Battle of Canyon Creek The Battle of Canyon Creek was a military engagement between the Nez Perce Indians and the United States 7th Cavalry . The battle was part of the larger Indian Wars of the latter 19th century and the immediate Nez Perce War . It took place on September 13 , 1877 west of present day Billings , Montana in the canyons and benches around Canyon Creek . Background . In June 1877 , several bands of the Nez Perce , 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 September , the Nez Perce had travelled nearly one thousand 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 . After passing through Yellowstone National Park the Nez Perce eluded the forces of Colonel Samuel D . Sturgis ( see Nez Perce in Yellowstone Park ) and followed the Clark ’ s Fork of the Yellowstone River north out of Wyoming into Montana . General O . O . Howard , who had chased the Nez Perce unsuccessfully for three months , ordered Sturgis to continue the pursuit . Sturgis had 360 men in six cavalry companies , divided into two battalions , one commanded by Major Lewis Merrill and the second by Captain Frederick Benteen . Howard reinforced Sturgis ’ s 360 men with 50 additional cavalrymen , two mountain howitzers , twenty - five white scouts , and a few Bannock and Crow scouts . Howard and his soldiers , whose horses were worn out , would rest and follow a couple of days behind Sturgis . The route of the Nez Perce had been predicated on the belief , especially by Looking Glass , that they would find asylum and safety among their friends , the Crow who lived near the Yellowstone River . Looking Glass met with representatives of both bands of the Crow on the Clark ’ s Fork . The Crow , realizing that helping the Nez Perce would lead to retaliation on them by the U . S . army , rejected the appeal of the Nez Perce for help . Moreover , a few Crow warriors would join the Army as scouts with an eye on capturing the large Nez Perce horse herd . At this point , the Nez Perce realized that their one hope for safety was to join the Sioux leader Sitting Bull in Canada , 250 miles ( 400 km ) to their north . In their journey down the Clark ’ s Fork , the Nez Perce killed several prospectors and ranchers . The Battle . The Yellowstone River , above and below the mouth of Clark ’ s Fork , is bounded on the north bank by cliffs about 400 feet ( 120 mts ) high . The one passage through the cliffs was Canyon Creek . Following the creek upstream through open country , about five miles from the Yellowstone the cliffs close in on either side and the creek splits into three forks , each running through a canyon only a few hundred feet wide with smaller side canyons . The canyons are separated by steep flat - topped ridges 300 to 500 feet ( 100 to 160 mts ) high . The narrow canyons are about six miles ( 10 km ) long and lead to open prairie above . It was among these multiple canyons and the ridges surmounting them that the battle would take place . The Nez Perce camped September 12 near the entrance to the narrow canyons of Canyon Creek . On the morning of September 13 , many of the warriors were raiding ranches for supplies and horses up and down the Yellowstone River when they suddenly became aware that Sturgis was nearby . They had not expected him to catch them so quickly . Sturgis ’ men were exhausted and anticipated a rest after they crossed the Yellowstone River on the morning of September 13 , but Crow scouts reported the Nez Perce were moving up Canyon Creek six miles away . Seeing an opportunity , Sturgis sent Major Lewis Merrill and his battalion ahead atop a long ridge to head off the Nez Perce traversing the shallow canyon below . Benteen ’ s battalion followed , while Sturgis stationed himself with the rear guard . Merrill was halted on the ridge by a scattering of rifle shots from Nez Perce warriors . In the words of his civilian scout , Stanton G . Fisher , Merrill ’ s battalion dismounted and deployed “ instead of charging which they should have done . ” According to Yellow Wolf , a single Nez Perce , Teeto Hoonod , held up the advance for a crucial ten minutes , firing 40 well - aimed shots at the cavalry from behind a rock . The caution of the soldiers was perhaps due to the formidable reputation of the Nez Perce for military prowess and marksmanship . Gale - force winds impacted marksmanship , a factor explaining low casualties on both sides . When Sturgis arrived at the battleground , he perceived that his troops still had the possibility of capturing the Nez Perce horse herd . He sent Captain Benteen and his men on a swing to the left to plug the exits from the canyon and trap the women , children , and horses . Merrill was told to advance into the canyon to threaten the rear of the Nez Perce column , but he was held up by an increasing number of Nez Perce warriors firing at long distance at his soldiers . He succeeded only in capturing a few horses . Benteen also ran into opposition and was unable to head off the horse herd , the Nez Perce occupying high ground and firing at the soldiers . A rearguard of the Nez Perce held off the soldiers until nightfall . Most of their horse herd and their women and children reached the plains and continued north . Fisher , among others , was “ disgusted ” with Sturgis ’ cautious management of the fight . Fisher was further disgusted when he returned to camp and found that the Crow scouts had stolen his pack animals , clothing , and bedding . Pursuit . The next day Sturgis ’ men were joined by an additional large number of Crow , variously estimated at between 50 and 200 , riding fresh horses . They were sent ahead with Bannock scouts and , in a skirmish , succeeded in stealing about 400 of the Nez Perce horses . Sturgis and the cavalry followed behind and journeyed 37 miles that day , but at the cost of wearing their horses down and putting themselves on foot , the Crow and Bannock declining to share their captured horses with the soldiers . After another long day of travel , but unable to catch up with the Nez Perce , Sturgis was forced to halt on the banks of the Musselshell River to await supplies and General Howard and his men who arrived two days later . Aftermath . Without much difficulty the Nez Perce held off and escaped from a cavalry force outnumbering them at least two to one . However , the loss of about 400 horses to the Crow scouts was a blow as it placed an additional burden on their remaining and increasingly worn - out horses and slowed their flight toward Canada . They had also expended much of their scarce ammunition . The betrayal of them by the Crow was a psychological blow and after three months of a fighting retreat they were physically exhausted . Sturgis ’ casualties in the long - range battle were three killed and eleven wounded , one of them mortally . Martha Jane Cannary , better known as “ Calamity Jane , ” accompanied the wounded by boat down the Yellowstone River as a nurse . Sturgis claimed to have killed sixteen Nez Perce , but Yellow Wolf said that the Nez Perce had only one warrior and two old men killed , and those by the Crow . He said that three Nez Perce were wounded by the soldiers .