Battle of Cottonwood The Battle of Cottonwood was a series of engagements July 3 – 5 , 1877 in the Nez Perce War between the native American Nez Perce people , and U . S . Army soldiers and civilian volunteers . Near Cottonwood , Idaho the Nez Perce , led by Chief Joseph , brushed aside the soldiers and continued their fighting retreat to cross the Rocky Mountains in an attempt to reach safety in Canada . Background . After their victory at the Battle of White Bird Canyon the Nez Perce crossed the Salmon River to escape General O . O . Howard , who was advancing on them with 400 soldiers . With difficulty Howard crossed the river to confront the Indians , but the outnumbered Nez Perce then recrossed the Salmon , stranding the less mobile U . S . soldiers for several days on the opposite side of the river . The Nez Perce numbered about 600 , of whom 150 were warriors . With them were more than 2 , 000 livestock , mostly horses . With the guns and ammunition the Nez Perce had captured at White Bird Canyon , they were fairly well - armed . Their objective in the Battle of Cottonwood was " to engage the whites only long enough allow the safe passage of their families . " Battle . After recrossing the Salmon and leaving Howard behind , the Nez Perce headed east across the Camas Prairie , having made the decision to flee into the Bitterroot Mountains . In their path , stationed at Norton ' s Ranch ( future Cottonwood ) was Captain Stephen Whipple with 65 soldiers and several civilian volunteers . On July 3 , two of Whipple ' s civilian scouts stumbled across the Nez Perce horse herd . The Nez Perce killed one man but the other escaped and reported that the Nez Perce were nearby . Whipple sent out Lieutenant Sevier Rains with 10 soldiers and two civilians to investigate . The Nez Perce ambushed the Rains group and killed them all . Whipple dug in around Norton ' s ranch with his remaining soldiers . He was reinforced on July 4 by Captain David Perry with 20 soldiers and six civilian volunteers . Perry , who had led the soldiers in the White Bird Canyon battle two weeks earlier took command of the soldiers and volunteers , now numbering about 85 . For the remainder of the day the soldiers stayed in their rifle pits while the Nez Perce sniped at them from long distance . The next day , July 5 , the Nez Perce undertook to bypass the entrenched soldiers , detailing 14 young men to keep the soldiers pinned down in the rifle pits , while the remainder of the Nez Perce and their livestock , screened by warriors , passed by a mile away heading eastward . The soldiers did not contest their passage . A group of 17 civilian volunteers appeared near Cottonwood at this time . They attempted to reach the soldiers by breaking through the Nez Perce screen , but they had to take up a defensive position on a hilltop about one and west of Cottonwood . Three of the volunteers were killed and two wounded . One elderly Nez Perce warrior was killed – the first to die in the war – and one wounded . Although Captain Perry could see from his fortifications the plight of the volunteers he declined to send help until the Nez Perce had withdrawn . That evening 50 civilian volunteers arrived to reinforce Perry , but the Nez Perce were gone . Casualties for the engagements totaled eleven soldiers and six civilian volunteers dead and several wounded . The Nez Perce suffered one dead and one wounded . Aftermath . Captain Perry was severely criticized for his tardiness in rescuing the civilian volunteers . He requested a Court of Inquiry , which declared that his delay was not " excessive under the circumstances . " The civilian volunteers acquired a place in Idaho history as the " Brave Seventeen . " The Nez Perce continued their journey east unmolested for 25 miles , before pausing to rest at the Clearwater River . The band of Looking Glass and other Nez Perce joined the main group there and brought their strength up to about 800 with about 200 fighting men . A few days later General Howard and a force of more than 500 men caught up with the Nez Perce and the Battle of the Clearwater ensued .