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.

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.

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".

[6] 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.

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.

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.

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.

[18] 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.

[19] 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.

[20] 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.

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.

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.

"[22] The Nez Perce defeated Perry at the Battle of White Bird Canyon and began their long flight eastward to escape from the U.S. soldiers.

Joseph and White Bird were joined by Looking Glass's band and, after several battles and skirmishes in Idaho during the next month,[20] 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.

"[25] 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.

About two hundred left in the mackinaws on November 9 guarded by two companies of the First Infantry; the rest traveled on horseback escorted by troops of the Seventh Cavalry en route to their winter quarters.

On November 23, the Nez Perce prisoners had their lodges and equipment loaded into freight cars and themselves into eleven rail coaches for the trip via train to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.

They abstained from scalping: let captive women go free; did not commit indiscriminate murder of peaceful families, which as usual, and fought with almost scientific skill, using advance and rear guards, skirmish lines and field fortifications.Over the protests to Sherman by the commander of the Fort, the Nez Perce were forced to live in a swampy bottomland.

One author described the effects on the Nez Perce refugees: "the 400 miserable, helpless, emaciated specimens of humanity, subjected for months to the malarial atmosphere of the river bottom.

The drama was notable for attempting to present a balanced view of the events: the leadership pressures on Joseph were juxtaposed with the Army's having to carry out an unpopular task while an action-hungry press establishment looked on.

The lyrics identify Chief Joseph's Nez Perce name, which translates as "Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain," and quotes extensively from his "I will fight no more forever" speech.