White Bird Canyon, Idaho, the scene of the first battle of the Nez Perce War of 1877. In this valley, about 70 poorly armed warriors won a lopsided victory against 130 U.S. soldiers, civilian volunteers and scouts, killing 34 soldiers, with only 3 warriors wounded.
The Nez Perce had a long history of peaceful relations with Whites, from the time they saved the Lewis and Clark expedition from starvation in the winter of 1806. A treaty in 1863, approved only by the Northern Nez Perce, established a reservation. When gold was discovered on the reservation just 3 years later, a subsequent treaty reduced these lands by 90%.
The Southern Nez Perce, whose land was largely excluded from the treaties, ignored them, until 1877, when General O.O. Howard, representing the U.S. government, demanded that all Nez Perce, North and South, relocate to the reservation within 30 days or the U.S. would declare war. Howard, an abolitionist and former head of the Freedmen's Bureau for former slaves, showed no sympathy or understanding of the Nez Perce, even arresting and jailing a prominent chief during the ‘negotiations’.
Howard’s 30-day deadline was completely unreasonable, not giving the Southern tribes, who were wealthy with livestock that grazed outside the reservation boundaries, time to collect their animals.
As the deadline approached, the chiefs were largely resigned to accept the ultimatum, but of course there was much anger. One night, near the end of the 30-day deadline, while the tribes held their summer camp at nearby Tolo Lake, several young warriors set out to seek revenge against a settler who had murdered their father, but who had suffered no punishment. This snowballed into a massacre of about 20 settlers.
In response to the killings, the army sent two companies. Eleven volunteers from local towns joined the soldiers. The soldiers found the tribes here at White Bird Canyon. The Nez Perce sent a small peace party with a white flag to negotiate with the soldiers and perhaps surrender the murderers. One of the volunteers fired on the peace party and the battle ensued. As would be the case often in the war, the warriors outclassed the soldiers in marksmanship and strategy and decisively won.
Following the White Bird battle, the four-month war became a bloody, 1,200-mile pursuit by three U.S Armies of the caravan of 250 warriors and 500 women, children and elders as they attempted to escape to their erstwhile Crow allies in Montana or to join Sitting Bull who was in refuge in Canada after having annihilated Custer at Little Big Horn the previous year.
The battlefield is on the Nez Perce Historical Park, which has an excellent visitors center north of Lapwai. There are numerous historical markers all through this area, which also has beautiful scenery.
Sources: Children of Grace, Bruce Hampton; Yellow Wolf, His Own Story; Following the Nez Perce Trail, Cheryl Wilfong; Wikipedia
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