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.

11. Kipp, Interview.

12. McAlpine, "Memoirs."

13. Moylan to Garlington, August 16, 1878, copy in Godfrey Papers, LC.

14. Godfrey, Interview.

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.

19. Godfrey, 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.

24. Peter Allen, Interview.

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.

54. Jerome, "Inquiries."

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.

66. Miles, "Report," 528.

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.

83. Godfrey, Interview.

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.

86. Ibid.

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.