BigHoleBattle

NATIONAL BATTLE OF THE BIG HOLE

In the summer of 1877 five bands of Nez Perce Indians consisting of 800 people, including 250 warriors, began a 1,170-
milejourney from
northeastern Oregon and central Idaho over the Bitter-root Mountains and through the Montana Territory.

Though they were herding more than 2,000 horses and carrying whatever possessions they could manage, the
Nez Perce
made this long and difficult trek in less than four months.

United States Army troops under Gen. Oliver O. Howard had orders to place the five non-treaty bands of Nez Perce
on a small
eservation in central Idaho. The Nez Perce had hoped to elude the soldiers, but they were forced to stop and face their pursuers
several times.

The battle with the highest number of casualties during this epic odyssey took place in the Big Hole Valley of southwestern
Montana. The Battle of the Big Hole was a tragic turning point of what came to be called the Nez Perce War of 1877.

The Nez Perce arrived in the lush Big Hole Valley on the morning of August 7, and their trail leader, Chief Looking Glass,
chose an old camp site at which to set up their tipis. Believing that they were far enough ahead of Howard's soldiers to be
Gibbon's scouts spotted the Nez Perce tipis on the afternoon of August 8. Before dawn on the 9th most of the soldiers and
34 civilian volunteers were forming a skirmish line behind a screen of willow brush along the west bank of the North Fork of
the Big Hole River, within 200 yards of the Nez Perce camp. Here they waited tensely for first light to attack. The attack
started prematurely, however, when a Nez Perce named Natalekin went out to check his horses and stumbled onto the
concealed soldiers and volunteers, who shot and killed him. When the troops crossed the river and fired into the village,
some of the Nez Perce scattered quickly while others were slow to awaken. In the confusion of the faint pre-dawn light,
men,women, and children were shot indiscriminately.

The soldiers soon occupied the upper end of the camp, while the Nez Perce warriors, urged on by Chiefs Looking Glass
and White Bird, quickly took defensive positions and prepared a counterattack.

Their deadly shooting eventually forced Gibbon's men to retreat back across the river to a point of pines projecting from Battle
Mountain. In the timber the troops dug in for a siege and were pinned down for the next 24 hours.

During the attack, some of Gibbon's men had been struggling to haul a 12-pounder mountain howitzer through the dense
lodge-pole pine forest. They managed to place it on the hillside above the siege area just as the soldiers were digging in.
The crew fired two rounds before a group of Nez Perce horsmen, galloping forward, captured the gun, dismantled it, and scattered its parts.

The steep walk up to the site where Nez Perce warriors captured Gibbon's howitzer takes about 20 minutes and provides
a spectacular view of the battlefield and the Big Hole Valley

Many were left to care for the injured, bury the dead, gather their horses, and break camp. Others remained to keep the soldiers
under fire while the Nez Perce families headed south, leaving much of their belongs and many of their dead behind. Finally,
on August 10^th, in the early morning of the second day of fighting, the remaining warriors fired parting shots and left to join their
people. The battle was over.
General Howard’s troops arrived the next day and found colonel Gibbon wounded and his command out of action. In a military
sense the Nez Perce had won the battle, but the “victory: was a hollow ones. Sixty to ninety members of the tribe had been killed.
Only about thirty of these were warriors; the rest were women, children, and old people. The Nez Perce now realized the war was not
over and they must flee for their lives.
Wounded soldiers knew that they had greatly damaged the fighting ability and the morale of the Nez Perce people. Despite the
tragic events that occurred on the battlefield, both sides demonstrated acts of heroism and human kindness. Seven enlisted men
were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, and those officers who survived received brevet promotions. For many of the
soldiers and volunteers the horrors of what they had seen at the Battle of the Big Hole would haunt them for the rest of their lives.

Officers of the Seventh Infantry

1st Lieutenant James H. Bradley	Killed
Captain George L. Browning
Captain Richard Comba
1st Lieutenant Charles A. Coolidge	Wounded
1st Lieutenant William L. English	Killed
Colonel John Gibbon	Wounded
2nd Lieutenant Edwin E. Hardin
1st Lieutenant Allan H. Jackson
1st Lieutenant Joshua W. Jacobs
Captain William Logan	Killed
Captain Charles C. Rawn
Captain James M. W. Sanno
2nd Lieutenant John T. Van Orsdale
Captain Constant Williams	Wounded
2nd Lieutenant Francis Woodbridge
1st Lieutenant Charles A. Woodruff	Wounded
1st Lieutenant George H. Wright

(source:USDA Forest Service)

Soldiers

John Abbott	Corporal	7th Infantry	Company D	Wounded
Charles Alberts	Private	7th Infantry	Company A	Wounded
Peter Andrews	Musician	7th Infantry	Company K
George Banghart	Private	7th Infantry	Company G	Wounded
James Bell II	Sergeant	7th Infantry	Company E	Wounded
August W. Bender	Private	7th Infantry	Company K
John Bennet	Private	7th Infantry	Company B
Robert Bensinger	Sergeant	7th Infantry	Company G	Wounded
Frank Brandt	Sergeant	7th Infantry	Company D
August Brietenstein	Corporal	7th Infantry	Company E
Herman Broetz	Private	7th Infantry	Company I	Killed
Lorenzo D. Brown	Private	7th Infantry	Company A	Wounded
Thomas Bundy	Private	7th Infantry	Company F
James Burk	Private	7th Infantry	Company G	Wounded
Joseph Burke	Sergeant	7th Infantry	Company K
John Burns	Corporal	7th Infantry	Company E	Wounded
Mathew Butterly	Private	7th Infantry	Company E	Killed
William Buty	Sergeant	7th Infantry	Company F
Robert L. Carpenter	Musician	7th Infantry	Company H
William Carson	Private	7th Infantry	Company I
Howard Clark	Sergeant	7th Infantry	Company K
Wilfred Clark	Private	2nd Cavalry	Company L
Washington Clark	Private	7th Infantry	Company I	Wounded
George Clarke	Private	7th Infantry	Company I
Thomas Collins	Private	7th Infantry	Company I
John J. Connor	Private	7th Infantry	Company G	Wounded
Holmes L. Coon	Private	7th Infantry	Company G
James Crogan	Private	7th Infantry	Company D
Timothy Cronan	Musician	7th Infantry	Company D	Wounded
Joseph Cumminskey	Private	7th Infantry	Company F
Richard N. Cunliffe	Corporal	7th Infantry	Company I	Wounded
Patrick C. Daly	Sergeant	7th Infantry	Company D	Wounded
Adolph Dauth	Private	7th Infantry	Company G
Mathew Devine	Private	7th Infantry	Company K	Wounded
Joseph Devoss	Private	7th Infantry	Company I	Wounded
McKindra L. Drake	Private	7th Infantry	Company H	Killed
Socrates Drummon	Corporal	7th Infantry	Company K
Robert L. Edgeworth	1st Sergeant	7th Infantry	Company G	Killed
William D. Edwards	1st Sergeant	7th Infantry	Company F
Jacob Eisenhut	Corporal	7th Infantry	Company D	Killed
James Elmore	Private	7th Infantry	Company F
John Erickson	Musician	7th Infantry	Company F	Wounded
James Evans	Private	7th Infantry	Company I
Patrick Fallon	Private	7th Infantry	Company I	Wounded
Charles Ferris	Private	7th Infantry	Company F
Isaac Frankenfield	Private	7th Infantry	Company D
John W.H. Frederick	Sergeant	7th Infantry	Company G	Wounded
Peter M. Frost	Private	7th Infantry	Company K
Francis Gallagher	Private	7th Infantry	Company F
Michael Gallagher	Musician	7th Infantry	Company D	Killed
Eugene Geant	Private	7th Infantry	Company H
John H. Goale	Private	7th Infantry	Company G	Deserted
Peter Goff	Private	7th Infantry	Company A
Jacob Goldberg	Private	7th Infantry	Company K
Charles B. Gould	Private	2nd Cavalry	Company F	Wounded
Gerald J. Grace	Private	7th Infantry	Company G
Henry S. Groff	Private	7th Infantry	Company H
Price Hamilton	Private	7th Infantry	Company F
Byron Harryman	Private	7th Infantry	Company K
Davis Heaton	Private	7th Infantry	Company K	Wounded
Lewis Heider	Corporal	7th Infantry	Company A
Charles Heinze	Private	7th Infantry	Company G
Adolph Heinzman	Corporal	7th Infantry	Company A
Carl Herdmerton	Private	7th Infantry	Company G
Nehm Hexter	Private	7th Infantry	Company F
Michael Hogan	Sergeant	7th Infantry	Company I	Killed
Edward D. Hunter	Private	7th Infantry	Company F	Wounded
Philo O. Hurlburt	Private	7th Infantry	Company K	Wounded
George Jacklin	Private	7th Infantry	Company G
Oliver Johnson	Private	7th Infantry	Company F
James Keys	Private	7th Infantry	Company D	Wounded
Edward C. King	Private	7th Infantry	Company G
Habern R. King	Private	7th Infantry	Company G
John Kleis	Artist	7th Infantry	Company K	Killed
Riley R. Lane	Sergeant	7th Infantry	Company D
John Lay	Private	2nd Cavalry	Company L
Thomas Lefferty	Private	2nd Cavalry	Company L
James C. Lehmer	Private	7th Infantry	Company A	Wounded
George Leher	Private	7th Infantry	Company A	Wounded
Seth D. Loveland	Private	7th Infantry	Company G
Charles N. Loynes	Corporal	7th Infantry	Company I
Charles Ludke	Private	7th Infantry	Company E
Christian Luttman	Corporal	7th Infantry	Company F	Wounded
James E. Malley	Private	7th Infantry	Company F
Gottlieb Mantz	Private	7th Infantry	Company G	Killed
William H. Martin	Sergeant	7th Infantry	Company G	Killed
William W. Matthews	Private	7th Infantry	Company G
George Maurer	Private	7th Infantry	Company F	Wounded
Daniel McCafferey	Corporal	7th Infantry	Company I	Killed
Francis McCaffery, Jr.	Sergeant	7th Infantry	Company D
Malcolm McGregor	Private	7th Infantry	Company G	Deserted
James McGuire	Private	7th Infantry	Company F	Killed
John McHenry	Private	7th Infantry	Company K
Thomas McLaughlin	1st Sergeant	7th Infantry	Company D
John W. McLennon	Musician	7th Infantry	Company A
Charles Meinart	Private	7th Infantry	Company I
James Molloy	Private	7th Infantry	Company K
Thomas Monaghan	Sergeant	7th Infantry	Company G
John G. Moore	Private	2nd Cavalry	Company L
William Moran	Private	7th Infantry	Company H
David B. Morton	Private	7th Infantry	Company G
Frank Murphy	Private	7th Infantry	Company K
John A. Murphy	Private	7th Infantry	Company D
John D. Murphy	Corporal	7th Infantry	Company D
Nicholas Murphy	Private	7th Infantry	Company I
F. John O'Brien	Private	7th Infantry	Company G	Killed
Dominick O'Connor	Corporal	7th Infantry	Company G	Killed
Edward Page	Sergeant	2nd Cavalry	Company L	Killed
William H. Payne	Corporal	7th Infantry	Company D	Killed
Noah G. Pomeroy	Corporal	7th Infantry	Company K
William D. Pomeroy	Private	7th Infantry	Company F	Killed
John Raferty	Sergeant	7th Infantry	Company A
George Renz	Private	7th Infantry	Company D
Charles A. Robbecke	Private	7th Infantry	Company G	Wounded
Seldom M. Rodgers	Private	7th Infantry	Company I
Patrick Rogan	1st Sergeant	7th Infantry	Company A
Robert E. Sale	Corporal	7th Infantry	Company G	Killed