Legends of the Old West - ENCORE: NEZ PERCÉ WAR Ep. 6 | “Fight No More Forever”

Episode Date: January 8, 2025

The Nez Percé have performed an extraordinary feat: they have traveled more than 1,300 miles and repelled three American armies in a series of battles and smaller skirmishes. But they are sore and exhausted. They are within reach of the Canadian border and freedom, but another American army joins the hunt and forces the final showdown between the Nez Percé and the United States.   Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join   Apple users join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes, bingeable seasons and bonus episodes. Click the Black Barrel+ banner on Apple to get started with a 3-day free trial.   On YouTube, subscribe to LEGENDS+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: hit “Join” on the Legends YouTube homepage.   For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get groceries delivered across the GTA from real Canadian Superstore with PC Express. Shop online for super prices and super savings. Try it today and get up to $75 in PC Optimum Points. Visit superstore.ca to get started. When the Nez Perce awoke on the morning of September 16, 1877, they were in the hills of central Montana, several miles north of the place that would soon be the city of Billings. They had been traveling for two solid months, and many in the group had been running and fighting for an additional month on top of that. Their ancestral homes were in the borderlands between Idaho, Washington, and Oregon, but they had chosen to flee rather than to submit

to life on a reservation. Since the conflict that would be called the Nez Perce War began in earnest on June 14th, five bands had fought five sizable engagements against the U.S. Army and a host of smaller skirmishes in between. They had attacked numerous white settlements and killed dozens of white settlers. They had traveled 1,300 miles, crossed two major mountain ranges, and forded an uncountable number of streams, creeks, and rivers. They had been denied sanctuary by, or worse, attacked by, tribes they had considered friends. By mid-September, as they awoke in the hills of central Montana, they knew they were truly alone in America.

The only hope for living free was to make it to Canada. Sitting Bull and his village had been living in Canada for a year after the Battle of the Little Bighorn. In Canada, they were beyond the reach of the US government and the US Army. The only choice for the Nez Perce was to hurry across 200 miles of territory to the border. But as they had learned repeatedly over the past three months, the American Army would never stop hunting them. General Oliver Howard and his force had followed them every step of the way. Colonel Samuel Sturgis with the 7th Cavalry and Colonel Wesley Merritt with the 5th Cavalry joined the hunt in early September. On September 13th, Sturgis and Merritt's combined force clashed with the Nez Perce along the banks of the Yellowstone River, but the Nez Perce escaped.

They entered a canyon that ascended a 400-foot wall of rock and emerged in the hills above the river. The army couldn't follow closely behind without risking serious loss of life. So, Howard, Sturgis, and Merritt regrouped back near the river, and the Nez Perce continued moving north. The day after the fight that was called the Battle of Canyon Creek, the Nez Perce were harassed by warriors from the Crow Nation. That was especially disheartening because the Crow had been friends. All along the journey, the Nez Perce had been betrayed by their friends.

Now they were two days behind the Crow and alone in the hills. They needed to cross another 150 miles of territory to reach Canada and it would not be easy. In their way were rolling hills, small canyons, deep ravines, two small mountain ranges, and two major rivers. And, though they didn't know it, one more American army. There were three armies behind them, and soon there would be one in front of them. Colonel Nelson Miles was about to get the call to join the hunt, and it would be a race to see who could reach the Canadian border first.

From Black Barrel Media, this is Legends of the Old West. I'm your host Chris Wimmer and this season we're telling the story of the Nez Perce people and their epic fight to remain free. This is The Nez Perce War, Episode 6, Fight No More Forever. For the next week after the Nez Perce were confronted by their former Crow allies, they moved north with little or no interference. They crossed the Musselshell River about 50 miles north of the Yellowstone River. They passed through Judith Gap, a piece of flat land between two small mountains

about 30 miles above the Musselshell. That put them on a dead run for the Missouri River, another 80 miles north. While the Nez Perce experienced a week of relative peace for the first time in a month, the U.S. Army scrambled to react. The Battle of Canyon Creek had happened on September 13th. The combined cavalry of Colonel Sturgis and Colonel Merritt had failed to stop the Nez Perce from escaping to the north, but the troopers doggedly followed. They rode up through the canyon and made it up onto the plateau above the Yellowstone. By the end of the first day of marching north of the Yellowstone,

the cavalry was smoked, to use a modern military expression. The men were thoroughly exhausted and the horses suffered even more than the soldiers. One soldier out of every ten was now walking beside his horse, and the command was spread out in a line that was ten miles long. Sturgis pushed the men and animals for one more day, and then stopped to rest and wait for resupply. When the three armies of Howard, Sturgis, and Merritt had joined up four days earlier, the cavalry of Sturgis and Merritt were the freshest troops. Sturgis had combined their units and rushed forward to try to catch the Nez Perce while

Howard slowly pulled up the rear. Now that the Nez Perce were well ahead of all the army units, Sturgis stopped to wait for Howard. It took five days for Howard to catch up. He had transported wounded soldiers down the Yellowstone River to get help and then brought on wagons of badly needed supplies. But even without those delays, their progress would not have been speedy. Howard's chief of staff wrote, They, the Nez Perce, are moving 35 and 40 miles a day while we are dragging our

worn-out horses and leg-weary men along at a rate of 12 and 15. It is a perfect farce. And in one case, the chief's estimate of the Nez Perce progress was low by half. After the column passed through Judith Gap and headed toward the Missouri River, it crossed 75 miles of territory in a single day. The people were exhausted and sore and battered just like the soldiers, but their endurance and tolerance for pain was unparalleled. Far behind the Nez Perce, Howard and Sturgis didn't know the camp was making that kind of progress, but

the officers knew they would never catch up without help. Their only real hope of salvaging the perfect farce, as the chief of staff called it, rested with Colonel Nelson Miles. He was at an outpost on the Tung River in eastern Montana. Miles had established the outpost one year earlier, in the summer of 1876, as the army chased the villages of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse across the region in the wake of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. The cannonmen would later be exchanged for a permanent fort a couple miles away called Fort Keough, which was named for one of Custer's captains who died in the battle.

The town of Miles City, which was named for Colonel Miles, eventually sprang up near the fort. On September 17th, four days after the Battle of Canyon Creek, and while Sturgis rested and waited for Howard, Colonel Miles received orders to move. From his position near present-day Mile City, he would have to rush at a northwest angle to try to intercept the Nez Perce before they reached Canada. On the 18th, he moved out and collected companies from various units in the area as he went.

When he was at full strength, he had 530 men, five companies of the 5th Infantry, three companies of the 2nd Cavalry, and three companies of the 7th Cavalry, the troopers who had not gone with Colonel Sturges a month earlier. Several officers in the three companies of the 7th were veterans of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, but the enlisted men were raw recruits who were deemed too inexperienced

to ride with Sturges in the original pursuit. Now it fell to them to stop the Nez Perce, and they would get all the experience they could wish for in about 10 days. This NFL season, get in on all the hard-hitting action with FanDuel, North America's number one sportsbook. You can bet on anything from moneylines to spreads and player props, or combine your bets in a same-game parlay for a shot at an even bigger payout.

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They reached a traditional crossing point on September 23rd. It was the most shallow part of the Missouri River in the area, and Native American hunters had used it for generations. By the time the Nez Perce arrived at the Missouri in September 1877, the crossing was called Cow Island. Several small islands, complete with grass and trees, sat in the middle of the waterway. Because of the obstructions and the low water

level, Cow Island was the farthest point at which a steamboat could travel on the Missouri. That turned Cow Island into a hub for army supplies. Steamboats transported tons of supplies up to Cow Island, where they were offloaded and then shipped overland to forts in the area. So, Cow Island would have looked like a feast from heaven to the Nez Perce. There were huge piles of food and other supplies just sitting there, and they were only guarded by a few soldiers and civilians. An army sergeant was in charge of the supplies. The Nez Perce sent a representative to negotiate with him. The Nez Perce man was probably Lean Elk, who had been guiding the expedition for the past

month. The Nez Perce asked for some supplies, and the Sergeant refused. They asked to buy some supplies, and the Sergeant agreed to sell a little bacon and some hard tack. The Nez Perce made the deal, and the column rode two miles upriver to make camp. The bacon and hardtack, which was a rough flour and water biscuit that was a staple of the army, was barely enough to ease the hunger of a single family, let alone hundreds. That night, younger warriors rode back to Cow Island and fired shots at the supply depot.

The shots kept the soldiers pinned down while other warriors and women raided the stacks of supplies. They took anything that could be of use, from cooking utensils to food to tobacco. When they were done, they burned the rest in a giant bonfire. There were some minor injuries on both sides and one overly eager soldier died, but it wasn't the massacre it could have been. Still, a soldier and 30 civilians tracked the Nez Perce for the next day and a half. The soldier, a major, had been stationed downriver and had heard about the raid. He collected a group of volunteers and chased the Nez Perce. The Nez Perce learned about the group and sent warriors back to confront the volunteers.

The warriors found positions in the hills and peppered the volunteers with rifle fire. One civilian died and the others settled into a standoff rather than to keep pushing forward. After a few hours, the warriors broke off the engagement. The main column had safely advanced behind them and there was no reason to continue to trade shots with the rabble. When the warriors returned to the column, they all camped for the night on September 25th and there was another big council. The Nez Perce were only about 70 miles away from Canada.

The last major barrier, the Milk River, was only a couple days ahead of them. As far as they knew, General Howard's force was the only army unit chasing them, and that unit was way behind them. But the people and animals were in serious trouble, despite the supplies that had been taken from Cow Island. The people had been sleeping out in the open for weeks as temperatures dropped each night. Horses were dying at an awful rate. So Looking Glass, one of the leaders of the five bands, argued for a slowdown. The people seemed to be out of immediate danger, they were tired and hurting, and the animals

were suffering badly. They should take it easier for the next few days. The other prominent members agreed, and for the next three days, the column moved at a slower pace. On September 29th, the column camped near a creek about 40 miles from Canada. That day, the warriors killed a couple buffalo, and the meat would be the first real food the Nez Perce had had in weeks. They settled in that night for a well-earned feast,

and they had no idea that Colonel Miles' scouts had found them. The Nez Perce had been right about Howard's command. It was hopelessly out of range, and it was crumbling. But Miles' command was within striking distance. If the Nez Perce had kept their previous pace and kept pushing toward Canada, they would have made it easily. But when they slowed down for three days, they set up the final battle of the war. Colonel Miles and his force of 530 men, which included Sioux and Cheyenne scouts, had been tracking the Nez Perce for a week.

Miles wasn't able to cut them off at Judith Gap as he had hoped, so he continued on an angle to intercept them before the Canadian border. On the same day the Nez Perce held their council to slow down the pace of their advance, Miles heard of the raid on the Cow Island supply depot. He had crossed the Missouri River far to the east of Cow Island and was fortunate to encounter a small boat

with people who told him about the attack. Miles reasoned that if the Nez Perce headed in a straight line to the north, they would head for a gap between two small mountain ranges. They would go through the gap, cross the Milk River, and then be within sight of the Canadian border. With that in mind, he hurried for the gap between the mountains. The Nez Perce helped him by slowing their pace, and as they cooked their buffalo feast, Miles' scouts found their trail.

That night, while the Nez Perce slept with full stomachs for the first time in weeks, the army column was camped several miles away. The soldiers built no fires and quietly prepared for battle. At 2 a.m., Miles woke his men and began the advance. At dawn, Miles' Cheyenne scouts spotted the Nez Perce camp in the distance. The army picked up its pace. When they were close enough to see smoke from cook fires, Miles stopped the column and placed them in battle formation. He positioned the three companies of the 7th Cavalry on the right flank, the three companies of the 2nd Cavalry on the left flank,

and the four companies of mounted 5th Infantry in the center. When they were in line, he ordered a charge and a full assault. In the Nez Perce camp, they had early warning that there might be soldiers in the area. No one had seen them, but nearby buffalo had been spooked and were stampeding. Something must have set them off. But even with the possible threat, Nez Perce leader Looking Glass told the people not to rush.

He thought they still had time. A crucial hour passed, and then a warrior appeared on a bluff and shouted and whirled his horse in a circle and waved a blanket. It was the age-old signal that an enemy was deadly close. Joseph, as he had in previous battles, shouted at warriors to help him protect the horses. The setup was nearly identical to the Battle of Big Hole six weeks earlier. The Nez Perce camp was next to a creek, and the herd of horses was grazing in the hills on the other side of the creek. Joseph and several others sprinted toward the animals while women grabbed the children and tried to find cover. And the army suffered a problem

almost immediately. On the left side of the line, the second cavalry was the lead element. The Cheyenne scouts were supposed to guide the cavalry right into the camp, but the scouts wanted to capture the horses, so they veered way off to the left and galloped across the creek. The second cavalry followed them, having no idea that they were now on the wrong side of the creek from the camp, and cut off from the rest of the command. With the second cavalry temporarily out of action, Miles ordered the seventh cavalry to move out in front of the mounted infantry and assume the lead position for the attack. The three companies thundered forward, and then discovered a second problem. The current Nez Perce camp was different from the one at Big Hole in one significant way. It was down and in depression that was 30 to 40 feet below the flat land above.

When the Army started the charge, the men were so far away that they had no depth perception. As they pounded forward, they rode straight toward a cliff. When two of the three companies saw the drop off, they yanked back on their reins and skidded to a halt before the cliff. On the far right side of the line, the third company had time to change direction. It looped farther around to the right and rode along the edge of the cliff until it was even with the camp. The cliff wasn't as steep over there, and there were several narrow ravines that led down to the camp. But those ravines were now packed with warriors who were racing into the fight.

The Nez Perce lost a critical hour when they could have been preparing to defend their position, but they rallied quickly and sent warriors in multiple directions. One group ran with Joseph across the creek to keep the horses from stampeding. Another group hurried toward the cliff to engage the first two companies of the 7th Cavalry. When those two companies slammed on the brakes to keep from galloping over the edge, the warriors climbed up the cliff and fired over the edge, straight into the soldiers. A third group of warriors raced into the ravines below the other company of the seventh.

When that company reached the drop-off, the warriors unleashed a volley that cut through the soldiers. The raw recruits of the 7th were about to prove themselves in battle. They weathered the first storm of gunfire, jumped off their horses, and struggled toward the ravines. The warriors didn't back off, and the fight became close quarters and hand-to-hand. The other two companies pulled back from the cliff and rushed around to help the third company in the brutal fight for the ravines. The fight turned messy as the crossfire produced friendly fire casualties.

Captain Owen Hale, the commander of the third company and a veteran of the siege of Reno Hill, died when a bullet hit him in the throat. His second in command, a lieutenant, died soon after. His body was found with bullets from both warriors and soldiers. Colonel Miles saw the violent struggle on his right flank and ordered the infantry to hurry to the edge of the cliff and pour gunfire onto the warriors in the ravines. From the infantry's angle, they could shoot at the warriors from the side where they were vulnerable. With a fusillade from the side and continuous gunfire from the front, the warriors pulled back and paused their attack. Captain Miles Moylan and Captain Edward Godfrey helped pull the soldiers back from the cliff and reorganize them. They were

both veterans of the Little Bighorn, and now Colonel Miles ordered them to make another charge. When they did, Colonel Miles sent a small squad of infantry around the far left to crawl down into the depression and assault the camp. The second charge of the 7th Cavalry failed immediately, and the 25 soldiers who were sent to take the camp met a group of warriors who fought them back to the cliff and forced them to scramble back up to the plateau. To the left of the soldiers and across the creek, the second cavalry and the Cheyenne scouts were stuck in swirling chaos. Joseph and other warriors tried to save the horse herd, but the army

captured about 500 animals. The women and children hurried to the the horse herd, but the army captured about 500 animals. The women and children hurried to the north to get away from the battle, but most had no horses or supplies and were just running for their lives. There were fights happening in at least six locations as the Nez Perce tried to repel the attack. Joseph leapt on a horse and galloped through the camp. His wife held up his rifle and he grabbed it as he passed.

He raced toward another location where the battle still raged. And all of that fighting happened in just one hour. And it was a decisive hour. The Nez Perce succeeded in stopping the army from overrunning the camp. And now both sides pulled back to regroup and assess the situation. They both suffered terribly. The 7th Cavalry lost all three 1st Sergeants and at least one Lieutenant and one Captain. Only one officer was uninjured. In total, the Army lost between 20 and 30 men. The Nez Perce lost similar numbers.

30 men. The Nez Perce lost similar numbers. Lien Elk, the man who had led the journey for more than a month, was killed. Joseph's brother, his closest companion, was killed. One of the leaders of the five bands of Nez Perce was also killed. The Nez Perce were divided once again, and the end was in sight. A number of people from the camp had been able to wrangle some horses and escape to the north. The ones who were left behind and the warriors who had done the fighting had to make a choice. They could try to join the others and make a final run for Canada, or they could stay and fight. If they stayed, they had no horses and virtually no chance of escape. They had no horses and virtually no chance of escape.

Toward the end of the first day of fighting, September 30th, 1877, an early winter storm dumped five inches of snow on everyone along the creek. Up on the flat land, Colonel Miles had rushed forward to make the attack and had left his supply wagons behind, so his men had no tents. The soldiers shivered and froze, and it was worse for the Nez Perce. Their camp was in ruins. Women scratched out pits in the ground with plates or knives or anything else available. They huddled around their children to protect them from the snow and freezing cold.

The next day, the gunfire resumed, but without the fierce fighting of the first day, though there were still casualties. Looking Glass, one of the leaders of the Nez Perce, was killed. The only hope for the survivors in camp was that the refugees who fled north could rally Sitting Bulls Village to ride to the rescue. But that was the longest of long shots. As the second day of the battle wore on, the situation improved for the Army. The supply wagons arrived, and now the soldiers had tents, blankets, food, and more ammunition.

The misery on the Nez Perce side deepened, and Colonel Miles began discussions for a surrender. Miles eventually asked for Joseph to come forward, and Joseph entered the army camp under a white flag of truce to discuss the stalemate. When Joseph wouldn't surrender outright, Miles arrested him and held him overnight. The next day, Miles released Joseph in an exchange for a lieutenant who had been captured. That day, October 2nd, Colonel Miles started shelling the camp with small cannon. Luckily for the Nez Perce, the weapons caused more fright than damage, though they did account for the final two fatalities of the battle. The rest of the day dragged on with no

result. The warriors and the soldiers traded long-range fire, but neither side could dislodge the other. On October 3rd, the fourth day of the siege, the first Nez Perce refugees reached Sitting Bull's camp in Canada. They tried to explain the location of their camp, but the Sioux misunderstood. They thought it was much farther away than it actually was, and therefore they couldn't help. A day or two later, the next group of refugees arrived and corrected the misunderstanding. By then it was too late. General Howard arrived at the battlefield. By that time, he only had 20 soldiers with him.

A week earlier, his command had collapsed. His civilian volunteers were fed up and went home. He sent a cavalry unit back to Idaho to resume its regular duties, and he separated from Colonel Sturgis and the rest of the 7th Cavalry. He made it to Cow Island in the Missouri River and followed the trail north. He met a couple couriers along the way who told him about the fighting along the creek near the

Milk River. Sturgis had also learned of the engagement that would be called the Battle of Bearspaw, named for the nearby mountain range. He had turned around with companies of cavalry and infantry, but by the time he arrived it was all over. On October 4th, the fifth day of the siege, Howard and Miles tried again to negotiate a surrender. The Nez Perce were hesitant and suspicious, and discussions dragged on throughout the day. That night, a group of soldiers crawled near the Nez Perce were hesitant and suspicious and discussions dragged on throughout the day. That night, a group of soldiers crawled near the Nez Perce camp and opened fire. No one was hurt, but it was a reminder of the dire situation. Later that night, the Nez Perce discussed their options and the group was split by a

slim margin. The majority favored surrender, especially since they believed they would be allowed to return to Idaho. The minority, which was sizable, wanted to escape to Canada. That group, which was led by White Bird, slipped away under the cover of darkness and eventually made it to Sitting Bull's camp. By one Nez Perce estimate, between 200 and 250 people successfully made it to Canada. That was nearly half of the people Howard and Miles believed they had trapped along the creek. The ones who stayed were done fighting. They informed Miles and Howard they would surrender the next day.

On the afternoon of October 5th, Joseph rode his horse up to the army camp. His Winchester rifle lay across his saddle. His shirt was pockmarked with bullet holes, and there were scratches from bullets on his face, wrist, and back. He was followed by five men on foot, and when the small procession reached General Howard and Colonel Miles, and when the small procession reached General Howard and Colonel Miles, Joseph dismounted. Joseph offered his rifle as a token of surrender, and Miles accepted it. The three leaders shook hands and secured the end of the Nez Perce War. At that point, Joseph spoke a line that has been immortalized in the history of the West. It is most often translated to, From where the sun now stands,

I will fight no more forever. After the surrender, the Nez Perce were given food and blankets. Two days later, the Army and the Nez Perce began a long, slow walk to the Army Outpost at present-day Miles City. From there, the Nez Perce began a long, slow walk to the Army outpost at present-day Miles City. From there, the Nez Perce experienced eight of the worst years of their lives.

First, they were shipped by wagon and boat to Fort Lincoln, home of the 7th Cavalry, near Bismarck in Dakota Territory. Then they were sent south to Leavenworth, Kansas. They spent six months in Kansas before Congress voted to send them to Indian territory. They lived in Indian territory for seven years, and their numbers dropped substantially. When they arrived in the summer of 1878, they had been traveling for a solid year. Since their capture, they had been living in terrible conditions and were ravaged by disease. In 1879, Joseph made his first trip to Washington, D.C. He was the designated representative of the bands who had tried to remain free, and he became known as Chief Joseph.

He constantly pushed the U.S. government to allow his people to return home. In the spring of 1885, seven years after the Nez Perce War started, the survivors in Indian territory were sent to Washington State. A little under half were allowed to return to the Nez Perce reservation in Idaho. The rest, including Joseph, were forced to live on the Colville reservation in Northern Washington. Two years later, the U.S. took more land from the Nez Perce. The reservation that had been created by the 1863 treaty was roughly 630,000 acres. Under the Dawes Act of 1887,

the reservation was reduced by 85% to 90,000 acres, and that's where it stands today. Slowly, over time, many of the refugees who made it to Canada drifted back to the United States. Some were able to slip back onto the reservation, but in 1882, White Bird, the leader who was the most resistant to the reservation, was killed in Canada. In 1899, 22 years after the Nez Perce War, Joseph was finally allowed to see his homeland

again. It was his final trip to the Wallowa Valley in Eastern Oregon before he passed away in 1904. It's hard to know the exact nature and full extent of his role as one of the leaders of the journey that became known as the Flight of the Nez Perce, but afterward, he became the most prominent member of his people and lobbied tirelessly on their behalf. It wasn't his intention, but he ended up achieving the legendary status of Native American leaders like Tecumseh, Red Cloud, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Cochise, Geronimo, and Kwanah Parker.

If there were two Mount Rushmoors of Native American leaders, he would be on one of them. Thanks for listening to the story of the Nez Perce War here on Legends of the Old West. Next time, we'll go back to the outlaws and tell the stories of three notorious figures. Joaquin Murrieta, the inspiration for the character of Zorro, Blackjack Ketchum, and Texas killer Jim Miller. That's next time on Legends of the Old West. And members of our Black Barrel Plus program don't have to wait week to week to receive new episodes. They receive the entire season to binge all at once with no commercials, and they also receive exclusive bonus episodes. Sign up now through the link in the show notes

or on our website, blackbarrelmedia.com. Memberships begin at just $5 per month. Original music by Rob Valier. I'm your writer, host, and producer, Chris Wimmer. If you enjoyed the show, please give us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening. Check out our website, blackbarrelmedia.com, for more details and join us on social media or at Old West Podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. And all our episodes are available on YouTube. Just search for Legends of the Old West Podcast. Thanks for listening.