Pursued by the U.S. Army since June 1877, approximately 800 Nez Perce (nimi•pu•) men, women, and children traveled over the Bitterroot Mountains and camped here in the Big Hole Valley. Thinking there was no immediate pursuit by the Army, this familiar site was a perfect place to rest.

As dawn broke on the morning of August 9, 1877 the 7th Infantry lead by Colonel John Gibbon, attacked. Nez Perce warriors rallied and fought back. The overwhelmed soldiers withdrew to the grove of trees on your right. Warriors surrounded the soldiers as Nez Perce survivors hurried out of the Big Horn Valley. In less than 24 hours this tranquil setting became a scene of chaos and terror. Now considered sacred ground; this is the final resting place for many of those who lost their lives.

Erected by National Park Service.

To the everlasting

Memory of the Brave Warriors of

Chief Joseph's Band who fought on these grounds in the

Nez Perce War of 1877

In Memory of the Indians, Infants,

Children, Women and Old Men who were wounded and killed near this Battlefield by White Soldiers

Erected 1928 by Nez Perce Indians and the Chief Joseph Memorial Association and Thain White (1951).

On This Field 17 officers and 133 enlisted men of the 7th U.S. Infantry under its Colonel

Bvt. Major General John Gibbon with 8 other soldiers and 36 citizens surprised and fought all day a superior force of Nez Perce Indians more than one-third of command being killed and wounded.

To The officers and soldiers of the Army

And Citizens of Montana Who fell at Big Hole

August 9th, 1877 In battle with Nez-Perce Indians

Killed 7th Infantry

Captain William Logan 1st Lieut. James H Bradley, 1st Lieut. William English 1st. Sergt. Robert L. Foseworth, Co.G. 1st. Sergt. Frederick Stortz, Co.K.

Sergt. Michael Hogan, Co. I. Sergt Wm. H. Martin, Co. C. Sergt. Wm. W. Watson, Co. F.

Corporal Wm. H. Payne, Co. D. Corporal Robt. E. Sale, Co. C

Corporal Daniel McCaffery. Co. I. Corporal Dominick O'Connor, Co. C

Corporal Jacob Eisenhut, Co. D

Musician Michael Gallaghar, Co. D. Musician Thomas Stinebaker, Co. K

Artificer John Kleis, Co. K

Privates: Matthew Butterly, Co. E. William D. Pomeroy, Co. F.

James McGuire, Co. F. John O'Brien, Co. G.

Gottlob Mauz, Co. G. McKinora L. Drake, Co. H.

Hermann Broetz, Co. I. John B. Smith, Co. A.

Sergt. Edward Page, Co. L. 2nd Cavalry

H.S. Botsvack (?), Post Guide at Fort Shaw

Citizen Volunteers

L.C. Elliott, John Armstrong, David Morrow,

Alvin Lockwood, Campbell Mitchell.

The Nez Perce camped near here on Horse Prairie Creek, Aug. 12 1877 following the Battle of the Big Hole Aug. 9-10. General Howard was summoned when beating drums arroused [sic] the citizens of Bannack. Women and children were quartered in the Meade Hotel where extra food, water and bedding were assembled. Dirt and log breastworks were thrown up at these two hill top sites but no attack took place. When Howard arrived the 14th, the Indians had left.

C'Aynnim 'Alikinwaaspa is the Nez Perce name for this site. It means "Place of the Manure Fire" because the Nez Perce used buffalo chips as fuel here.

On September 29, 1877, about 700 Nez Perce men, women and children camped in the basin before you. Exhausted from four months of flight, they hoped to rest and hunt buffalo. This was an ideal location, providing food, water, and shelter from the wind. Just two days from the Canadian border and freedom, their long journey was about to come to a tragic end.

Early on the morning of September 30, Colonel Miles' scouts discovered the camp, As Nez Perce warriors rushed to the defense, 400 soldiers and scouts attacked. The 7th Cavalry charged the village, while the 2nd Cavalry captured the Nez Perce horses. The 5th Infantry was held in reserve. The Nez Perce repelled the attack.

Another attempt to overrun the camp was made in the early afternoon, The battle became a siege. During the six-day siege about 200 Nez Perce, which included Chief White Bird, managed to reach Canada where they joined Sitting Bull's Lakota near Fort Walsh. On the afternoon of October 5, Chief Joseph surrendered his rifle to end the suffering of women and children.

Outside the camp I had seen men killed. Soldiers ten, Indians ten. That was not so bad. But now, when I saw our remaining warriors gone, my heart grew choked and heavy... Children crying with cold, no fire. There could be no light. Everywhere the crying, the death wail. -- Yellow Wolf. Nez Perce

I remained to help care for the wounded and bury the dead. There were fourteen men killed and thirty wounded besides a great many horses were shot and crippled...One cannot realize the feeling engendered by taking part in such a carnage as a battle produces until they have had the actual experience in warfare. It was a horrible and gruesome site. -- Alexander Cruikshank, Army Scout

Erected by National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Two panels are affixed to a common boulder.

Commemorating the surrender of Chief Joseph and the remnants of his tribe of Nez Perce to General Nelson A. Miles, October 5, 1877.

Here Chiefs Looking Glass, Ollicut, Too-hul-sote and many other warriors were killed

Chief Joseph was a military genius, courageous, and humane.

Presenting his rifle to General Miles, with right hand upraised, he proclaimed:

"From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever."

He kept his word.

In graceful remembrance of the officers and enlisted men killed in action in the last decisive armed conflict between the white men and red men in the Northwest.

September 30 - October 5, 1877

7th U.S. Cavalry

Captain Owen Hale • 2nd Lieut. Jonathan W. Biddle • 1st Sergt. George McDermott • 1st Sergt. Michael Martin • 1st Sergt. Otto Wild • Sergt. James H. Alberts • Sergt. Otto Durselow • Sergt. Max Mielke • Sergt. Henry W. Paichel • Pvt. John E. Cleveland • Pvt. David I. Dawsey • Pvt. Charles F. Hurdick • Pvt. Frank Knaupp • Pvt. Lewis Kelly • Pvt. Samuel McIntyre • Pvt. William

J. Randall • Pvt. Francis Roth • Pvt. William Whitlow

2nd U.S. Cavalry

Pvt. John Irving

5th U.S. Infantry

Corporal John Haddo • Pvt. Thomas Geoghegan • Pvt. Joseph Kohler • Pvt. Richard M. Peshall

Erected 1926 by Daughters of the American Revolution.

With the fighting at a standoff, Hinmatóowyalahtq̓it (Chief Joseph) met with Colonel Miles near this site. Surrender was a survival strategy, to keep the Nez Perce people alive and together. One witness reported that Chief Joseph spoke these words:

Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before I have in my heart. I an tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Tukulxućúut is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who leads the young men is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death.

My people some of them have run away to the hills and have no blankets, no food; no one knows where they are, perhaps freezing to death. I want to look for my children and see how many I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me my chiefs, I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.

Erected by National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

About noon the families made camp. The scouts killed several buffalo. This place is ćáynim?a•lika?spe (Place of Manure Fire) .... Some warriors were on the buttes watching for enemies. We expected none. -- himi・n maqsmáqs (Yellow Wolf)

This seemed a good place to rest, with thick grass for horses, fresh water in Snake Creek, and buffalo nearby. Exhausted from the three months and 1,170 miles, the Nez Perce set up camp here, organized according to the five tribal bands. You are standing in the midst of the encampment site.

At this point, the Nez Perce had outdistanced their original pursuers. They did not realize that a larger military force was approaching fast from the east.

Erected by National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

This park links a series of widely separated sites of deep significance to the Nez Perce – historic villages, battlefields, and legend sites. The park experience involves a journey across both time and territory. Although firmly connected to homeland, the Nez Perce are a dynamic people who for thousands of years traveled seasonally between the prairies and river valleys. This lifestyle was interrupted in 1877. Treaties forced bands from their homes in Oregon and Idaho, and war erupted. Today those events are commemorated by the 1,170-mile Nez Perce (Nee-Me-Poo) National Historic Trail. Together, the park and the trail tell the story of an encounter between two strong nations, from the 1805 meeting with Lewis and Clark, to the conflicts that led to the 1877 war, to the divisions and healing processes going on today. They provide opportunities to view our shared history of this landscape through a different lens.

Erected by National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Across the street is a log house that was occupied by Major Guido Ilges, commander of the troops at Fort Benton during the Indian Wars of 1876-1877. Ilges took a volunteer force of eighteen men to Cow Island where they confronted the Nez Perce during their flight to reach Canada. Ilges and his men arrived just in time to see a soldier from upriver killed by the Indians. They hurriedly dug rifle pits and were pinned down by fire from the warriors of Chiefs Looking Glass and Joseph. The Indians took supplies that they had requested peaceably, and continued their retreat toward the border.

General Howard and some of his troops returned to Fort Benton after Joseph's surrender, the finale of Indian trouble in this part of Montana. Troops remained in Fort Benton until 1881, long after they were needed for protection of the river port. Chief Joseph's actual surrender rifle can be viewed at the Missouri Breaks Interpretive Center here in Fort Benton.

Erected by Fort Benton Chamber of Commerce.

In September 1877 the Nez Perce traveled across the Judith Basin headed for Canada. In anticipation of trouble, Major Ilges (commandant at Fort Benton) organized a party of fifty volunteers, mostly Fort Benton's Irish Fenians. They loaded the mountain howitzer onto a mackinaw boat and the rest of the party set out on horseback to protect Fort Claggett and the freight at the Cow Island steamboat landing.

Arriving at Cow Island too late to prevent the Indians from crossing the river, the volunteers pursued Chief Joseph and the bands of Nez Perce up the Cow Island Trail ... and found more Indians than they had bargained for. After one volunteer was killed and another was wounded, they let discretion be the better part of valor and retreated back to the landing to wait for the U.S. Army. The military finally caught up with the Nez Perce at Snake Creek in the Bear's Paw Mts. After a battle lasting several days, Chief Joseph surrendered to General Howard and Colonel Miles.

Erected by Fort Benton Community Improvement Association.

The Nez Perce (Nee-Me-Poo) National Historic Trail marks the path of U.S. soldiers pursuing Chief Looking Glass and Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce during the summer of 1877. Treaties forced bands of Nez Perce from their homes In Idaho and Oregon. Refusing to settle or surrender, the non-treaty Nez Perce move along a meandering 1,170 mile route while being pursued by federal armies. From the Battle of the Big Hole, in southwestern Montana, to evasive maneuvers through the Yellowstone Park, the Nez Perce followed the Clark Fork Canyon into Yellowstone River country, southwest of present-day Billings.

The Canyon Creek Battle, west of Billings, occurred on September 13, 1877. The Nez Perce entered the Canyon Creek valley and took four horses, food and property of Joseph Cochran, an early homesteader. The Nez Perce then defeated Colonel Samuel Sturgis's 7th Cavalry and continued to move north toward Canada. Interpretive signs and a shelter mark the location.

Just 40 miles south of the Canadian border at the Bear Paw Mountains, army troops under the command of Colonel Nelson Miles defeated the Nez Perce and forced their surrender. With four of the five major chiefs of the Nez Perce killed Chief Joseph surrendered. Chief Joseph reportedly spoke to Colonel Miles, "Here me, my Chiefs, I am tired; my hear is sick and sad, From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever."

For thousands of years the fertile Wallowa Valley was home to many Nimiipuu, or Nez Perce people. A treaty in 1855 affirmed Nez Perce ownership of this homeland. Competition for land, grazing and hunting opportunities, and the discovery of gold in 1860 resulted in a renegotiation of the 1855 treaty. The new treaty of 1863 reduced the reservation to 10% of the original homeland. Ultimately, General O. Howard ordered the peaceful Nez Perce bands, no longer protected by treaty rights, to move to the reservation near Lapwai, Idaho, in May of 1877.

The Wallowa band sadly gathered their belongings, livestock and horses, and headed for the reservation. They crossed the Snake River, swollen with spring runoff, and gathered at Camas Prairie near Grangeville, Idaho. Agitated by past events, a few young Nez Perce men attacked several white settlers. In the aftermath of their attacks, there was no option but to flee.

In June 1877, nearly 800 men, women, and children with over 2000 horses began the flight that took them over the Bitterroots, through the Rockies, and onto the high plains of Montana. They survived sweltering heat, dangerous mountain passes, and attacks by five different US Army Regiments. The Nez Perce families were within 40 miles of freedom at the Canadian border before being surrounding by U.S. Army soldiers just as the winter snows began to fall.

For five days, the Nez Perce endured cannon fire, freezing temperatures and starvation. When it became obvious the people could survive no longer, Joseph negotiated a settlement that would allow the people to return to Idaho. Unwilling to trust Colonel Miles, Chief Whitebird led his people on a nighttime escape to Canada. Chief Joseph stayed with the remaining people. On October 5, 1877, Chief Joseph walked across the wintry plain and surrendered to Colonel Nelson A. Miles.

"From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever." -- Chief Joseph (Hein-mot Too-ya-la-kekt)

Trading Post at Lewistown

In September of 1877, 5 bands of Nez Perce, under the leadership of Poker Joe (Wahwookya Wasas - Lean Elk) who led them from the Big Hole Battle Field until after crossing the Missouri River, crossed the Musselshell River and entered the Judith Basin. The 5 bands consisted of about 300 warriors and 200 women and followers along with 1000 horses and camp equipment. They had distanced themselves from General Howard and Colonel Samuel Sturgis in their memorable flight in attempting to reach the Canadian border and escape the pursuing army. Having successfully evaded and out-maneuvered the army during 800 miles of almost continuous fighting, the Nez Perce passed through the basin from Judith Gap to Cow Island Landing on the Missouri River.

The Nez Perce felt at home in this country since this was their ancestral hunting grounds, which they came to from their home west of the Rocky Mountains. On Friday night, September 31, 1877, they camped near the stockade of Reed and Bowles Trading Post on the Carroll Trail about one mile below the present site of Lewistown, Montana.

The combination trading post and station was built by two outstanding characters of that time, Alonzo S. Reed and J.J. Bowles. They operated the trading post from November 1874 to 1880. The Nez Perce visited with Alonzo Reed, relating to him the incidents of the fights and boasted of their many successes, the escapes and the punishment they had given Col. Samuel D. Sturgis during their last encounter.

The Nez Perce covered the distance of more than 75 miles from the Reed and Bowles Trading Post to Cow Island on the Missouri in less than 36 hours. Cow Island was, in the period from 1860 to 1885, an important unloading point for steamers unable to continue to Fort Benton. It was also one of the primary crossing of the Missouri River for Indians of all tribes. Interestingly enough, General Alfred Terry and the Sitting Bull Commission arrived at Fort Benton only a few days after the Nez Perce crossed at Cow Island, which was the final skirmish prior to the siege at Bear Paw.

The Exile

"Let the nation in its glory Bow with Shame before the story Of the hero it has ruined and the evil it has done." -- Harpers's New Monthly, 1879

Chief Joseph accompanied his people into exile, first in the unhealthy lowlands of Kansas and later in the windswept prairies of the Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma. The exiled group included 79 men, 178 women, and 174 children.

The group was initially transported to Fort Keogh in the Montana Territory, then on to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where they spent a miserable winter in squalid conditions. In the spring they were moved to Baxter Springs, the Quapaw Agency and finally the Ponca Agency in Oklahoma. During this time of continued death and deprivation, Joseph took every opportunity to publicize their plight to advance their return to the beloved homeland.

Finally in 1885 Joseph's persistence, coupled with a sympathetic press, strong public support and pressure from the Presbyterian Church, convinced the government to allow the remaining 268 survivors to return to the Northwest. Of that group 118 Nez Perce went to the reservation at Lapwai. Chief Joseph and others who would not renounce their traditional religious beliefs were sent to the Colville reservation near Nespelum, Washington. The tribe was never allowed to reclaim its Wallowa Homeland. Chief Joseph, the most famous of the Nez Perce leaders, died and was buried in Nespelem in 1904.

The Nez Perce removal and exile remains one of the darkest chapters in American History. The 1800 mile journey of 800 brave men, women and children wanting to live and believe as they chose stands as one of the most courageous stories in our nation's past.

Sikum is the Nez Perce word for horse. The Nez Perce people were introduced to the horse in the 1730’s. The word “appaloosa” was created by white settlers. The Nez Perce learned through selective breeding that they could produce a horse uniquely suited to their homeland and the country around you where they frequently traveled.

The Nez Perce National Historic Trail travels down Lolo Canyon and was a critical and frequently used route for the Nez Perce between their homeland and the bison rich plains to the east. According to Samuel Penny, Chairman of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee:

“This was our commerce trail. We followed this trail east to hunt buffalo. We came here for camas. We came here in our flight from the soldiers.”

On February 15, 1806, Meriwether Lewis wrote of the Nez Perce horses in his journal:

“Their horses appear to be of an excellent race; they are lofty, elegantly formed, active and durable, in short, many of them look like fine English corsers and would make a figure in any country.”

The rich history of the sikum lives on today with the Nez Perce through their Young Horseman Program. The Nez Perce maintain an active horse breeding program in Lapwai, Idaho. The Nez Perce horse of today is a unique cross between the Akhal - Teke of Turkmenistan and the Appaloosa. Through this program they maintain their reputation as accomplished equestrians.

The Nez Perce Horse Registry represents the Akhal-Teke/Appaloosa cross, a horse of athletic prowess, endurance and toughness necessary to travel long distances and climb mountains. This breed is also quite competitive in modern equine sports.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition camped here on September 11, 1805.

The Nez Perce people, under the leadership of their Great Chief Joseph crossed the Musselshell River near here on September 17, 1877. They had left their Idaho homeland in a valiant but futile effort to reach Canada. Their march marked by several skirmishes with the U.S. Army, ended at the fateful Battle of the Bears Paw with their surrender to Colonel Nelson Miles October 5, 1877.

Erected 1975 by Golden Valley Bicentennial Commission.

The park links a series of widely separated sites of deep significance to the Nez Perce historic villages, battlefield, and legends sites. The park experience involves a journey across both time and territory. Although firmly connected to homeland, the Nez Perce are a dynamic people who for thousands of years travel seasonally between the prairies and river valleys. This lifestyle was interrupted in 1877. Treaties forced bands from their homes in Oregon and Idaho, and war erupted.

Today those events are commemorated by the 1,170-mile Nez Perce (Nee-Me-Poo) National Historic Trail.

Together, the park and the trail tell the story of an encounter between two strong nations, from the 1805 meeting with Lewis and Clark, to the conflicts that led to the 1877 war, to the divisions and healing processes going on today. They provide opportunities to view our shared history of this landscape through a different lens.

Erected by National Park Service.

To the everlasting memory of the

Brave Warriors

Chief Joseph's Band who fought on these grounds in the

Nez Perce War of 1877

Erected by

Nez Perce Indians and the Chief Joseph Memorial Association

June, 1928

Erected 1928 by Chief Joseph Memorial Association.