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[Illustration: THE ASSAULT ON THE NEZ PERCE VILLAGE.]
THE BATTLE
OF
THE BIG HOLE.
A HISTORY OF GENERAL GIBBON'S ENGAGEMENT WITH NEZ PERCES INDIANS IN THE
BIG HOLE VALLEY, MONTANA, AUGUST 9TH, 1877.
BY
G. O. SHIELDS.
("COQUINA.")
AUTHOR OF "RUSTLINGS IN THE ROCKIES," "HUNTING IN THE GREAT WEST,"
"CRUISINGS IN THE CASCADES," ETC.
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK:
RAND, MCNALLY & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS,
1889.
COPYRIGHT, 1889, BY RAND, MCNALLY & CO.
INTRODUCTION.
CAMP PILOT BUTTE, WYOMING,
March 17 1889.
_Mr. G. O. Shields, Chicago, Ill._
DEAR SIR: I have read with a great deal of interest and pleasure the
manuscript of your book, entitled "The Battle of the Big Hole," and as
a participant in the tragic affair it describes, can cheerfully commend
it to all who are interested in obtaining a true history of the Nez
Perce campaign. It is a graphic and truthful account of the Big Hole
fight, and of the events leading up to it, and must prove a most
valuable contribution to the history of our Indian wars.
I trust the book will meet with the generous reception it deserves.
Yours truly,
CHAS. A. COOLIDGE,
Captain Seventh U.S. Infantry.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
The Nez Perce War. Brief Resume of Events Leading up to it. Various
Treaties Between the Tribe and the United States. Chief Joseph's
Unjust Claim to the Wallowa Valley. President Grant's Proclamation.
Atrocities Committed by White Bird and His Followers on Inoffensive
Settlers. Men Massacred and Women Outraged. General Howard's Efforts
to Quiet the Malcontents and His Subsequent Campaign Against Them.
The Battles in White Bird and Clearwater Canyons. The Renegades'
Retreat over the Lo Lo Trail. Intercepted by Captain Rawn, They
Flank His Position and Continue Their Flight Through the Bitter Root
Valley Toward the "Buffalo Country". General Gibbon in pursuit 9
CHAPTER II.
Gibbon Reinforced by Citizen Volunteers. Heroic March Across the
Rocky Mountain Divide. His Men Apply Drag Ropes to the Wagons and
Aid the Mules in Pulling Them up the Mountain. Lieutenant Bradley
and His Scouts Scale the Divide by Night and Locate the Indian Camp.
The March Down Trail Creek. Soldiers' Fare. Hard Tack and Raw Pork.
A Brief Sleep Without Blankets. Perils of the Situation. Less Than
200 Soldiers and Citizens to Attack 400 Trained Indian Warriors.
Implicit Confidence of Officers and Men in One Another Nerves Them
to the Task. 29
CHAPTER III.
The Stealthy Midnight March. Whispered Commands and Cat-like
Movements. Passing Through a Herd of Ponies. Looking Down on the
Hostile Camp. Squaws Keep the Fires While Their Warriors Sleep. The
Barking of Indian Dogs and Howling of Coyotes. Heroic Assault on the
Nez Perce Camp at Day-Break. Temporary Surprise and Subsequent
Rally. Terrific Struggle Among the Teepees. The Fighting Muzzle to
Breast. Driven from Their Tents, the Indians Take Cover Under the
River Banks. The Water Runs Crimson With the Blood of Contending
Forces. Squaws and Children Fight Like Demons. Captain Logan Shot
Down by One of the She Devils. Rallying Cries of White Bird and
Looking Glass. The Soldiers Take Position in the Mouth of "Battle
Gulch". Gallant Conduct of Officers and Men. 42
CHAPTER IV.
Stubborn Resistance of Indians in the Pine Woods. Sharpshooting at
Short Range. The Struggle for the Howitzer. Assaulted by Thirty
Mounted Indians, Four Soldiers Stand by it until All Shot Down. The
Two Survivors, Though Sorely Wounded, Throw the Gun from the
Trunnion and Crawl Away into the Brush. How Gibbon's Sharpshooters
Drove an Indian Marksman from a Pine Tree. The Redskins Fire the
Grass, but a Lucky Turn of the Wind Saves the Soldiers from the
Intended Holocaust. A Supper on Raw Horse. Heroic Conduct of Captain
Browning and Lieutenant Woodbridge in Rescuing the Supply Train and
Bringing it up to the Command. 64
CHAPTER V.
Retreat of the Indians under Cover of Night. Anecdotes of Personal
Heroism. Burying the Dead-List of Soldiers and Citizens Killed and
Wounded. Eighty-nine Dead Indians Found and Buried on the Field!.
Review of the Fight. Importance of its Place in History. Gibbon and
His Men Officially Commended by Generals Sherman, Sheridan, and
Terry. Trees Still Standing on the Battle-Ground, Girdled with
Bullets, Tell the Story of the Struggle. 78
CHAPTER VI.
Testimony of Officers and Men as to the Courage and Fierceness of
Nez Perce Warriors in Battle. All Concede Them to be the Bravest
Fighters in the West. General Gibbon's Military Record. Previous
History of Captain Logan and Lieutenants Bradley and English.
Present Status and Whereabouts of Officers Who Participated in the
Fight and Who Still Live. Names of Those Who Have Gone to Their
Reward Since That Bloody Day. 105
CHAPTER VII.
Description of the Battle Monument. General Howard's Pursuit of the
Nez Perces After the Battle in the Big Hole. Their Final Capture by
General Miles. Chief Joseph's Curious Message to Howard. White
Bird's Flight to Woody Mountain. His Sad Plight on Arrival There. He
Still Lives Within the British Lines. Chief Joseph on the Colville
Reservation. He Wants "No More Fight" With White Soldiers. 115
THE BATTLE OF THE BIG HOLE.
CHAPTER I.
The Nez Perce Indians are a powerful and populous tribe, who, for
centuries, have made their home in the Snake, Salmon, and Clear Water
Valleys in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. When the great tide of
civilization, which for years flowed toward the Pacific Coast, finally
spread out into these valleys, questions arose between the emigrants
and Indians as to the ownership of certain lands claimed by the latter,
and the United States Government sought to settle these questions
amicably. Commissioners were appointed and sent out to investigate and
define the rights of the Indians, and in 1853, a treaty was concluded
between the United States and the head chiefs and fifty-two of the
principal men of the Nez Perce tribe, defining the boundaries of the
country claimed by them, and ceding to the Government certain other
lands which they had formerly occupied, but to which they had set up no
valid claim.
In 1863, another treaty was made, modifying these boundaries to some
extent, and in 1868, still another was negotiated at Washington that
was finally signed by "Lawyer," head chief of the Nez Perces, and by
"Timothy" and "Jason," sub-chiefs, all of whom claimed to be, and in
fact were, acting for the entire tribe by virtue of authority given
them by the tribal laws, and by a general council of their people
assembled for that purpose.
In this treaty, the Indians agreed, for certain considerations that
were entirely satisfactory to them, to relinquish certain portions of
their reservation which they agreed were not needed or used by them,
and to remove from said lands within one year from that date; to locate
and live upon the reservation therein designated and described.
[Illustration: CHIEF JOSEPH.]
The tract relinquished to the United States in this instrument included
the Wallowa Valley. When the chiefs returned to their people and
reported their action, Young Joseph repudiated the treaty, and refused
to be bound by it. He claimed the Wallowa Valley as the special home
and inheritance of himself and his people, and said he would continue
so to claim it, and to occupy it whenever he chose, against all other
claimants, white or red.
In this dissension he was in time joined by White Bird, Looking Glass,
To-hul-hul-sote and other sub-chiefs, and several hundred warriors.
These became known henceforth as the "Non-treaty Nez Perces." Joseph
and his band had never really occupied the valley permanently, and had
never before made any special claim to it as against any other portion
of the tribe. He had frequently gone into it during the summer to fish
and hunt, in common with various other bands of the tribe, but had
never staid more than a few weeks at a time, and had made his home
during the greater portion of each year in the Imnaha Valley near the
Snake River.
In 1871, a few whites settled in the Wallowa Valley. Joseph protested,
became obstreperous, ordered them away, and threatened violence if they
remained, but so far did nothing more than threaten. Other whites came
in the following years and the complications increased. Complaints were
made to the Government that the Indians were annoying and threatening
the settlers, and in 1875 President Grant issued an executive order,
proclaiming that the Wallowa Valley was a part of the public domain and
open to settlement by white people.
In May, 1877, Joseph and his band became more arrogant than ever, and
again threatened immediate and violent measures against the settlers if
they did not at once withdraw from his country. Some acts of violence
were committed, and at the request of the settlers a company of United
States cavalry was sent to the scene of the disturbance. The Indians
were temporarily quieted, but the feeling of discontent and hatred
against the whites was growing.
General Howard, then commanding the Department of the Columbia,
repaired to the scene of the disturbance, and, with J. B. Monteith,
agent of the Nez Perces, held several councils with the malcontents,
and argued patiently and persistently to convince them that the treaty,
whereby the Wallowa Valley had been ceded to the Government, was duly
signed and ratified by the properly constituted chiefs of the tribe;
that it was valid, and that every member of the tribe was bound by it;
that the white men were only exercising their legal rights in settling
on the land; and the Indians were assured that the whites would be
protected in these rights by the white soldiers if necessary.
They were told in mild but positive terms that they must go on the
reservation set apart for them by their chiefs and the agents of the
white father at Washington; and warned that, in the event of their
persistent refusal, soldiers would place them there by force, or so
many of them as should survive in case they resisted. The three
chiefs--Joseph, White Bird, and Looking Glass--finally agreed to go on
the reservation, and asked for thirty days' time in which to collect
their people and their horses and place them on the reservation. This
was granted, and the council dispersed.
General Howard did not, however, place implicit faith in the promises
of the wily chiefs. He suspected that this was merely a ruse of the
Indians to gain more time for manufacturing sympathy among other
members of the tribe, for gaining accessions to their own ranks, for
procuring additional arms and ammunition, and, in short, for making all
necessary preparations for active hostilities. He therefore proceeded
at once to concentrate all available troops in his department within
easy striking distance of the malcontents, in order to be prepared for
any emergency.
Before the thirty days asked for had expired, some of White Bird's band
appeared in the Wallowa Valley and murdered a number of defenseless
white men and women. All the Indians in the neighborhood became
extremely belligerent and insolent. White Bird rode through the valley
and proclaimed to the whites that the Indians would not go on the
reservation; that they were on the war path and would kill all the
whites, soldiers or citizens who should oppose their wishes.
As soon as news of this disturbance reached General Howard, he sent two
companies of cavalry, under Captains Perry and Trimble, to the scene of
hostilities, with orders to arrest the perpetrators of the outrages if
possible, and bring them in. Captain Perry found the Indians in force
in White Bird Canyon. They opened fire on him as soon as he came in
sight, and he at once assaulted them. After sharp fighting for an hour,
he was repulsed and compelled to retreat to Grangeville, a distance of
sixteen miles. The Indians pursued him, and a running fight continued
all the way. He lost thirty-three enlisted men and one officer killed.
Meantime, over twenty white men and women had been massacred at and
near Mount Idaho, and a number of other women outraged in a most brutal
and shocking manner.
General Howard then took the field in person, determined to punish the
Indians who had committed these crimes, and to capture and place them
on the reservation. Strong detachments of troops were sent in various
directions, with orders to strike the hostile Indians wherever found. A
number of sharp skirmishes and two severe fights occurred on and near
the Clear Water River, resulting in severe losses to both whites and
Indians. The troops moved so rapidly as to harass the Indians at every
turn, and in several cases to intercept them when attempting to leave
the country, and turn them back.
[Illustration: GEN. JOHN GIBBON.]
Finally, the main body of hostiles, numbering about 400 warriors and
150 women and children, by breaking up into several small bands,
succeeded in evading the troops, concentrated their forces on Weyipe
Creek, and started for the "buffalo country" in Montana, by way of what
is known as the "Lo Lo trail." As soon as this fact became known to
General Howard, he sent couriers to the nearest telegraph station with
a message to General Gibbon, then commanding the district of Montana,
with headquarters at Fort Shaw, stating the facts, and requesting him
to send out troops to intercept the hostiles, if possible, while he
should follow them with such force as could be spared for the purpose.
On receipt of this message, General Gibbon sent an order to Capt. C. C.
Rawn, then in command at Fort Missoula, to watch for the fugitives, to
head them off, hold them if possible, or turn them back. Rawn
immediately dispatched a scouting party, consisting of Lieut. Francis
Woodbridge and three men, with orders to proceed up Lo Lo Canyon to the
summit of the Rocky Mountain Range, ascertain, if possible, whether
Joseph was really coming on that trail, and if so, to report the fact
to him (Rawn), at the earliest possible moment. Rawn in the meantime
prepared his little command for action. Woodbridge failed to return
within the allotted time, and fearing he had been killed or captured,
Lieut. C. A. Coolidge was ordered to take two men and scout in the same
direction, search for him and for the Indians, and especially to
examine a trail that branches off from the Lo Lo on top of the Rocky
Mountain Divide, some sixty miles from Missoula, and ascertain whether
the hostiles had gone that way.
These officers met on the divide, but no trace of the Indians could be
found, and it was believed that they had either turned back or taken
some other route. Both parties returned to their post, and reported the
facts. Within a few hours after their arrival, however, two Indian
runners came through, bearing messages from Joseph to the commanding
officer at Missoula and to the citizens in the Bitter Root Valley, to
the effect that Joseph and his band were coming over the Lo Lo trail;
that they desired to pass through the Bitter Root Valley, en route to
the "buffalo country," and assuring the people that if allowed to do so
peaceably they would not harm the settlers or their property.
It subsequently transpired that Joseph and his band reached the summit
of the range only three hours after Coolidge and Woodbridge had started
on their return to the post. Joseph's messengers were promptly
arrested, placed in the guard-house, and kept there until the end of
the campaign. But the news they brought spread like wild fire, and the
whole country was alarmed. Captain Rawn's command consisted of only two
companies--his own and Capt. William Logan's (A and I), of the Seventh
Infantry.
Leaving twenty men to guard the post, Captain Rawn moved at once with
the remainder of his force, numbering about fifty men, up Lo Lo Creek.
He was joined en route by about one hundred citizens from the town and
surrounding country. At the mouth of the canyon he halted and built a
temporary barricade by felling trees across it and up the north wall to
a considerable distance, the south wall being deemed impregnable
without fortifying. The slope to the right was gradual and cut up with
gulches and ravines, some of which extended clear to the top of the
mountain.
The next day after Rawn took up this position, Joseph and his followers
arrived in front of the works, sent in a messenger with a flag of
truce, asking again that he might be allowed to pass quietly into and
through the valley. Rawn replied that the only condition upon which he
would be allowed to pass, was that he and his warriors should surrender
their arms. This the Indians of course refused to do, and a parley was
begun that was prolonged through two days. Many of the citizens urged
Rawn to allow the hostiles to pass on their own terms. They insisted
that to fight Joseph there, with their handful of men, could only
result in defeat, and that if he were compelled to fight at that point,
and gained a victory, as he surely would, he would then leave a trail
of blood and ashes behind him through the whole length of the valley.
Others were more confident of success, and were spoiling for a fight
then and there, but when, later on, a fight became imminent, several of
these same citizens remembered that they had urgent business at home.
On the evening of the second day, the negotiations having failed,
Joseph notified Rawn that he should go into the valley the next morning
in spite of all opposition. Accordingly at daylight, firing was heard
on the skirmish line, and it was supposed that the Indians would at
once assault the main line. Stray shots continued for some time, and,
as all the attention of officers and men was concentrated on the front,
a man called attention of Lieutenant Coolidge to the fact that he had
seen the heads of a few Indians moving down one of the gulches in the
rear of the extreme right. This proved to be the rear guard of Joseph's
outfit. The wily savage had outwitted the troops. He had left a few men
to skirmish with Rawn's pickets, and while the command was expecting an
assault in front he, with his motley band, had filed up and down
through the gulches and woods, past the line of works, and was now well
on his way down the creek. Rawn at once deployed his forces and pursued
the fugitives, but did not overtake them until they had reached the
Bitter Root Valley and turned up it.
Three miles above the mouth of the creek, he found them encamped on a
ridge in a body of timber, where they had every advantage of position
and cover. Their manner was insolent and defiant, for they seemed to
consider themselves masters of the situation. Most of the citizens had
now deserted Rawn; some because they believed the Indians had escaped
and that there would be no fight, others because they believed Rawn
would overtake them and that there would be a fight. Rawn's force was
reduced to less than one hundred men, all told, and he saw that to
attack the Indians in their chosen position, outnumbering him as they
did, more than four to one, would be madness. He therefore wisely
decided to return to his post and await the reinforcements that he knew
were coming.
Some of the rear critics, who invariably talk loudest after the danger
is over, who are "invincible in peace" and "invisible in war," have
accused Captain Rawn of mismanagement, in allowing the Indians to pass
him in the canyon, and of cowardice in not attacking them when he
overtook them in the valley; but all who were there, and competent to
judge, agree that the escape of the savages could not possibly have
been prevented with the handful of men he had, and that he exercised
judgment and discretion of a high order in not attacking them on their
chosen ground, when such an attack could only have resulted in a
repetition of the Custer massacre. His action proved, in the end, the
wisest he could have taken in a strictly military sense; and, besides,
it saved the Bitter Root country from being devastated; for White Bird
said, afterward, that had the Indians been compelled to fight their way
out of Lo Lo they would have fired the whole country, and many a
ranchman would have lost his crops and his home if not his scalp.
But brave old General Gibbon, the hero of South Mountain, was on the
war path. On receipt of General Howard's dispatch that the Nez Perces
were coming his way, he hastily summoned Company F, of his regiment,
from Fort Benton, and D from Camp Baker, to move with all possible
speed to his post. Meantime he gave orders that Company K and every man
that could be spared from Fort Shaw should prepare at once for the
field. When Companies F and D arrived there, he took the field at their
head, with the troops detailed from his own post, and moved rapidly
toward Fort Missoula, crossing the Rocky Mountains through Cadotte's
Pass, carrying a limited supply of provisions on pack-mules. The
distance, 150 miles, over a rough mountainous country, was covered in
seven days, the command reaching Fort Missoula on the afternoon of
August 3.
On the 4th, with his command reinforced with Captain Rawn's company,
and Company G of the Seventh from Fort Ellis, General Gibbon left Fort
Missoula in pursuit of the Nez Perces. His command now numbered
seventeen officers and 146 men. A wagon-train was taken from Missoula,
wherein the men were allowed to ride wherever the roads were good.
[Illustration:
1. CAPT. CONSTANT WILLIAMS.
2. CAPT. C. C. RAWN.
3. CAPT. WILLIAM LOGAN.
4. CAPT. J. M. J. SANNO.
5. CAPT. G. L. BROWNING.
6. CAPT. RICHARD COMBA.]
The Indians had passed out of Lo Lo Canyon and started up the Bitter
Root on July 28, and were therefore several days ahead of the troops.
They knew that General Howard was yet many days' march behind them;
that Rawn would not dare attack them with his little force of "walking
soldiers," and not yet having learned the mysterious power of the
telegraph wire to carry words, faster than the swiftest bird can fly,
had not the remotest idea that another and larger force was on their
trail.
They therefore moved slowly up this valley, resting and grazing their
horses, trading off those that were worn and foot-sore for fresh ones,
and buying from the ranchmen and merchants such other supplies as they
needed, including _guns and ammunition_. Some of these avaricious
whites not only sold the Indians all the supplies they could while
passing, but actually loaded wagons with meat, vegetables, and such
other marketable goods as they had, and followed up the dusky horde,
selling them every penny's worth they could, as long as they remained
in the valley.
The Nez Perces had for years been traveling through this valley on
their annual trips to and from the buffalo country, on the Yellowstone
and Missouri Rivers, and Chief Joseph and some of his followers had
many personal acquaintances among the settlers.
Some of these whites openly boasted of their acquaintance and
"influence" with the red handed murderers, and gloated over the fact
that it enabled them to sell them more goods than they could have done
had they been strangers to the Indians. It is a well-known fact that
there are a number of ranchmen and merchants in the Bitter Root country
so greedy, so avaricious, so passionately fond of the mighty dollar,
that they would not scruple to sell a weapon to an Indian, though they
knew he would use it to kill a neighbor with, if only they could
realize a large profit on it. In this case, they bartered openly with
these cut-throats and assassins, receiving in payment for their goods
gold that they knew was stained with the blood of innocent settlers,
lately massacred on the Clear Water and Camas prairies, and from whom
this gold had been pilfered. They provided the fugitives with fresh
horses and other means of evading their pursuers, and so of escaping
justice. A noble exception to this rule was exhibited, however, in the
case of a Mr. Young of Corvallis, who courageously refused to receive
their blood money, closed his store in their faces, and dared them to
do their worst.
Of course, there are many good, fair-minded, honorable men in the
Bitter Root Valley; but there are also a number of sharks, as I know by
personal experience. There are men there who will charge a stranger, or
even a neighbor, three or four prices for some commodity, and then if
he ventures to protest against the extortion, will invariably answer
him with that ancient bit of alleged humor, so familiar to the ears of
travelers in the far West, to the effect that they are not out there
for their health.
Joseph was reinforced in this valley by eighteen lodges of renegade Nez
Perces, who lived off the reservation, under the leadership of the
disreputable chief, "Poker Joe."
The hostiles did not keep their pledge with the ranchmen strictly. Near
the head of the valley lived a man by the name of Lockwood, who, when
he heard of the approach of the Indians, took his family to a place of
safety. The Indians passed his ranch during his absence, broke into his
house and rifled it of everything it contained that was of any value to
them, including several hundred pounds of flour and bacon.
During the passage up the valley, White Bird is said to have scented
danger, and to have counseled a more rapid movement toward the great
plains. But Looking Glass replied: "We are in no hurry. The little
bunch of soldiers at Missoula are not fools enough to attack us. We
will take the world easy. We are not fighting with the ranchmen of this
country." Poor, misguided savage! He deemed himself the wisest and most
cunning of his kind; yet little did he know of the ways and resources
of the white man.