The Nez Perce War was an armed conflict in 1877 in the Western United States that pitted several bands of the Nez Perce tribe of Native Americans and their allies, a small band of the Palouse tribe led by Red Echo (Hahtalekin) and Bald Head (Husishusis Kute), against the United States Army. Fought between June and October, the conflict stemmed from the refusal of several bands of the Nez Perce, dubbed "non-treaty Indians," to give up their ancestral lands in the Pacific Northwest and move to an Indian reservation in Idaho Territory. This forced removal was in violation of the 1855 Treaty of Walla Walla, which granted the tribe 7.5 million acres of their ancestral lands and the right to hunt and fish on lands ceded to the U.S. government.
After the first armed engagements in June, the Nez Perce embarked on an arduous trek north initially to seek help with the Crow tribe. After the Crows' refusal of aid, they sought sanctuary with the Lakota led by Sitting Bull, who had fled to Canada in May 1877 to avoid capture following the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn.
The Nez Perce were pursued by elements of the U.S. Army with whom they fought a series of battles and skirmishes on a fighting retreat of 1,170 miles (1,880 km). The war ended after a final five-day battle fought alongside Snake Creek at the base of Montana's Bears Paw Mountains only 40 miles (64 km) from the Canada–US border. A large majority of the surviving Nez Perce represented by Chief Joseph of the Wallowa band of Nez Perce, surrendered to Brigadier Generals Oliver Otis Howard and Nelson A. Miles. White Bird, of the Lamátta band of Nez Perce, managed to elude the Army after the battle and escape with an undetermined number of his band to Sitting Bull's camp in Canada. The 418 Nez Perce who surrendered, including women and children, were taken prisoner and sent by train to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Although Chief Joseph is the most well known of the Nez Perce leaders, he was not the sole overall leader. The Nez Perce were led by a coalition of several leaders from the different bands who comprised the "non-treaty" Nez Perce, including the Wallowa Ollokot, White Bird of the Lamátta band, Toohoolhoolzote of the Pikunin band, and Looking Glass of the Alpowai band. Brigadier General Howard was head of the U.S. Army's Department of the Columbia, which was tasked with forcing the Nez Perce onto the reservation and whose jurisdiction was extended by General William Tecumseh Sherman to allow Howard's pursuit. It was at the final surrender of the Nez Perce when Chief Joseph gave his famous "I Will Fight No More Forever" speech, which was translated by the interpreter Arthur Chapman.
An 1877 New York Times editorial discussing the conflict stated, "On our part, the war was in its origin and motive nothing short of a gigantic blunder and a crime". Many sites associated with the war are today preserved as part of Nez Perce National Historical Park.
Background
We took away their country and their means of support, broke up their mode of living, their habits of life, introduced disease and decay among them and it was for this and against this they made war. Could anyone expect less?
In 1855, at the Walla Walla Council, the Nez Perce were coerced by the federal government into giving up their ancestral lands and moving to the Umatilla Reservation in Oregon Territory with the Walla Walla, Cayuse, and Umatilla tribes. The tribes involved were so bitterly opposed to the terms of the plan that Isaac I. Stevens, governor and superintendent of Indian affairs for the Washington Territory, and Joel Palmer, superintendent of Indian affairs for Oregon Territory, signed the Nez Perce Treaty in 1855, which granted the Nez Perce the right to remain in a large portion of their own lands in Idaho, Washington, and Oregon territories, in exchange for relinquishing almost 5.5 million acres of their approximately 13 million acre homeland to the U.S. government for a nominal sum, with the caveat that they be able to hunt, fish. and pasture their horses etc. on unoccupied areas of their former land – the same rights to use public lands as Anglo-American citizens of the territories.
The newly established Nez Perce Indian reservation was 7,500,000 acres (30,000 km2) in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington territories. Under the terms of the treaty, no white settlers were allowed on the reservation without the permission of the Nez Perce. However, in 1860 gold was discovered near present-day Pierce, Idaho, and 5,000 gold-seekers rushed onto the reservation, illegally founding the downstream city of Lewiston as a supply depot on Nez Perce land. There was in fact very little gold to be had in Nez Perce territory, but ranchers and farmers followed to stabilize the large illegal settlements, and whites eager to seize and occupy fertile land soon began to roam over the entire reservation. The Nez Perce were incensed at the failure of the U.S. government to uphold the treaties, and at settlers who squatted on their land and plowed up their camas prairies, which they depended on for subsistence.
In 1863, a group of Nez Perce were coerced into signing away 90% of their reservation to the U.S., leaving only 750,000 acres (3,000 km2) in Idaho Territory. Under the terms of the treaty, all Nez Perce were to move onto the new and much smaller reservation east of Lewiston. A large number of Nez Perce, however, did not accept the validity of the treaty, refused to move to the reservation, and remained on their traditional lands. The Nez Perce who approved the treaty were mostly Christian; the opponents mostly followed the traditional religion. The "non-treaty" Nez Perce included the band of Chief Joseph, who lived in the Wallowa valley in northeastern Oregon. Disputes there with white farmers and ranchers led to the murders of several Nez Perce, and the murderers were never prosecuted.
Tensions between Nez Perce and white settlers rose in 1876 and 1877. General Oliver Otis Howard called a council in May 1877 and ordered the non-treaty bands to move to the reservation, setting an impossible deadline of 30 days. Howard humiliated the Nez Perce by jailing their old leader, Toohoolhoolzote, who spoke against moving to the reservation. The other Nez Perce leaders, including Chief Joseph, considered military resistance to be futile; they agreed to the move and reported as ordered to Fort Lapwai, Idaho Territory. By June 14, 1877, about 600 Nez Perce from Joseph's and White Bird's bands had gathered on the Camas Prairie, six miles (10 km) west of present-day Grangeville.
On June 13, shortly before the deadline for removing onto the reservation, White Bird's band held a tel-lik-leen ceremony at the Tolo Lake camp in which the warriors paraded on horseback in a circular movement around the village while individually boasting of their battle prowess and war deeds. According to Nez Perce accounts, an aged warrior named Hahkauts Ilpilp (Red Grizzly Bear) challenged the presence in the ceremony of several young participants whose relatives' deaths at the hands of whites had gone unavenged. One named Wahlitits (Shore Crossing) was the son of Eagle Robe, who had been shot to death by Lawrence Ott three years earlier. Thus humiliated and apparently fortified with liquor, Shore Crossing and two of his cousins, Sarpsisilpilp (Red Moccasin Top) and Wetyemtmas Wahyakt (Swan Necklace), set out for the Salmon River settlements on a mission of revenge. On the following evening, June 14, 1877, Swan Necklace returned to the lake to announce that the trio had killed four white men and wounded another man. Inspired by the war furor, approximately sixteen more young men rode off to join Shore Crossing in raiding the settlements.
Joseph and his brother Ollokot were away from the camp during the raids on June 14 and 15. When they arrived at the camp the next day, most of the Nez Perce had departed for a campsite on White Bird Creek to await the response of General Howard. Joseph considered an appeal for peace to the Whites, but realized it would be useless after the raids. Meanwhile, Howard mobilized his military force and sent out 130 men, including 13 friendly Nez Perce scouts, under the command of Captain David Perry to punish the Nez Perce and force them onto the reservation. Howard anticipated that his soldiers "will make short work of it."
War
White Bird Canyon
By June 16, the bands had moved to the southern end of White Bird Canyon, about five miles (8 km) long, one mile (1.6 km) wide at its maximum, and bounded by steep mountain ridges. That night, sentinels reported the approach of U.S. soldiers from the north. After much deliberation, the Nez Perce decided that they would stay at White Bird and make an effort to avoid war, but fight if they were forced to do so. The soldiers included Company F and Company H of the 1st Cavalry Regiment, commanded by Captain David Perry and Captain Joel Graham Trimble, respectively. The officers and men of the two companies totaled 106.
Awaiting the soldiers, 50 warriors under Ollokot deployed to a butte on the western side of the canyon and 15 warriors under Two Moons on a butte to the east, thus placing themselves on both sides of the cavalry's route down the canyon. Six Nez Perce warriors waited with a white flag to discuss a truce with the approaching soldiers. An advance party, consisting of Lieutenant Edward Theller, Trumpeter John Jones, a few Nez Perce scouts employed by the Lapwai Agency, seven soldiers from Company F and civilian volunteer Arthur "Ad" Chapman made first contact with the truce party. For reasons never fully explained, Chapman fired at the truce party. The truce party took cover and the Nez Perce returned fire.
Captain Perry, riding back and forth between the two companies, saw the volunteers retreating up the canyon. Perry's left flank and Trimble's right flank were compromised. Seeing further collapse of his flank, Perry tried to rally his men to advance to McCarthy's position and make a stand on the high ground about 300 yards (270 m) to the south. But Company F, confused and having suffering numerous casualties, misinterpreted Perry's order as a general retreat. Company H, seeing the urgent retreat of Company F, joined the flight and left McCarthy and his men stranded. Sensing victory, Ollokot's mounted warriors chased the retreating soldiers.
Lieutenant Parnell and Lieutenant Theller led squads in an attempt to retrace their approach towards the White Bird camp. Under fire, Theller became trapped in a steep rocky ravine and ran out of ammunition, and he and his seven men were killed by the Nez Perce. Captain Perry and Captain Trimble fled to the northwest up steep ridges. They reached the Camas Prairie on top of the ridge line and were able to regroup at Johnson's Ranch. Within minutes, Nez Perce warriors pressed the attack and the survivors continued their retreat for several miles toward Mount Idaho, where they were rescued by fresh volunteers.
By midmorning, 34 U.S. Cavalry soldiers had been killed and two had been wounded, while two volunteers had also been wounded in the opening of the battle. In contrast, only three Nez Perce warriors had been wounded. Some 63 carbines, many pistols, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition were picked up off the battlefield by Nez Perce warriors. These weapons greatly enhanced the Nez Perce arsenal for the remaining months of the war.
Looking Glass camp
In response to the defeat at White Bird Canyon, General Howard mobilized his forces. Though Chief Looking Glass had not previously been hostile to the army, a company was sent to arrest Looking Glass and his followers. The camp was destroyed, but Looking Glass escaped and subsequently joined Joseph and White Bird.
Cottonwood
After crossing and recrossing the Salmon River, the warriors rebuffed the army in a series of skirmishes near Cottonwood, Idaho, July 3–5, 1877.
Clearwater
Howard's main force caught up to the Nez Perce at their camp in the valley of the Clearwater River and attacked; the Nez Perce were able to escape toward Montana Territory.
Approximately 250 Nez Perce warriors, and 500 women and children, along with more than 2000 head of horses and other livestock, began a remarkable fighting retreat. They crossed from Idaho over Lolo Pass into Montana Territory. Forces attempted to halt the Nez Perce at Fort Fizzle, but the Nez Perce simply bypassed the barricade.
Big Hole
A small number of Nez Perce fighters, probably fewer than 200, defeated or held off larger forces of the U.S. Army in several battles. The most notable was the two-day Battle of the Big Hole in southwestern Montana territory, a battle with heavy casualties on both sides, including many women and children on the Nez Perce side. Until the Big Hole the Nez Perce had the naive view that they could end the war with the U.S. on terms favorable, or at least acceptable, to themselves. Afterwards, the war "increased in ferocity and tempo. From then on all white men were bound to be their enemies and yet their own fighting power had been severely reduced." They attempted to seek refuge with the Crow Nation, but, rejected by the Crow, ultimately decided to try to reach safety in Canada.
Camas Creek
With Howard's men camped at Camas Meadows, the Nez Perce conducted a nighttime raid in the early hours of August 20 and stole horses and mules. Howard's cavalry pursued the raiders, who were able to hold off the soldiers and continue their retreat into Yellowstone National Park.
Yellowstone
The Nez Perce fled through Yellowstone, travelling along what was later named Nez Perce Creek across the Central Plateau and Hayden Valley, crossing the Yellowstone River at Nez Perce Ford and exiting via a difficult route across the Absaroka Mountains.
Canyon Creek
The army next caught up with the Nez Perce on September 13 in the canyon of Canyon Creek, west of Billings. The warriors took up positions in the hills overlooking the approach to the canyon and fought a delaying action before escaping over the hills.
Bear Paw
The war came to an end when the Nez Perce stopped to make camp and rest on the prairie adjacent to Snake Creek in the foothills of the north slope of the Bear's Paw Mountains in Montana Territory, only 40 miles (64 km) from the Canada–United States border.
They believed that they had shaken off Howard and their pursuers, but they were unaware that the recently promoted Brigadier General Nelson A. Miles in command of the newly created District of the Yellowstone had been dispatched from the Tongue River Cantonment to find and intercept them. Miles led a combined force made up of units of the Fifth Infantry, and Second Cavalry and the Seventh Cavalry. Accompanying the troops were Lakota and Cheyenne Indian Scouts, many of whom had fought against the Army only a year prior during the Sioux War.