The Battle of Bear Paw (also sometimes called Battle of the Bears Paw or Battle of the Bears Paw Mountains) was the final engagement of the Nez Perce War of 1877. Following a 1,200-mile (1,900 km) running fight from north central Idaho Territory over the previous four months, the U.S. Army managed to corner most of the Nez Perce led by Chief Joseph in early October 1877 in northern Montana Territory, just 42 miles (68 km) south of the border with Canada, where the Nez Perce intended to seek refuge from persecution by the U.S. government.
Although some of the Nez Perce were able to escape to Canada, Chief Joseph was forced to surrender the majority of his followers to Brigadier General Oliver Howard and Colonel Nelson A. Miles on October 5. Today, the battlefield is part of the Nez Perce National Historical Park and the Nez Perce National Historic Trail.
Background
In June 1877, several bands of the Nez Perce, resisting relocation from their traditional lands to a much smaller reservation in north central Idaho Territory, attempted to escape to the east, following a route through Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming territories over the Rocky Mountains and onto the Great Plains. The Nez Perce began their journey with the mistaken notion that after crossing the next mountain range or defeating the latest army sent to oppose them they would find a peaceful new home. They came to realize, however, that the only sanctuary available to them was in Saskatchewan, Canada alongside the Lakota led by Sitting Bull, who had found asylum there after the Great Sioux War of 1876. After passing through Yellowstone National Park, the Nez Perce headed north through the Montana Territory toward Canada.
By late September, the Nez Perce, numbering about 800, including fewer than 200 warriors, had traveled more than a thousand miles and fought several battles in which they defeated or held off the U.S. Army forces pursuing them. In the most recent of those battles, on September 13, the Nez Perce eluded the attempt of Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis to capture them at the Battle of Canyon Creek near present-day Billings. However, the Crow and Bannock scouts of Sturgis captured about 400 of the Nez Perce horses which slowed them in their race to the Canada–U.S. border. Meeting up with Sturgis after the battle, General Howard continued the pursuit, following the Nez Perce trail northward.
On September 12, Howard sent a message to Colonel Nelson A. Miles, who was stationed at Fort Keogh (then called the Tongue River Cantonment), requesting his assistance. On September 17, Miles received the message and replied that he would move northwest from the Yellowstone River with his soldiers in an attempt to intercept the Nez Perce and prevent what both officers feared: an alliance between the Nez Perce and the Lakota of Sitting Bull. To permit Miles the time he needed to get into position between the Nez Perce and the Canada–U.S. border, Howard slowed down his pursuit. The Nez Perce, exhausted by their long ordeal, also slowed down their flight, believing themselves a safe distance ahead of Howard's forces. They were not aware of Miles and his approach toward them.
On their journey north from Canyon Creek and through the Judith Basin near the present-day town of Lewistown, Montana, the Nez Perce raided several ranches for horses and food and reportedly killed one sheepherder.
The flight of the Nez Perce had incited sympathy among large segments of the American public, and even in the U.S. Army. After the Canyon Creek fight, an army surgeon said of the Nez Perce, "I am actually beginning to admire their bravery and endurance in the face of so many well-equipped enemies." Nevertheless, although they spoke favorably of the Nez Perce, Army commanders William Tecumseh Sherman and Philip Sheridan were determined to punish them severely to discourage other Indians who might consider rebelling against the rule of the United States.
Cow Island Landing
On September 23, the Nez Perce crossed the Missouri River near Cow Island Landing. Steamboats bound for Fort Benton, the local headquarters of Missouri River navigation, unloaded goods at Cow Island Landing late in the year, when the river's water levels dropped and the steamboats could not get up the river to Fort Benton. A small contingent of about a dozen soldiers under a sergeant were stationed at the landing to protect the stockpiled goods until they could be freighted on to Fort Benton by wagon train.
Upon the approach of the Nez Perce the outnumbered soldiers, along with two civilians, retreated into their camp, which had a low earth embankment built around it to protect it during rains. After crossing the river at some distance from the soldiers' camp, the main body of the Nez Perce went up Cow Creek for two miles and camped. A small delegation peacefully approached the small detachment of soldiers and asked for some of the stockpiled food. Upon being turned away with only a side of bacon and some hardtack, the Nez Perce waited until dark and pinned the soldiers down with rifle fire from bluffs overlooking their camp. They then rifled the stockpiled supplies, which were located at some distance from the soldiers' camp, and set them afire. Sporadic gunfire left two civilians wounded.
The Nez Perce proceeded upstream along Cow Creek the next morning. They were only ninety miles (140 km) from the Canada–U.S. border. The soldiers were able to send a message downriver informing Colonel Miles of the location of the Nez Perce. Soon the Nez Perce encountered a wagon train with more supplies, which they also looted and burned. They thwarted an effort by 50 soldiers and civilian volunteers under Major Guido Igles to pursue them. In their raids around Cow Creek, the Nez Perce killed five men and stole or destroyed at least 85 tons of military supplies. However, although they gained a cornucopia of supplies, they had lost a day of travel and historians have proposed that the delay might have been decisive in allowing the U.S. Army to catch up.
Crisis in leadership
The Nez Perce never had unified leadership during their long fighting retreat. Looking Glass was the most important military leader and strategist while Chief Joseph seems to have been mainly responsible for camp management. An English-speaking French-Nez Perce mixed blood called Poker Joe or Lean Elk had become prominent as a guide and interpreter during the march. Poker Joe probably had a more knowledgeable appreciation of the determination of the U.S. Army to pursue and defeat the Nez Perce than did the other leaders.
With the forces of General Howard far behind the Nez Perce after the Canyon Creek fight, Looking Glass advocated a slower pace to allow the travel-weary people and their horses an opportunity to rest. Poker Joe argued for the opposite. The disagreement among the leaders came to a head in a council on September 24. Poker Joe yielded to Looking Glass, reportedly saying, "Looking Glass, you can lead. I am trying to save the people, doing my best to cross into Canada before the soldiers find us. You can take command, but I think we will be caught and killed." Looking Glass won his point and assumed command of the march. The Nez Perce moved toward Canada in slow stages for the next four days. They kept a close eye on the south for Howard and his soldiers, but were unaware that Miles was coming upon them rapidly from the southeast.
Miles catches the Nez Perce
Colonel Miles left Fort Keogh on September 18 with a force of 520 soldiers, civilian employees, and scouts, including about 30 Indian scouts, mostly Cheyenne but with a few Lakota. Some of the Indian scouts had fought against George Armstrong Custer in the Battle of the Little Big Horn only 15 months earlier, but had subsequently surrendered to Miles.
Miles was anxious to get involved in the pursuit of the Nez Perce and marched expeditiously northwest. He hoped to find the Nez Perce south of the Missouri River. His first destination was the mouth of the Musselshell River and from there he planned to move up the south bank of the Missouri. At the Missouri, Miles was joined by scout Luther "Yellowstone" Kelly. On September 25, Miles received a dispatch informing him of the Cow Creek fight and that the Nez Perce had crossed the Missouri going north. He changed his plans, crossed the Missouri, and headed toward the northern side of the Bear Paw Mountains, passing the east side of the Little Rocky Mountains. Miles made every effort to keep his presence unknown to the Nez Perce, who he believed were only a few miles to his west.
On September 29, several inches of snow fell. That day, Miles's Cheyenne scouts found the trail of the Nez Perce and a few soldiers and civilian scouts had a skirmish with Nez Perce warriors. The next morning the Cheyenne found the Nez Perce encampment on Snake Creek north of the Bear Paw Mountains. Miles's soldiers advanced toward it.
That same day, scouts reported to the Nez Perce leaders the presence of a large number of people to their east. Most of their leaders wished to continue quickly on toward Canada, but Looking Glass prevailed. The people seen, he said, must be other Indians. Assiniboine and Gros Ventre were known to be hunting in the area. Consequently, the Nez Perce went into camp on Snake Creek only 42 miles (68 km) from Canada and slowly the next morning, September 30, prepared to continue their journey.
The battle
Miles hurried his attack on the Nez Perce camp for fear that the Indians would escape. At 9:15 AM, while still about six miles (10 km) from the camp, he deployed his cavalry at a trot, organized as follows: the thirty Cheyenne and Lakota scouts led the way, followed by the 2nd Cavalry battalion consisting of about 160 soldiers. The 2nd Cavalry was ordered to charge into the Nez Perce camp. The 7th Cavalry battalion of 110 soldiers followed the 2nd as support on the charge into the camp. The 5th Infantry of about 145 soldiers, mounted on horses, followed as a reserve with a Hotchkiss gun and the pack train. Miles rode with the 7th Cavalry.
Miles was following a tried and true tactic of the U.S. Army in fighting Plains Indians: attack a village suddenly and "shock and demoralize all the camp occupants—men, women, and children, both young and old—before they could respond effectively to counter the blow." However, the Nez Perce were warned by scouts of the approach of the soldiers a few minutes in advance. They were scattered, some gathering up the horse herd, west of the encampment, others packing to leave. Some men quickly gathered to defend the encampment while 50 to 60 warriors and many women and children rushed out of the village to attempt an escape to Canada.
Miles's plan fell apart quickly. Rather than attacking the camp, the Cheyenne scouts veered to the left toward the horse herd, and the 2nd Cavalry, commanded by Captain George L. Tyler, followed them. The Cheyenne and Tyler captured most of the horse herd of the Nez Perce and cut off from the village about seventy men, including Chief Joseph, plus women and children. Joseph told his 14-year-old daughter to catch a horse and join the others in a flight toward Canada. Joseph, unarmed, then mounted a horse and rode through a ring of soldiers back into the camp, several bullets cutting his clothing and wounding his horse.
Tyler's detour to the horse herd eliminated him from the van of the advancing soldiers and the main battle. He detached one company to chase the Nez Perce heading toward Canada. The company pursued the Nez Perce about five miles and then retreated as the Nez Perce organized a counterattack. Once the women and children were safely out of reach of the soldiers, some of the Nez Perce warriors came back to join their main force.
While the Cheyenne, Tyler, and the 2nd Cavalry were chasing horses, the 7th Cavalry, under Captain Owen Hale, followed Miles's plan by continuing a rapid advance on the village. As they approached, a group of Nez Perce rose up from a coulee and opened fire, killing and wounding several soldiers. The soldiers fell back. Miles ordered two of the three companies in the 7th Cavalry to dismount and quickly brought up the mounted infantry, the 5th, to join them in the firing line. Company K meanwhile had become separated from the main force and was also taking casualties. By 3:00 PM, Miles had his entire force organized and on the battlefield and he occupied the higher ground. The Nez Perce were surrounded and had lost all their horses. Miles ordered a charge on the Nez Perce positions with the 7th Cavalry and one company of the infantry, but it was beaten back with heavy casualties.