The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-05-17
Chief doseph's Warfare.
Wonderful Campaign of the Nez Perez IN 1877.

mountain side to choke up the narrow
passages The last was so successful
that Howard was baffied and gave up
the pursuit
1.-THE first obstacle met with was an
army post near Missoula pass, Where
Capt Rawn was stationed with a
small company The post was as de-
fensible as Thermopylae, and Capt.
Rawn thought that he could bring the
Indians to terms. He refused to allow
them to pass unless they surrendered
their arms. This they refused TO Qo'
and the captain adopted ruse to DC
tain them until Gen. Howard's troops
or another force under Col. Gibbon,
which was moving from the East.
should arrive But Chief Joseph was
equally willy and he flanked the bar
rier by having his people climb the hills
and scatter in all directions, meeting
at a rendezvous in Bitter Root val
ley Meanwhile Gibbons forces reach-
ed MiSsoula to find the Indians gone
eastward, and after five days OF terri
ble climbing over the rugged broken
country they came up to the lndlan
village at Big Hole basin in Montana.
The soldiers made their way In the
darkness through the herds OF ponies
without alarming the savages, and lay
down close to the village and In sight
day At daybreak the line moved for
ward in silence, and at signal opened
fire upon the tepeeS where the Indians
were sleeping. The startled braves
rushed from their lodges in every oil
rection and finding cover in the brush
as we'll as behind the bank OF creek
poured terrible fire into the troops
the moment the soldiers got out into
open ground. In twenty minutes Glib
bon's men were in possession of the
| camp and had set fire to the lodges,
| but the officers and soldiers fell rapidly
| and Gibbon gave orders to retire Tor
shelter in the timber. The fight con,
tinued all day, and soon after nightfal
the Indians gave the troops parting
volley and disappeared.
From the battle of Big Hole basin
Joseph marched on across the main d1-
vide of the Rockies. He left behind
him eighty-nine dead Indians, while
and wounded. The Indians crossed the
| Rockies, then turned and recrossed,
closely pursued all the way by How
ards troops and detachment from
! Gibbons command. Howard had tele-
graphed eastward and called into the
! field the command of Col. Sturgis. Stur-
| gis set out first sending couriers to
| Col. Miles on Tongue river, notifying
| him of the course the NeZ Perces were
| following. in the belief that he might,
| by rapid and direct march, intercept
the hostiles further to the north. Stur-
gis marched fifty miles the first day
and came up with the Indians at Canyon
Creek. The Indians occupied both the
canyon and the high ground on each
side of it, but they were steadily driven
off in an all-day fight, losing twenty
one braves killed and about 1000 ponies
captured. Then followed running
fight of 100 miles, but the soldiers were
| Hy,oft 81
durance of both men and animals had
been reached. Sturgis gave it up and
waited for Howard to join him.
Col Miles first learned Of the trouble
afoot on the night of Sept. II, and
marched rapidly northwest. His COM
mand consisted Of portions of the Sec
ond and Seventh cavalry, five compa-
MES Of the Fifth infantry (mcunte y,
two pieces of artillery and a detach-
ment of white and Indian scouts. We
struck the trail of the Nez Perces on
Sept. 80, and the whole column advanc-
ed at rapid gait. The Second cavalry
made a detour to the rear of the In
dams and In a gallant attack cut off a
herd Of 800 ponies. The Seventh caval-
ry and Fifth infantry charged mount
ed, direct upon the village. The In
dams fought as savages will !7ilen cor
| 'nered, but we soon secured command
of their whole position, excepting the
beds OF the ray1neS where some OF the
warriors took shelter. In order to dis
lodge them a detachment dismounted
and charged on foot. I was wounded in
that charge, and nearly every other
man, that is, about one in every two
who went forward, was hit. The recall
was then sounded and Col Miles decid-
ed that, as he had the Indians sur
rounded, 1t was best to let well enough
alone. Next day a parley began under
a flag of truce. The Indians appeared
willing to surrender, but were suspi-
cious about the future That night q
terrible snow storm set in and the In
dams, being without food or blankets
or ponies. had no course left but to
surrender. Out of the 400 warriors who
| had started from the reservation to fol-
! low Joseph on this wonderful cam
paign only eighty-seven survived.
"And what is still more to the credit
| of Chief Joseph, his warriors on all
that march were not guilty of a single
act of scalpirg or other form of savage
ry, and all the women taken captive
by them at the settlements through
which they passed were Immediately
set free"