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.

2. Howard, "Report," 599.

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."

19. Swarts, Interview.

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.

22. Swarts, Interview.

23. McCarthy, Diary, June 17, 1877.

24. Perry, "Battle of White Bird Cañon,"116.

25. Coram, Interview.

26. Perry, "Battle of White Bird Cañon," 116.

27. McCarthy,Diary, June 17, 1877.

28. Ibid.

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.