Nez Perce flight through Yellowstone
In June 1877, several bands of the Nez Perce, numbering about 750 men, women, and children and resisting relocation from their native lands on the Wallowa River in northeast Oregon to a reservation in west-central Idaho on the Clearwater river, attempted to escape to the east through Idaho, Montana and Wyoming over the Rocky Mountains into the Great Plains.
By late August, the Nez Perce had travelled hundreds of miles and fought several battles in which they defeated or held off the U.S. army forces pursuing them.
The Nez Perce had the mistaken notion that after crossing the next mountain range or defeating the latest army sent to oppose them they would find a peaceful new home.
The fighting retreat of the Nez Perce had made their leader Chief Joseph something of a national hero and a military genius in the eyes of many in the American public.
General Oliver O. Howard's force, just a day's ride to the west from the Big Hole encounter, pursued the Nez Perce into Idaho.
[6] Howard's command was exhausted and did not immediately pursue the Nez Perce into the park, electing to remain in the vicinity of Henry's Lake to regroup.
Lt. Gustavus C. Doane and about 100 men plus Crow scouts was dispatched to guard the north entrance of Yellowstone Park at Mammoth Hot Springs.
Although Chief Joseph is credited with being the overall leader of the Nez Perce, his role was more focused on the management of the camp of women and children than fighting.
[11] After entering the park, the band of Nez Perce moved up the Madison and Firehole Rivers to the Lower Geyser Basin near Fountain Flats.
About 30 minutes after they were released and on their way west down the edges of the Mary Mountain trail, the party encountered a group of 20-30 Nez Perce stragglers who wanted to return the tourists into the hands of the chiefs.
Shooting erupted, George Cowan was shot point blank in the head and Albert Oldham suffered a painful face wound.
Over the next couple of days, other members of the Radersburg party made their way out of the park via the Madison River and into the safety of General Howard's forces at Henry's Lake.
On August 30, Howard's forces, moving up the Madison river, found George Cowan and Albert Oldham alive, but in poor condition.
By the end of the day, Dietrich and Ben Stone were safe at McCartney's Hotel and bath house at Mammoth Hot Springs.
[11] Unbeknownst to Weikert and McCartney as they traveled south to Otter Creek, a band of 20-30 Nez Perce were moving north toward Mammoth Hot Springs where Dietrich and Stone were staying.
[1] The Nez Perce, suspecting the Army would be waiting for them at all the usual exits, selected an unknown and most difficult route over the Absaroka Mountains reaching an elevation of nearly 10,000 feet (3,000 m).
"[1] After Fisher and his group of Bannocks had a skirmish with the rear guard of the Nez Perce, he broke off the chase and turned back to find General Howard and his soldiers.
[6] Howard and his soldiers crossed Yellowstone by a more northerly and easier route and reached the Northeast corner of the Park on Clark's Fork on September 7.
To prevent any news of their location getting to the army during their difficult passage down from the summit of the Absarokas to the Plains the Nez Perce hunted down and killed White prospectors and hunters in the area.
[19] As other army troops ordered to guard the Yellowstone exits were not yet in place, Sturgis set up his base on the Plains from where he had an expansive view and could move quickly toward either Clark's Fork or to the Shoshone River.
[19] On September 8, when the Nez Perce reached a point six miles from Sturgis's force on top of a ridge near what is now called Dead Indian Pass, their advance scouts observed the soldiers far below.
They then 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.
[11] In 1902, Major Hiram M. Chittenden, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Yellowstone's chief road builder embarked on a campaign to mark all the historic spots in the park from the 1877 Nez Perce war.
By 1904, with the help of participants George and Emma Cowan and others, signs marked the locations of all the key encounters during the Nez Perce flight through the park.
The only memorial today is "The Chief Joseph Story" roadside marker where Nez Perce Creek crosses the Grand Loop Road.
