Location:

Bear Paw Battlefield, one of several units of the US National Park Service=s Nez Perce National Historical Park, is located 16 miles south of Chinook, Montana on Route 240 (Cleveland Road).  On-site facilities include a 1.25 mile self-guided interpretive trail, picnic tables, and vault toilets.  Daily tours start in Chinook at the Blaine County Museum, 501 Indiana Street.  For more information contact them at (406) 357-2590 or the National Park Service ranger at (406) 357-3130 [admin office: 301 Ohio Street].

Tragic Trek:

General W.T. Sherman best described the Nez Perce retreat as Athe most extraordinary of Indian wars.@  This unusual story began in the expansive mountain valleys of central Idaho and eastern Washington and Oregon.  In 1877, after gold was discovered in their homeland, the US Army ruthlessly attempted to force free-roaming Nez Perce bands onto a small arbitrarily created reservation in central Idaho.  Faced with no option except their people's wasted blood, the Nez Perce leaders agreed.  But while the chiefs were away preparing for the move, three young disheartened warriors rode to Salmon River to settle a score with an unpunished murderer.  By the time the leaders returned to camp on June 15, several white settlers had been killed and the Nez Perce were faced with a war.

Fleeing Idaho, they first sought sanctuary in western Montana.  When that failed they fled east through Yellowstone Park and attempted to join forces with the Crow Indians.  When the Crows proved unreceptive, the Nez Perce leaders opted to go north to Canada.  By the time they reached Snake Creek just south of present day Chinook on September 29, seven to nine hundred Nez Perce men, women, and children had traveled more than 1,300 miles in three months and survived numerous engagements with the US Army.  Believing that they were still at least two days ahead of their pursuers, the leaders chose to make camp and spend a day processing buffalo killed in the area.  But before they could get packed to leave the next morning the Nez Perce were attacked by three hundred mounted troops under Col. Nelson Miles.  The warriors heroically repulsed the Army=s cavalry charge with heavy losses to both sides.  In the confusion the Indian ponies were stampeded and most of the Nez Perce were trapped in the creek valley.  The battle settled into a siege.  After enduring five days of artillery bombardment and horrible weather, Chief Joseph finally surrendered on October 5, 1877, uttering the now famous words, AFrom where the sun stands I will fight no more forever.@

A Unique Site:

Ironically, Bear Paw Battlefield marks the last conflict of the Plains Indian Wars, but it is also the site of what was undoubtedly the most Aconventional@ of all Indian Wars battles.  The inhuman brutality that was typically a feature of Indian-Army conflict was noticeably absent here.  It is also the only Indian battle that ended in a conditional surrender.  And the Battle of Bear=s Paw may be the only engagement where the Army was forced to resort to siege tactics against the Indians.  Today the Battlefield is perhaps the best preserved and most carefully inventoried military historical site in North America.