Battle of the Big Hole
Part of theNez Perce War
Big Hole battlefield
Date 9–10 August 1877 Location Beaverhead County,Montana Territory 45°38′51″N113°39′03″W / 45.64750°N 113.65083°W /45.64750; -113.65083[1] Result Inconclusive
Belligerents
United States	Nez Perce
Commanders and leaders
John Gibbon (Colonel)	Chief Joseph Looking Glass
Strength
206	200 warriors
Casualties and losses
31 killed 38 wounded[2]	70–90 killed of whom perhaps thirty were warriors.
class=notpageimage| Location in theUnited States Show map of the United States class=notpageimage| Location inMontana Territory Show map of Montana

TheBattle of the Big Hole was fought inMontana Territory, August 9–10, 1877, between theUnited States Army and theNez Perce tribe ofNative Americans during theNez Perce War. Both sides suffered heavy casualties. The Nez Perce withdrew in good order from the battlefield and continued their long fighting retreat that would result in their attempt to reachCanada and asylum.

Located inBeaverhead County, thebattle site is between thecontinental divide atChief Joseph Pass and the town ofWisdom.

After theBattle of the Clearwater inIdaho Territory on July 11–12, the Nez Perce leaders led their people on an extensive trek to escape the soldiers of Brigadier GeneralOliver Otis Howard. The Nez Perce crossed into Montana Territory via ruggedLolo Pass, and after a brief confrontation atFort Fizzle on July 28, they entered theBitterroot Valley and proceeded southward.Looking Glass seems to have taken over leadership fromChief Joseph; he pledged to the white settlers in the Bitterroot Valley that the Nez Perce would pass through their valley without violence and they did so, even trading and purchasing supplies from white merchants.^[3]

Looking Glass persuaded the Nez Perce that Howard was far behind and that the citizens of Montana did not want war with them. Thus, their progress was leisurely and they took few precautions for defense, not sending out scouts or setting pickets to guard their encampments. They left the Bitterroot Valley, crossed a mountain range, and camped in the Big Hole Basin, pausing to replenish theirtipi poles from the surrounding forest.^[3] The Nez Perce numbered about 750 people in all with about 200 warriors.^{[citation needed]}

Unknown to the Nez Perce, ColonelJohn Gibbon had leftFort Shaw with 161 officers and men and one howitzer. Following the trail of the Nez Perce he collected 45 civilian volunteers in the Bitterroot Valley.^[4] On August 8, a detachment led by Lieutenant James Bradley discovered the Nez Perce camp along the North Fork of the Big Hole River.^[5] That night Gibbon marched overland to the Nez Perce camp, reaching it at dawn, leaving his twelve-pound (5.4 kg)howitzer and a pack train to follow behind with a guard of twenty men. He had come to fight: his orders were no prisoners and no negotiations.^[4][6]

Between Gibbon's position and the Nez Perce encampment, which consisted of 89 tipis in aV-shaped pattern, was the waist-deep andwillow-lined North Fork of theBig Hole River. Approaching the Nez Perce encampment on foot at dawn, Gibbon's men encountered an old Nez Perce man and killed him. The soldiers crossed the river and rushed into the village and began firing into the tipis where most of the Nez Perce were still sleeping. The Indians were taken by surprise and fled in all directions. Gibbon's men fired indiscriminately at men, women, and children – although some of the women were said to have been armed and shooting back at the soldiers. Lieutenant James H. Bradley, leading Gibbon's left wing, was killed early in the battle. Leaderless, his men did not continue their advance and left the northern part of the village unoccupied, giving a refuge and a rallying point to the Nez Perce.^{[6][dead link]}

Gibbon halted his men in their pursuit, not wishing his force to be scattered, and ordered them to burn the tipis. This proved difficult to do and the pause gave the Nez Perce time to regroup. The voices ofWhite Bird and Looking Glass rallying their men from the opposite end of the village were heard by the soldiers.^[4] From sheltered positions the Nez Perce began to return fire. Gibbon's horse was hit and he was wounded in the leg and several other soldiers were killed. As usual, the Nez Perce's marksmanship was excellent – although, according to the warriorYellow Wolf, most of the Nez Perce warriors had fled without their weapons and only a few were armed.^[7]

Twenty minutes after his entry into the village, Gibbon, realizing that he was in an "untenable position", ordered a retreat across the river to a timbered area 300 or 400 yards distant and out of view of the village. The soldiers dug rifle pits and constructed rock and log barriers. At this point Gibbon's howitzer appeared on the battlefield and fired two or three ineffectual rounds. The Nez Perce killed or wounded most of the howitzer crew, who abandoned the gun, but not before dismantling it.^[4]

Gibbon feared that the Nez Perce, who he believed outnumbered him, although they probably did not, would overrun his position, but instead the battle settled down into a sniping duel between about 60 Nez Perce underOllokot and the soldiers.^[8] The Nez Perce had collected arms and ammunition left behind by the soldiers in their retreat. At one point the Nez Perce set fires and attempted to burn the soldiers out of their position, but the wind shifted and the fire burned itself out. That afternoon the Nez Perce continued sniping at the soldiers while their women packed up, gathered the horse herd, and moved out south, going about 18 miles to Lake Creek where they made camp – this time with defensive works.^[4]

Gibbon had serious problems that night. His men had no food, save a dead horse, no water, and many seriously wounded men to tend to. A little water was obtained from the river by volunteers who crept through the Indian lines. Several of the civilian volunteers had had enough of the battle and slipped away. Gibbon sent out messengers to search for the much larger force of Howard, who was following him, and request immediate relief.^[4]

The next day, August 10, twenty to thirty Nez Perce sharpshooters kept the soldiers holed up in their fortifications all day. The Nez Perce warriors left that night, leaving Gibbon and his soldiers alone but immobile on the battlefield. Howard, and an advance party of 29 cavalrymen and 17Bannock scouts, found Gibbon the next morning after a 71-mile (114 km) ride in a day and a night.^{[4][6][dead link]}

The battle was costly for both sides. Gibbon's force was unfit to pursue the Nez Perce. Gibbon suffered 29 dead (23 soldiers and six civilian volunteers) and 40 wounded (36 soldiers and four civilians) of whom two later died. His casualties amounted to more than 30 percent of his force. No precise estimate of Nez Perce casualties exists although their total dead probably amounted to between 70 and 90, of whom less than 33 were warriors and most were women and children.^[6] Yellow Wolf claimed that only 12 "real fighters, but our best" died in the battle.^[9] Chief Joseph and his brother Ollokot's wives were wounded.^[3]

Gibbon's success in surprising the Nez Perce caused Looking Glass's prestige as a leader to plummet. He had promised them they would be safe in Montana and instead nearly every Nez Perce family had suffered a loss in the battle. Chief Joseph seems to have resumed his role as the principal leader of the Nez Perce although Looking Glass would continue to be a battlefield leader.^{[citation needed]}

For the Nez Perce the losses in the battle were grievous. They had anticipated that, by leavingIdaho, they might leave the war behind them and live peacefully. Now, they knew that they could expect no quarter in future battles.^[10] Howard's forces, newly arrived on the battlefield, took up the pursuit and followed Joseph towardYellowstone National Park. The Nez Perce again clashed with the army ten days later on August 20 at theBattle of Camas Meadows.^{[citation needed]}

The battlefield is preserved in theBig Hole National Battlefield unit of theNez Perce National Historical Park,^[11] located alongState Highway 43.

District of Western Montana: ColonelJohn Gibbon
7th U.S. Infantry

• Left Battalion^[12]
  • Company A: Captain William Logan,in reserve
  • Company K: CaptainJames M. J. Sanno
  • Company D:^[13] CaptainRichard Comba,senior battalion officer
  • Scouts and Volunteers: Lieutenant James H. Bradley^[14][15]
  • Bitterroot Civilian Volunteers:^[16] "Captain" John B. Catlin,attached to Bradley's command
• Right Battalion^[17]
  • Company F: Captain Constant Williams
  • Company G: Captain George Browning
  • Company I: Captain Charles C. Rawn,senior battalion officer

2nd U.S. Cavalry

• Company L, detachment: (attached to Bradley's command)

Artillery

• 12lb Mountain Howitzer: Sgt Daley, Sgt Fredericks^[18]

• Dillon, Richard H. (1983).North American Indian Wars. New York: Facts on File.ISBN 978-0871966414.
• Greene, Jerome A. (2000).Nez Perce summer, 1877: The U.S. Army and the Nee-Me-Poo Crisis. Helena: Montana Historical Society Press.ISBN 978-0917298820.

• Big Hole National Battlefield
• Nez Perce National Historic Trail
• Nez Perce Trail Foundation
• The Nez Perce Battles Friends of Bear Paw, Big Hole & Canyon Creek BattlefieldsArchived 2015-04-22 at theWayback Machine

• Battles in 1877
• 1877 in Montana Territory
• 1877 in the United States
• Battles of the Nez Perce War
• August 1877
• Battles in Montana

• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from August 2015
• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from August 2020
• Webarchive template wayback links