Chapter 6: Bitterroot and the Big Hole (continued)
While the Nez Perces replenished their supplies in
Stevensville, six lodges of Nez Perces under Wahwookya Wasaaw (Lean
Elk), better known as Poker Joe, who had been summering in the
Bitterroot, joined the main body, thereby augmenting the force and
providing fresh horses. [25] All the while
the tribesmen meandered along the bottom, a scout for Captain Rawn
observed them and reported back daily on their progress. Speculating
that the people, including a reported 250 warriors, were heading to Big
Hole Prairie, Rawn informed Governor Potts that he would lead fifty or
sixty regulars in pursuit, but, on instructions from Gibbon, would
"temporize" his march so that he and Howard could catch up. "I am pretty
well satisfied," Rawn wrote Gibbon, "that they will not hurry out of the
Valley until they know that your command and Howard's have arrived. They
are watching and know nearly everything that is going on." Rawn then
delayed his movement to await Gibbon's arrival at the post at Missoula.
[26]
On July 31, Governor Potts issued a second
proclamation (his first was on July 26), this time calling for 300
volunteers. In response, several Montana communities announced their
readiness to aid in the subjugation of the Nez Perces. The towns and
mining camps of Philipsburg, Deer Lodge, Cable, Bear, New Chicago,
Yreka, Bear Mouth, Yamhill, and Pioneer could together provide a total
of 75 men. Butte raised three companies totaling about 150 men, while
Helena and Pony each offered to raise 50 if they received arms from the
territory. But the call was premature, and the War Department denied
Potts's request to organize volunteers without congressional authority;
moreover, Generals Sheridan and Terry believed they could provide
sufficient regular troops to handle the crisis. Nor could Potts legally
obligate the territory for costs incurred in raising and supporting
troops. The organization of local militias was suspended. General
Sherman wrote Potts that "if the citizens, in their own interest, will
join the regular troops and act with and under them, the commanding
officers will loan them arms and ammunition when possible, and may
certify to beef or food taken en route." [27] The statement seemed to justify the
formation of some spontaneously raised groups, such as those from among
the Bitterroot Valley residents bent on protecting their homes and
families. [28]
By coincidence, while all these events proceeded,
General Sherman and a small entourage was in the territory, having come
up the Yellowstone to consult with Terry, Crook, and Sheridan concerning
the Sioux question, before touring the Yellowstone National Park
preparatory to passing through western Montana en route to the west
coast. While at Fort Ellis on August 3, Sherman wrote Secretary of War
George W. McCrary. In a statement suggestive of the imperviousness of
the army hierarchy to the causes of the conflict, Sherman declared that
"these Nez Perces should be made to answer for the murders they
committed in Idaho, and also be punished, as a tribe, for going to war
without any just cause or provocation." Furthermore, he declared his
preference to stay aloof from the conflict. "I do not propose to
interfere, but leave Gibbon or Howard to fight out this fight," wrote
the general. Although Sherman thereafter maintained a keen interest in
the course of the pursuit, he deferred to McDowell and Sheridan to
manage the overall strategy for stopping the Nez Perces. [29]
In the meantime, over the next several days the
people continued their leisurely pace up the valley. They proceeded past
Corvallis, some of the diehard entrepreneurs of Stevensville even
following them in wagons hoping to prolong the commerce. Farther up the
valley, one group of young men with Toohoolhoolzote ransacked the ranch
home of a settler named Myron Lockwood, taking large quantities of flour
and coffee and several lesser items. Reportedly, Looking Glass demanded
that the men leave seven horses in payment. Elsewhere, the warriors took
five cattle, which they later killed to eat. The assemblage paused at
the sacred Medicine Tree, offering prayers and gifts in a traditional
homage observed by area tribes for generations and practiced still. [30] The slow progress agitated some of the Nez
Perce leaders, and White Bird admonished Looking Glass for dragging
lodgepoles that further impeded the advance. Moving at about fifteen
miles per day, the travelers paralleled the East Fork of the Bitterroot
River, surmounted the Continental Divide, and moved their caravan down a
tributary of the Big Hole River, intending to rest for several days
before beginning the long trek to join the Crows. [31] As Yellow Bull averred, "From the friendly
talks we had had with the soldiers in Lolo Pass, we did not suppose
there would be any more fighting, especially if we did not disturb the
settlers, and we had not molested them." [32]
In fact, as the Nez Perces settled into their camp
along the north fork of the Big Hole River (Ruby Creek), new soldiers
were gaining on them. Colonel Gibbon had mobilized troops from Camp
Baker, Fort Benton, Fort Ellis, Fort Shaw, and a camp at Dauphin Rapids
on the Missouri River, finally setting out from Shaw on July 28 with
eight officers and seventy-six enlisted men. Traveling 150 miles via
Cadotte Pass and down the Big Blackfoot, Gibbon and a mounted
detachment, including a few men from the Second Cavalry, reached the
post at Missoula on August 2, followed the next day by his infantrymen,
who arrived in wagons sent out to meet them. [33] On his arrival, Gibbon immediately
requested Governor Potts to send militia to guard the passes leading
into the Big Hole Basin once the Nez Perces had passed through, hoping
thereby to trap the tribesmen while Gibbon advanced to fight them.
"Please give instructions . . . to have no negotiations whatever with
the Indians, and the men should have no hesitancy in shooting down any
armed Indian they meet not known to belong to one of the peaceful
tribes." [34]
A Lamtama Nee-Me-Poo war leader, Chuslum Moxmox (Yellow Bull),
photographed ca. 1878, was a veteran of Gibbon's attack at the Big Hole
and most of the other 1877 encounters. Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Washington,
D.C.
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