A grateful country has erected on the Big Hole battle-field a fitting
monument, a modest but enduring shaft of solid granite, which marks the
scene of the bloody conflict and tells in mute but eloquent words the
story of the victory won there. The base of the monument is five feet
six inches square; the pedestal is four feet six inches square by three
feet seven inches in height, and the height of the entire structure is
nine feet ten inches. On the north face of the shaft are carved the
words:
ERECTED BY THE UNITED STATES.
On the East Face the Words:
ON THIS FIELD
17 OFFICERS AND 138 MEN
OF THE 7TH U.S. INFANTRY,
UNDER ITS COLONEL, BVT. MAJOR-GENERAL
JOHN GIBBON,
WITH 8 OTHER SOLDIERS AND 36 CITIZENS,
SURPRISED AND FOUGHT ALL DAY
A SUPERIOR FORCE OF NEZ PERCE INDIANS,
MORE THAN ONE-THIRD OF THE COMMAND
BEING KILLED AND WOUNDED.
On the south is inscribed:
TO THE OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS
OF THE ARMY,
AND CITIZENS OF MONTANA,
WHO FELL AT BIG HOLE,
AUGUST 9, 1877,
IN BATTLE WITH NEZ PERCE INDIANS.
And on the west side is a list of the soldiers and citizens killed in
the action, which is the same as that already quoted from General
Gibbon's report.
[Illustration: THE MONUMENT ON THE BIG HOLE BATTLE-FIELD.]
The stone was cut in Concord, N. H., shipped to Dillon, Mont., by rail,
and hauled from there to the battle-field by ox teams. It was placed in
position in September, 1883, by a detachment of soldiers from Fort
Missoula, under command of Capt. J. P. Thompson, of the Third Infantry.
It cost about $3,000, an appropriation of that amount having been made
for the purpose by Congress.
General Howard followed the Nez Perces through the mountains, and
learning that they had determined to take refuge in the British
Possessions he sent a courier to General Miles, at Fort Keogh, who,
taking the field at the head of six hundred men, headed off the
fugitives at Bear Paw Mountains in Northern Montana, and captured them
after a desultory fight lasting through four days.
Chief Joseph's reply to General Miles' demand for surrender is a
curiosity in the way of Indian rhetoric. It is in these words:
"Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before I have in
my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass
is dead. Too-hul-hul-sote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the
young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is
cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to
death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no
blankets, no food; no one knows where they are--perhaps freezing to
death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many of
them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my
chiefs. I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now
stands I will fight no more forever."
As stated in Joseph's message, while the negotiations for the surrender
were in progress, White Bird, with a few of his followers, escaped
through Miles' lines and fled to the north. They were not pursued, and
succeeded in time in reaching Woody Mountain, in the Northwest
Territory, where Sitting Bull and his band were encamped at the time.
When the Sioux saw the Nez Perces coming, they supposed them to be
their enemies, the Black Feet, and prepared to fight them, but White
Bird halted when within a mile of the Sioux camp, sent in a runner to
announce himself, and when the Sioux learned who their visitors were,
they received them with open arms.
Major Walsh, of the Northwest mounted police, happened to be in Sitting
Bull's camp at the time, and describes White Bird and his people as
being the toughest looking party of Indians he had ever seen. Their
horses were mere skin and bone; some of them scarcely able to walk. The
Indians, men, women, and children, were half naked, some of them with
hands and feet frozen, and they had not a pound of food of any kind
with them.
Too-hul-hul-sote and Looking Glass were both killed in the fight with
Miles.
White Bird is still living near Fort MacLeod, in the Northwest
Territory, with his family and a few followers.
After the surrender, Joseph and a few of his retainers were sent to
Fort Leavenworth, where they were imprisoned until July 21, 1878, at
which time they were placed in charge of the Indian Bureau and located
in the Indian Territory. In June, 1885, they were removed to the
Colville Reservation, in Washington Territory, where they now live
unrestrained. Joseph is hale, hearty, and cheerful, and has accumulated
considerable wealth in the way of cattle and horses. He says he will
never again go on the war path; that he has had enough of fighting
pale-face soldiers; that their bravery is more than a match for the
cunning and prowess of the red man.
And to Gibbon's command, more than to any and all others who pursued
and fought Joseph and his men, belongs the honor of having broken the
proud spirits of these dusky warriors; of having killed their best men;
of having defeated them on their chosen field. To Gibbon and his brave
men, in short, belong the laurels of the Nez Perce war of 1877.
* * * * *
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End of Project Gutenberg's The Battle of the Big Hole, by G. O. Shields