The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1877-10-20
The Nez Perces Campaign.


Joseph and his band of warriors,
after having made. a march of six
'bundred miles and fought dozen of
battles, in which they inflicted severe
punishment upon their pursuers,
surrendered to General Miles on the
9TH instant and are now prisoners of
wal. The annals of Indian warfare
Furnish no parellel to this extraordi-
nary campaign. If Joseph had lived
tWo thousand years ago his name
would have come down through the
ages as that ofa great commander.
Lad Xenophon been beset BY three
armies, each larger than hisown. as
Joseph was, henever would have led
4Is lef tbodsaHsl Greek "a the sea.
4 NO & ! iaf md isis 4 Aafriorsl
are prisoners in the hands of the Uni
ted States authorities it may not be
aniss to give a brief resume of the
campaign that has just come to an
end. The Nez Perces were living on
fine tract of land containing a mil
lion and a-quarter acres, in Oregon,
in the valley of the Columbia river.
White settlers located in the country
surrounding them, and it was not
long before they wanted to get rid of
the Indians. Joseph was not dis
posed to leave. The Government
gave him new reservation further
north and ordered him to go there,
but he preferred to remain where he
was. His people had learned some
of the arts of civilization, and
although they were rather Indifferent
farmers, they had fine herds Ofhorses.
They were bold riders and expert
marksmen. Their proximity to the
white settlements enabled them to
supply themselves with the most APP
proved arms and with abundance of
ammunition.
When the Nez Perces showed
reluctance to go to the new reserva-
tiOn, the frontierSmen were not slow
in finding pretexts for quarrelling
with them. Aggression on the one
hand was followed by retaliation Oh
the other. Early in June dispatches
began to come from Portland and
San Francisco, giving rumOrs of mas
sacres in the vicinity of Lewiston,
idaho, near the Oregon line. Gen.
Howard, in whose military district
the Sez Perces lived. hastened to the
scene of the disturbance with a small
force from Fort Lapwai. When he
got to Lewiston he found the war act
ually broken out /: white settlers had
been murdered by Indians. and vol
unteers were gathering for defence.
Joseph had collected his herd Of two
thousand horses, mounted his war;
riOrs on the largest and strongest, re-
serving the ponies for the women and
and children, and loading the remain
der of the animals with provisions
and ammunition, had taken the war;
path.
Gen. Howard was delayed few
days waiting for Col. Green, who was
coming up the Columbia river with
po,p,,Drnat,,opt Of fnnr or H.,o oOp,,1o N =
les of cavalry. On the 2nd of July
Col. Whipple with company of cav
airy and few volunteers came into
collision with band of Indians at
Clear Creek. They captured some
horses and broke up a camp. About
the same time a scouting party of
regular soldiers and volunteers under
Col. Perry was attacked by the In
dians. Ten soldiers Including Lieu
tenant Rains) and two citizens were
killed. Fortunately Col. Whipple
came up and drove the Indians off,
infiicting some punishment on the
retreating sayages.
Joseph, who up to this time had
left General Howard in doubt as to
Whe her he meant to fight or run
away, crossed the Salmon river, post
ed himself in a strong position and
waited to be attacked. On the 1lth
Of July General Howard, with four
hundred cavalrymen and two pieces
Of artillery, assailed Joseph in his
stronghold and ought a bloody bat
tie. The Indian sharpshooters, post
ed behind rocks and concealed in
ravines, picked off many of the cav
alrymen. Captain Bancroft, Lien
tenant Williams and eleven enlisted
men were killed, and twenty.nine
were wounded. In his official report
of this battle General Howard saysi
"The Indians fought as well as any
troops L ever saw " They were
routed, however, and fled, leaving
their dead upon the field, but carry
ing their wounded with them. Two
or three days afterwards Red Heart,
Nez Perces Chief, with sixteen
,,.l tbrnn xunDnar,