Texts of the North American Indian

THE NEZ PERCES, PART 6

HISTORICAL SKETCH

The second day's fighting began early in the morning and continued with slight advantage to either side until about three o'clock in the afternoon, when the reinforcements joined in the attack. These "horse-soldiers," as the Indians termed them, rode into the fight with all the vigor of fresh troops, and with the shout of their charge the jaded soldiers all along the line took new heart and redoubled the energy of their attack, and at the same crucial moment the Gatling guns and howitzers furiously poured shot into the enemy's lines. The very vigor of the attack caused the now disheartened Indians to break and run. Here the Nez Perces had suffered their first material defeat; and, strictly speaking, the only one they were to experience during the long campaign until that fatal day on the snow-clad plain in the Little Rockies, when Joseph handed his gun to General Miles and the remnant of the hostiles passed into captivity.

War, under any circumstances, is heart-sickening, but the pathos, the misery of it, as experienced by Indians, when their women and children must accompany the warriors, is beyond words. Children are born into the world amidst the roar of battle, or perhaps while the party is on the march, fleeing from the pursuing army.

A baby nestling in its mother's arms whimpers with fear of the strange noises, until a stray bullet finds lodgment in its tiny body, and the mother, with the lifeless form in her arms, rushes shrieking through the camp. A child, clinging to the skirt of its mother as she creeps through the brush, sees her lurch forward and fall to the earth to rise no more, and, too young to comprehend the stillness of its parent, it sobs and cries for the voice which is still forever. But the worst of all is when the attack on the camp is at night-time, and all are wrapped in peaceful slumber, men, women and children, sleeping only as do those who are worn with the greatest physical exertion.

Through the darkness creeps the enemy, who, without word of warning, pours into the silent lodges a death-dealing storm of bullets, and mothers and children pass from one sleep into that which has no awakening. One may aver that these are but imaginary pictures, and yet a record of real instances happening during this four months' campaign would fill a volume. And, it may be asked, why picture only the misery and suffering of the Indians, while soldiers were loyally laying down their lives to suppress the uprising? The author fully appreciates the heroism of the men who were doing all in their power to subdue the hostiles, but this narration is, in a measure, the Indian's side of the story. The soldier's side has been many times told, and again, soldiers are such by profession. They are trained for war, and every patriotic citizen admires the spirit with which they enter the game where their lives are a forfeit.

Following the two days' fight on the Clearwater, the Indians crossed that stream and moved out into the plains of Oyaip (Weippe prairie), where they camped and had a trivial encounter with the Nez PercE scouts of Colonel Mason. They were now in the foothills and ready for their march over the rough trails of Lolo, pass. Howard, in summing up the results of these five weeks of the campaign, says:

"The Indians had been well led, and well fought. They had defeated two companies in a pitched battle. They had eluded pursuit, and crossed the Salmon. They had turned back and crossed our communications, had kept our cavalry on the defensive, and defeated a company of volunteers. They had been finally forced to concentrate, it is true, and had been brought to battle. But, in battle with regular troops, they had held out for nearly two days before they were beaten, and after that were still able to keep together, cross a river too deep to be forded, and then check our pursuing cavalry and make off to other parts beyond Idaho.",

In their flight over the mountains by the Lolo trail it is to be presumed that the Indians met comparatively little difficulty. The trail was narrow, filled with tangled, fallen timber, and was washed with the spring freshets, and certainly proved a very difficult route for Howard in his chase. There is a flexibility about the movement of a body of Indians that never could be equalled by the best army pack-train. The Indian pony, packed and under the management of an Indian woman, will wiggle and twist through a place which to an army packer seems impossible, and yet the army packer will take his horse through and over places which one not accustomed to mountain trails would consider impassable for anything but a jack-rabbit.

When the Nez Perces began their flight across the mountains, General Howard thought of leaving a small force (soon to be reinforced by Major John Green's men from Fort Boise) to protect the Idaho settlements, and with his main command crossing the mountains by the Mullan road, and thus, if possible, intercepting the Indians as they came into the Bitterroot valley. The terror-stricken settlers, as well as the agency employees, raised such a protest against this project that Howard abandoned it and continued in the vicinity of Kamiah for nine days, waiting for reinforcements; or, if we consider (as we should) the Oyaip meadows to be the actual point of departure, he was thirteen days in getting started.
As soon as it was evident that the Indians were crossing the mountains, the available forces in Montana were instructed to cooperate in the campaign and endeavor to intercept the hostiles as they came down into the valley. At Fort Missoula were stationed Captains C. C. Rawn and William Logan. Strengthening their two companies with some two hundred citizen volunteers, they went to Lolo cafton, hastily constructed rude barricades, and bravely awaited the coming of the Indians.

The Nez Perces evidently did not attempt an unusually hurried march across the mountains. No soldiers were crowding them in the rear, so they moved as if they were on their customary journey to the buffalo country. They were ten days going from Oyaip to Rawn's fortifications. Howard, forcing his command to the utmost, made the crossing in nine days, which, considering his equipment, was remarkably good time.

The ardor of the citizens' committee no doubt cooled somewhat while waiting two days for the Indians to appear, and as they did not have the honor of the army to sustain, they were far more in a mood to negotiate with the Nez Perces than to fight. They had known Looking Glass and his people for years, and their friendship and esteem were mutual. Looking Glass asked only to pass unmolested. With the people and soldiers of Montana they had no quarrel, and consequently the volunteers were only too glad to see them pass with the understanding that they should molest no Montana settlers if they were permitted to proceed without a fight. The act cannot, perhaps, be commended for its patriotism, but it was certainly a logical one, and probably saved the lives of many citizens.

Notwithstanding the desertion of their citizen allies, Captains Rawn and Logan determined to make a stand against the Indians in case they attempted to pass. The wily Nez Perces found a better way than by fighting, and by a trail high on the bluff's side they cleverly slipped by the barricaded troops, laughing derisively as they disappeared down the valley.

General Howard was greatly disappointed that the Indians were not checked here, and called their passing a "negotiation." 2 On the contrary, Colonel Charles A. Coolidge, who was a lieutenant in Logan's company and at Lolo pass, states: " Rawn's handful of men at Lo Lo pass manifested more 'sand' and bravery than was shown even in the bloody and hard-fought battle of the Big Hole."'
A letter to the author from Mr. W. R. Logan, son of Captain Logan, who was present at the Lolo pass as well as at the Big Hole, where his father fell, gives particularly interesting information on this point.

'The author assumes that the actual start across the mountains was made at the meadows of Oyalp. The Nez Perces left that point on the morning of the eighteenth of July, and arrived at Rawn's fortifications on the twenty-seventh. Howard started from the same place on the morning of the thirty-first and reached Rawn's fortifications on the eighth of August.
"August 8th, leaving the camp by dawn, we soon reach Captain Rawn's fortifications, now vacant, in the Lolo canyon, and are shown by a citizen where the Indians ascended the heights on his right and passed his flank without hinderance. He had about 25 regular troops, with about 200 volunteers. It seems that the Indians really negotiated their way, by promising the citizens that they would do them no harm if permitted to pass by them unmolested. Captain Rawn thought it wiser, under the circumstances, to let them go than attempt a fight, which he thought would be disastrous. The position was a very strong one, and it is to be regretted that the Indians could not have been met and driven back upon me. It was with the hope of such a result that I had sent despatches in advance, as soon as the Indians started upon the Lolo trail." (Report of Brigadier-General 0. 0. Howard.)

"When Rawn and Logan received word that the Nez Perces were headed through the Lo Lo Pass, they assembled all of the ablebodied men'of their companies, A and I of the 7th Infantry, and marched from Fort Missoula to the Lo Lo Pass. They entered the pass to a point where the walls on either side appeared to be
perpendicular and very high. At this place they threw up a reast-work across the pass by felling trees, placing the logs three or four high.
"Shortly after this was accomplished we received word that the Nez Perces were approaching. Later on we captured a Nez Perce who informed us that the tribe was encamped a short distance above us in the pass. The following morning a council was held in an open park in the timber about half-way between the Indian camp and ours. Looking Glass and White Bird were present: Joseph was not. The Indians spoke of their wrongs on the other side of the mountains and their hatred of the one-armed chief [General Howard]. They insisted that they had no quarrel with the people on the east side of the mountains, and if left to pass through to the Old Woman's Country (Queen Victoria) I they would do so peaceably and pay for everything they got from the settlers. Rawn explained to them that the soldiers of the west side and those of the east side were brothers, all under the same great chief, and that when they fought with one they had to fight with the other. Rawn then advised them to surrender, promising good treatment from the Government. The Indians said they would think of Rawn's words, and asked that a council be held at noon the following day.

" Joseph was present with the others at this second council. Father and Rawn then at Joseph's request, outlined the terms under which the Indians were to surrender, demanding that they give up their horses, guns, and ammunition. Joseph then made a speech reiterating his friendship for the people of the east side, and asked that he be allowed to pass through the country to Canada in peace. He was then told by Rawn that this could not be done: that he would have to surrender or fight. He then asked that he be allowed to think over Rawn's words and that another council be held the next day at the same place, which was agreed to.

" The next day at noon they met again. Joseph got up at once after the smoke was over and said that he was sorry they could not agree, that he wanted to be friends with the whites on the east side of the mountainsl but that he would fight the one-armed chief whenever he met him. He closed his talk by saying: 'You ask me to give up my horses; you ask me to give up rny guns. I say to you, I will not give up my guns, but I will give you the bullets out of my guns.' Rawn expressed his sorrow, and we returned to the camp.

The Nez Perces survivors of this campaign declare that when the passage of Lolo cafion was begun, there was no thought of escaping to Canada, but that later it was decided that if the Apsaroke would not help them they would learn from that tribe the route to the "Old Woman's Country."

"The citizens, several hundred strong, organized into companies and officered by men of their own selection, were encamped just below us. The night following the last council Rawn and Logan called their officers together and explained the result of the various councils with the Indians, and wound up by stating that 'if the citizens would stay by them they would attack the Indians the next morning at the first sign of day, that the citizen soldiers should move up to the breastworks before daylight, when the united force would march on the Indian camp. This plan was fully agreed on. Where Rawn and Logan made their mistake was in telling the citizens of the Indians' statement that if left alone they would pass through the Bitter Root without molesting anybody or anything.

"Before daylight Rawn and Logan were ready to take up the march. On the non-appearance of the citizens Rawn sent to their camp to hurry them up. They were not there. Like the Arab, they had folded their tents and silently stolen.away. Now imagine Rawn and Logan with two depleted companies forcing three hundred Indian warriors who had so successfully met Howard with five hundred men on the Clearwater. In fact, the Indians were flushed with the success which had been theirs in every conflict with the troops. However, Rawn and Logan decided that if the Indians should attempt to pass over the breastworks, they would have to fight, and they so prepared.

"About ten o'clock we heard singing, apparently above our heads. Upon looking up we discovered the Indians passing along the side of the cliff, where we thought a goat could not pass, much less an entire tribe of Indians with all their impedimenta. The entire band dropped into the valley beyond us and then proceeded up the Bitter Root. Two civilians and I rode down from our camp and followed with the Indians for a mile or more. They were good-natured, cracked jokes, and seemed very much amused at the way they had fooled Rawn and Logan."

The Nez Perces passed down into the Bitterroot valley and replenished their supplies by purchases at Corvallis and Stevensville. Looking Glass apparently felt that once in Montana his people were comparatively safe, and that there was no occasion for haste. There was by no means unanimity in the Indian camp as to what should be done, some wanting to go south and at once re6nter the mountains and cross to the Salmon, while others argued that they should go on and try to enlist the aid of the Apsaroke. Depression seemed to have taken possession of Joseph from the start, and he drifted as the tribe desired. Their own testimony shows that from the passing of Rawn's fortifications to the final surrender there was an astonishing lack of purpose or direction. Each day's march was largely to meet the needs or whims of the day, and the Indians certainly did not appreciate the relentless determination of the soldiers, and, as will later be seen by the Big Hole attack, they made no serious effort to keep out either rear or advance scouts.

Had the Nez Perces possessed a tithe of the strategic ability with which they are credited, they would not have been caught asleep by Gibbon. A rear-guard would have shown them that soldiers were close upon their trail, and they would not have spent the day in idle hunting and in cutting lodge-poles, while the enemy was rapidly advancing upon them. In fact, had they been at all alert, Gibbon could never have overtaken them with infantry. It is evident that in a majority of cases where "General Joseph and the Nez Perces" are given credit for the skill of the movement, it was not a matter of skill so much as the favor of fortune. Looking Glass, who was leading, desired to reach the Apsaroke, but he did not feel that there was need of haste, consequently when his force reached a favorable camping place in the Big Hole country, he ordered that they stop a day for rest, hunting, and the cutting of lodge-poles. He evidently desired his people to make a good impression when they approached the Apsaroke. Previously he had invariably gone to them the leader of a proud, gaily bedecked people, and his pride would not permit him to visit them now at the head of a motley, fugitive horde. Furthermore, he rightly surmised that the Apsaroke would be far more apt to lend their aid if he came as a conquering hero.

This day's delay at the Big Hole river was fatal to the cause of the Nez Perces and unfortunate for Looking Glass's ambition as a leader of the people. Every hour of that peaceful day was bringing death closer to them, as Gibbon's infantry from Fort Shaw, lame, foot-sore, and weary, drew closer to their camp. Gibbon approached the Indians on the night of August eighth, and in the darkness the soldiers crept upon the camp. With the coming of the first trace of light they could faintly make out the lodges in the little valley below them, scarcely a stone's-throw away. The camp was enwrapped in the deep slumber of the night's last hours, and all was silent "save the barking of the dogs, the occasional cry of a wakeful child, and the gentle crooning of its mother as she hushed it to sleep." Then a sleepy warrior emerged from his lodge and started out as though in quest of horses. As he approached and discerned the soldiers he cried out, but his shout of warning was the last sound he uttered; and with his death began the attack on the camp.

EDWARD S. CURTIS