Luther Sage Kelly, 1870s.

Witnessing a Changing West

Yellowstone Kelly guided and explored Montana for private commercial ventures and federal military reconnaissance. He was hired by then Colonel Nelson A. Miles as an Army scout during the Sioux War campaign, winter of 1876-1877, and the Nez Perce War of 1877.

Yellowstone Kelly was hired by Colonel Miles just three months after the Battle of the Little Bighorn, often referred to as Custer's Last Stand (June 25, 1876). Kelly scouted the Milk River country in northern Montana for signs of Sitting Bull's Hunkpapa Sioux. Later, Yellowstone Kelly scouted south of the Yellowstone River and fought at the Battle of Wolf Mountains. On January 8, 1877, during a snow storm with temperatures at ten below zero, Sioux and Northern Cheyenne fought Miles and U.S. Army forces to a draw, but the taxing mid-winter battle accelerated their eventual removal to reservations.

U.S. Army and Nez Perce forces engaged in several battles along the 1,200 mile trail stretching from Oregon to Idaho, through Wyoming, to Montana. Yellowstone Kelly and Nelson Mile's Cheyenne and Sioux scouts located the Nez Perce camp of Chief Joseph, White Bird and Looking Glass near the Bears Paw Mountains of north-central Montana on September 29, 1877. Kelly was witness to the final battle of the Nez Perce. General Oliver Howard, Colonel Nelson Miles and U.S. forces fought the Nez Perce during a five-day battle and siege. On October 5, 1877, after months of fighting and bloodshed, Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce surrendered.

Soldier and Adventurer

In 1865, Luther Sage Kelly enlisted as a Union soldier in the Civil War. After the war, and still a teenager, his regiment was re-assigned to military forts in Minnesota and Dakota Territory. When his enlistment ended he journeyed westward to Missouri River country. Often traveling alone, Kelly is described as a quiet unassuming man. Soldiers at Fort Keogh, near present-day Miles City, referred to him as "Kelly in Silent." He survived by cutting wood for steamboats, hunting bison and trapping wolves, all while getting acquainted with the people and places of the Yellowstone Valley and Missouri River region. Major George A. Forsyth enlisted Yellowstone Kelly to accompany steamboat pilot Grant Marsh, on the steamer Key West, to explore and scout the lower Yellowstone River in May, 1873.

Yellowstone Kelly meets Colonel Nelson Miles, 1876

"He came from the Valley of the Yellowstone entirely alone to my camp on the banks of that river, near the mouth of the Tongue River.

He had recently killed a large bear and cut off one of the huge paws, and upon this he inscribed his name and sent it to my tent, as he had no cards at the time! At that time he was young and strong, a fine horseman, as supple as a panther, with an eye like an eagle. His knowledge of that unmapped region was most valuable, and as a guide and leader of scouts and advance guard he was exceedingly useful."

General Nelson A. Miles, March 1, 1921

According to photographer L.A. Huffman, Yellowstone Kelly was an avid reader who did not smoke or drink. Huffman said Kelly was unassuming and "always a man of but few words." Huffman took this photo at Fort Keogh, near Miles City, about 1879. Kelly said he wanted a "nice picture for my mother," so he borrowed a Stetson hat, vest, and coat from Huffman.

Trappers and Traders

Trappers and traders were often employed as government hunters or interpreters. John George "Kootenai" 3. Soldier and Adventurer

Brown, Ed Lambert, and Luther S. "Yellowstone" Kelly each journeyed the upper Northern Plains in the early 1870s and found work at government forts.

Skilled Scout, Guide, and Hunter

Kelly was enlisted to explore travel routes from Fort Keogh, near present day Miles City, to the Black Hills of Dakota Territory, to confirm reports of miners trespassing on the Crow Reservation, and to determine the location of Bannock Indians in Yellowstone National Park. While in Yellowstone, Kelly aided the 1879 R.J. Reeves boundary survey and helped Park Superintendent Philetus Norris explore mountain passes and prospective roads in the park, including "Norris Pass.' between Old Faithful and Yellowstone Lake. Leaving Montana in 1880, Yellowstone Kelly became a government scout and hunter for the White River Cantonment (1880-1883) in western Colorado. He remarked at the closing of his years as an Army scout, "The present narrative properly ends with the termination of the happiest period of my life, as a plainsman and scout in the region of the Yellowstone."

Traveling in the Northern Plains, 1868-1869

Kelly experienced more hospitality that hostility while traveling among the people of the Northern Plains. Fluent in Plains Indian sign talk, Yellowstone Kelly ate meals, smoked tobacco, and camped with Chippewa, Mandan, Arikara, Gros Ventre, Assiniboine, Crow, and Metis, as well as French and English traders.

One violent encounter occurred delivering mail from Fort Buford to Fort Stevenson. Riding solo, Kelly was ambushed by two Oglala Sioux warriors. One shot made his horse plunge, knocking Kelley off of his ride. Kelly fired back and killed the first man. Although his knee was grazed by an arrow from the second warrior, Kelly killed the second man in the struggle.

The next day, some Gros Ventre, having heard of Kelly's exploit, christened him, Kelly "Little-Man-With-The-Strong (Big)-Heart."

Settling Down

Luther Sage "Yellowstone" Kelly journeyed back east several times. In 1885, he married Alice May Morrison of Detroit and they moved back to his ranch in northwest Colorado. By 1891 he was appointed Parachute, Colorado's first Justice of the Peace and Notary Public. When Kelly's ranch proved unprofitable, they moved to Chicago and then New York where Kelly secured work with the War Department. He visited with old friends, including Theodore Roosevelt, General Nelson Miles, and George Bird Grinnell, owner of Field and Stream magazine. Kelley was a member of President Theodore Roosevelt's famous "tennis cabinet." Members included loyal friends of Roosevelt with whom he rode horses, hunted, boxed, hiked, or enjoyed games of tennis.

Memory and Mourning

Along with Yellowstone Kelly's grave, the east end of Swords Rimrock Park was used for Crow (Apsáalooke) scaffold burials and the cemetery of Coulson, an early pioneer town. It is a place where memory and mourning are intertwined.

Yellowstone Kelly's gravesite essentially remained unchanged from 1929 until 2017. In 2014, concerted efforts by the Billings Chamber of Commerce, City of Billings, and numerous public supporters to provide a proper granite grave marker and interpretation of the site along Billings' Heritage Trail began.

Great Alaskan Adventures

After years of living and working for the War Department, Yellowstone Kelly eagerly accepted the opportunity to venture to Alaska in 1898 and 1899.

The Captain Edward F. Glenn Expedition, 1898

The 1898 Glenn Expedition was a U.S. military reconnaissance to Alaska for survey and mapping purposes. Yellowstone Kelly (left in photo was hired as a guide and interpreter. He was initially assigned to the Alaska Relief Expedition to help destitute miners. Kelly escorted Scandinavian Lapland herders with 539 reindeer and 500 tons of tundra moss from New York to Alaska. The relief expedition was canceled after the reindeer grew weak and many died. Kelly then spent four months sailing, surveying and scouting Alaska for potential trade routes.

The E.H. Harriman Alaska Expedition, 1899

Railroad baron and eastern industrialist Edward Harriman turned vacation plans into a full-scale scientific Alaskan adventure. Yellowstone Kelly (left in photo) was hired as a guide and packer. Naturalists John Muir, John Burroughs, William Healy Call, George Bird Grinnell, along with photographer Edward Curtis, also joined the expedition. The work of the researchers resulted in the discovery of a new glacier and a catalog of animal and plant specimens.

Veteran of the Philippine-American War

In 1899, at the close of the Spanish-American War, Congress authorized an increase in U.S. forces to address the rebellion in the Philippines. Luther S. Kelly was commissioned as a captain in the Army's 40th U.S. Volunteers and served overseas for four years. There he led troops in battle, commanded a military post and was ultimately appointed Treasurer of the Province of Surigao. President Theodore Roosevelt wrote at the close of Kelly's service, he "not only served with gallantry and success in engagements in the Philippines but also has shown a high order of ability as an administrator." Kelly returned to the United States in November, 1903. At his request, Kelly was discharged.

Indian Agent, Miner, and Fruit Farmer

In his mid-50s, Kelly moved to Arizona to become the Indian Agent for the San Carlos Indian Reservation. Arriving in 1904 at the home of the Apache, Luther and May Kelly lived there until 1909. After seven years at the gold mining camp of Lisa, Nevada, the Kellys relocated one last time.

They lived out their final years in Paradise, California, operating a small fruit orchard. There Yellowstone Kelly, ailing and growing blind, wrote his memoirs, concentrating on his years as a guide and scout. "Yellowstone Kelly: The Memoirs of Luther S. Kelly" was published in 1926 by Yale University, just two years before his death.

Erected by Yellowstone Kelly Interpretive Site.