7. Charles Stuart Moody, “The Bravest Deed I Ever Knew,” Century Magazine, March, 1911, pp. 783–84. It is very unlikely that Brice spoke to Chief Joseph. The chief could not speak English, although he understood it a little. Besides, during these confused days from June 14 to June 17, when the White Bird battle took place, the Indians moved their village each day to a new site and it would have been difficult, if not impossible, to locate Joseph’s camp.
8. McWhorter, op. cit., pp. 216–17.
9. Major W. R. Parnell, “The Battle of White Bird Cañon,” in Brady, Northwestern Fights and Fighters, p. 100.
10. Howard, Life and Experiences among Our Hostile Indians, p. 284.
12. The Battle of White Bird Canyon
1. David Perry, “The Battle of White Bird Cañon,” in Brady, Northwestern Fights and Fighters, p. 113.
2. McWhorter, Hear Me, My Chiefs!, p. 197.
3. Curtis, The North American Indian, VIII, 26. According to Brady, op. cit., p. 113, Jonah Hayes and Reuben, treaty Nez Perces friendly to the whites, were scouts who had been sent to watch “on the distant and commanding hill nearer the Salmon River.”
Yellow Wolf, a youth of twenty-one years at the time of the battle and a member of Joseph’s band, relates substantially the same account as Three Eagles. See McWhorter, Yellow Wolf: His Own Story, pp. 55–56.
4. Three Eagles’ account is quoted in Curtis, op. cit., p. 26; Yellow Bull’s statement is found in ibid., p. 165; and John Miles’ testimony appears in McWhorter, Hear Me, My Chiefs!, p. 249.
5. Parnell received a brevet of colonel and a medal of honor for his gallant conduct in this battle. He apparently overestimated the number of warriors in this particular maneuver, for the testimony indicated that there was scarcely a total of seventy Indians engaged.
Yellow Wolf, however, denied this stratagem in McWhorter, Yellow Wolf: His Own Story, p. 57. He does state that the Nez Perces used the time-honored Indian custom of hanging on the sides of their ponies. This may have been the ruse referred to by Parnell.
6. Perry, op. cit., p. 115.
7. Ibid., p. 116.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid., pp. 117–18.
10. William Parnell, “The Battle of White Bird Cañon,” in Brady, Northwestern Fights and Fighters, p. 106.
11. Ibid., pp. 106–7.
12. Ibid.
13. McLaughlin, My Friend the Indian, p. 351. Yellow Wolf claims that of the “fewer than seventy warriors” engaged in the battle, three were wounded and none killed. McWhorter, op. cit., p. 60.
14. Howard, Chief Joseph, His Pursuit and Capture, p. 118.
15. Ibid., p. 122.
16. Norman B. Wood, Lives of Famous Indian Chiefs, p. 507.
17. Howard, op. cit., p. 133.
13. The Skirmish at Cottonwood
1. Lieutenant Forse, a graduate of West Point and the same officer who powwowed with Joseph in the Wallowa Valley incident in 1876, says that Joseph sent his brother, Alokut, to White Bird “to tell him that during the campaign he did not want to hear of any of White Bird’s band injuring a woman or child; that if he did they would hear from him.” Forse does not state his source of information, but the fact remains that the Nez Perces committed no more atrocities in Idaho, so that the statement carries some weight. Albert G. Forse, “Chief Joseph as a Commander,” Winners of the West, November, 1936, p. 5.
2. Merrill D. Beal, “I Will Fight No More Forever”: Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce War, p. 63.
3. Quoted in Brady, Northwestern Fights and Fighters, p. 14. Reprinted from Howard, Chief Joseph, His Pursuit and Capture.
4. Forse, op. cit., p. 5. Forse’s testimony is corroborated by Private Frederick Mayer, of Troop L, First U.S. Cavalry. “Nez Perce War Diary of Private Frederick Mayer,” Seventeenth Biennial Report, Idaho State Historical Society, December, 1939–40.
5. Lieutenant Theller’s body was later reinterred in San Francisco, while the remains of the enlisted men were removed to the cemetery at Fort Walla Walla.
6. “An Indian’s Views of Indian Affairs,” North American Review, April, 1879, p. 425.
7. Howard, op. cit., p. 147.
8. Ibid., p. 149.
9. Ibid., p. 120.
10. History of North Idaho, p. 62.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid. McWhorter states that “Dutch” Holmes fired at an Indian against whom he held a grudge. McWhorter, Hear Me, My Chiefs!, pp. 272–73 and note 13. A detailed Indian account of this incident is given on pp. 265–70.
13. “Redfield’s Reminiscences,” Pacific Northwest Quarterly, January, 1936, p. 72.
14. McWhorter, op. cit., p. 267. Haines, Red Eagles of the Northwest, p. 257, states that a woman and her baby were drowned while escaping from the soldiers.
15. Howard, op. cit., p. 151. For an Indian account of this attack, see McWhorter, Yellow Wolf: His Own Story, pp. 71–74. Private Frederick Mayer, op. cit., pp. 28–29, gives a somewhat different eyewitness version to Captain Whipple’s report related in this text, which may be explained by the fact that the officer saw an overall picture of the skirmish, whereas the private had a necessarily limited view. In any event, it is interesting to note that Private Mayer supports his captain’s good judgment in the action. Mayer states: “. . . (The advance guard were act. Sergt. Major Lambman, Privates Roach, Ryan, Burke and Quinn of ‘E’ Troop, Privates Richter, Moody, Carroll, Denteman and Meyer, and Lt. Rains of L Troop. The command left about 5 minutes later, during the time that the scout reported and the time of our getting ready to start out, the Indians came within 1½ miles of our camp intending to surprise us, but seeing our advance guard coming they lay’d in a ravine at the foot of Craigs Mountain, Idaho, and allowed our guard to ride into the ambush prepared for them, and killed them all. (Lt. Rains, Troop ‘L,’ and Pvt. Ryan, Troop ‘E,’ almost succeeded in making theyr escape by clearing their way through the Indians again towards us, but there were too many for those brave men.) We heard rapid firing for a few minutes, but seen nothing more of our guard. On our approach the Indians rallied on the Mountain, but they outnumbered us (three or four to One). Besides, it being after sundown, and only about 56 men in Skirmish line, (after No. 4’s were taken out to hold horses). We had two good reasons not to give battle, so we formed a square around the horses, and retreated in good order (as they call it) to Cottonwood Rancho, some of the men growling because we did not attack the Indians, or look for our advance guard, but the more sensible ones guessed that either the guard were all killed or cut they’r way through to Fort Lapaway. Anyway what was done, was right.”
16. Felix Warren, a dispatch carrier, claims White Bird led the party which ambushed Lieutenant Rains. Bailey, River of No Return, pp. 195 ff. But Two Moons, an eyewitness, states Five Wounds led the attack on the right, supported by his friend, Rainbow, on the left, while Two Moons himself headed the center charge. White Bird was past seventy and too old for active fighting. Two Moons’ detailed account appears in McWhorter, Hear Me, My Chiefs!, pp. 282–83.
17. “Nez Perce War Letters to Governor Mason Brayman,” Fifteenth Biennial Report, Idaho State Historical Society, December, 1936, p. 64.
18. Howard, op. cit., p. 152.
19. Henry C. Johnson, “Volunteer Survivor Recalls Battle with Indians East of Cottonwood,” MS. in Idaho State Historical Library, Boise.
20. Howard, op. cit., p. 153.
21. Simpson was arrested for insubordination, but the charge against him was withdrawn after he had been seriously wounded in the Clearwater fight.
22. “Nez Perce War Letters,” p. 57.
23. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf: His Own Story, p. 69.
24. Ibid., p. 77.
14. The Battle of the Clearwater
1. Dr. H. L. Talkington, Manuscript, “History of the Nez Perce Reservation,” State Historical Library, Boise, Idaho.
2. The bodies were later reinterred at Fort Walla Walla. The monument erected in honor of the dead of the White Bird battle was purchased by fund
s contributed by comrades of the regiment, through the efforts of First Sergeant Michael McCarthy, one of the survivors of the fight.
3. “Nez Perce War Letters to Governor Mason Brayman,” Fifteenth Biennial Report, Idaho State Historical Society, December, 1936, pp. 65–66.
4. Major J. G. Trimble, “The Battle of Clearwater,” in Brady, Northwestern Fights and Fighters, p. 141.
5. Howard, Chief Joseph, His Pursuit and Capture, p. 158. For the Indian account, see McWhorter, Yellow Wolf: His Own Story, pp. 85 ff.
6. Report of Secretary of War, 1877, I, 122. Report of Brigadier General Howard.
7. Lieutenant C. E. S. Wood, “Chief Joseph, the Nez Percé,” Century Magazine, May, 1884, p. 137.
8. McWhorter, Hear Me, My Chiefs!, pp. 318–19. Yellow Bull’s statement is quoted in Curtis, The North American Indian, VIII, 166.
9. Trimble, op. cit., pp. 143–44.
10. Major H. L. Bailey, “Letter Regarding the Battle of the Clearwater,” in Brady, Northwestern Fights and Fighters, p. 163. Stephen P. Jocelyn states in Mostly Alkali, a comprehensive biography of Western military life, that his father, General Jocelyn was brevetted for “conspicuous gallantry in action” at the Clearwater, and, twenty-three years later, “of the four-hundred-odd brevets which had been conferred for bravery on officers of the active list, only three were for conspicuous gallantry. . . .” (p. 230.)
11. Trimble, op. cit., p. 144.
12. Wood, op. cit., p. 138.
13. Trimble, op. cit., p. 145.
14. Wood, op. cit., p. 138.
15. Brady, op. cit., pp. 16–17.
16. McWhorter, Hear Me, My Chiefs!, p. 320 and p. 181.
17. Trimble, op. cit., p. 146.
18. Howard, in Report of Secretary of War, 1877, I, 123.
19. Ibid.
20. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf: His Own Story, p. 97. Because of dissension within their fighting forces the Indians claim they decided to retreat before the soldiers charged.
21. Howard, in Report of Secretary of War, 1877, I, 123.
22. William Parnell, “The Salmon River Expedition,” in Brady, Northwestern Fights and Fighters, p. 132.
23. Ibid.
24. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf: His Own Story, pp. 98–99.
25. Parnell, op. cit., p. 133.
15. The March Over the Lolo Trail
1. Major J. G. Trimble, “The Battle of the Clearwater,” in Brady, Northwestern Fights and Fighters, p. 148.
2. Ibid., p. 149.
3. Howard, in Report of Secretary of War, 1877, I, 124.
4. Howard, Chief Joseph, His Pursuit and Capture, p. 167.
5. C. E. S. Wood, “Chief Joseph, the Nez Percé,” Century Magazine, May, 1884, p. 138.
6. Howard, in Report of Secretary of War, 1877, I, 124.
7. Wood, op. cit., p. 138.
8. Curtis, The North American Indian, VIII, 166. From the account by Yellow Bull.
9. Chauncey Barbour, editor of the Weekly Missoulian, in a letter to Governor Potts of Montana Territory, dated June 29, 1877, states that three young men from the Nez Perce tribe had come from Camas Prairie to the Bitterroot Valley of Montana after the White Bird fight. Two of them came over the Mullan road to the Flathead Reservation to talk to Chiefs Michel and Arlee, probably to induce them to join the hostile Nez Perces. Barbour and Captain C. P. Higgins, organizer of the Missoula Volunteers, could not locate Chief Charlot at the time to ascertain his attitude. (Paul C. Phillips, ed., “The Battle of the Big Hole,” Frontier Magazine, November, 1929, p. 64.)
10. Parnell, “The Salmon River Expedition,” in Brady, Northwestern Fights and Fighters, pp. 134–35.
11. McWhorter, Hear Me, My Chiefs!, p. 335.
12. Ibid., pp. 340–41.
13. “Nez Perce War Letters to Governor Mason Brayman,” Fifteenth Biennial Report, Idaho State Historical Society, December, 1936, p. 72.
14. The general stated that the troops seldom traveled more than eighteen miles a day while crossing the mountains, but when marching up the Bitterroot Valley, they made forty miles or better a day.
15. From a feature article by Addison Howard in Sunday Missoulian, June 14, 1925, Missoula, Montana. Sergeant Brown, Company B, Second Infantry, was detailed with about fifty others for detached service in the Twenty-first Infantry, which formed a part of Howard’s brigade during the pursuit.
16. Brady, op. cit., p. 22.
17. Chief Charlot, in common with Chief Joseph, had land troubles with the United States. When he refused to sign a treaty and move onto the Flathead Reservation, Commissioner James A. Garfield, later President of the United States, forged Charlot’s signature to the document, later excusing the act on the grounds of expediency. Mrs. Peter Ronan, in an interview with Addison Howard, stated that her husband, Major Peter Ronan, Flathead Indian agent, had examined the original agreement in Washington DC and had found Charlot’s mark missing. The chief always denied signing it. Only the copy presented by Congressman Garfield to the Senate for ratification bore the forged mark. The commissioners arbitrarily recognized Arlee (a Nez Perce adopted into the Flathead tribe) as head chief, despite Charlot’s hereditary right to that rank. Arlee signed the agreement in 1872 and moved part of the tribe to the present reservation north of Missoula. Charlot’s people were not removed from the Bitterroot Valley until 1891. Unlike Joseph, however, Charlot did not go on the warpath against the whites, but instead maintained the most cordial relations with certain white people, notably Father Ravalli and Major Ronan. A complete documentary account of Charlot’s story appears in chap. 8 of Helen Addison Howard’s Northwest Trail Blazers (Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1963).
18. Phillips, op. cit., p. 74.
19. Curtis, op. cit., VIII, 32, note 1.
20. Higgins, with his business partner, Francis L. Worden, founded in 1865 the present city of Missoula, Montana.
16. The Affair at “Fort Fizzle”
1. Among the many ranches often visited by the Nez Perces was Eliza Deery’s homestead, on the south side of the river opposite the town of Missoula. Mrs. Deery, being a practical nurse, gave them first aid from simple remedies for injuries they received when going to or returning from the buffalo hunts. Her stepson was with the Missoula volunteers who accompanied Rawn for seventeen days.
2. Report of Secretary of War, 1877, I, 501. Report of Captain Rawn.
3. Ibid. The Indian and white testimonies are contradictory as to whether one, two, or more powwows were held with the hostiles and on what dates. McWhorter’s Nez Perce informants declared only one meeting took place, whereas several volunteers gave the number as three in as many days. But Rawn’s report is the official contemporary record written at the time.
4. Curtis, The North American Indian, VIII, 33. A hewn log marker, set up in recent years by the people of Montana to designate the site of Fort Fizzle, bears the following inscription: “Here Capt. Charles C. Rawn, 7th Infantry, with four officers and twenty-five enlisted men from Fort Missoula, approximately 150 citizen volunteers and 25 Flathead braves erected and occupied a redoubt from July 25 to 28, 1877, to challenge the passage of the hostile non-treaty Nez Perce Indians under Chief Joseph. On July 28 the Nez Perces evaded the troops by ascending a gulch on the north side of Lolo Creek half a mile above this place and going down Sleeman Creek in the Bitter Root Valley.”
According to an item in the Rocky Mountain Husbandman, February 26, 1942, “a forest fire on Sept. 30, 1934, destroyed the last visible sector of the old log redoubt, which is now marked by five cement piers.”
5. Curtis, ibid., p. 166.
6. Ibid. McWhorter states that this “meeting was held at the camp of Left Hand, a brother or blood kin to Chief Eagle From the Light.” Looking Glass, Five Wounds, and Rainbow, he continues, favored the Crow country. Opposing them were White Bird, Toohoolhoolzote (Tuhulhutsut), Red Owl, Two Moons, and Wottolen who preferred the northern route. Joseph, he claims, had no part in this council. McWhorter, Hear Me, My Chiefs!, p. 357.
8. Lockwood joined Gibbon’s force and was seriously wounded at the Big Hole battle.
9. The late W. A. Clark, Jr., noted Los Angeles philanthropist, who was five months old at the time, was among the “temporary convicts” with his mother at the penitentiary. He recounted to Dan McGrath the amusement that his father, the late Senator Clark, had received from the incident.
10. Mrs. Pearce was, in 1934, a resident of Los Angeles, California. Judge Lippincott, of Butte, told the incident to the author and Dan McGrath.
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