Indians were so close that they shot too high." Garlington, "Seventh Regiment." An enlisted man, perhaps referring to the same topography at the site, remembered that "men and horses went down pretty fast before the battalion [companies A and D] could fall back over the ridge out of sight." Winners of the West, October 30, 1936. One man killed on the line was Private David E. Dawsey. His "bunkie," Private Abram B. Brant, described to Dawsey's brother how he died: "David and myself were together, the fighting was then very hot. Your Brother was shot while on the line, through the left Brest [sic]. He called to me at once and I crawled up to him and drew him in a hollow out of range of the firing. He says Abe old boy, if this thing kills me, write to my Mother with my love and tell her I hope[d] to see her this winter. I was then obliged to leave him and go back in the line, and after dark, when I went to him, he was dead." Brant, Letter.
18. Statement in Peter Allen, "Military Expedition . . . Bear Paw Mountains." Allen's recollection is important in establishing the relative chronology of the deaths of Biddle and Hale. After he and an injured comrade walked back to the field hospital, "having to cross a washout or dry creek bed on the way," Allen, who had witnessed Biddle's death, noted that while with the surgeons "a wounded man came in and said that Capt. Hale, capt. of my Co. (K) had been killed." Peter Allen, Interview.
20. Kipp recalled: "Just as we crossed the big coulee a Nez Perce Ind[ian] stood in the coulee & kept firing into us until we got within 15 feet of him when he was killed and we swept on past him." Kipp, Interview. The wounding of Baird is described in Miles to Adjutant General, March 27, 1877, Medal of Honor, Special File.
21. In his account, Godfrey said that he "had just 'jumped' a corporal, whom I saw 'ducking' and I thought trying to stop in a ravine," when he was shot. In fact, he probably had encountered Corporal John Quinn, who under his real name of John Gorham, related his experience fifty-four years later: "The command . . . formed in skirmish line moving forward. At this time it was my misfortune to have met with an accident caused by my carbine getting between my legs while on the run, causing me to fall heavily to the ground; the breechlock of the carbine coming against my groin, causing a painful injury which rendered me helpless for a time. In the meantime, . . . Godfrey, having overcome his loss of mount, was hastening to join the troops, which was [sic] just ahead. Seeing me prone on the ground, he stopped, and while in the act of talking to me he was shot through the side of his waist. . . . As soon as I was able I joined the troop." Quinn was himself later wounded as he tried to rescue the mortally wounded Trooper Dawsey. John Gorham letter, August 19, 1931, in Boston Herald, undated clipping (ca. August 22, 1931), Godfrey Papers, LC.
22. Private Kipp of Company D told Walter Camp that Hale, in response to Eckerson's observation that their position was good, said: "We will charge them again, that's what we'll do." They were his last words. Kipp, Interview. George Baird recorded that a staff officer carried a message from Miles to Hale, who was lying on the ground seeking cover with his men. "[He] began the familiar formula'The General's compliments and he directs'when observing that no response was given he looked more intently and saw that he was saluting the dead." Baird, "General Miles's Indian Campaigns," 363-64. Lieutenant Long identified the staff officer as himself in Long to Miles, August 16, 1890, Long Papers, and in Beyer and Keydel, Deeds of Valor, 2:252, while Miles confirmed his action in connecting the companies following Hale's death. Long, "Brief of services." The Charles K. Bucknam and G. H. Snow account in New York Herald, October 11, 1877, stated that Hale had also received an earlier wound while leading a charge. Eckerson's feat in going for the ammunition is recounted in Army and Navy Journal, April 27, 1878. A perhaps anecdotal story had Eckerson witnessing the deaths and wounding of his colleague officers and rushing up to Miles, saying, "I am the only damned man of the Seventh Cavalry who wears shoulder straps, alive." Titus, "Last Stand," 149.
23. Portland Daily Standard, November 4, 1877. Walter Camp, citing James Stewart's recollections, wrote: "The Nez Perce had orders to pick off the bugler first and the officers next. This was a standing order in the fighting all along. . . . By picking off the buglers, the officers could not give commands at critical times, and by getting the officers out of the way they would demoralize the men." Unclassified envelope 91, 537, Camp Manuscript Field Notes, Camp Papers, LBNM.
25. Tilton, "After the Nez Perces," 403.
26. Romeyn, "Capture of Chief Joseph," 288.
27. Tilton, "After the Nez Perces," 403.
28. Long to Miles, August 16, 1890, Long Papers.
29. Baird, "Capture of Chief Joseph," 212-13.
30. Miles, Personal Recollections, 272.
31. The movement of Romeyn's Company G, Fifth Infantry, across the ravine to aid the Seventh troopers is precisely mentioned in Second Lieutenant (and Fifth Infantry battalion adjutant) Thomas M. Woodruff, Letter; published as Thomas M. Woodruff, "'We have Joseph," 32.
32. This account of the opening attack at Bear's Paw comprises a fusion of information drawn from the materials already cited in documenting quotes and explanatory references above, as well as the following: Miles, "Report," 528; Long to Miles, August 16, 1890, Long Papers; Surgeon Henry R. Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General; Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 122-23; New York Herald, October 11, 1877; Army and Navy Journal, December 8, 1877; Romeyn, Interview; Henry P. Jones to Camp, January 26, 1912, folder 2, box 1, Camp Papers, BYU; James Clark, Interview; "Summary of Reports . . . Non-Effectiveness"; Harper's Weekly, November 17, 1877; Record of Engagements, 73-74; Garlington, "Seventh Regiment," 261-62; Miles, Serving the Republic, 176-77; and Nelson A. Miles, "Chief Joseph's Surrender," New York Tribune, August 4, 1907. See also the following historical maps: sketch map accompanying Allen, "Military Expedition . . . Bear Paw Mountains"; Grillon, "Battle of Snake Creek"; and "Topographical Sketch . . . 'Bear's Paw Mts.'" This last map was probably drawn by Lieutenant Long. See Long to Baird, March 14, 1890, Baird Papers.
33. Black Eagle's account in McWhorter, Hear Me, 479-80.
34. Joseph [Heinmot Tooyalakekt], "An Indian's Views," 428.
35. Shot in Head's account in McWhorter, Hear Me, 482-83.
36. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 206.
37. Ibid., 207. McWhorter's interpretation of Yellow Wolf's narration at this point is unclear. See McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 208 n. 5. It is possible that the account described Carter's attack on the village later that afternoon. Francis Haines, in Nez Perces, 313, stated that White Bird and 120 men met the Seventh's attack at the crest of the bluff, but provided no documentation. MacDonald's sources said only that "White Bird ordered his warriors to prepare for a defense." MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 269. Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 618-19, made no statement regarding White Bird or the identity of others who repelled the assault. Unfortunately, beyond the possibility of Yellow Wolf, the names of the defenders who turned back the cavalrymen on the bluff seem to be unknown. McWhorter's on-site informants, Many Wounds and White Hawk, however, named several individuals who fought in the vicinity of the east and northeast edges of the bluff: Wottolen, Young Soo-koups (killed there), Akh-tai-la-ken, Lone Bird, Shooting Thunder, and Red Spy. McWhorter, "Stake Tabulation of the Bear's Paw Mountain Battle Field"; and C. Raymond Noyes, plat, "Battle of the Bear's Paw," NA.
38. Yellow Bull, Interview, LBNM.
39. Scout Kelly believed that "the Sioux and Cheyennes were so eager for horses that they precipitated the fight before General Miles was ready." Kelly, "Capture of Nez Perces."
40. One Nee-Me-Poo, Grizzly Bear Lying Down, conversed in sign with the Cheyenne scout leader. He inquired why the Cheyennes were helping the soldiers, saying: "You have a red skin, red blood. You must be crazy! You are fighting your friends. We are Indians. We are humans." The Cheyenne said he would not shoot, but, according to Yellow Wolf, he lied to them. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 207. "The way I look at it," Yellow Wolf told McWhorter, "we did not make war with any of those tribes [Crows, Bannocks, Sioux, Northern Cheyennes]. Our war was with the whites. Started by General Howard at our Lapwai council." McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 208.
41. Nee-Me-Poo sources indicate that the Cheyennes killed a woman. Shot in Head stated: "A strange Indian chief wearing a great-tailed war bonnet was pursuing a woman on a cream-colored horse, riding as fast as she could whip her horse. I heard her begging for her life." McWhorter, Hear Me, 482. See also Ealahweemah's account in McWhorter, Hear Me, 484. Yellow Wolf said that the Cheyenne killed the woman with his revolver. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 207.
42. The action of the scouts is documented in Young Two Moon, Account, and is essentially the same in "Capture of the Nez Perces, Young Two Moon's Account." See also Stands In Timber and Liberty, Cheyenne Memories, 228. Dr. Tilton reported of the Nez Perces that "the first intimation they had of our presence, was the firing upon the village by the Cheyenne Indians." Surgeon Henry R. Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General. The figure of possibly seventy Nez Perces leaving the village is given in Edward J. McClernand, With the Indian, 105.
43. Godfrey remembered that the captured ponies "were diseased, and that if their flesh was wounded in any way it would fester up badly." Godfrey, Interview.
44. Peopeo Tholekt dueled with a Cheyenne scout on the tableland about six thousand feet northeast of the battlefield, finally wounding the Cheyenne. See his account, and Peopeo Tholekt's pictographic rendering (citing Cheetham, "Peo-peo Tholekt's Artistry"), both in Thain White, "Relics from the Bear's Paw Battlefield." The site of this encounter is defined on C. Raymond Noyes, plat, "Battle of the Bear's Paw," NA.
45. "Capture of the Nez Perces, Young Two Moon's Account."
46. Edward G. McClernand, Letter.
47. Ibid. The Cheyenne, Young Two Moon, offered his view of this episode: "Looking back, the officer in command of the troops saw that he had left a man who could not mount his horse and he wheeled his troops and charged back to save this man. Here the soldiers and the Nez Perces got pretty close together. When this troop of cavalry got down into a gulch, the Nez Perces formed a line on both sides and so surrounded the troops and the three scouts who were with them. There was hot fighting here down in this gulch for two and a half hours. Then the Nez Perces left them." "Capture of the Nez Perces, Young Two Moon's Account."
48. Ealahweemah's account in McWhorter, Hear Me, 483-84.
49. Arthur, Interview, 560. Young Suhmkeen (later Samuel Tilden) also managed to escape, despite being shot at by one of the Cheyenne scouts. Alcorn and Alcorn, "Old Nez Perce Recalls," 71.
50. Miles stated that the captured stock totaled seven hundred horses, ponies, and mules (Miles, "Report of Col. Nelson A. Miles," October 6, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 74), but raised that figure to eight hundred in Miles, Personal Recollections, 273. Not all of the animals were confiscated; some ran off and were later reported in the vicinity of the Fort Belknap Indian Agency about fifteen miles north. Fort Benton Record, October 12, 1877.
51. Edward G. McClernand, Letter.
52. Besides the sources indicated above, this account of the capture of the herd is based on material in Edward J. McClernand, With the Indian, 105-6; Romeyn, "Capture of Chief Joseph," 287; Bruce, "Comments"; and Baird, "General Miles's Indian Campaigns," 364.
53. This action is referenced in an interview with Jerome in the New York Herald, October 30, 1877, and the anonymous participant account in Army and Navy Journal, December 8, 1877. And Private William Zimmer, of Company F, noted that "H Co. went to the assistance of the 7th & infantry, while our co. were engaged in gathering up the loose ponies that were scattered about the prairie. After this was done . . . the rest of us went in the skirmish line." Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 122.
55. Thomas M. Woodruff, Letter. Miles reported that, based upon the Nez Perces' fixed positions in the ravines, "it soon became apparent they could only be forced by a charge or by siege." Miles, "Report," 528. Henry Romeyn believed the attack was planned as part of a siege operation in order "to get possession of the course of the creek to cut the Indians off from water." Romeyn, "Capture of Chief Joseph," 288. See also Baird, "Capture of Chief Joseph," 212. In Miles, Personal Recollections (272), Miles denied that he attempted this multidirectional assault: "I did not . . . order a general assault, as I knew it must result in the loss of many valuable lives and possibly might end in a massacre."
56. Woodruff claimed that Romeyn never received the directive because the orderly carrying it was shot. Thomas M. Woodruff, Letter. Godfrey recollected that "Genl Miles had ordered a charge by the whole battalion [meaning the Seventh Cavalry as well as the Fifth Infantry troops] but the line failed to advance very far, except the few men . . . [of Carter's party who went] down the creek bottom. Genl Miles was not satisfied and sent word to the companies that when he gave the command charge, the whole battalion should charge. . . . I suggested to the General that perhaps, owing to the noise of the firing, etc., they could not hear his command and that the trumpeter sounding the charge could be better heard. I don't think the General liked the 'suggestion' but he acted on it and had the charge sounded in addition to his word of command." Godfrey, Interview.
57. New York Tribune, undated clipping in Romeyn, Appointment, Commission, and Personal File. See also Romeyn, "Capture of Chief Joseph," 288-29. That the wounding of Romeyn is one of the most documented injuries on record during the Indian wars period was largely due to Romeyn himself. On October 8, he wrote an acquaintance: "I was shot through the right lung, the ball striking about two inches below the nipple, breaking a rib where it entered and again where it came out (about two inches from the spine)." Romeyn to H. A. Colvin, October 8, 1877, in unidentified newspaper clipping, in Romeyn, Appointment, Commission, and Personal File. See other accounts of Romeyn's injury in Army and Navy Journal, March 9, 1878; and Beyer and Keydel, Deeds of Valor, 2:252. Woodruff observed that Romeyn's wounding came about because he "unnecessarily exposed himself. . . . His horse received two severe wounds [that killed the animal], his field glass case was shot away and another shot cut his sword belt at the left side, striking the handle of his knife, which with his belt and pistol fell to the ground." Thomas M. Woodruff, Letter. First Sergeant Henry Hogan carried Romeyn off the field in the midst of heavy fire by the warriors. The Medal of Honor, 227.
58. A Seventh Cavalry anecdote related to Lieutenant Eckerson possibly referenced this action: An acquaintance in "the states" had sent Eckerson a fine pipe with a long stem of amber. At Bear's Paw, as the lieutenant halted with his unit behind a ledge, a bullet shattered his pipe bowl "into dozens of pieces, filling his face with ashes, burning tobacco and fragments of the pipe, leaving him with only part of the stem clenched between his teeth. The look that came over his face was so comical [that] the men simply had to laugh." Goldin, Biography, 331.
59. Thomas M. Woodruff, Letter. The "odd men" may have numbered more than "two or three" and probably included members of Jerome's Company H, Second Cavalry (see below). Godfrey stated that the attacking force included some of the Cheyenne scouts. Godfrey, Interview.
60. Woodruff stated that "I had sent word previously to have some troops sent over the creek to the left so as to enfilade the ravines that the Indians held, and Lt. Maus with ten men was sent there." Thomas M. Woodruff, Letter. Maus recounted that "I was sent, with scouts, on the opposite side of their camp to drive the indians [sic] out of a ravine where they were sheltered and were keeping up a damaging fire on parts of our command. This we did as we had, from our position, a fire enfilading their position. I was out nine (9) hours on this line." "Memoranda of Active Service. . . Maus."
61. Thomas M. Woodruff, Letter.
62. Private Oliver P. Howe described what was apparently this action in which he participated: "H compy 2" [was] facing Right into the Village. We were ordered to dismount and charge it on foot and we got a galing [sic] fire for we had to Charge over a little Knoll and down into a Ravine and as soon as we Reached the top of the Knoll we got it from all quarters but only wounding two men [mortally?] on our side." Oliver P. Howe to Samuel J. Howe, November 11, 1877, Howe Letters. Godfrey stated that Carter's troops "found their way blocked by the Nez Perces who were working their way toward the positions held by the Company on the bluffs," and that the encounter was "hand to hand." Godfrey, Interview. Woodruff, who was there, made no such assertion regarding the nature of the combat. Thomas M. Woodruff, Letter.
63. Thomas M. Woodruff, Letter.
64. Miles, "Report," 528. Nez Perce participants made few references to the infantry assault. One of them was by Joseph, whose camp was directly involved. He observed: "Ten or twelve soldiers charged into our camp and got possession of two lodges, killing three Nez Perces and losing three of their men, who fell inside our lines. I called my men to drive them back. We fought at close range, not more than twenty steps apart, and drove the soldiers back upon their main line, leaving their dead in our hands. We secured their arms and ammunition." Joseph [Heinmot Tooyalakekt], "An Indian's Views," 428. Yellow Wolf might well have been referencing this action instead of that involving the Seventh Cavalry at the start of the battle. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 207-8.
65. Miles to Howard, Sturgis, and Brotherton, September 30, 1877, folder: Nez Perce War, box 3, Sladen Family Papers. The asterisks and bracketed word are in the copy. Unaccountably, Miles did not inform of the large proportion of men killed in his command. And his low estimate of the number of Nez Perces still before him is equally confusing.
67. Unnamed woman in McWhorter, Hear Me, 485.
68. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 211; McWhorter, Hear Me, 485-86; Yellow Bull, Interview, LBNM; and Fort Benton Record, October 12, 1877. Delineation of the shelter and rifle pits is in McWhorter, "Stake Tabulation of the Bear's Paw Mountain Battle Field"; and C. Raymond Noyes, plat, "Battle of the Bear's Paw," NA. The complimentary quote is from Long, "Journal of the Marches," 1701. Years later, former sergeant Stanislaus Roy, Company A, Seventh Cavalry, described a feature he remembered among the Nez Perce fortifications: "The Indian lookout . . . was a round hole dug in the earth about 4 feet in diameter and about 2 ° ft. deep, and above the earth was a stone wall walled up round like a well for 4 ft. high. This wall protruded above the ground and the lookout enabled two men to stand up and be protected in it. It was on the edge of the Hill [sic] in plain view of Indian Intrenchments and how an Indian got into it or got out of it I don't know, but it was talked about at the time and [that?] there was an undermine [underground?] outlet. Now I have come to the conclusion that if you found a pile of bolders [sic] and rocks that that must be the place and that the rocks has fell in [and] covered up the hole." Roy to Camp, August 13, 1911, folder 19, box 1, Camp Papers, BYU.
69. The construction of rifle pits is documented in Long, "Journal of the Marches," 1701; Grillon, "Battle of Snake Creek"; Fort Benton Record, November 16, 1877; McAlpine, "Memoirs"; and New York Herald, October 15, 1877 (which stated that the pits, "from night to night, when concealment was possible among the barren gulches and ravines, were dug nearer and nearer to the lines of the Indians"). Private Zimmer noted that "after dark our skirmish line was brought around so as to completely hem them in to prevent their escape." Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 122. It is likely that some of the rock cairns located in recent years on the battlefield relate to positions occupied by members of the Fifth Infantry and Seventh Cavalry during the night of September 30, and by other units as they changed places over the course of the siege. Because of the cover afforded by darkness, it is possible that the line of cairns located approximately 630 yards from the Nez Perce position represents rifle pits established by the Seventh cavalrymen or Fifth infantrymen that night. Another line of cairns located on higher ground about fifteen hundred yards east-southeast of the Nez Perce position (still within carbine range) might represent either an earlier-held position of the troops following the warriors' repulse of Hale's men, or a strategic post continuously occupied by infantry or cavalry to provide constant oversight of the field. The latter position conforms well with a line designated as held by a company of Fifth Infantry, apparently late on September 30. See "Topographical Sketch . . . 'Bear's Paw Mts.'" The cairns are delineated and discussed in LeRoy Anderson, "Bear Paw Battlefield." See also Douglas D. Scott, "Historic Archaeological Overview . . . Bear Paw," which encloses this and other documents related to the historical archeology of the site (see, in particular, fig. 2), including the highly significant reports of Thain White and Gordon L. Pouliot (see bibliography for complete listing); Rennie and Brumley, "Prehistoric Archaelogical Overview . . . Bear's Paw," 5; and Jellum, Fire in the Wind, 277-79. The map, Grillon, "Battle of Snake Creek," which is distorted in scale, posits four army rifle pits generally in the areas discussed above. One more appears to be at the northeast side of the south bluff and conforms with that shown on C. Raymond Noyes, plat, "Battle of the Bear's Paw," NA. Grillon, "Battle of Snake Creek," further indicates three more pits constructed on the west side of Snake Creek at points flanking the village.
70. "Topographical Sketch . . . 'Bear's Paw Mts.'" Grillon, "Battle of Snake Creek," shows the Seventh Cavalry camp located some distance in the rear of the artillery position on the south bluff. That the troop positions were changed periodically throughout the siege is evident in "Memoranda of Active Service . . . Maus," wherein Maus stated: "I was employed by the general in assisting him in changing and locating the line surrounding the hostiles from day to day."
71. Thomas M. Woodruff, Letter.
72. Edward G. McClernand, Letter.
73. "Topographical Sketch . . . 'Bear's Paw Mts.'"; and Grillon, "Battle of Snake Creek."
74. The gun, invented by Benjamin B. Hotchkiss, answered an 1876 request by Miles for "a rifled gun, probably a breech-loader, that can travel with cavalry, and has an effective shell range beyond that of rifled small-arms." "Report of the Chief of Ordnance," in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1878, xiii. The gun was manufactured at the Hotchkiss Armory, Paris, France. Aubrey L. Haines to Jack Williams, January 18, 1962, copy in research files, Big Hole National Monument, Wisdom, Mont. See also Miles's testimony in U.S. House, Report of a Sub-Committee . . . Relating to the Reorganization of the Army, 241.
75. This according to Scout Kelly. Kelly, "Yellowstone Kelly," 193.
76. This location for Miles's headquarters varies from that established by McWhorter on the basis of information gathered in 1935 from Charles Smith, who had been a teamster with the troops. Smith claimed that Miles's headquarters were back up the draw between the south bluff and the neighboring point where the Hotchkiss gun stood. McWhorter to Smith, November 8 and 9, 1935, folder 61 and folder 3, McWhorter Papers. Indeed, Smith's designated point may, in fact, have served as the colonel's front line command post.
77. These positions are correlatively postulated on the basis of information delineated on the map, Grillon, "Battle of Snake Creek." It is likely that Tilton's "field hospital" was back from the edge of the bluff behind the infantry position during the opening hours of the fighting. See Kipp, Interview. The pack mules bearing ammunition were hurried forward by Lieutenant Long when the village was discovered. Once in the vicinity of the ongoing action, they required proximity to the command as well as protection, which Long provided. Long to Miles, August 16, 1890, Long Papers. Their probable location is based on Grillon's designation of the area where the wagon train was placed after its arrival. One account stated that Miles parked the train eight hundred yards "to the rear," a placement that roughly conforms with that shown on Grillon, "Battle of Snake Creek."
78. For details of this incident, see Kelly, "Yellowstone Kelly," 193-95; and Kelly, "Capture of Nez Perces." The incident involved the Cheyenne scouts' rescue of one of their own, White Wolf, who had been wounded in the head by the sharpshooter. Hump had purposefully drawn fire while Starving Elk and Young Two Moon reached the injured scout and dragged him off. "Capture of the Nez Perces, Young Two Moon's Account." After this incident, White Wolf got a new nameShot in the Head. Marquis, Warrior Who Fought Custer, 326.
79. Shambo's account in Alva Noyes, In the Land of the Chinook, 76.
80. Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General.
81. Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 123.
82. Peter Allen, "Military Expedition . . . Bear Paw Mountains." Allen's arm was amputated above the elbow on October 5.
84. Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General. Steward Gallenne's leg was amputated on October 14.
85. New York Herald, October 11, 1877.
87. Portland Daily Standard, November 4, 1877. Tilton wrote: "The Indians came up to some of our wounded, and when they offered resistance, called out to them, 'don't shoot, we won't hurt you, we only want your [cartridge] belts,' and they were as good as their word." Tilton also commented: "They not only did not disturb the wounded beyond taking their equipments, but in at least two instances gave them water to drink." Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General. Dr. Tilton later requested that the words, "not only," and "but in two instances gave them water to drink" be excised from his report because "I am convinced upon further inquiry that the statement is not correct." Tilton to Surgeon General, December 17, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General.
88. Tilton to Surgeon General, December 17, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General; Romeyn, "Capture of Chief Joseph," 289; Kelly, "Yellowstone Kelly," 196; and Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General.
89. "List of Wounded in the Yellowstone Command . . . Bears Paw"; Regimental Returns . . . Seventh Cavalry, September 1877, roll 72; Regimental Returns . . . Fifth Infantry, September and October 1877, roll 58; Regimental Returns . . . Second Cavalry, September 1877, roll 719; and Tilton to Medical Director, Department of Dakota, October 3, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General.
90. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 211.
91. The dead at "Death's Point of Rocks," allegedly killed by the Cheyenne scouts, were Tohtohaliken (mortally wounded and died), Lakoyee, Timlihpoosman, Eagle Necklace, Sr., and Heyoomeekahlikt (Grizzly Bear Lying on His Back). The wounded were Eagle Necklace, Jr., and Tomyahnin. Philip Williams to McWhorter, July 19, 1936, folder 93, McWhorter Papers; McWhorter, "Stake Tabulation of the Bear's Paw Mountain Battle Field"; and C. Raymond Noyes, plat, "Battle of the Bear's Paw," NA.
92. Information on the extent and identity of Nez Perce casualties on September 30 is from McWhorter, Hear Me, 363-64, 482, 486; and McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 209. Joseph accounted for eighteen men and three women in Joseph [Heinmot Tooyalakekt], "An Indian's Views," 428, and Kawownonilpilp stated that five people were killed. "Story of Kawownonilpilp." See also Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 621. Wottolen told McWhorter that a noncombatant elderly man kept track of day-to-day incidents throughout the engagement and announced them to the group. "All knew him and reported to him who had been wounded or killed in battle, who was missing or had disappeared. The names of all were known throughout the band." McWhorter, Hear Me, 486 n. 23.
Chapter 13
1. Long, "Journal of the Marches," 1700.
2. Shambo's account in Alva Noyes, In the Land of the Chinook, 76.
3. Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General. Shambo said, "I told them it was buffalo. You see it had snowed that night and the snow had blown into the hair of the buffalo and made them look white and spotted." Shambo's account in Alva Noyes, In the Land of the Chinook, 76. Shambo stated that Miles sent him to reconnoiter and that he shot one of the animals, and that the rest of the herd "charged right down through" the army and Indian positions. Havre Plaindealer, August 22, 1903. See also Army and Navy Journal, December 8, 1877; Baird, "General Miles's Indian Campaigns," 364; Miles, Personal Recollections, 274-75; and Miles, Serving the Republic, 178.
4. Just what action Miles would have taken if confronted with several hundred Lakota warriors in addition to the Nez Perces is uncertain. In Miles, Personal Recollections (275), he stated only that "I concluded that we could use our artillery and quite a large portion of our troops against any additional enemy and still hold the fruits of the victory already gained."
5. For details of the Sioux factor, see Cheyenne Daily Leader, October 6, 1877, as cited in DeMontravel, "Miles," 4-5; John Turner, North-West Mounted Police, 2:340-41; Manzione, "I Am Looking to the North for My Life," 82-98; and, especially, Utley, Lance and the Shield, 193, 371-72 n. 14.
6. Romeyn, "Capture of Chief Joseph," 289.
7. Ibid.; McWhorter, "Stake Tabulation of the Bear's Paw Mountain Battle Field"; and C. Raymond Noyes, plat, "Battle of the Bear's Paw," NA. Regarding the cisterns, see Mrs. M. E. Plassman, "Disputed Points Relating to Events Incident to the Battle of the Bear Paws," Eureka Journal, April 28, 1926.
8. The willingness of some Nez Perces to negotiate on October 1 and again on the fifth suggests not only the traditional independence of the Nee-Me-Poo band units, but perhaps also the continuation of the factiousness that had plagued the people since Canyon Creek.
9. Baird, "Capture of Chief Joseph," 212-13.
10. "Capture of the Nez Perces, Young Two Moon's Account." The Nez Perce No Feather said that "no Cheyenne or Sioux scouts visited our camp at Bear's Paw at any time nor did they talk with us." Weptas Nut (No Feather), Interview.
11. "Capture of the Nez Perces, Young Two Moon's Account." In another Cheyenne version, Miles got angry at the scouts for going among the Nez Perces, whereupon High Wolf grabbed the colonel by the collar and said: "You told us to try to get these people to come in and not be harmed. They are Indians like us. Why don't you talk to them?" It is not clear from this account whether this incident preceded the negotiations of October 1 or those of October 5 leading to the surrender. Stands In Timber and Liberty, Cheyenne Memories, 228.
12. Yellow Bull (who described the meeting as having occurred on October 2) maintained that the soldiers raised the white flag. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 214. This is very likely correct given the fact that Miles initiated the communication. Charles K. Bucknam and G. H. Snow, who were present, stated that "during the temporary truce a white flag floated over the Nez Perces' stronghold. The flag stayed during the whole of the second day, and was visible on the morning of the third. It consisted of a whole sheet of stolen bunting." New York Herald, October 11, 1877.
13. Joseph [Heinmot Tooyalakekt], "An Indian's Views," 428.
14. Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General; and Joseph [Heinmot Tooyalakekt], "An Indian's Views," 428.
15. Author's field notes, August 27, 1995.
16. Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General. Elsewhere, Tilton said of Joseph: "He is a man of splendid physique, dignified bearing and handsome features. His usual expression was serious, but occasionally a smile would light up his face, which impressed us very favorably." Tilton, "After the Nez Perces," 403.
17. Tilton said that this man was the "one whose portrait was given in Harpers Weekly as Joseph." Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General. Tom Hill stated that he had a precouncil meeting with Miles, who interrogated him about the Nez Perce leadershipwho was present in the camp and which leaders had been killed. After receiving a hearty meal, Tom Hill and Miles went half way to the Nez Perce position, and Hill called over for Joseph to come forth and he did. Hill's account is in U.S. Senate, Memorial of the Nez Perce, 31-34. A similar account by Tom Hill is in Curtis, North American Indian, 8:171-72, in which he identified the other four men as Hiyatommon (Shouter), Wepteshwahaiuht, Kalowit, and Pahwema (171), although in Hill's account to the Senate, he stated that Joseph came over with but two other men (32). See also Walter M. Camp to Scott, September 22, 1913, folder 23, box 1, Camp Papers, BYU. A Nez Perce account largely derived from White Bird stated that "General Miles, like many others, supposed Joseph to be the leader of the hostiles and wanted his surrender in place of the real leaderLooking Glass. This suited the Indians exactly and they allowed Joseph to go to the camp of the soldiers." MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 270.
18. Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 123.
20. Ibid. Captain Snyder noted: "No shots fired today, the time being consumed in negotiations looking to surrender of the Indians." Snyder, "Diary," October 1, 1877. It is not certain if the burials occurred immediately or later. Sergeant Stanislaus Roy, who arrived with the wagon train late on the first, remembered that "to my sad surprise there layed [sic] my two friends Sgt. McDermott and Dreslew and 18 others dead layed in line on a little noled [knoll] covered over with their own blankets. Capt Hale and Biddle [a] little to the right, also Dead." Roy to Camp, December 18, 1909, folder 11, box 1, Camp Papers, BYU.
21. See Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General; and Miles, Personal Recollections, 274. Most non-Indian accounts mentioned that Looking Glass had been killed by the time of the Joseph-Miles meeting October 1, and Yellow Wolf's account seems to concur. Yellow Wolf confusedly stated that Looking Glass was killed on the "third sun of battle," preceding the first meeting with Miles, which was actually on the second day of the fighting. See McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 213-14. Other Nez Perce sources indicate that he was killed on the day of the surrender. See McWhorter, Hear Me, 495; and MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 271. Yet the tight chronology of the existing cease-fire, Joseph's message (in which the death of Looking Glass is mentioned), and the capitulationall on the morning of October 5 (see below)does not favor the latter view. McWhorter, on the basis of an opinion of former teamster Charles A. Smith, stated that Scout Milan Tripp fired the shot that struck Looking Glass in the left forehead. Another view is that he was killed by a shell from the twelve-pounder. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 214 n. 2. McWhorter's informants pointed out the spot where Looking Glass died at the lower end of the ridge occupied by Hale's battalion of cavalry. C. Raymond Noyes, plat, "Battle of the Bear's Paw," NA. The spot was marked by a shaft in 1928.
22. Miles, Personal Recollections, 274. Yellow Wolf concurred that "some guns were given up." McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 215. See also U.S. Senate, Memorial of the Nez Perce, 32. Another account stated that Joseph "proposed to close the engagement by surrendering the arms he had taken from the dead soldiers." Charles K. Bucknam and G. H. Snow account in New York Herald, October 11, 1877.
23. Long to Miles, August 16, 1890, Long Papers.
24. Hill recollection in Curtis, North American Indian, 8:171.
25. McWhorter, Hear Me, 488. "During a truce, it is dishonorable to . . . resort to any act which would confer advantage." Wilhelm, Military Dictionary and Gazetteer, 602.
26. For the formalities and historically recognized rules pertaining to armistices, see Rules for Land Warfare, 88-96.
27. Jerome was the son of prominent financier and businessman Lawrence R. Jerome of New York City, friend to powerful politicians and newspaper publishers during the Gilded Age. He was also the nephew of Leonard W. Jerome, the so-called "King of Wall Street," whose daughter, Jennie, became the mother of Winston Churchill. His younger brother was William Travers Jerome, who became district attorney of New York City. For more background, see Davies, Ten Days on the Plains, 135-39; Winners of the West, February 28, 1935; and Stearns, "Volunteer Hostage," 87-89.
28. The matter of whether Jerome acted on his own volition or in response to a request from Miles remains a matter of some controversy. In his report, Miles stated that Jerome was directed "to ascertain what was being done in the Indian village." Miles, "Report," 528. However, Miles later stated that "I directed Lieutenant Jerome to ascertain what the Indians were doing in the village, supposing that he would go to the edge of the bluff and look down into the camp. Misunderstanding my instructions, he went down into the ravine, he was seized and held until he was exchanged for Chief Joseph." Miles, Personal Recollections, 274. However, Lieutenant Long wrote Miles in 1890: "When you thought it might be advisable for some officer to enter the camp then under the protection of flag of truce, I volunteered to go . . . [but] . . . you thought best for Jerome to perform this work." Long to Miles, August 16, 1890, Long Papers.
29. Charles K. Bucknam and G. H. Snow account in New York Herald, October 11, 1877.
30. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 215.
31. "Capture of the Nez Perces, Young Two Moon's Account."
32. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 215-16.
33. Jerome's account in New York Herald, October 30, 1877. In Jerome, "Jerome's Own Story," Jerome gave an account (first published in the Otsego Journal, July 17, 1930, and later in Winners of the West, April 30, 1935) that is often cited in describing the event. It originated in an interview conducted by Robert Bruce at Jerome's New York City apartment in 1930. In it he claimed to have initiated contact with Joseph leading to the meeting with Miles and even accompanied the leader back to his camp to explain the proposed surrender. After Joseph returned to Miles with "20 or 30 guns he had collected," the two enjoyed coffee while Jerome returned to the camp on Miles's order "to see that they don't cache any of their guns." Jerome, "Jerome's Own Story," 337-38. There is indeed some basis for believing that Jerome entered the camp twice, the first time volunteering to assist in the retrieval of some arms and the second in response to Miles's request for information. Years later, seeking a Medal of Honor, he wrote Miles: "The first time I went into the Indian camp I volunteered, or asked permission. The second time when I was detained and held prisoner I went in by your order." Jerome to Miles, April 1, 1898, in Jerome, Appointment, Commission, and Personal File. An article in the Fort Benton Record, October 12, 1877, stated that Jerome had entered the camp twice. And Lieutenant McClernand, writing of the event that involved his fellow officer of the Second Cavalry, observed the following: "Jerome was sent into the village to see if Chief Looking Glass was killed, as reported, and perhaps to observe generally. He went and returned all right, but not satisfied with having accomplished all he was instructed to do, he let his curiosity lead him back again." Edward J. McClernand, With the Indian, 106.
34. Jerome account in New York Herald, October 30, 1877. In his 1930 memoir, Jerome stated that "my food was brought from our camp by an orderly." It is extremely doubtful that this happened and is probably an elaboration by the aged Jerome. Jerome, "Jerome's Own Story," 338.
35. See, for example, Edward J. McClernand, With the Indian, 107. Lieutenant Wood, Howard's aide, who was not yet present, declared that Miles "was furious. He swore at Lt. Jerome, saying that now he would be compelled to return Joseph to his camp." Wood to Harry S. Howard, February 20, 1942, folder 34, McWhorter Papers.
36. Thomas M. Woodruff, Letter.
37. Snyder, "Diary," October 1, 1877.
38. Memorandum containing Brigadier General John F. Weston recollection, September 22, 1900, in Jerome, Appointment, Commission, and Personal File.
39. Army and Navy Journal, November 24, 1877. That Jerome was in no way reprimanded suggests that Miles may have apprehended certain political fallout from among the powerful Jerome family's associates and supporters.
40. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 217. See also McWhorter, Hear Me, 489-90.
41. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 217. McWhorter cited an account of Wottolen that said that Joseph's hands were cuffed behind him and his feet drawn up behind him and tied to the cuffs. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 217 n. 6. Tom Hill likewise said that Joseph, on his return, told the people that he had been tied up and hobbled. U.S. Senate, Memorial of the Nez Perce.
42. Joseph [Heinmot Tooyalakekt], "An Indian's Views," 429. The former Lieutenant Wood, on learning of Yellow Wolf's statements, responded that "the account that General Miles hobbled Joseph and held him corralled with the mules . . . is absolutely rot without any slightest foundation whatever." Wood to Harry S. Howard, folder 34, McWhorter Papers, February 20, 1942. And Miles himself denied that Joseph was handcuffed, though he allowed that he had been guarded closely. See Curtis, North American Indian, 8:172 n. 1. Private Barker recalled that Joseph was kept in a tent with a bed and darkened lantern. "An infantryman sat on a camp stool with fixed bayonet," while two cavalrymen stood guard outside. Barker, "Campaign and Capture," (January 1923): 30.
43. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 218; "Memoranda of Active Service . . . Maus"; Maus to Adjutant General, August 29, 1890, box 2, Halstead-Maus Family Papers; Havre Plaindealer, August 23, 1902; and Maus to Camp, February 20, 1914, folder 1, box 2, Camp Papers, BYU. Young Two Moon maintained that the Cheyenne scouts completed the exchange at Miles's direction. "Capture of the Nez Perces, Young Two Moon's Account."
44. Jerome's account in New York Herald, October 30, 1877. The fact that Joseph had been dealing with Miles led to a story that, to protect himself against warriors prone to picking off officers and senior noncommissioned officers, Miles promptly shaved off his mustache to change his appearance (see Kipp, Interview). Jerome termed the imputation "rot." Jerome, "Inquiries." Denied a brevet promotion for his service under Miles at the Lame Deer Fight and at Bear's Paw (legally, because of his circumstances, Jerome was then neither an active duty officer nor on the retired list), Jerome in 1898 began a campaign to receive a Medal of Honor. Miles, again perhaps politically conscious, recommended the medal, but ultimately Jerome's direct application to President Theodore Roosevelt (who detested Miles) was denied. "The medal . . . can not be awarded to you for participation in the [May 1877] charge on Lame Deer's camp, because there is nothing to show that you distinguished yourself . . . , and the medal cannot be awarded to you on account of your visit to Chief Joseph's camp, because the official record shows that you made that visit while Chief Joseph was in Colonel Miles' camp, thus giving reasonable assurance that you would not be harmed." Jerome, Appointment, Commission, and Personal File.
45. Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General. See also Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 127.
46. The plan to break out is mentioned in McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 218-19. Hill's recollection is in Curtis, North American Indian, 8:172.
47. Roy to Camp, August 13, 1911, folder 19, box 1, Camp Papers, BYU. See also Tilton to Medical Director, Department of Dakota, October 3, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General.
48. Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General.
49. For the arrival of the train, see Kelly, "Yellowstone Kelly," 196-97; Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General; and Romeyn, "Capture of Chief Joseph," 289-90. Particulars of the advance of the wagon train by a member of its escort are in Barker, "Campaign and Capture," (January 1923): 7.
50. The dead man was Private John Irving, Company G, Second Cavalry; the wounded man was Private Charles Smith, Company K, Seventh Cavalry. Tilton to Medical Director, Department of Dakota, October 3, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General.
51. Roy to Camp, December 18, 1909, folder 11, box 1, Camp Papers, BYU.
52. Roy to Camp, August 13, 1911, folder 19, box 1, Camp Papers, BYU.
53. Edward J. McClernand, With the Indian, 107. Captain Snyder described the night as "one of the most disagreeable I ever spent." Snyder, "Diary," October 2, 1877.
54. Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General.
55. Snyder, "Diary," October 1, 1877; Edward G. McClernand, Letter.
56. Barker, "Campaign and Capture," (February 1923): 7; and Edward G. McClernand, Letter. The dead man was Trooper Irving, as cited in note 50 above.
57. Roy to Camp, December 18, 1909, folder 11, box 1, Camp Papers, BYU.
58. Charles K. Bucknam and G. H. Snow account in New York Herald, October 11, 1877. The account is not clear as to which day this incident happened. In what was perhaps a typical overstatement by an enlisted man, Private John McAlpine recalled of his time on the line that "I never saw an officer for the whole five days of the battle. They stayed in the rear with the grub and hot coffee." McAlpine, "Memoirs."
59. Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 127.
60. Edward G. McClernand, Letter. Private Zimmer, of Company H, Second Cavalry, wrote: "Our battalion got relieved off of the skirmish line this evening." Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 126. It is not clear whether the Napoleon gun fired a round at the Nez Perces' position at dusk on the second. In Edward J. McClernand, With the Indian, 107, McClernand stated that it did, but on "the evening of the 6th day," somehow confusing his chronology. In Edward G. McClernand, Letter, McClernand said only that the gun was pointed to command the place where the Nez Perces obtained water.
61. Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 127.
62. Author's field notes, August 27, 1995.
63. Long, "Journal of the Marches," 1701; and Kipp, Interview.
64. Joseph [Heinmot Tooyalakekt], "An Indian's Views," 429. A Nee-Me-Poo account of Peyanahalkpowwit noted that the council of leaders believed that, since Miles ignorantly recognized Joseph as chief of all the people, he should continue talking as a means of delaying. But if he indeed wanted to surrender, he was talking only for himself. Pinkham, Hundredth Anniversary of the Nez Perce War.
65. Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General.
66. It is clear that a deadline had been established. Woodruff stated that "the Indians had raised a flag of truce on the morning of the 1st and had kept it up, but we sent word to them that if they did not surrender by 10:30 (the 3rd) we should open fire on them, and we did, for they were not inclined to accept our terms." Thomas M. Woodruff, Letter. Snyder remarked that "the Indians not coming to terms, [we] opened fire upon them about noon." Snyder, "Diary," October 3, 1877.
67. Ripley, Artillery and Ammunition, 26-29; and Aubrey L. Haines to Jack Williams, January 18, 1962, copy in the research files, Big Hole National Monument, Wisdom, Mont. For use of the twelve-pounder at Wolf Mountains, see Greene, Yellowstone Command, 166-76. Inexplicably, there is little mention in any of the accounts of the activity, much less the performance, of the Hotchkiss gun at Bear's Paw, beyond the fact that it was present throughout the encounter stationed on the point adjacent to the south bluff. However, fragments of its projectiles have been found on the battlefield, bearing witness to its use during the siege.
68. Army and Navy Journal, December 8, 1877; Baird, "Capture of Chief Joseph," 213; and Baird, "General Miles's Indian Campaigns," 364.
69. Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General. One report stated that the flag of truce above the Nez Perce position "was cut down by a single shot from the French breechloader." Fort Benton Record, October 12, 1877. Young Two Moon said that "General Miles told the Nez Perces that unless they surrendered this afternoon the soldiers would fire at them. The sign would be by bugle calls. After a time the troops did fire on the Nez Perces and the firing did not cease until sundown." "Capture of the Nez Perces, Young Two Moon's Account." However, the relative chronology of both of the above references to the events of the siege is unclear.
70. Romeyn, "Capture of Chief Joseph," 290. Romeyn's chronology for the opening of the twelve-pounder is in error; he said October 2, but he meant the third, which is specified in the other accounts. Furthermore, Romeyn indicated that the gun was repositioned on the morning of October 4 (he meant the fifth), which was probably not correct, as there is no further evidence that the twelve-pounder was relocated after it opened fire directly on the noncombatant-occupied coulee on October 3. Romeyn's chronology is off one day beginning with his entry for October 2 on page 290.
71. Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General.
72. Butte Miner, May 26, 1925.
73. Snyder, "Diary," October 3, 1877.
74. Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 127.
75. Copy in New York Herald, October 8, 1877; and Army and Navy Journal, October 13, 1877.
76. Miles to Mary Miles, October 3, 1877, quoted in Virginia Johnson, Unregimented General, 203. The courier who took the dispatches to Fort Benton was Charles Bucknam, who had earlier joined the command from Major Ilges. Helena Weekly Independent, October 11, 1877.
77. Tilton to Medical Director, Department of Dakota, October 3, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General.
78. Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General.
79. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 220; and McWhorter, Hear Me, 495.
80. Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 127.
81. Barker, "Campaign and Capture," (January 1923): 30; and Circular, Headquarters, District of the Yellowstone, October 4, 1877, entry 903, part 3, General Orders and Circulars, Sept. 1877-June 1881, District of the Yellowstone, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
82. Miles, "Report," 528-29; Howard to Sheridan, October 19, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 76; Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General; Snyder, "Diary," October 4, 1877; and Portland Daily Standard, November 4, 1877.
83. Redington, "Scouting in Montana," 63. Redington reported finding the body of "a colored courier," dead about two hours with his dispatches torn up and scattered about along with a box of cigars.
84. Benteen to wife, October 2, 1877, in Carroll, Camp Talk, 92, 94. Sturgis forwarded a congratulatory message to Miles. "I will begin crossing the troops at once to march toward you as rapidly as our jaded animals will permit." He also sent orders to the troops at Cow Island to move out immediately. Sturgis's cavalry crossed at Carroll, while the infantry and artillery troops and their wagons ascended to Little Rocky Creek, there to move over a shorter distance and rejoin Sturgis near the Little Rocky Mountains. Sturgis to Miles, October 2, 1877, entry 107, box 3, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands. See also Sturgis to Miles, October 4, 1877, ibid.
85. Sturgis to Miles, October 4, 1877, entry 107, box 3, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands
86. Howard, "Report," 629-30; Mason to wife, October 2 and 3, 1877, in Davison, "A Century Ago," 18; Hardin, Diary, October 2, 1877; Howard, My Life and Experiences, 298-99; and John Carpenter, Sword and Olive Branch, 259-60. Howard had not received any of Miles's dispatches and, according to Wood, was worried that Miles might have been wiped out. C. E. S. Wood, "Indian Epic is Re-Told."
87. Lieutenant Wood, who was present at this meeting in Howard's tent, said years later that Howard told Miles: "'I have not come to rob you of any credit. I know you are after a star, and I shall stand back and let you receive the surrender, which I am sure will take place tomorrow.' When Miles left the tent, I told General Howard I thought he made a mistake. . . . He laid his one hand on my shoulder and said: 'Wood, Miles was my aide-de-camp in the Civil War. . . . I got him his first command. I trust him as I would trust you.'" C. E. S. Wood, "Indian Epic is Re-Told." See also John Carpenter, "General Howard," 112. Miles told his wife that Howard "did not assume command or give any directions. He had really nothing to do but witness the completion of the work. I was very glad to have him come up as he has been so badly abused that I am willing to give him any help or share any credit with him." Miles to Mary Miles, October 14, 1877, quoted in Virginia Johnson, Unregimented General, 207. On the other hand, interpreter Arthur ("Ad") Chapman said that he was also present and that Howard proposed assuming command, reportedly saying: "'When two commands join the ranking officer takes command of both.' Miles replied: 'Where is your command,' and Howard said, 'I have my staff here.' Miles said, 'Your staff is not your command.'" Chapman, Interview, 138. This story was relayed to Walter Camp by "Ad" Chapman's brother Winfield in 1913, six years after "Ad" Chapman's death.
88. Wood to Mason, October 4, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands; and Mason to wife, October 6, 1877, in Davison, "A Century Ago," 18.
89. McWhorter, Hear Me, 493; and McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 222 n. 3.
90. Quoted in Portland Daily Oregonian, October 19, 1877. See also John Carpenter, "General Howard," 142. The meeting is discussed in Howard, "Report," 630; and Howard, My Life and Experiences, 299. Lieutenant Wood remembered that the two Nez Perces were brought along "as witnesses to the proximity of his [Howard's] entire force and as possible negotiators." Wood, draft of letter account to Edward D. Lyman, January 17, 1939, C. E. S. Wood Collection. (This letter is reprinted in Erskine Wood, Charles Erskine Scott Wood, 16-20.)
91. Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General. Zimmer said: "It froze very hard last night, but the sun came out bright & warm this morning." Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 128.
92. Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General.
93. Guy Howard to Sturgis, October 5, 1877, Letters Sent, Department of the Columbia, U.S. Army Continental Commands, quoted in John Carpenter, "General Howard," 142; and Sturgis to Miles, October 2, 1877, entry 107, box 3, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
94. Snyder, "Diary," October 5, 1877. Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 128, carried this notation: "Last night our men crawled up on the Indian works, within 50 yards, & dug pits under the shelter of the darkness & a heavy fire from our men. As soon as it was dawn our boys began to pour lead into their pits and by ten a.m. they squealed. White rags could be seen in all directions in their camp."
95. Snyder, "Diary," October 5, 1877; U.S. Senate, Memorial of the Nez Perce; and Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General. Howard stated that "we did not have very long to wait" for the two Nez Perces to return. Howard, My Life and Experiences, 299.
96. Probably in reference to the shelling of the preceding day.
97. Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General.
98. Joseph [Heinmot Tooyalakekt], "An Indian's Views," 429.
99. This time is speculative, based on documentation of the approximate time of succeeding events. Sutherland, who probably heard of the proceedings from Lieutenant Wood, gave the time that Captain John and Old George went over as "about 11 o'clock," in Portland Daily Standard, November 4, 1877.
100. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 222-23; McWhorter, Hear Me, 493-94; Hill recollection in Curtis, North American Indian, 8:172; and U.S. Senate, Memorial of the Nez Perce. McWhorter stated that some Nez Perces believed they would be returned to the Wallowa and Imnaha valleys, but most realized that Lapwai was meant. McWhorter, Hear Me, 494. On this point, Wood maintained that while in strictest terms the imminent surrender was considered "unconditional," in actuality, based on McDowell's telegram to Adjutant General, September 1, 1877, respecting the return of the people to the Department of the Columbia, and that expectation being common knowledge among the command, the scouts probably relayed it on to Joseph and other Nez Perces in the camp. Wood to L. V. McWhorter, March 17, 1929, folder 25, McWhorter Papers. Miles was more definite, however, stating (probably after consultation with Howard) that "I acted on what I supposed was the original design of the government to place these Indians on their own reservation, and so informed them. . . . [I told them] that they would be taken to Tongue River [Cantonment] and retained for a time, and sent across the mountains as soon as the weather permitted in the spring." Miles, "Report," 529. Wood also said that the Nez Perces were told they would not be tried or executed for past transgressions. C. E. S. Wood, "Pursuit and Capture," 328.
101. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 224.
103. Hill recollection in Curtis, North American Indian, 8:172.
104. The roles of Captain John and Old George in concluding the surrender cannot be overstated. In 1939, Howard's former aide, Lieutenant Wood, recollected their work in considerable detail: "Myself . . . , Lieutenant Guy Howard, the General's son, . . . Arthur Chapman, as interpreter, Old George and Capt. John as messengers, also Lieutenant Oscar Long, Col. Miles' Adjutant, and a Cavalryman, dismounted and standing at his horse's head a little apart, were out on a bare knoll, or rolling hill, one slope of which led down to the creek and valley. . . . Nobody was allowed to come on the outpost knoll where we stood. Presently, General Howard and Col. Miles came to where we were, walking slowly and talking as they came. When the[y] arrived where we were, and after we had made the formal salutes, which the two senior officers acknowledged, they went to one side, somewhat away from us and began talking. They then called Chapman and gave him instructions what to say to Old George and Capt. John and these two messengers started down the slope to Joseph's camp. They remained a long time, at least an hour, and we were walking around to keep warm and to break the monotony. Presently the two old Indians came up the slope and Chapman walked over and stood by Gen. Howard and Col. Miles who had also been walking about talking. What message the Indians brought no one ever knew but Gen. Howard, Col. Miles, Arthur Chapman, Old George and Capt. John. After a fairly short consultation, the two old Indian messengers were sent back. . . . I wish to emphasize that the negotiations between Joseph's camp and General Howard with Col. Miles on the hilltop were carried on entirely by Old George and Capt. John, always as a couple, going back and forth, bringing messages to Howard and Miles which no one heard but Howard, Miles and Chapman, the interpreter, and taking replies which also no one heard but these three. So the day progressed." Wood, draft of letter account to Lyman, January 17, 1939, C. E. S. Wood Collection.
105. Howard indicated in his report that "Joseph sent the following reply," which constituted his "speech." Howard, "Report," 630. Captain John was identified by Lieutenant Wood as the speaker in Harper's Weekly, November 17, 1877. Major Mason (not present, but a confidante to Howard) later reported that Joseph's statement was given to Captain John in response to Howard's offer of "good terms." Omaha Herald, March 15, 1883. For succinct background studies on Wood (1852-1944), see "Men and Women"; and, especially, Bingham, Charles Erskine Scott Wood. Regarding the "speech," Wood later claimed that "no one was interested to take it. Oscar Long, Miles['s] adjutant, was there to take it down but did not. No one was told to take it down. I was not told. The speeches of Indians were not considered important. I took it for my own benefit as a literary item." Park City Park Record, March 16, 1944.
106. This is the version of the statement "taken verbatim on the spot" by Wood and subsequently published in Harper's Weekly, November 17, 1877, and in Howard, "Supplementary Report," 630. The earliest published version of the statement appeared in the Bismarck Tri-Weekly Tribune, October 26, 1877, with slight variations from that published in Howard's report. Notably, the Tribune version spelled the chief's name "Ta-hool-hool-shoot," and it contained the following differences: "he who leads the young men," "may be freezing to death," and "I want time to look for my children." (Four other and slightly different renderings by Wood of the address are in, respectively, C. E. S. Wood, "Chief Joseph, the Nez-Perce," 141, (1884); Wood to Moorfield Storey, May 27, 1895, published in Oregon Inn-Side News, 1 (November-December, 1947), 5-6, copy in the C. E. S. Wood Collection; C. E. S. Wood, "Pursuit and Capture," 330, (ca. 1935); and Wood to C. J. Brosnan, January 7, 1918, p. 236, in The Bookmark, a ca. 1940 publication of the University of Idaho Library, Brosnan Collection. In 1939, after considerable reflection, Wood revised the last line of Joseph's "speech" to: "Joseph will fight no more forever." Wood, draft of letter account to Lyman, January 17, 1939, C. E. S. Wood Collection. The original penciled note was turned over to the War Department and subsequently lost, according to Wood in C. E. S. Wood, "Pursuit and Capture," 331. His wife insinuated that Miles had there destroyed it. Sara Bard Field to McWhorter, July 2, 1935, folder 35, McWhorter Papers. For analysis and discussion of the four variations of the speech purported to have originated with Wood, see Aoki, Nez Perce Texts, 120-23 (a fifth with minor punctuation differences is in C. E. S. Wood, "Famous Indians," 439); and Aoki, "Chief Joseph's Words." Aoki concluded that the "speech" was indeed a message that was likely embellished upon by Wood, who had literary interests (and became a leading writer during the early twentieth century) and, as such, does not exemplify American Indian oratory. Aoki also believed that the reminiscence of Yellow Wolf regarding the discussion preceding the surrender signified that the Nez Perces believed they were agreeing to only a cease-fire. Aoki, "Chief Joseph's Words," 20-21. Given the condition of the people, this was unlikely; besides, technically, a truce was already in place. For various Nee-Me-Poo language translations from English, see Aoki, Nez Perce Texts, 123-25; John Thomas to Camp, April 15, 1912, item 27, Ellison Collection; Camp Manuscript Field Notes, Nez Perce Indian Wars 1, 141, Camp Papers, LBNM; and notes by Starr J. Maxwell and Samuel Morris of Lapwai, January 20, 1913, ibid., 147. See also Mark Brown, "Joseph Myth," 14-17.
107. Kelly, "Capture of Nez Perces."
108. Joseph [Heinmot Tooyalakekt], "An Indian's Views," 429. Joseph added: "General Miles had promised that we might return to our own country with what stock we had left. I thought we could start again."
110. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 224-26; McWhorter, Hear Me, 496; and Hill recollection in Curtis, North American Indian, 8:172. This time is given in Thomas M. Woodruff, Letter. Miles wrote his wife that Chief Joseph surrendered "this morning." Miles to Mary Miles, October 5, 1877, quoted in Virginia Johnson, Unregimented General, 206. However, in his somewhat unreliable Miles, Personal Recollections, 275, Miles stated that Joseph surrendered at 10:00 a.m., but described the formal surrender, which occurred later, as depicted below. Afterwards, there was talk that Joseph had asked for and received help from a force of soldiers in searching for his lost daughter. Cheyenne Daily Leader, December 6, 1877. She, in fact, had escaped before the initial battle on the thirtieth and had reached Canada.
111. C. E. S. Wood, "Chief Joseph, the Nez-Perce," 142. In later years, Wood variously remembered that Joseph's hair was braided on either side of his face and tied with fur, that he wore a woolen shirteither gray or army blue, he thoughta blanket, probably gray with a black stripe, and buckskin moccasins and fringed leggings. Wood to McWhorter, January 31, 1936, quoted in McWhorter, Hear Me, 498; Wood, draft of letter account to Lyman, January 17, 1939, C. E. S. Wood Collection; and Park City Park Record, March 16, 1944. In Harper's Weekly, November 17, 1877, Wood reported that Joseph's clothes bore so many bullet holes that "Colonel Miles begged his shirt as a curiosity."
112. Author's field notes, August 27, 1995.
113. Wood, in Harper's Weekly, November 17, 1877, stated that the party came "up the hill," a reference repeated in C. E. S. Wood, "Chief Joseph, the Nez-Perce," 141. In 1895, Wood repeated his view that "Joseph came up to the crest of the hill, upon which stood Gen. Howard, Gen. Miles, an interpreter [Chapman] and myself." Wood to Storey, May 27, 1895, published in Oregon Inn-Side News, 1 (November-December, 1947), 5-6, copy in the C. E. S. Wood Collection. In C. E. S. Wood, "Pursuit and Capture," ca. 1935, Wood said that the Nez Perces "came from the ravine below, up to the knoll on which we were standing" (329). See also the repeated references to the site in Wood, draft of letter account to Lyman, January 17, 1939, C. E. S. Wood Collection. And in a letter written decades after the event to Howard's son, Wood said that Joseph's party "approached us on the little hill." Wood to Howard, February 20, 1942, folder 34, McWhorter Papers. This site is at variance with that advanced by McWhorter in the 1930s, based upon the statements of Charles A. Smith, who had been a teamster with Miles in 1877. "He came out to the field, and I had him point out the location of the formality of surender [sic], as he remembered." McWhorter to Joseph G. Masters, October 27, 1936, Masters Papers. McWhorter wrote to Wood about this new information, and Wood responded that he thought the site was "on higher ground." Nonetheless, McWhorter wrote Smith that "I had a talk with my Noyes, and he agreed that the location decided on by you should be marked on the map and promised me that he would so make it, as designated by you." McWhorter to Smith, November 8, 1935, folder 61, McWhorter Papers. (See also C. Raymond Noyes, plat, "Battle of the Bear's Paw," NA.) The next day, McWhorter wrote Smith that "I now have absolute proof that you are correct in the location of Col. Miles [sic] Headquarters being located up that 'draw' or canyon, at the mouth of which you pointed out where the surrender took place." McWhorter to Smith, November 9, 1935, folder 3, McWhorter Papers. McWhorter did not state the nature of his "absolute proof." Yet this site seems illogical from a military standpoint; besides being at variance with accounts that specifically mention Joseph riding up a hill, the fact that it was located on relatively open terrainwhere Miles and Howard would be vulnerable to Nez Perce sharpshooters beyond the enclosed perimeter of the army linewould seem to negate it as the surrender site. The correspondent for the New York Herald (October 15, 1877) noted that "Joseph entered the lines established by General Miles." This postulated surrender site may also qualify as the place where Joseph approached during the cease-fire of October 1 (see Young Two Moon, Account).
114. Wood to Mason, October 6, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands. The Charles K. Bucknam and G. H. Snow account in New York Herald, October 11, 1877, stated that "at half past two in the afternoon . . . Joseph came into General Miles' camp and shook hands and proposed a surrender, which was instantly granted."
115. C. E. S. Wood, "Pursuit and Capture," 329.
116. See also Wood to Storey, May 27, 1895, published in Oregon Inn-Side News, 1 (November-December, 1947), 5-6, copy in the C. E. S. Wood Collection. The gun that Chief Joseph delivered to Miles was a brass-receivered Model 1866 Winchester .44 rimfire lever-action carbine. Its serial number of 102596 indicates an 1872 manufacturing date. The gun was donated in 1957 to the Museum of the Upper Missouri, in Fort Benton, where it reposes today. Statement of William T. Morrison; accession agreement; and exhibit text, all provided to author by John G. Lepley, February 8, 1996. For a purported Joseph surrender weapon, see Charles Phillips, "Chief Joseph's Gun."
117. The account in Portland Daily Standard, October 13, 1877, supposedly by Sutherland (apparently using information provided by Lieutenant Wood when both were subsequently on the Missouri River), and Lieutenant Guy Howard's account of the Joseph-Howard-Miles incident in the New York Herald, October 22, 1877, are in agreement as to its essentials as described above. See also Woodward, "Service of J. W. Redington" (ca. 1934); C. E. S. Wood, "Pursuit and Capture," 329; and Wood, draft of letter account to Lyman, January 17, 1939, C. E. S. Wood Collection, all of which concur. An account published earlier in the New York Herald, October 15, 1877, is the apparent source for the scenario in which Joseph spurned Howard, passing by him "in surly silence" and approaching Miles to say, "I want to surrender to you." This version of the eventpractically verbatim in some particularswas pirated by Mulford in Mulford, Fighting Indians!, 123-24, thus further compromising this book's value. While there may have been certain substance to this view of the event, there is no indication in the accounts of the primary participantsJoseph, Miles, and Howardthat such animosity existed between Joseph and Howardin fact, every indication is that only an hour or so earlier Joseph had responded favorably in referring to Howard. Chicago Inter-Ocean, October 26, 1877, editorialized: "All that clap-trap about Chief Joseph of the Nez Perces contemptuously declining to surrender to General Howard . . . is exploded [by] a dispatch to the New York Herald and other reports by officers present at the surrender." See also Army and Navy Journal, November 3, 1877. Nonetheless, the story of Joseph's repudiation of Howard at the surrender persisted. In the 1920s, two civilian employees of the army in 1877, Jack Conley and James Boyd, maintained that it happened. Conley said that "Chief Joseph reached out his gun and General Howard reached out to take it, but Chief Joseph pulled it back and handed it to General Miles. . . . We all threw our hats in the air and cheered." Butte Miner, May 26, 1925. James Boyd said of Joseph: "He had a Winchester rifle and presented arms, then handed the gun to Howard with the muzzle pointed towards the general. Howard reached out his only hand to take it and Joseph quickly withdrew it, reversed the gun and handed it stock forward to General Miles. This is just how it happened and we talked it over afterwards as to just what Joseph meant." Boyd, Interview. Samuel Tilden said it was commonly believed among the Nez Perces in Canada that "Joseph refused to give his gun to Howard but deliberately walked over and gave it to Miles," a view with which the Reverend Stephen Reuben, another Nez Perce, agreed. C. T. Stranahan to McWhorter, August 31, 1941, folder 44, McWhorter Papers. In an interview the year before his death, Joseph said in broken English of the event: "I give gun Miles. He say: 'Give gun General Howard.' I say: 'No, I give you my gun; Howard no catch me.'" Washington, D.C., Evening Star, December 12, 1903. McWhorter believed that the leaders had discussed in council who to surrender to and favored Miles because they thought that Howard would have the leaders hanged. McWhorter, Hear Me, 497 n. 10. But another prevailing view among the Nez Perces was that Howard would be more likely to take them back home than Miles would. McWhorter to Many Wounds, February 11, 1930, containing Many Wounds's responses to questions, folder 160, McWhorter Papers. See McWhorter, Hear Me, 497 n. 10, for yet further (and questionable) scenarios regarding the Joseph-Howard-Miles surrender incident.
118. Chicago Times, October 26, 1877. And in Joseph [Heinmot Tooyalakekt], "An Indian's Views," (429) Joseph stated that he said: "From where the sun now stands I will fight no more." In his 1903 interview, he stated: "I point to sun; I say: 'I fight white man no more.'" Washington, D.C., Evening Star, December 12, 1903. Baird wrote in Baird, "General Miles's Indian Campaigns" (364), and Miles wrote in Miles, Personal Recollections (275) that Joseph said: "From where the sun now stands, I fight no more against the white man." Thus, it is possible that Joseph uttered an abbreviated form of his earlier remarks. See Aoki, Nez Perce Texts, 121-22. More likely, these accounts may be among the earliest attempts to link the longer message to the formal surrender proceedings, contributing to the misconception about the delivery of the "speech" that is present today. By 1895, it seems, Wood himself had come to believe that Joseph made the speech in dramatic gesture when he turned his weapon over to Miles. "Standing back, he folded his blanket again across his chest, leaving one arm free, somewhat in the manner of a Roman senator with his toga . . . [and began to speak.]" Wood to Storey, May 27, 1895, published in Oregon Inn-Side News, 1 (November-December, 1947), 5-6, copy in the C. E. S. Wood Collection. And in 1936 Wood wrote that Joseph "stepped back, adjusted his blanket to leave his right arm free, and began his speech." Wood to McWhorter, January 31, 1936, quoted in McWhorter, Hear Me, 497-98. (See also C. E. S. Wood, "Pursuit and Capture," 330.) And as he wrote Howard's son: "Joseph swung himself down from his horse and offered his rifle to your father, and your father signed to him to give it to Miles, which Joseph did. Joseph stepped back a little and began his surrender speech, which was translated by Chapman and I took it on my paper pad." Wood to Howard, February 20, 1942, folder 34, McWhorter Papers. Scout Redington claimed to have watched the surrender. "I have always thought writers took poetic license in translating Joseph's speech. . . . I heard Joseph say something and the interpreter blah blah blah something back. That was all. I don't know what was said." Quoted in Woodward, "Service of J. W. Redington."
119. C. E. S. Wood, "Chief Joseph, the Nez Perce," 142; and Wood to Brosnan, January 7, 1918, C. E. S. Wood Collection. Wood remembered that Howard turned to him "and said, 'Mr. Wood, take charge of Chief Joseph as a prisoner of war. See that he is made comfortable and in no way is molested or troubled.' Chapman translated this to Joseph. I approached him, smiling pleasantly, a guard was designated for us and we walked together to Miles' camp where a large tent had been prepared for Joseph. I entered the tent with him and remained some time, with Chapman to interpret, trying to make Joseph feel at home, conversing with him about the outbreak of this unhappy war." Wood, draft of letter account to Lyman, January 17, 1939, C. E. S. Wood Collection.
120. Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General. One report stated that Joseph, as a condition of his submission, insisted that Miles send out a force to try and find his daughter, which was agreed to. See comment of Second Lieutenant Ernest A. Garlington, Seventh Cavalry, cited in Cheyenne Daily Leader, December 6, 1877.
121. New York Herald, October 15, 1877.
122. Howard, My Life and Experiences, 299.
123. New York Herald, October 15, 1877. In addition, contemporary accounts of the surrender proceedings on which this description is based are in Harper's Weekly, November 17, 1877, which contains Wood's account (that in the Portland Daily Standard, October 13, 1877, purportedly by Sutherland, is in fact Wood's); Snyder, "Diary," October 5, 6, 1877; New York Herald, October 22, 1877; and Sutherland, Howard's Campaign, 44 (again, using information presumably acquired from Wood). Memoir accounts include Miles, Personal Recollections, 275; Miles, Serving the Republic, 178-79; Nelson A. Miles, "Chief Joseph's Surrender," New York Tribune, August 4, 1907, 6; and Howard, My Life and Experiences, 299-300; Howard, Nez Perce Joseph, 265-67; and Howard, Famous Indian Chiefs, 197-98. For the Palouses, see Trafzer and Scheureman, Chief Joseph's Allies, 23.
125. These figures are based on the estimate of Black Eagle, himself an escapee, who told McWhorter that 233 people140 men and boys and 93 women and girlshad managed to leave the Bear's Paw village either at the outset of the fighting, breaking away in small parties during succeeding nights, or with White Bird at the end. McWhorter, Hear Me, 499. The numbers tally well with known Nez Perce surrender and death figures in accounting for the size of the Nez Perce village.
126. White Bird's escape from Bear's Paw on the night of October 5 is documented in Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 128; Snyder, "Diary," October 6, 1877; and Howard, "Report," 631, wherein the general stated that the chief, his 2 wives, and "about 14 warriors, crept out between the pickets and fled to British Columbia [sic]." Both the date and the number of people who left with White Bird is at issue. In one instance, Yellow Bull said that White Bird's escapees numbered 103 and left the night of September 30. Yellow Bull, Interview, LBNM. Later, however, he stated that White Bird and 50 people escaped on the night of October 2. Yellow Bull, Interview, BYU, 719. Yet Edward Lebain also said the Indians left on the night of the thirtieth. Lebain "has talked with many of the old warriors about this & they all have said it was the night of the first day." Lebain, Interview, IU. White Bird's wife, Hiyom Tiyatkehct, told Camp that during the escape "they crept out quietly. Soldiers saw them but did not fire." See Yellow Bull, Interview, BYU, 719. No Feather also went with White Bird. He said that "more than 40 people" accompanied the chief. "We slipped out at night quietly and were not fired upon by soldiers." Weptas Nut (No Feather), Interview. Duncan MacDonald's sources (who included White Bird) said that there were 103 warriors, 60 women, and 8 children. MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 271.
127. New York Herald, October 15, 1877. This account related that when a Nez Perce man volunteered to go find White Bird if Miles would provide him with a mule, the colonel "turned to General Howard, saying:'I haven't got any use for White Bird. I've got all his traps [property?], and don't think he is worth a mule.'"
128. Howard, "True Story . . . Wallowa Campaign," 63.
129. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 225-26.
130. Wood to Mason, October 6, 1877, entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands. Sturgis received the notice on October 7. Mills, Harvest of Barren Regrets, 308; and Davison, "A Century Ago," 19. Mason had joined Sturgis on October 5. On the sixth, they had marched eighteen miles and, on the seventh, had gone ten miles when news of the surrender reached them. "Mem. of Marches." On October 8, Sturgis's camp was located "at the upper end of [Little?] Peoples Creek close to the [Little Rocky] mountains." Sturgis to Miles, October 8, 1877, entry 107, box 3, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
131. Miles to Assistant Adjutant General, Department of Dakota, October 6, 1877, in Terry, "Report," 515-16.
132. "Report of Indians . . . District of the Yellowstone." This figure aligns approximately with the Nez Perces' estimate of 87 men, 184 women, and 147 childrentotal 418given in McWhorter, Hear Me, 499 and 499 n. 14. The number 418 is the same as that given by Baird, "General Miles's Indian Campaigns," 364. Howard reported that about 100 warriors and 300 women and children surrendered. Howard, "Report," 631. Dr. Tilton reported that "the total number of Nez Perces who surrendered was 405, a large number of them squaws and children." Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General. Finally, Miles told a Chicago newsman that 424 Nez Perces had surrendered to himperhaps the true figure of those who came over to him at Bear's Paw. Leavenworth Daily Times, November 29, 1877.
133. New York Herald, October 15, 1877.
134. Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General.
135. Long, "Journal of the Marches," 1701.
136. Circular, Headquarters, District of the Yellowstone, October 6, 1877, entry 903, part 3, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
137. Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General.
138. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 225.
139. "Capture of the Nez Perces, Young Two Moon's Account." The scouts, in fact, may have left on the fifth. Some of them evidently joined in the search for Bear's Paw refugees in the Milk River country over the next week or two. See Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 130.
140. Harper's Weekly, November 17, 1877.
141. Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General.
142. Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 128; and Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General.
143. Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General; and Grillon, "Battle of Snake Creek."
144. Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 128.
145. Tilton to Medical Director, Department of Dakota, October 3, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General; "List of Wounded in the Yellowstone Command . . . Bears Paw Mountains"; and Miles, "Report of Col. Nelson A. Miles," October 6, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 74-75. A complete list of army casualties is in Appendix A.
146. Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General. Tilton noted two cases among the wounded that seemed to have been caused by explosive bullets. "List of Wounded in the Yellowstone Command . . . Bears Paw." An illustration of an explosive bullet found in the Nez Perce camp, along with an accounting by Tilton of wounds rendered by these missiles, is in Otis and Huntington, Surgical History, 702 n. 1. Miles said of the Nez Perce warriors he fought at Bear's Paw: "They are the best marksmen I have ever met, and understand the use of improved sights and the measurement of distances; they were principally armed with Sharp's, Springfield, and Henry rifles, and used explosive bullets." Quoted in Captain Otho E. Michaelis to Adjutant General, January 22, 1879, in "Reports on Indian Arms," appendix 5, p. 323, in "Report of the Chief of Ordnance," in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1879. Explosive bullets had seen limited use during the Civil War. Each had a tiny fuse that detonated after discharge from the piece, so that a bullet would either explode in the flesh after striking a person or in the air before impact, becoming then a lethal knifelike missile. Hardy, "Explosive Bullets," 43. Evidently, the Nez Perces had confiscated a supply of these bullets from the ranch of Henry Croasdaile on Cottonwood Creek near Mount Idaho (see chapter five). There were reports that some of these bullets had been used by the warriors at the Big Hole. See Aubrey Haines, An Elusive Victory, 88.
147. Romeyn, "Capture of Chief Joseph," 291. Lieutenant Wood remarked that when he arrived with Howard on the night of October 4 "the dead soldiers were lying side by side in a long row on the prairie. . . . I have never forgotten that cordwood line of dead bodies." C. E. S. Wood, "History by One"; and Havre Plaindealer, August 16, 1902.
148. Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 129; Havre Plaindealer, August 29, 1903; Theodore Goldin to McWhorter, June 20, 1930, McWhorter Papers; and Goldin, Biography, 331.
149. Tilton to Medical Director, Department of Dakota, October 3, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General.
150. McWhorter, Hear Me, 486; Tilton to Medical Director, Department of Dakota, October 3, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General; and Leavenworth Daily Times, November 29, 1877. Known Nez Perce casualties are listed in Appendix B.
151. Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General.
153. For brevet appointments for Bear's Paw, see Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary, 1:183, 287, 461, 657, 733, 844, 907, 1058.
154. Miles to Adjutant General, June 7, 1878, folder: campaigns against Sioux and Nez Perce, box T-2: 5th Infantry to Aug. 1887, Miles Papers, MHI.
155. Captain Godfrey in 1882 recommended that Trumpeter Herwood, who had helped save him after he had been thrown from his horse in the initial charge, be awarded a Certificate of Merit. Herwood, who was himself wounded, was discharged on a surgeon's certificate of disability and apparently never received the recommended award. Godfrey to Adjutant General, February 24, 1882, Godfrey Papers, LC.
156. Romeyn to Adjutant General, May 23, 1894, Medal of Honor, Special File. Hogan also received the medal for his performance at Cedar Creek, Montana, October 21, 1876, in the Great Sioux War. For citations of the recipients, see The Medal of Honor, 227, 231. For applications on behalf of Carter, Romeyn, and Baird, see Miles to Adjutant General, March 26 and 27, 1894, Medal of Honor, Special File. See also Beyer and Keydel, Deeds of Valor, 2:249-53. Miles also applied for a medal for Lieutenant Marion P. Maus for Bear's Paw, but Maus received a Medal of Honor in 1894 for his work in the Geronimo Campaign of 1886. Miles to Adjutant General, March 26, 1894, Medal of Honor, Special File; and Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary, 1:698.
157. U.S. Army Gallantry and Meritorious Conduct, 94.
158. General Orders No. 3, Headquarters, District of the Yellowstone, October 7, 1877, entry 903, part 3, U.S. Army Continental Commands. Also published in Army and Navy Journal, December 8, 1877; Howard, "Report," 632; and Mulford, Fighting Indians!, 129-30.
159. Howard to Miles, October 7, 1877, folder: Nez Perce War, box 3, Sladen Family Papers. Also published in Howard, "Report" 631-32. See also C. E. S. Wood, "History by One."
160. Fort Benton Record, October 5, 12, 1877; Terry to Miles, October 5, 1877, entry 107, box 3, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands; Army and Navy Journal, November 24, 1877; and Bell, "Life of 'Ne-cot-ta'," 391-94.
161. Moccasin, Affidavit; Speak Thunder, Affidavit; and Miles to Mary Miles, October 14, 1877, quoted in Virginia Johnson, Unregimented General, 207. For the treatment of one Nez Perce woman captive of the Assiniboines, see Garcia, Tough Trip Through Paradise, 294-96; and Billings Gazette, August 14, 1932.
162. Alcorn and Alcorn, "Old Nez Perce Recalls," 71.
163. Yellow Bull identified the five Nez Perce scouts as Tipyilana Kapskaps (Strong Eagle), Pitpiluhin (Calf of the Leg), Tipsas (Hide Scraper), Pitomyanon Haihchaihc (White Hawk), and Wamushkaiya. Yellow Bull, Interview, BYU, 715. MacDonald stated that the Assiniboines and Gros Ventres killed seven warriors and identified one as Umtililpcown, one of those who had initiated the Salmon River murders in Idaho. MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 272. An account by Mrs. James Dorrity, who as a child was at Fort Belknap, seemingly described the same incident, but defined the group of Nez Perces as composed of two women and three men and ascribed the killings to the Gros Ventres. "Mrs. James Dorrity's Story," in Alva Noyes, In the Land of the Chinook, 81. Similarly, General Terry reported that on October 3 the Gros Ventreson Box Elder Creek"killed five men and took two women prisoners" who told the Gros Ventres of the existence of the main village in the Bear's Paws. Terry to Sturgis, October 5, 1877, entry 107, box 3, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
164. Tom Hill said that he and others "were ordered to go out in the prairie and out among the other tribes of Indians to look for Nez Perce Indians. . . . I obeyed the order and I left for good." U.S. Senate, Memorial of the Nez Perce. Supporting this contention, an enlisted man noted that some of the Nez Perces "want to hear from their people in the hills first before they surrender, so a few were let go to hold council with them, but leaving their arms." Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 128.
165. Scott to Camp, September 2, 1913, folder 23, box 1, Camp Papers, BYU.
166. Miles to Terry, October 5, 1877, in Terry, "Report," 515; Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 131; "Memoranda of Active Service . . . Maus"; penciled receipts, "Half Breed Camp, Milk River M.T. Oct. 13 77," and "Camp on Peoples Cr. Oct 14th 1877," entry 107, box 3, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands; Scott to Camp, January 18, 1914, folder 1, box 2, Camp Papers, BYU; Maus to Camp, February 2 [?], 1914, ibid.; Hugh Scott, Some Memories of a Soldier, 75-79; and unclassified envelope 110, 639, Camp Manuscript Field Notes, Camp Papers, LBNM. On crossing the battlefield, Scott viewed Looking Glass's unburied body still in the pit where he died.
167. Ilges to Miles, October 7, 1877, entry 107, box 3, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands. Ilges had led his citizen force on a reconnaissance along the western slopes of the Bear's Paws to Milk River at Terry's direction, intending to "pick up any small outlying parties of Nez Perces." Terry to Miles, n.d., entry 107, box 3, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
168. Tilton, "After the Nez Perces," 403.
169. Zimmer, Frontier Soldier, 129-30; Snyder, "Diary," October 7, 8, 1877; Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General; Tilton, "After the Nez Perces," 403; Romeyn, "Capture of Chief Joseph," 291; Edward J. McClernand, "The Second Regiment of Cavalry, 1866-91," in Rodenbough and Haskin, Army of the United States, 189; and Fort Benton Record, October 12, 1877.
170. Howard, "Report," 632-33; Mason to wife, October 6 and 11, 1877, in Davison, "A Century Ago," 18-19; and Miles to Howard, October 10, 1877, and Howard to Miles, October 11, 1877, folder: Nez Perce War, box 3, Sladen Family Papers.
171. Mason to wife, October 13, 1877, in Davison, "A Century Ago," 19.
172. Miles to Howard, October 12, 1877, folder: Nez Perce War, box 3, Sladen Family Papers; Colonel Orlando H. Moore to Assistant Adjutant General, Department of Dakota, October 1, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 559; Regimental Returns . . . Seventh Cavalry, October 1877, roll 72; Tilton to Surgeon General, October 26, 1877, entry 624, box 1, Office of the Adjutant General; Romeyn, "Capture of Chief Joseph," 291; Mason to wife, October 13, 1877, in Davison, "A Century Ago," 19; Redington, "Scouting in Montana," 68; Snyder, "Diary," October 9-23, 1877; Tilton, "After the Nez Perces," 404; and Long, "Journal of the Marches," 1701.
173. Tilton, "After the Nez Perces," 404. Miles recalled that "as we were ferried over the band played, 'Hail to the Chief,' when suddenly they stopped and played a bar of that then familiar air, 'Not for Joe, oh no, no, not for Joseph!' etc., and then resumed the former air." Miles, Serving the Republic, 180-81. See also Miles, Personal Recollections, 278-79. This popular song, written by Arthur Lloyd, had been published in 1868 by C. H. Ditson and Company, New York City. The Cheyenne and Lakota scouts had arrived at the cantonment several days before the soldiers and prisoners and had created considerable anxiety among the families present there. Miles, Personal Recollections, 278. For the "welcome home" activities of the cantonment garrison, see Miles, Personal Recollections, 278-79; and Alice Baldwin, Memoirs of . . . Baldwin, 193-94 (reprinted in Carriker and Carriker, An Army Wife, 108-9).
174. Along these lines, the Chicago Inter-Ocean, October 19, 1877, allowed that "the captured Nez Perces Indians [sic] are a white elephant on the hands of the War Department, and it would have been a measure of economy, and saved much trouble if Chief Joseph had escaped General Miles and followed Sitting Bull into Canada."
175. See Olson, "The Nez Perce," 186, 189. For examples of pro-Nez Perces editorial coverage, see Army and Navy Journal, October 13, 1877; New York Times, October 15, 1877; The Nation, October 18, 1877; Bismarck Tri-Weekly Tribune, November 23, 1877; and especially, New York Daily Graphic, October 15, 1877, which called for "some tribute of respect . . . be paid these Nez Perce chiefs. If it is possible, in the enlargement of our regular army which must take place this winter, every one of these copper-colored leaders ought be made a second lieutenant."
176. Kelly, "Yellowstone Kelly," 205.
177. Hardin, Diary, January 17, 1878.
178. McLaughlin, My Friend the Indian, 370.
179. Havre Plaindealer, June 21, August 16, 1902, April 18, 1903, August 29, 1903. Members of the contracted exhumation detail from Havre included Fred Atkins, Wesley Lay, George Aldars, Paul Worthall, Bob Mills, Walt Shamrick, Bill Eklarse, Fred Gierall, John McCarthy, and messrs. Purcy, Harvey, and Stone (first names unknown). Photograph and information provided by James Magera, Havre. Local tradition stated that the mass grave was attended through the years by range-riding cowboys, with whom it became a custom "to make frequent pilgrimages to the trench" and add "more rocks to the growing heap atop the grave." Great Falls Tribune, December 20, 1925.
180. "Ft. Assinniboine, Mont. Reburial"; and "Record of Funeral."
181. Havre Plaindealer, August 23, 30, October 11, 1902, February 26, 1921, July 23, 1925; Havre Hill County Democrat, September 8, 1925; Great Falls Tribune, December 20, 1925; U.S. House, Marking the Site, 1-2; and U.S. Senate, Marking the Site, 1-2. For General Scott's speech on July 19, 1925, on the Bear's Paw battlefield, see Laut, Blazed Trail, 134, 144-48. For details of the land transactions concerning the battlefield, 1901-15, see Jellum, Fire in the Wind, 276-77.
182. Great Falls Tribune, September 18, 1960.
183. Edward Fredlund to McWhorter, December 5, 1932, folder 5, and McWhorter to County Surveyor, July 7, 1935, folder 28, both in McWhorter Papers. The markers were set in concrete in 1964. Great Falls Tribune, September 28, 1964; and Billings Gazette, December 19, 1965.
Chapter 14
1. Cheyenne Daily Leader, November 6, 1877.
2. New York Herald, October 23, 1877.
3. Chicago Tribune, October 12, 1877; Gibbon to Miles, October 21, 1877, Miles Family Papers, LC; and Army and Navy Journal, December 1, 1877.
4. See, for example, General Orders No. 10, Headquarters, Second Cavalry, November 9, 1877, entry 107, box 3, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
5. Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, xv.
6. Army and Navy Journal, December 15, 1877; and Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, November 20, 1877.
7. Entry 897, box 1, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands. See also Howard, "Report," 634-35; and Army and Navy Journal, December 29, 1877.
8. Howard to Adjutant General, Military Division of the Pacific, August 27, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 124-25.
9. Olson, "The Nez Perce," 182-86. Howard's letter to Potts appears, for example, in the Portland Daily Oregonian, September 4, 1877. For media fallout from the Sherman-Howard-Gilbert dispatch, see Army and Navy Journal, September 29, 1877.
10. Quoted in the Portland Daily Oregonian, September 7, 1877. The Oregonian , which supported Howard, deflected the criticism to his superior, McDowell, who himself had criticized Howard and who the paper cast as a "mere martinet" and as "a parlor general." Portland Daily Oregonian, September 7, 1877.
11. New York Herald, September 15, 1877.
12. Unclassified envelope 91, 537, Camp Manuscript Field Notes, Camp Papers, BYU. See also the Nez Perce opinion of Howard in the Cheyenne Daily Leader, November 3, 1877.
13. See the marginal notations by McDowell in "Copies of letters and telegrams."
14. Chicago Inter-Ocean, October 17, 1877. See, too, the evaluation of Howard's performance in John Carpenter, "General Howard," 144-45; and John Carpenter, Sword and Olive Branch, 264-65. Howard's apologia appeared in Howard, "True Story . . . Wallowa Campaign."
15. Army and Navy Journal, November 3, 1877.
17. DeMontravel, "Miles," 264-65.
18. Miles, "Report," 515; Miles, "Report of Col. Nelson A. Miles," October 6, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877, 75 (also in Miles, "Report," 515-16); and Army and Navy Journal, December 8, 1877.
20. C. E. S. Wood, "History by One"; Howard to Sheridan, October 19, 1877, in Howard, "Report," 633-34 (also in Army and Navy Journal, November 3, 1877); and Sheridan to Sherman, with enclosures, October 25, 1877, item 7113, roll 339, Nez Perce War Papers. See also the pro-Howard editorial probably generated by Wood in Chicago Inter-Ocean, October 17, 1877 (also in Army and Navy Journal, November 3, 1877); and Sara Bard Field (Mrs. C. E. S. Wood) to L. V. McWhorter, June 25, 1925, , folder 36, McWhorter Papers. The "flattering" quote is in the Boise, Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, November 1, 1877. Compounding the flap, General Terry called into question the propriety of Howard's having given Miles any orders on October 7 respecting the prisoners, terming the action a violation of the Articles of War, since Howard had had no command with him at the time. "His true position," wrote Terry, "was that of a spectator on the field." Furthermore, Terry questioned Howard's assumption and maintenance of command of Sturgis and his troops after the Nez Perces' surrender when their primary object for being in the area remained Sitting Bull's Sioux. General Sherman concurred in Terry's complaint, writing that "General Howard was clearly wrong in giving orders to Col. Miles concerning the future disposition of the Nez Perce prisonersand still more so in his . . . giving instructions to Col. Sturgis." Terry to Sheridan, with endorsements, December 14, 1877, item 8076, roll 339, Nez Perce War Papers.
21. Howard to Sheridan, October 25, 1877, part 3, 1877, entry 897, box 1, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
22. Sherman to Miles, November 13, 1877, quoted in Wooster, Nelson A. Miles, 108.
23. Howard to Miles, December 26, 1877, folder: Nez Perce War, box 3, Sladen Family Papers.
24. Miles to Howard, January 31, 1878, ibid.
25. Howard to Miles, March 29, 1878, quoted in John Carpenter, Sword and Olive Branch, 263.
26. Howard to Wood, June 5, 1897, quoted in Wooster, Nelson A. Miles, 107. The dispute between Howard and Miles extended to their aides. In 1883, then-Lieutenant Colonel Edwin C. Mason erroneously asserted, in a lengthy piece in the Omaha Herald (March 15, 1883), that had Miles not been notified by couriers sent by Howard from Clark's Fork "he would have never been heard of in connection with the Nez Perces campaign." Miles's former aide, Major George W. Baird, wrote a blistering rejoinder: "In a word, the force of General Howard contributed nothing to the result of the campaign after the Indians left the Yellowstone three weeks before the time of . . . the surrender. The status of General Howard at the time of the surrender could not possibly have been that of a commander; he had no command." Army and Navy Register, July 19, 1883.
27. "Summary of Reports . . . Non-Effectiveness," 1-4. See also Lieutenant Colonel John C. Kelton to McDowell, March 13, 1878, in reference to the above summary, in Army and Navy Journal, May 4, 1878.
28. "Report of Casualties." Unaccountably, the Nez Perce scouts killed and wounded at Weippe Prairie on July 17, 1877, were excluded from this tally.
29. U.S. Congress, Senate, 45th Cong., 2d sess., 1877, S. Doc. 14, p. 40, cited in McWhorter, Hear Me, 501.
30. Fort Benton Record, October 26, 1877; and Frazer, Forts of the West, 79.
31. Long, "Journal of the Marches," 1701; and Miles, Personal Recollections, 279.
32. Fouch took at least two historic photos of Joseph at the cantonment, as well as photos of the return of Miles's command with the Nez Perce prisoners on October 23. See Brust, "Into the Face of History," 107-10; James S. Brust, "The Find of a Lifetime," San Francisco Chronicle, February 28, 1993, This World section, 8-9; and Brust, "John H. Fouch," 8-9; and James S. Brust, letter to author, September 4, 1999.
33. Congratulatory telegrams are given in the Chicago Tribune, October 12, 1877. For the directive removing the Nez Perces, see Sherman to Sheridan, October 10, 1877, cited in Athearn, William Tecumseh Sherman, 320-21; and Sheridan to Adjutant General, October 10, 1877, item 6267, roll 338, Nez Perce War Papers. The Bureau of Indian Affairs notified the War Department that it harbored "grave objections" to removing the Nez Perces to Yankton or the Indian Territory and thought "they could be subsisted without difficulty at the Nez Perce Ag'cy." Adjutant General to Sheridan, October 18, 1877, roll 5, Nez Perce War, 1877, Division of the Missouri, Special File. In fact, Sheridan expressed certain support for returning the Nez Perces to Idaho, but feared that winter weather and the "reduced condition of the [captured] stock" prevented that course. Sheridan to McCrary, October 17, 1877, quoted in Chapman, "Nez Perces," 105. Besides the penalty factor, it was believed that, because of the murders and outrages in Idaho, "there would be no peace nor safety for Joseph and his Indians on their old reservation, or in its vicinity, as the friends and relatives of the victims would wage an unrelenting war upon the offenders." Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Report . . . 1877, 13. For Charles Erskine Scott Wood's view of how the removal of the Nez Perces "broke the real spirit of the surrender," see Wood to McWhorter, March 17, 1929, folder 25, McWhorter Papers.
34. Miles to Assistant Adjutant General, Department of Dakota, October 27, 1877, entry 107, box 3, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
35. Snyder, "Diary," October 29, 1877; Chicago Inter-Ocean, October 19, 1877; and Chicago Tribune, October 25, 1877. On October 24, Sherman wrote McDowell: "My efforts will be to send the Nez Perces where they will never disturb the people of Oregon or Idaho again." Quoted in Chapman, "Nez Perces," 105. Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz and Commissioner of Indian Affairs Ezra A. Hayt concurred. Chapman, "Nez Perces," 105. See also Hutton, Phil Sheridan and His Army, 332-33.
36. Joseph [Heinmot Tooyalakekt], "An Indian's Views," 430.
37. Snyder, "Diary," October 31, 1877.
38. Baldwin to wife, November 6, 1877, quoted in Steinbach, Long March, 132.
39. For the river trip, which was not without mishap (one boat capsized and some of the Nez Perces apparently drowned), see Bond, Flatboating, 4-12.
40. Reed, "Recollections," 50-51.
41. Frederick Benteen to Assistant Adjutant General, District of the Yellowstone, October 24 and 27, 1877, entry 107, box 3, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands. Two of the Nez Perce warriors, Fine Hat and Bugle, had been sent previously under military escort to Fort Lincoln. According to Miles, "these Indians committed many murders previous to the Nez Perces war, and . . . they are in a great measure responsible for the war. The Nez Perces say that they are very bad men, and outlaws." Miles to Assistant Adjutant General, Department of Dakota, October 25, 1877, item 7041, roll 339, Nez Perce War Papers. Sheridan wanted to send these men to Florida, but on Sherman's recommendation sent them instead to the military prison at Fort Leavenworth. Sheridan to Adjutant General, November 8, 1877, items 6911 and 7265, roll 339, Nez Perce War Papers.
42. "Nez Perce Funeral," 260; and Reed, "Recollections," 51.
43. Fort Buford Post Returns, November, 1877, transcribed in vol. 5, Fort Buford Records; and Regimental Returns . . . Seventh Cavalry, November 1877, roll 72.
44. Bismarck Tri-Weekly Tribune, November 21, 1877; Miles, Personal Recollections, 279-80; and Bond, Flatboating, 12-21.
45. Bond, Flatboating, 22; and Reed, "Recollections," 54-55.
46. Sheridan to Adjutant General, with Sherman's endorsement, November 15, 1877, November 14, 1877, item 7053, roll 339, Nez Perce War Papers.
47. Quoted in Chicago Inter-Ocean, November 23, 1877. A reporter noted that the Nez Perces "often cried and wept like children over their ill fate. Joseph cheered them, but not without tears rolling down his own cheeks." Cheyenne Daily Leader, November 25, 1877.
48. Francis Haines, Nez Perce Indians, 290-91. The other attendees were Yellow Bull, Yellow Wolf, and the Palouse, Husis Kute. Army and Navy Journal, December 1, 1877. For an account of other activities during the Nez Perces' stay in Bismarck, see Bismarck Tri-Weekly Tribune, November 21, 23, 1877.
49. Bismarck Weekly Tribune, November 23, 1877.
50. Full details of the trip to Fort Leavenworth are in Reed, "Recollections," 55-64.
51. "Report of the General of the Army," November 7, 1877, in Secretary of War, Report . . . 1877.
52. Pope to Sheridan, telegram, November 15, 1877, roll 5, Nez Perce War, 1877, Division of the Missouri, Special File; Pope to Sheridan, November 25, 1877, ibid.; and Leavenworth Daily Times, November 27, 1877. For details of the arrival of the Indians, see Leavenworth Daily Times, November 27, 1877.
53. Howard to Adjutant General, Military Division of the Pacific, November 27, 1877, item 7685, roll 339, Nez Perce War Papers; and Howard to Adjutant General, Military Division of the Pacific, with Sherman's endorsement, December 14, 1877, ibid. In declining Howard's request, Sherman wrote: "There is no reason why they should be carried at great cost to Fort Leavenworth and afterwards to the Indian Territory. They have already subjected the U.S. to enough cost and trouble."
54. Confusing things even more, Sheridan had wired Pope on November 24 that he would receive 431 Indians79 men, 178 women, and 174 children. Pope to Assistant Adjutant General, Military Division of the Missouri, December 4, 1877, roll 5, Nez Perce War, 1877, Division of the Missouri, Special File; and Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Report . . . 1878, xxxiii.
55. Elvid Hunt, History of Fort Leavenworth, 154.
56. Quoted in Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Report . . . 1878, xxxiii.
57. Ibid.; and Morris and McReynolds, Historical Atlas of Oklahoma, map 23. In 1878, Congress appropriated twenty thousand dollars for removing the Nez Perces from Fort Leavenworth to the Indian Territory. Statutes . . . 1877 to . . . 1879, 74.
58. Joseph [Heinmot Tooyalakekt], "An Indian's Views," 431. For the Nez Perce tract in the Indian Territory, see Morris and McReynolds, Historical Atlas of Oklahoma, maps 14, 20.
59. DeMontravel, "Miles," 251-53; and Chapman, "Nez Perces," 112, 115-16, 120-21. For details of the bureaucratic machinations governing the removal of the Nez Perce prisoners to Fort Leavenworth, the Indian Territory, and the Northwest, see Chapman, "Nez Perces," 102-21. See also Stanley Clark, "Nez Perces in Exile," 213-32; and Slickpoo and Walker, Noon Nee-Me-Poo, 195-200. Thirty-three widows and orphans were allowed to return to Idaho in 1883. Dozier, "Nez Perce Homecoming," 23. Details of the physical removal of the people from the Indian Territory to Idaho and Washington are in Ruby, "Return of the Nez Perce." For the personal experiences of one Nez Perce tribesman (Josiah Red Wolf), see Alcorn and Alcorn, "Aged Nez Perce," 65-66. For more overviews of the removal, see Josephy, Nez Perce Indians, 637-42; and Francis Haines, Nez Perces, 330-37.
60. Black Eagle's estimate included 140 men and boys and 93 women and girls. McWhorter, Hear Me, 499.
61. Quoted in McWhorter, Hear Me, 508-9. Yellow Wolf claimed that after the surrender Joseph asked him to go find his wife and daughter. Yellow Wolf went out alone and somehow overtook this group the next day, although they supposedly had left on September 30. Despite the chronological problems in Yellow Wolf's account of his journey to Canada, it is compelling and otherwise accurate in its particulars. See McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 229-33.
63. Fort Benton Record, November 15, 1877.
64. See chapter 13, note 126. A courier who reached Terry's commission en route to Canada on October 12 told of encountering White Bird with twenty-four men and about thirty women and children (totaling about fifty-four people). New York Herald, October 17, 1877.
65. Quoted in McWhorter, Hear Me, 510-11.
66. Genin letter, December 13, 1877, in Slaughter, "Leaves from Northwestern History," cited in McWhorter, Hear Me, 511 n. 4. John Howard, one of Miles's scouts, reported on October 20 that he had met White Bird "and 14 warriors & about 7 women at the Half Breed Camp about 5 miles from the line en route to the Teton camp. They were at first willing to surrender but 'White Bird' dissuaded them and in spite of all the inducements I offered I could not get the Halfbreeds to help me attack them." Howard to Miles, October 20, 1877, entry 107, box 3, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands.
67. Shot-in-Head, Mrs., Account.
68. John Turner, North-West Mounted Police, 1:340-42.
69. Alcorn and Alcorn, "Old Nez Perce Recalls," 71-72.
70. MacDonald, "Nez Perces," 272-73. McWhorter's informants told him that Sitting Bull reportedly organized a body to go to the aid of the besieged Nez Perces at Bear's Paw, but on meeting White Bird's party and learning of Joseph's surrender, it was deemed too late to help and the main relief force turned back with the refugees to Sitting Bull's camp. McWhorter, Hear Me, 513. See also John Turner, North-West Mounted Police, 1:340-41.
71. Quoted in McWhorter, Hear Me, 513.
72. McWhorter, Hear Me, 514. The Oglala Black Elk recounted his meeting with a party of Nez Perce refugees from Bear's Paw. "When we got back to camp, everyone put their arms around the shoulders of the [Nez Perce] people and began to wail. I cried all day there." Black Elk, Sixth Grandfather, 207.
73. The rapprochement had been suggested by the British authorities in Canada. Members of the commission besides Terry were Diplomat Albert Gallatin Lawrence; Captain Henry C. Corbin, secretary; and Captain Edward W. Smith, Eighteenth Infantry, aide. Accompanying the commissioners were Jerome B. Stillson, correspondent for the New York Herald; Charles S. Diehl, correspondent for the Chicago Times; and John J. Healey, who reported for the Fort Benton Record. John Turner, North-West Mounted Police, 1:362; and Utley, Lance and the Shield, 194-97, 372-73. For Diehl's reminiscence, see Diehl, Staff Correspondent, 117-19, 124-31.
74. Commissioner James F. Macleod wrote: "The fact that about 100 Nez Perces men, women and children, wounded and bleeding, who had escaped from the United States troops, had come into their [Sioux] camp the day before they had left, appeared to have a great effect upon them; and they were evidently afraid that the American soldiers would not be prevented from crossing the line to attack them." Macleod to Minister of the Interior David Mills, October 27, 1877, in "Papers . . . Nez Perce Indians," 3.
75. See New York Herald, October 22, 1877. For digests of the council proceedings, see John Turner, North-West Mounted Police, 1:365-72; Utley, Lance and the Shield, 194-97; Hoopes, Road to the Little Big Horn, 233-35; and Manzione, "I Am Looking to the North for My Life," 101-3. A transcript is in Report of the Commission . . . to Meet the Sioux Indian Chief, Sitting Bull, 6-10.
76. Report of the Commission . . . to Meet the Sioux Indian Chief, Sitting Bull, 12.
77. McWhorter, Hear Me, 515-16.
78. Scout John Howard to Miles, November 3, 1877, entry 107, box 3, part 3, 1877, U.S. Army Continental Commands; Howard to Miles, January 10, 1878, ibid.; and Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Huston to Miles, January 9, 1878, ibid. Father Genin also reported the Sioux and Nez Perce in the Bear's Paw Mountains. Bozeman Times, December 27, 1877. Another report of Sitting Bull's camping on the battlefield appeared in Fort Benton Record, November 10, reprinted, December 14, 1877. See also "Chief Joseph's People Join Sitting Bull," in Vestal, New Sources of Indian History, 243-44.
79. Quoted in John Turner, North-West Mounted Police, 1:374.
80. Quoted in MacEwan, Sitting Bull, 122.
81. Sheridan to Adjutant General, December 27, 1877, item 7974, roll 339, Nez Perce War Papers. The Nez Perce Captain George, who went into Canada purportedly to find Joseph's daughter, returned late in 1877 to report that the Nee-Me-Poo wanted to return to the United States and surrender and that they planned to slip across the line in small parties. Army and Navy Journal, January 5, 1878.
82. Irvine to Ilges, March 29, 1878, in "Papers . . . Nez Perce Indians," 19. For Irvine's explanation of how this perception came about, see Irvine to Frederick White, November 10, 1878, ibid., 18-19.
83. Quoted in John Turner, North-West Mounted Police, 1:374.
85. A detailed account, from the Nez Perce perspective, of this party's odyssey in returning to Idaho is in McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 238-82.
86. Fahey, Flathead Indians, 201; McWhorter, Hear Me, 517-18; Captain William Falck, Second Infantry, to Assistant Adjutant General, Department of the Columbia, August 1, 1878, in McDowell, "Report," 180; and Thompson, Historic Resource Study, Fort Lapwai, 86. For details of the skirmish with the miners on Rock Creek, see Jones, "Rock Creek Massacre." The Nez Perce account of the incident is in McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 254-55.
87. Details of this fight are in Gibbon, "Report of the Commanding General," 68; Record of Engagements, 78; and J. H. McRae, "The Third Regiment of Infantry," in Rodenbough and Haskin, Army of the United States, 449. For Yellow Wolf's account, in which it is claimed that no Indians were killed or wounded in the clash with Wallace's soldiers, see McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 260-70 (the excerpt from Gibbon's report, "Report of the Commanding General," cited above, is reproduced in ibid., 270 n. 6).
88. Falck to Assistant Adjutant General, Department of the Columbia, August 1, 1878, in McDowell, "Report," 180-81.
89. Thompson, Historic Resource Study, Fort Lapwai, 86; McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 283-84, 287; and McWhorter, Hear Me, 520.
90. "The party of Indians who left Camp Joseph Monday afternoon for Sitting Bull's camp were Yellow Bull, the brother-in-law of White Bird; Kansas Rutt [Husis Kute], a preacher, well known in Gen. Howard's report; and Espow Yous [sic], a brave noted for his truthfulness. Ben. Clark, who also accompanied them, is an old Cheyenne scout, and will go with them as far as Bismarck, where he is to join a party of 300 Cheyennes [en route to the Indian Territory (Clark's orders changed and he went on with the three Nez Perces)]. . . . The Nez Perces chiefs after leaving Bismarck will be accompanied by a guide and go via Fort Benton to Fort Walsh, where they will meet White Bird and consult with him, reporting the state in which they left Chief Joseph and his warriors, together with the women and children." Army and Navy Journal, May 11, 1878.
91. Assistant Adjutant General, Department of Dakota, to Miles, May 7, 1878, in "Papers . . . Nez Perce Indians," 7. Ben Clark was a favorite of General Sheridan, having served the army in the West in various capacities since the "Mormon" War of the 1850s. Sheridan trusted him implicitly, and although he could not speak the Nee-Me-Poo tongue, he was recognized as a master of Indian sign language. Hutton, Phil Sheridan and His Army, 300-301. Clark intimated that he was there because Joseph wanted him to bring his daughter back to him. She, of course, had returned to Idaho. "Ben Clark," 19, folder 3, box 2, Camp Manuscript Field Notes, Walter M. Camp Papers, BYU.
92. Miles to Baird, May 24, 1878, "Papers . . . Nez Perce Indians," 7-8.
93. Macleod to Baird, June 22 [?], 1878, ibid., 8. The implication here is that the tribesmen were told that they would be returned to Idaho if they surrendered.
94. Baird to Macleod, June 21, 1878, ibid., 6. Macleod wrote that the Nez Perces had told Irvine that Gilson, who was known among them, "was not wanted back again." Macleod to Baird, June 22 (?), 1878, ibid., 8.
95. The foregoing exchange has been excerpted from the transcript of the proceedings in ibid., 9-16. For digests of the council, see John Turner, North-West Mounted Police, 1:395-98; Winners of the West, April 1940; and Manzione, "I Am Looking to the North for My Life," 119-24.
96. MacDonald to McWhorter, quoted in McWhorter, Hear Me, 522. One Nez Perce refugee, a child of one of the three from Fort Leavenworth, returned with the party to the United States. Baird to Assistant Adjutant General, Military Division of the Missouri, July 11, 1878, in McWhorter, Hear Me, 522-23; and "Ben Clark," 19, folder 3, box 2, Camp Manuscript Field Notes, Walter M. Camp Papers, BYU.
97. Deer Lodge New North-West, August 9, 1878, quoted in McWhorter, Hear Me, 523-24. MacDonald composed the following portrait of White Bird during his visit: "In person the White Bird, a name which implies the Pelican, . . . is upon a close view a handsome man, of about five feet nine in his moccasins, square shouldered, long-waisted and of clear, sinewy limbs. His hair when in prime of life was of a dark chestnut, rather than black; his face of a longer than rounder form, his cranium advancing, his nostril and chin expressive; his eye strong and observant; his cast of face perpendicular." MacDonald, "Nez Perce Campaign." It is not certain that MacDonald was in Canada at the time of the meeting; his account might have been hearsay derived later from Nez Perces who were there. George Kush, communication with author, Lethbridge, Alberta, August 4, 1996.
98. Irvine wrote that: "White Bird, the Nez Perce chief, can have but very few lodges with him, as during the past month I have visited many Blood and Piegan camps, and have seen several Nez Perce lodges among them." Irvine to White, November 10, 1878, in "Papers . . . Sioux Indians," 126; John Turner, North-West Mounted Police, 1:399; and Utley, Lance and the Shield, 202.
99. Walsh to Irvine, December 30, 1878, in "Papers . . . Sioux Indians," 128.
100. Walsh to Irvine, January 25, 1879, ibid., 129.
101. Ibid., 129-31; and Utley, Lance and the Shield, 204-6.
102. Army and Navy Journal, December 7, 1878.
103. Alcorn and Alcorn, "Old Nez Perce Recalls," 72.
104. McWhorter, Hear Me, 517 and 517 n. 22.
105. Jean Louis Lagere to Walter M. Camp, March 26, 1912, folder 21, box 1, Camp Papers, BYU.
106. Quoted in Dempsey, "An Indian's Death in Exile," 25.
107. Weptas Nut (No Feather), Interview; and Maxwell and Morris, Interview. Details of the death of White Bird and the trial and imprisonment of his assassin are comprehensively treated in Dempsey, "An Indian's Death in Exile," 26-29. See also McWhorter, Hear Me, 524.
108. Miles to Terry, October 17, 1877, folder: Nez Perce Campaign 1877, box T-2: 5th Infantry to Aug. 1881, Miles Papers, MHI.
110. Olson, "The Nez Perce," 186-89.
Epilogue
1. For Miles's later career, see Wooster, Nelson A. Miles, chaps. 8-15.
2. Warner, Generals in Blue, 238-39; and Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary, 1:546.
3. McDermott, Forlorn Hope, 164; and Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary, 1:785.
4. McDermott, Forlorn Hope, 140-43, 163-64; and unidentified San Francisco newspaper, August 2, 1910 clipping, copy provided by Brad Dahlquist.
5. Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary, 1:1025.
6. Faust, Campaigning in the Philippines, photo opposite 193.
7. Miller, Appointment, Commission, and Personal File.
8. Mary E. Condon, "George Miller Sternberg," in Spiller, Dictionary of American Military Biography, 3:1047-50; Sternberg, George Miller Sternberg, passim; and Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary, 1:921. See also Gibson, Soldier in White.
9. Warner, Generals in Blue, 172.
10. Powell, Powell's Records, 431; and Norwood, Appointment, Commission, and Personal File.
11. Guie and McWhorter, Adventures in Geyser Land, 7; Great Falls Tribune, December 26, 1926; and McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 174 n. 5.
12. Warner, Generals in Blue, 487.
13. Hammer, Biographies of the Seventh Cavalry, 155.
14. Godfrey, Appointment, Commission, and Personal File; and Hammer, Biographies of the Seventh Cavalry, 188.
15. Romeyn, Appointment, Commission, and Personal File.
16. Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary, 1:1054; and Bingham, Charles Erskine Scott Wood, 7-10.
17. Jerome, Appointment, Commission, and Personal File; and Barry Johnson, "Solved."
18. Trafzer and Scheureman, Chief Joseph's Allies, 24-26.
20. Ibid., 379, 604; and McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, 13-18.
21. Alcorn and Alcorn, "Aged Nez Perce," 54; and McDermott, Forlorn Hope, 162.
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