White Bird Band

Yellow Wolf reflects: Evening, and the battle grew less. Only occasional shots. Soldiers guarding, sitting down, two and two. Soldiers all around the camp so that none could escape. It was snowing. The wind was cold. About 450 men, women and children retreated to the north end of the camp. On the flats and the sides of the coulees the ground became frozen as rain turned to snow and temperatures dropped. A Nez Perce woman recalls: We digged trenches with camas hooks and butcher knives. With pans we threw out the dirt. We could not do much cooking. Dried meat and some other grub would be handed around. It would be given to the children first. I was three days without food. Children cried with hunger and cold. In the small creek there was water, but we could get to it only at night. Four more terrifying days remained. On October 4, according to Yellow Wolf: It was towards noon that a bursting shell struck and broke in a shelter pit, burying four women, a little boy, and a girl of about twelve snows. This girl and her grandmother were both killed. The other three women and the boy were rescued