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Beaverhead County, Montana
Big Hole Battlefield
Big Hole Battlefield
is located in Beaverhead County
and is a National Battlefield Park
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On August 9, 1877 the
soldiers attacked a sleeping camp of Nez Perce.
The Nez Perce were led by
Chief Joseph as he tried to lead them into Canada after the Battle
of the Clearwater. The Nez Perce traveled from Idaho into
Montana through the Lolo Pass.
They had a brief confrontation
with the cavalry at Fort Fizzle on July 28 and then entered the
Bitterroot Valley.
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Looking Glass (a Nez
Perce leader) promised the white settlers that they would pass
through the valley without violence and did so. The Nez Perce
had about 200 warriors and 550 women and children.
Meanwhile, Col John
Gibbon left Fort Shaw with 161 officers and a howitzer gun and
followed the trail of the Nez Perce. He collected 45
civilian volunteers in the Bitterroot Valley. His orders
were no prisoners and no negotiations.
They fired into the
tipis as the Nez Perce were sleeping, killing many men, women
and children. The Native Americans fled, most leaving
their weapons behind. The howitzer was used for a very
brief time with the warriors picking off the soldiers of the
howitzer crew.
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By this time some of the
warriors picked up more rifles and ammunition that was abandoned.
About 60 warriors under
Ollokot (Chief Joseph's brother) held off the Cavalry with a sniper
kind of situation. Gibbon's troops held back thinking they
were outnumbered.
Meanwhile the women and
children packed what they could, picked up the horses and moved
south about 18 miles to Lake Creek with several warriors where they
made some defensive works.
They left behind about 20-30
Nez Perce sharpshooters to hold Gibbon's troops at bay until night
on the 10th when they left to join the others at Lake Creek.
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Gibbons' men had no food or
water and several men that were seriously wounded. Several of
the volunteers from Bitterroot Valley left that night.
General Howard with an
advance party of 29 cavalry men and 17 scouts from the Bannock tribe
found Gibbons and his men.
23 of Gibbons'
soldiers and 6 of the civilian volunteers died, and 40 wounded (two
of whom died later). No exact estimate of the Nez Perce
causalities exist but it was probably between 70 and 90 women,
children and warriors.
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The Nez Perce continued to flee, but the
Army caught up with them again at Camas Meadow, Canyon Creek and Bear Paw.
Eventually the Nez Perce surrendered just 40 miles from the Canadian border.
During the
night, Chief
White Bird along with between 150 to 200 Nez Perce fled the Bears Paw
Battlefield en route to Canada.
In-who-lise was included in this group. In-who-lise
was very ill and had to be held in her saddle by another woman.
Together, they
arrived at an Assiniboine camp where they were taken in. Many settled in the
Pincher Creek area of the Alberta area.
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