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.

21. Ibid., 28.

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.

32. Yellow Bull, Account.

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.

46. Ibid.

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.

52. Ibid.

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.

56. Charles Woodruff, Letter.

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.

71. Charles Woodruff, Letter.

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.