Montana oil and mining journal., 1942-01-03
Ten Whites Withstood Attacks by Joseph's
Nez Perce Horde i'm Battle ON Cow island

peace In the town OF Belt, Cascade
county, used to nurse q claim against
the government for money and prop
erty belonging to him which was de-
stroyed by Nez Perce Indians IN an
attack upon a government freight de-
pot On Cow island In the Missouri
river below Fort Benton, Sept. "a, 1877.
The claim was for 1893 and consisted
Of the following items: Cash $475,
trunk IS, two robes $24, two blankets
S74, two suits Of clothes $40. The bill
was never allowed by the government
and the recollection Of his loss while
he was engaged in defending govern
Ment property and his own life always
resulted in raising the ire of the
country magistrate.
Robert Vaughn, Montana pioneer, in
his book Then and Now" made brief
mention of the fight that occurred
between Chief Joseph's Indians and
some men that were camped on Cow
island. That fight was probably one
of the most remarkable of the many
bloody battles in which the Nez Perce
Indians engaged during their retreat
from Idaho across Montana toward the
Canadian line. 1t seems almost in
credible that 10 men could successfully
Withstand repeated attacks by such a
bowling horde of scalp hunters as
composed Chief Josephs band at that |
time. After Joseph's capture a few |
days later he told General Miles that !
the little band at Cow island we're the
hardest fighters he had ever been up |
against
While Foley was still on the bench |
n 1. fo-5
the details of the battle and prefaced
his story by a statement as to how
the name of Cow island was given to
that strip of sand in the Missouri
His narrative follows:
Pioneer Cow Of Montana
Away back in the early part of
the 18th century some traders found
a lonely, solitary COW on the island.
She was hundreds of miles away from
any others of her kind and was prob
ably the pioneer COW of Montana.
without doubt she had been stolen
from some white settlement away /;
down east and driven into the wilder .
ness by the Indians The traders I
named it Cow island The island con-
tanned several hundred acres of land
H.
growth Of cottonwoods as ever I saw. /
I have heard that some Of the Indians /,
made their headquarters there in the
early times and guess there have
been enough pow-wows and war dances
and Indian romances on the island I
to make two or three of Fenimore
Cooper's novels If they we're all known I
and written up Someone was telling (
hot flaa 4c1a /
Is gone; has been eaten up by the /
hungry current Of the Missouri river
and that the place don't look like It I
lid when we had our little scrap there.
[ reckon that little fight of ours was
about the warmest thing Cow island y
sver saw. =
"About the first of September, 1877,
Jol. George Clendennin appointed me q
Is clerk to ship freight from Cow 2
sland to points In Montana, prin-
;ipally Deer Lodge, Fort Shaw, Hell "
ma and Missoula At that time the a
water In the Missouri was very low "
md boats were unable to reach Fort q
benton. The Josephine line OF steam
,oats unloaded at Cow island and 1t r
vas this freight that was looking cC
.fter. The government had an engt- al
Ieering outfit working at Dolphin as
suids. a few miles further up the W
iver. About the 10th of September
hey moved their commissary stores Of
own to Cow island. A sergeant, a w
orporal and seven soldiers we're in m
harge of the supplies. They piled the si
tuff up at a point about 100 yards M
bove where the government supplies fr
rere piled and covered 1t with tar II,
aulins and pitched their tent imme- til
lately alongside. al
I'VE were not camped on the island til
ut along the east bank of the river. til
o keep the water from running into I
leir tent and and supplies in case TO
{ rain they dug a ditch about "a co
,et deep all around it. The dirt from th
le ditch they threw up on the out
de- To that ditch and wall Of dirt ar
e 10 men, later on, owed our lives. on
or 80 hours we lay behind that little
arthen breastwork and, with our VIM ab
lesters, kept death and a bowling en-
orde Of savages at bay. ~
idn't Anticipate Fight
I'VE had heard that the Nez Perce
adams were heading for Canada, aS
osely pursued by General Howard, .,l l'
ut we figured they would cross the ~ ~
issouri river at Claggett and we did ~ ~
)t anticipate for a moment that we ~
ould see any of them. IA
About 8 O'Clock on the 22d Of Sep Ms
mber we saw some Indians coming lii'
Iwn the bluffs on the west side Of
e river and it was not long until
'seph's entire band had crossed over an
the east side where we were camped act
e got inside the little bank Of dirt thi
ID awaited developments. mi
Joseph, Looking Glass and several
hers came down near to us and up
ade signs for us to come out. had ant
en- them both IN Washington and oul
lew them both as soon as we got SIM
to where we could get good look
them. I went out unarmed to meet on
em. Joseph had an interpreter with the
n who spoke very good English. he in
red me who was in charge of the mir
: pile Of freight. told him I was to
=