Howard, Chief Joseph led 700 Nez Perce men, women, and children and 2,000 horses through Yellowstone Park eastward and into the Absaroka Mountains.

Sturgis's forces were strategically placed where he could move quickly south or north toward known trails along Clarks Fork or the Shoshone River.

[4] On September 8, 1877, the Nez Perce reached Dead Indian Pass, about six miles from Sturgis's force on the Plains below.

Then, invisible to army scouts, they sneaked back north, concealed by heavy timber, and traversed Dead Indian Gulch down to the Clark's Fork River.

Dead Indian Gulch was a narrow, steep-sided slit in the rock, dropping almost vertically for 1,000 feet and barely wide enough for two horses to go side-by-side.

"In a cleanly executed maneuver," said a military historian, "the Nez Perce had countered an extremely serious threat and won a brilliant, though temporary respite.