Glacier County chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1931-1940, 1939-05-19


who has been appointed assistant
county agent leader for the Montana
extension service.
their men, Their voices could be heard
upbraiding the young men of the tribe
who were blamed by the older chiefs
Nez Perez rebellion. Chief Joseph. at
the beginning of the rebellion. had
been unwilling to go to war against
the government. 1t was the hot FLOODED
younger men of the tribe who had
forced the issue.
why are we retreating?" shouted
White Bird Since the world was
made brave men have fought for their
women and children. Shall we run
into the mountains and let these white
dogs kill our women and children be-
fore our eyes? It is better that we
should be killed fighting. Now is our
time to fight These soldiers cannot
fight harder than the ones we defeated
on Salmon river and White Bird can
Won. Fight! Shoot them down! We
can shoot as well as any of these
soldiers"
Thus rallied. the Indians recovered
and charged back into the camp. The
fighting was again handto-hand. Aft
er a few minutes. the Indians again
took to the river bank and poured
deadly fire into the troops on the open
ground During the engagement, many
spectacular encounters occurred. Tap
sis-il-pilp was killed Wal-lit-ze upon
hearing of his friends death rushed
madly upon a group of soldiers and
was shot dead in his tracks. These
we're two of three young Nez Perces
accused of starting the rebellion by
numbering settlers in the Wallowa val.
ley in Idaho. In another hand-to-hand
encounter between Captain Logan and
an Indian, the Indian was killed. His
sister saw him fall. She sprang to his
side and ierked his still-smoking gun
from his dying hand. With It she shot
Captain Logan through the head.
Hand Hand Conflict
Another Indian after the battle. de-
scribed hand-to-hand encounter
which he had with a big ranchman
who was a member OF the volunteers.
Both men struck at each other with
their rifles at the same time and each
received a blow on the head. The In
dian tried to hold the volunteer down
but the volunteer was too powerful
He succeeded in getting astride the
Indian and was choking him. Red
Owls son. another warrior. rushed up
and killed the volunteer. The first
Indian related that he had his arm
around the waist Of the volunteer when
the shot was fired. The ball passed
clear through the. body of the white
man and broke the Indians arm.
BY this time the Indians were in
the hills on either side of the soldiers
and in depreSsiOns in the open prairieS
of the valley They were shooting from
long range but were so accurate that
that almost every crack of the rifles,
a soldier or a volunteer fell. General
Gibbon. Lieutenant Woodruff and
their horses we're wounded by these
sharpShooterS.
Gibbon tried to dislodge these Indians
and formed his troops in two lines.
back to back, charging through the
brush in opposite directions. Their eff
forts were in vain, because the Indians
retreated farther into the brush and
skirted the flanks of the attacking
soldiers while keeping up fire at close
range Lieutenant Coolidge was shot
through both thighs. He was carried to
from loss of blood. insisted on leading
his company when he had recovered
enough to be able to walk General
Gibbon soon found that he could no
longer hold his position on the river
bottom.
Indians in Woods Dislodged
The soldiers and volunteers withdrew
to the mouth of the gulch now known
as Battle gulch The timber in the
gulch was held by Indian sharpshoot-
ers who were finally driven out by
the soldiers. One Indian in a large tree
picked off man after man before he
was finally brought down by an army
marksman. The Indian is said to have
killed five of the soldiers before he
was knocked from the tree. Meanwhile,
Lieutenant Bradley, who had been in
action at the lower end of the Indian
camp. managed to fight his way at
tremendous loss of man power to re-
join the main body of troops in the
gulch. But when his men arrived
Lieutenant Bradley had been killed.
During the fighting. the indians had
succeeded in rounding up their horses
and driving them down the river be-
You'd the reach of Gibbons men. In
dian women and young boys seized the
weapons of slain warriors and fought
with desperation. Many of the soldiers
are known to have been killed by
squaws. who. in turn were shot down in
retaliation. Two days after the battle.
three squaws were found dead in their
hiding places One of them had a
Henry rifle in her hands and beside
another lay a revolver with five
empty shells in the cylinder. A scout
who was with Bradley stated that he
had passed these same three women
unarmed earlier in the battle.
As soon as the soldiers abandoned
the camp. the Indians re-occupied it,
and despite the fire Of the sharp
shooters they hauled down several Of