Welcome to the audio-description version of Big Hole National Battlefield's official print brochure. This version interprets the two-sided, color brochure that Big Hole visitors receive through the text and audio descriptions of photos, illustrations, and maps. The brochure explores the complex history of the park and includes information for planning your visit. This audio version has been divided into 20 sections, as a way to improve the listening experience. Sections 1 through 8 cover the front of the brochure and include information regarding the history of this place and a map of the present-day park services and trails. Sections 9 through 20 cover the back side of the brochure which consists of information, an orientation map for the Flight of 1877, and resources to plan your visit. There are a number of words and names in Nez Perce language in both the text and in the audio-descriptions.
Big Hole National Battlefield, located in Montana, is part of the National Park Service, within the Department of the Interior. The six hundred and fifty-five acre park, established in 1910, is situated 10 miles west of Wisdom, Montana, at the edge of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. To find out more about what resources might be available or to contact the park directly, visit the "Accessibility" and "More Information" sections at the end of this audio-described brochure.
Side one of the Big Hole National Battlefield brochure is comprised of text, quotes, one map, and five color images. The top of the brochure is spanned by a color painting depicting the historic battle at Big Hole. Under this are two color photographs. The map is at the bottom of this side of the brochure. It identifies the main visitor services and trails in the park, as well as the historic movements of people during the 1877 battle. Flanking the map on both sides are two color photographs; one highlights the view from the hill, the other shows the view from the valley floor.
The text, associated map and image descriptions are presented under their own sections. In addition to the map and photo descriptions, the text sections provide many descriptive details about what the areas look like and information about getting there and what trails and amenities are available.
DESCRIBING: Large, color painting spanning the entire width of the brochure.
SYNOPSIS: This painting depicts a nımí·pu· artist’s interpretation of the attack by the United States 7th Infantry on the nımí·pu· camp in the Big Hole Valley in 1877. The scene is unfolding in an outdoor summer setting with wooded hills in the distance. Spanning across the painting are five nımí·pu· teepees and various nımí·pu· people of differing ages. Between the teepees and the wooded hillsides are scattered U.S. soldiers advancing and firing on the teepee encampment. In the center foreground, a nımí·pu· woman and her infant in a cradleboard move away from the teepees. She is facing the viewer.
IN-DEPTH DESCRIPTION: All of the fore and middle ground of this artwork has short grass growing on the ground under the teepees and under the feet of the people. The grass retains some of its summer green, but much of it is turning to a golden yellow hue, indicating the beginning of summer’s descent into fall. The grass transitions to human-height green shrubs towards the background of the painting. These shrubs are densely packed along the banks of the rambling Big Hole River which is not-visible-to-the-viewer. Behind the shrubs stretch hills far into the background and distance of this painting. On the viewers left, the hills are mostly bare with yellowed grass, but as the hills extend across the painting to the viewers right, they are populated with dense evergreen trees. The hills stretch off into the distant light blue sky insinuating the vast distance the hills cover.
On top of this landscape five traditional nımí·pu· teepees are set up. Each of the teepees are conical in shape, beginning in a circle at the base, where the teepee meets the ground, and as they extend upward, they taper and become narrower. The tops of the teepees are not visible in this painting. Each teepee is made up of wood poles, which give the structures shape and strength, and an exterior covering made of stitched-together buffalo hide with the fur removed. The hide covering is stretched tightly over the poles, giving the suggestion of the structural poles underneath. Each teepee varies in color, like a smoked animal hide would vary in coloration, from light tan to deep brown to sooty black patches. Some of the teepees are oriented with the teepee doors facing the viewer. The doors are flap openings in the hide covers. Above each door, the two sides of the hide teepee covering are vertically laced together with a line of perpendicular sticks. Some of the teepees are farther from the viewer in the middle-ground, and some are closer in the foreground, and thus appear larger.
Across the painting are about 9 or 10 nımí·pu· people, all are near the teepee doors, or hurriedly exiting. The surprised nımí·pu· are shown scrambling to get away from the approaching U.S. soldiers and the gunfire raining into the teepees. The nımí·pu· depicted are haphazard after awaking in the pre-dawn hours by the gunfire of the soldiers. Two nımí·pu· men are shirtless and aiming long rifles at the soldiers while one older nımí·pu· man with grey flecks in his black hair wears a long buckskin shirt and holds a short wooden bow and a handful of arrows in one hand. The man with the bow and arrows is helping two nımí·pu· children exit a teepee. Other nımí·pu· adults and children are wearing long buckskin and wool dresses while they exit teepees and move away from the dangerous gunfire. Behind the teepees, near the tall riverbank shrubs, at least four soldiers are shown approaching the encampment from multiple directions. The soldiers are wearing blue infantry uniforms, hats, and are firing long rifles toward the nımí·pu· camp. A loose horse gallops away from the scene on the far right of the painting. One nımí·pu· woman and her child are prominently featured in the center, foreground of the artwork. She has long, black hair, parted in the middle and braided on each side of her worried face. She is wearing a deep purple shawl with tassels over a long blue dress that goes all the way to her moccasin-clad feet. In her hands, the woman carries a sleeping nımí·pu· infant. The infant is tightly cocooned in a traditional cradleboard. The cradleboard has a large, rounded, board that extends above the infant’s head. The board is covered in tan colored hide, and onto that hide is sewn wool and beads. Red wool and hide extend over the child’s head and wrap around the child’s body, lacing together in the front, keeping the child snug. The movement of the woman’s tasseled shawl and of her feet tell the viewer that she is trying to get herself and the child away from the gunfire happening behind her.
CAption: Chaos At Dawn
As their families flee for their lives, nımí·pu· warriors fight back during the military's surprise attack.
Related Text: The People: The Nez Perce, whose story is told at Big Hole National Battlefield, call themselves nımí·pu· or The People. “We have been here since time immemorial,” says wé.yux tí.menın (Allen Slickpoo, Jr.). “Our legends go back 9,000 years. . . . We didn’t start with Lewis and Clark.” The nımí·pu· met these explorers in 1805. At that time, tustımasatalpá.ma (Vera Sonneck) explains, “We were one of the biggest tribes in the US. We had 13 million acres of aboriginal lands. We were in what is now Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Canada.“ During the next 70 years, they would lose most of their homeland to European Americans.
DESCRIBING: A small, horizontal rectangular color photo showing a buffalo horn turned into a drinking horn. There is no scale to identify the length of the horn.
SYNOPSIS: Dominating this photo is a textured brown buffalo horn used as a drinking horn. The horn is shaped like the letter “u.” The horn goes from a narrow point on one end to a large open cylinder on the other end. The pointed end faces to the viewer’s left, and the open, broad end faces to the viewer’s right. Laced through two holes drilled into the broad open end of the horn, on the right side, is a knotted purple ribbon – hanging in a loop long enough for a person to carry the horn. Approximately six rounded brass studs are affixed around the same side, along the rim of the open end of the horn. Red painted notches form three vertical columns on the horn beginning at the narrow, pointy end and stretching toward the rounded, open end of the horn. Each notch marking was hand-carved by the horn’s owner. Hollow bison horns, like this one, were often used as drinking vessels by the nımí·pu· and other native peoples of the region.
CAPTION: Remembering the Dead. hú.sus ? ewyí.n (Wounded Head) carved a dot in his drinking horn for each person he found dead at Big Hole, including his two-year-old daughter.
CREDIT: Buffalo Horn - NPS / Washington State University
Related Text: Conflicts Arise
As European Americans began encroaching on nımí·pu· homeland, conflicts began to occur. The US government proposed a treaty in 1855. The nımí·pu· would give up over half their homeland for European-American settlement but keep the right to hunt, fish, and gather on those lands.
Five years later, gold was discovered on nımí·pu· land. This led to the 1863 treaty that decreased nımí·pu· lands by another 90 percent. Five bands of nımí·pu·, which included their allies the pelú.cpu (Palouse) and the weyí.letpu. (Cayuse), refused the second treaty. They would later become known as the non-treaty Nez Perce.
“You might as well expect the rivers to run backwards as that any man who was born a free man should be contented penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases,” said hınmató.wyalahtqıt (Young Joseph), headman of one of these bands. “I have asked some of the great white chiefs where they get their authority to say to the Indian that he shall stay in one place, while he sees white men going where they please. They cannot tell me.”
Descendants from his band reflect today: “Treaties divided and scattered us, both physically and spiritually. They threatened to sever our spiritual connection with the land and fostered the division of our people into Christian and non-Christian, treaty and non-treaty, and finally, tribe and non-tribe.”
By 1877, the US government gave the non-treaty nımí·pu· 30 days to move onto the reservation or be put there by force. The nımí·pu· began the arduous task of gathering all of their belongings, including livestock. They lost much during the journey. Before they could reach their destination, fighting broke out.
?ıslá.mc (Horace Axtell) learned from his ancestors what happened next: “Settlers killed one of our young boy’s father. The boys took revenge and killed some settlers, and that started the whole thing. It was OK for the settlers to kill us, but not the other way around.”
And so started a chain of events that led to numerous battles during a four-month flight of over 1,000 miles. Some call this the “Nez Perce War.”
DESCRIBING: Wide-angle, horizontal, color landscape photograph.
SYNOPSIS: This is a long, narrow landscape photo of the Big Hole Valley. The photo appears to be taken from a steep, grassy hillside. On the viewer’s far left edge of the image greyish mottled and textured tree bark spans from the bottom of the photo to the top, as if the viewer is standing right next to the tree trunk. On the viewer’s far right of the image, on the grassy hillside, is a low-to-the ground sagebrush plant with dark branches and dusty green foliage reaching upwards. In the valley below, a river snakes through the low ground forming “s” shapes across the land. The river runs across the width of the photo, from the viewer’s left to the viewer’s right. As the hill meets the valley floor, pockets of green shrubs dot the landscape and become increasingly dense along the banks of the river. A handful of tall evergreen trees are scattered to the viewer’s right in the valley. Grassy plains stretch away from the river and toward the background of the photo where there are dark hills and mountains in all directions. The mountains ringing the valley stretch as far as the viewer can see and meet the cloudless blue sky.
CAPTION: North Fork of the Big Hole River
CREDIT: NPS / John W. Hammond
QUOTE: My shaking heart tells me trouble and death will overtake us if we make no hurry through this land! I cannot smother, I cannot hide that which I see. I must speak what is revealed to me. Let us begone to the buffalo country! —pıyó.pıyo ?ıpcıwá.tx. (Lone Bird)
DESCRIBING: Green tinged map with faded edges showing the layout of the Big Hole battle in relation to the landscape, location of the visitor center, entrance to battlefield, and parking lot.
SYNOPSIS: Top third of map is covered with small images of pine trees, in the center of this section is a large egg-shaped meadow, devoid of trees. Across the top of the image at an upward angle are the words battle mountain in all caps.
Center third of the map depicts the battle movement, throughout the wandering curves of the North Fork Big Hole River. Major sites are marked:
Small green dots depict shrubbery throughout the battle scene. nımí·pu· and troop movement is shown with faint white arrows and dashed white lines.
Bottom third of map has less marks for shrubbery and trees, solid white line depicts road from parking area to visitor center in lower left corner. Map legend is along lower left corner.
IN-DEPTH DESCRIPTION: The map key is in the lower left with small black boxes with white characters defining parking, picnic area, trailhead, and restrooms, which are all located in the vicinity of the parking lot.
Solid white lines define modern roads, small white dashed lines define park trails.
The key also designates North with a small arrow inside a circle pointing to the top of the map.
Overall color is muted shades of greens, white and brown. Trees and bushes are darker green while meadow and valley are lighter green. River is light blue, meandering diagonally across the image from lower left to middle of the image on right.
Battle mountain area heavily covered with trees from mid-map on the left to upper right corner. Egg-shaped meadow is devoid of any vegetation. Narrow end of meadow is on the right side of the map and has the words “Twin Trees” in black bold text. In the middle of the meadow are the words “nımí·pu· horses were pastured on this slope.” The bottom right of the meadow has in black bold type “Overlook”.
Major Sites:
Numbered battle points are white numbers within small brown circles across the middle of the map. There are six major sites on the map, each one is detailed below.
1. nımí·pu· Camp is located on the east side of the map on the south side of the river. Small black stick outline of a teepee shows placement of the camp. Nez Perce Camp Trail is depicted with a white dashed line encircling the camp and going south to the parking area in the bottom center of the map showing the current trail.
2. US military attacks is located northwest and on the opposite side of the river from #1. A faint white arrow goes from the left at the base of meadow to the right showing the direction the military attacked the nımí·pu· camp, crossing over the small river twice.
3. Warriors drive U.S. military back across the river is located south of #2. A long faint white arrow points west away from the nımí·pu· camp to the wooded area at the base of the meadow. This arrow also points to the current monument for the military.
4. Warriors captured the army howitzer is located at the base of the tree line on Battle Mountain. A small, dashed line circles northward and to the east depicting the current trail to the howitzer and offers scenic views of the battlefield.
5. Warriors besiege soldiers is located at the tree line near the base of the Battle Mountain meadow with views to the river and camp below. Current walking trails are depicted with three small white dashed lines, east to the howitzer, down the hill to the parking lot, and west to the monument and overlook.
6. As the siege continues, surviving nımí·pu· families break camp and flee is located on the far right of the map, away from the mountain and river; a faint arrow pointing east depicts the directions the nımí·pu· flee. A thin green line depicts the current Nez Perce (nımí·pu·) National Historic Trail.
The Visitor Center is located in the lower right portion of the map, depicted by a green box. Under the Visitor Center sign there is a solid white loop that closes at the bottom and connects to Highway 43 at the bottom of the map depicting the main road into the Big Hole National Battlefield. Branching off the main road, the white line goes Northwest toward the lower center of the map ending in a small loop. This loop is the battlefield parking lot.
The map legend is located in the bottom left corner of the map and includes the legend symbol for restrooms, a small black box with two white human silhouettes inside and a solid line between them, the Trailhead, depicted as a white human silhouette with backpack and walking stick in hand, the Picnic Area, the silhouette of a table with benches along both sides and the Parking, depicted as an upper case letter P.
A grey solid line runs from the lower left edge to the right bottom corner, it designates Highway 43. Also, near this line is designated To: Chief Joseph Pass and Highway 93.
Related Text: August 9, 1877: The Battle of Big Hole
By early August, over 800 nımí·pu· (consisting mostly of family groups and only about 200 warriors) and over 2000 horses were passing peacefully through the Bitterroot Valley of Montana. Their leaders believed the military would not pursue them even though many had premonitions warning otherwise. The group arrived at ?ıckumcılé.lıkpe (known today as Big Hole National Battlefield) on August 7. They did not know the military was close behind them. On August 8th, while the nımí·pu· were gathering supplies in the area, military scouts were observing their camp.
1. hímı.n maqsmáqs (Yellow Wolf) described that night: “The warriors paraded about camp, singing, all making a good time. It was the first since war started. Everyone with good feeling. Going to buffalo country!...War was quit. All Montana citizens our friends.” Meanwhile Colonel John Gibbon reported “All laid down to rest until eleven o’clock. At that hour the command...of 17 officers, 132 men and 34 citizens, started down the trail on foot, each man being provided with 90 rounds of ammunition. The howitzer [cannon] could not accompany the column...Orders were given...that at early daylight it should start after us with a pack mule loaded with 2,000 rounds of extra [rifle] ammunition.” Tom Sherrill, a civilian volunteer from the Bitterroot Valley, told: “We were soon assembled at the foot of the hill...We were commanded to halt and...we were very close to the Indian camp.”
2. hú.sus ? ewyí.n (Wounded Head) told what happened before dawn August 9: “A man...got up early, before the daylight. Mounting his horse, he...crossed the creek, when soldiers were surrounding the camp...he was shot down. The sound of the gun awoke most of the band and immediately the battle took place.” Corporal Charles Loynes recalled, “We received orders to give three volleys [low into the teepees], then charge—we did so. That act would hit anyone, old as well as young, but what any individual soldier did while in the camp, he did so as a brute, and not because he had any orders to commit such acts.”
hímı.n ? ılpílp (Red Wolf) described the chaos: “The women, all scared when the soldiers charged the camp, ran into the water, the brush. Any place where they could hide themselves and children. Many were killed as they ran.” pıná.?wınonmay (Helping Another) explained what she did: “I hid under some willow brush, lying like this [flat on side]. A little girl lay close, my arm over her. Bullets cut twigs down on us like rain. The little girl was killed. Killed under my arm.” The soldiers were then given the order to burn the teepees.
3. “These soldiers came on rapidly. They mixed up part of our village. I now saw [teepees] on fire. I grew hot with anger,” recalled hímı.n maqsmáqs (Yellow Wolf). “Those soldiers did not last long...Scared, they ran back across the river. We followed the soldiers across the stream...the soldiers hurried up the bluff.” Amos Buck, a civilian volunteer, told: “Here we began to throw up entrenchments. The Indians quickly surrounded us and were firing from every side, while we were digging and firing.”
4. Colonel Gibbon recalled: “Just as we took up our position in the timber two shots from our howitzer on the trail above us we heard, and we afterwards learned that the gun and pack mule with ammunition were...intercepted by Indians.” wewúkıye?ılpílp (Red Elk) also described the capture: “We saw the warriors closing in on the cannon. Three men, one from above and two below...None of the three stopped from dodging, running forward. The big gun did not roar again.”
5. Some warriors kept the soldiers and volunteers besieged while others raced back to camp. “I started back with others to our camp,” explained hímı.n maqsmáqs (Yellow Wolf). “I wanted to see what had been done. It was not good to see women and children lying dead and wounded...The air was heavy with sorrow. I would not want to hear, I would not want to see again.”
6. The nımí·pu· buried their dead and prepared to move. Most warriors went with the camp to protect it. The battle continued and some warriors stayed behind, including hímı.n maqsmáqs (Yellow Wolf), who told: “The night grew old and the firing faded away. Soldiers would not shoot...We did not charge. If we killed one soldier, a thousand would take his place. If we lost one warrior, there was none to take his place.” Near dawn they saw a man ride up to the soldiers. “We did not try to kill him. The soldiers made loud cheering. We understood! Ammunition had arrived or more soldiers were coming...We gave those trenched soldiers two volleys as a ‘Good-by!’ Then we mounted and rode swiftly away.”
From 60 to 90 nımí·pu· were killed, with an unknown number wounded. Of the military and civilian volunteers, 31 were killed, 38 wounded.
DESCRIBING: Small, square color photograph.
SYNOPSIS: This photograph shows two nımí·pu· men and Appaloosa horses performing a Riderless Horse ceremony in the Big Hole Valley to honor the nımí·pu· women killed there in 1877. The ceremony takes place during a late summer afternoon on the battlefield. The men are surrounded by prairie grasses of varying shades of tan and brown, dried by the summer heat. In the background, Battle Mountain gently meets the wide valley floor and there are teepee skeletons representing the nımí·pu· camp. These teepee skeletons are made of long, thin Lodgepole pine tree trunks, that create the general outline of a nımí·pu· teepee without hide coverings. The bases are wide circles, and the biggest portion of their lengths point toward the sky as they taper to a gathering point, then separate again into a small mirror image of the lodge below.
IN-DEPTH DESCRIPTION: Tall, tan and brown prairie grasses cover the battlefield. In the foreground, two nımí·pu· men and two Appaloosa horses walk away from the camera. They are performing a riderless horse ceremony. The man on the left is mounted on a horse wearing a western-style bridle, breastplate, horse blanket, and saddle. Both the rider and the horse are wearing traditional, colorful regalia, including a feathered headdress worn by the rider and a beaded saddle bag on the horse’s left hip. The horse’s coloring is mostly white with black and brown spots of multiple sizes scattered at random across the horse’s body, the hallmark coloring of the Appaloosa breed. Its tail is a very light blond – almost silver – with brown tips, and its mane appears solid black. The horse is in mid-step, ears pointed, and tail slightly raised.
Behind the rider is a nımí·pu· man on foot. He is dressed in traditional clothing of varying shades of red, also wearing a feathered headdress. This man is following the rider and leading a horse. The horse is wearing a blanket and nımí·pu· saddle with two horns and a deep seat. The double horns make this a woman’s saddle, which means this ceremony honors women killed during the battle. Across the saddle and hanging low on each side of the horse is a folded blanket with a bold geometric pattern made of dark blues and purples. On the horse’s rump is a saddlebag with a bold beaded pattern that appears to depict a red silhouetted horse on a sky-blue background.
This horse’s body is mostly white, and its legs are brown. A softer spotting pattern, almost like freckles, is sprinkled across the horse’s neck, withers, hips, belly, and legs. The horse is holding his head down close to the man leading him. In the near background and to the left, Battle Mountain gently meets the wide valley floor where there are skeleton teepees marking the heart of the nımí·pu· camp. In the far background, the Anaconda-Pintler Mountain range appears blue in the summer haze. The top of the photograph softly fades to white as to blend with the rest of the brochure.
CAPTION: Riderless horse ceremony
CREDIT: NPS
QUOTE: So our people had to escape...had to find a way...to take care of the dead as best they could. But it is not our way to leave our dead untended...We should care for them in death as we care for them in life, with love. So that’s a very painful part of the Big Hole story.
—sísa.wipam (Roberta Conner)
DESCRIBING: Small, square color photograph.
SYNOPSIS: A vertical photograph of the battlefield landscape from the perspective of the howitzer capture site. It shows the valley during late summer. In the far background are hazy blue mountains. This exhibit marks the spot where nımí·pu· warriors advanced on the military team manning the weapon. The warriors captured the howitzer, dismantling it during battle. This is a replica of that weapon. The original barrel is on display in the visitor center.
IN-DEPTH DESCRIPTION: In this photo, the viewer’s perspective is behind and slightly to the right of a mountain howitzer replica, facing northeast across the wide valley floor toward the Anaconda-Pintler Mountain range. The howitzer is part of a permanent outdoor exhibit and is placed on a pad created for this purpose with wooden framing holding light colored sand and rocks. The howitzer is sitting on the stock and axel of a wooden, two wheeled wagon, known as a siege carriage. Each wooden piece is painted Army green, and no natural wood is visible. There is small, shiny black metal hardware on various spots of the siege carriage. Both wheels are rimmed with black metal that is pocked and has a white substance settling into the nooks and crannies. There are two black metal support posts on the axel that are not part of the original structure but are used to anchor the siege carriage in place on exhibit.
The Howitzer barrel is a short, straight, hollow iron tube, similar to a cannon, and is set horizontally on the wagon, in line with the stock. The entire barrel is a bronze color, appearing almost polished. Visible on the rearend, facing the viewer, is a small iron knob. The opposite end is pointed away from the camera and is where the barrel was loaded. This weapon is aimed at the battlefield toward the original nımí·pu· camp.
In front of the howitzer is a small cluster of Lodgepole pine trees that create what is now called the Siege Area, where members of the 7th infantry were pinned down during battle. Beyond this grove, a grassy section of Battle Mountain slopes down toward the North Fork of the Big Hole River that winds directly through the battlefield. Swaths of green willows are gathered along the riverbank. Beyond this is the nımí·pu· camp backed by the valley floor that is covered in pale green and tan grasses and leads toward hazy blue mountains. The top of the photograph gently fades from light blue to white as to blend with the rest of the brochure.
CAPTION: 12 pound Mountain Howitzer: Aimed at the camp below, the howitzer (cannon) was fired twice before nımí·pu· captured it. Today, nımí·pu· recognize this achievement through song, story, and ceremony.
CREDIT: J. Stephen Cohn
Side two of the Big Hole National Battlefield brochure is comprised of text, quotes, one map, one black and white photo, and seven color photos. The top of the brochure is spanned by a color photo depicting the present-day landscape at Big Hole. Under this is one black and white photo and two color photos. The map is in the bottom third of this side of the brochure. It conveys historical and cultural information relating to the Flight of the nımí·pu· in 1877. This map is not for wayfinding and does not detail the services on-the-ground at Big Hole National Battlefield. Beneath the map, taking up the bottom of the brochure are three color photos showing other sites along the Flight of 1877 trail.
The text, associated map and image descriptions are presented under their own sections. In addition to the map and photo descriptions, the text sections provide many descriptive details about what the areas look like and information about getting there and what trails and amenities are available.
DESCRIBING: A horizontal color photograph spanning the width of the brochure.
SYNOPSIS: A landscape featuring numerous wooden teepee skeletons staggered across yellowed grasslands. On the viewer’s left, a grassy hill rises to fill the background before meeting the dusty morning sky.
IN-DEPTH DESCRIPTION: Seventeen cone-shaped teepee skeletons are each created by seven hand-hewn wooden poles leaning against each other and tied at the top. There is no canvas or hide covering the rough brown skeleton. The skeletons are clustered in a large community with walking space between them.
Across the left side of the grasslands, willow shrubs line Battle Mountain, which is grassy and tree-covered, as it rises to meet the dusty blue morning sky. At the right side of the image, hazy mountain shapes fade from shades of orange into a blue sky at the dawn horizon.
CAPTION: Nez Perce camp at Big Hole Battlefield.
CREDIT: Chuck Haney
QUOTE: When I walk the battlefield it’s sacred ground...A lot of relatives are buried there, but the memories of them are still living on. We are here today because of them. Their love for us lives in my heart.
-—?ıpelıkítemucet (Frank Andrews)
Related Text: 1877 The Flight
After the battle at Big Hole, the nımí·pu· fled. Each time the military caught up, they escaped. “Every day was struggling,” said kulkulsiyeké.t (Matthew Whitfield). “Fighting and hurrying on. Faint for food; tired with the hard traveling...Little children, some of them wounded. Women dying of wounds on the trail. Men left to die or be killed by the soldiers and scouts because they were too old to travel further, or too badly shot to ride.”
On September 29, they camped at cáynım ?á.lıka?spa (today known as Bear Paw Battlefield) near Canada. That night wató.?lın (Hair Combed Over Eyes) dreamed: “I saw the waters of the stream all red with blood of both Indian and Soldier. I saw falling from trees, frost-yellowed leaves; mingling with withered flowers and grass... Those leaves are dead, those flowers are dead. This tells of the end of fighting. Soon we are to be attacked for the last time. Guns will be laid down.”
The Last Battle
The attack began the next morning and the siege lasted five days. Lt. Woodruff recalled: “General Miles struck...attacked and surrounded Joseph, and after...days of fighting...compelled the surrender of Joseph and all of his band, except those under White Bird, who escaped through his lines and fled to British America.”
hınmató.wyalahtqıt (Young Joseph) explained why he made the choices he did: “I could not bear to see my wounded men and women suffer any longer; we had lost enough already. General Miles had promised that we might return to our own country...I thought we could start again. I believed General Miles, or I never would have surrendered...He could not have made any other terms with me at that time...On the fifth day I went to General Miles and gave up my gun and said, ‘From where the sun now stands I will fight no more.’ My people needed rest—we wanted peace.”
Escape To Canada
Those who did escape during the battle, did so with heavy hearts. “With women’s hearts breaking, children weeping and men silent, we moved over the divide,” said pıyó.pıyo xa.yxá.yx (White Bird), “and closed our eyes upon our once happy homes. We were wanderers on the prairie...The white man wanted the wealth our people possessed; he got it by the destruction of our people. We who yesterday were rich are beggars today. We have no country, no people, no home.” He and over 250 others made it to Canada and safety.
Exile
More than 400 nımí·pu· were captured at Bear Paw and considered prisoners of war. They were sent to Kansas and then to Indian Territory (Oklahoma). kulkulsiyeké.t (Matthew Whitfield) said: “I always think of our slavery in Indian Territory. I cannot forget it! Held in bondage till half our band died in that hot, flat country. Babies and children dying...
I can never put its memory from my mind.”
Scattered
When finally released in 1885, hímı.n maqsmáqs (Yellow Wolf) explained: “Religion had to do with where they placed us...The interpreter asked us, ‘Where you want to go? Lapwai and be Christian, or Colville and just be yourself?’ No other question was asked us...Chief [Young] Joseph was not given choice where to go. But he had promise...he could go [to his homeland in Oregon] with his band. That was never to be.”
More than a century later, x.íst (Sharon
Redthunder) said, “It’s something that just breaks my heart when I think of everything our people went through, and how we’re so scattered. We’re still scattered...all the way to Oklahoma, Kansas, Canada, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Montana. We’re all bonded together because of our encounter we went through in 1877.”
DESCRIBING: A square, black-and-white photograph, with faded edges.
SYNOPSIS: Two older men dressed in 19th century European-American clothing sit shoulder-to-shoulder, looking directly into the camera. They are seated in folding chairs outside, in a clearing in a forest.
IN-DEPTH DESCRIPTION: The person on the viewers left, hınmató.wyalahtqıt (Young Joseph), is a middle-aged nımí·pu· man with a neutral expression on his face. He has long hair that is tucked into the bandana tied around his neck. His jacket is unbuttoned, and he is wearing long, dark pants. On his lap he holds a light-colored hat, with a brim approximately 18 inches wide. On his right hand you can see he is wearing a small ring on his pinky finger. He is seated in a wooden folding chair, and his feet are obscured by the border fading on the photograph.
On the viewers right sits General Gibbon, with his upper arm just barely touching hınmató.wyalahtqıt's. He is also in a wooden folding chair and has a similar neutral expression on his face. Gibbon is an older white man, with short grey hair and a white full beard. He is also wearing an unbuttoned jacket and dark pants. He is wearing tall boots, easily seen because he sits with one leg folded on top of the other. His hands rest in his lap.
The two men are outside, in what appears to be a clearing in a forest. Littered on the ground around the two men are pieces of paper and loose branches and leaves. In the background you can see deciduous trees, with the sky filtering through the leaves. In the background, to the viewer's left, stands a white tipi. This tipi appears washed out in the photograph, with only the outline apparent.
CAPTION: hınmató.wyalahtqıt (Young Joseph) and General Gibbon, 1889
CREDIT: Smithsonian Institution / N A A
Lessons from the Tragedy
hınmató.wyalahtqıt (Young Joseph): Treat all men alike. Give them all the same law. Give them all an even chance to live and grow...Whenever the white man treats the Indian as they treat each other, then we shall have no more wars. We shall be . . . brothers of one father and one mother, with one sky above us and one country around us...Then the Great Spirit...will smile upon this land, and send rain to wash out the bloody spots...For this time the Indian race are waiting and praying.
Corporal Charles Loynes (when he was 90): As I sit retrospecting [sic] so vividly on those distant days when battles took place between your brave ancestors and my fellow soldiers, it is with saddened regret that I, and they, were compelled to carry out the orders of our superior officers, when we knew they were fighting for the preservation of their homes and the right to live their own lives, and their own religious beliefs.
sísa.wipam (Roberta Conner): This history is kept alive no matter how sad it is, no matter how much injustice and tragedy it carries. Doesn’t matter. We keep it alive because if we forget this history, we forget part of our identity. This history not only has made us sad, it’s made us strong, it’s made us resilient.
DESCRIBING: A color photograph of an artifact silhouetted against an off-white background.
SYNOPSIS: A heavily used metal trowel bayonet is diagonally oriented with the handle end to the viewer’s top left and the point to the viewer’s bottom right.
IN-DEPTH DESCRIPTION: Designed to be both hand-held and slipped overtop of the firing end of a rifle, the trowel’s handle is a short, cylindrical tube attached to the top center of the long, triangular shovel head. The dull gray metal shovel head is triangular in shape with rough edges that curve to meet in a sharp point.
CAPTION: Trowel Bayonet. This sharp trowel transforms from digging tool to deadly weapon. Soldiers dug emergency rifle pits with them at Big Hole; nımí·pu· dug emergency shelters at Bear Paw.
CREDIT: Trowel—NPS / Washington State University
DESCRIBING: A square color photograph.
SYNOPSIS: Six nımí·pu· adults, all wearing traditional clothing, sit on horses in a grassy field. Battle Mountain, covered with green grass, is behind them.
IN-DEPTH DESCRIPTION: Six nımí·pu· adults, two men and four women, are mounted on horses in a row. The horses are a variety of colors, including brown, grey, black, and speckled. Some of the horses are wearing colorful regalia around their necks. The people are wearing various traditional clothes, such as fur hats, colorful shirts, and long beaded necklaces. They are in a green field with grasses that are several feet tall. Behind them stands Battle Mountain, which is mostly grass-covered, with some pine trees at the base and the top of the mountain. It is a sunny day.
CAPTION: Members of the Appaloosa Horse Club at Big Hole National Battlefield.
CREDIT: NPS Stephanie Martin
Related Text: Hope for the Future
Rebecca Miles: There’s no future without forgiveness. If we can forgive, there’s nothing this tribe can’t do.
?ıpelıkítemucet (Frank Andrews): Our victory is that we are still here. We are still surviving, we are going on. We still have our culture, traditions, customs, united together. Maybe one day we can share each other’s different ways and...join hands together and work for that.
temıyéwtıtu.t (Albert Andrews Redstar): So, to the young people, “Don’t forget who you are. Learn how to pick up those drums and sing the songs that we sing, learn how to speak in the fashion of our old people. Because it’s in those songs and in the speech of our people that we learn the lessons to carry our lives. Don’t forget those old teachings.”
ta?mapcá?yox.ayx.áyx (White Hawk / John Miller): Now, all this trouble is past. It is like two different trees, young trees. Planted, they grow together their branches intertwining. Hereafter, both races, red and white are friendly always...that this would last as long as the world exists.
DESCRIBING: A large map graphic showing the flight of the nımí·pu· and their confrontations with the U.S. military.
SYNOPSIS: A topographical map of present-day Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana that identifies each battle between the nımí·pu· and the U.S. military from June 2nd to October 5th, 1877. The purpose of this map is to provide a cultural and historic orientation for the viewer to the path of the 1877 flight of the nımí·pu· and the U.S. military's pursuit across multiple present-day states and extending across the border into Canada. The map depicts the paths of the military and the nımí·pu· with lines and colors, and sites of significance are marked with either yellow starbursts or yellow dots.
IN-DEPTH DESCRIPTION: The map key in the lower right corner of the map identifies the brown lines on the map as the route taken by the nımí·pu· and the blue lines to be the route of the U.S. military following the nımí·pu·. The key does not have either the yellow starburst or the yellow dot labeled or differentiated.
The map key includes a miles and kilometers scale to understand the vast distances traveled on foot and horse. The map key also designates North – and points to the top of the map.
The routes are illustrated over a drawing that delineates the borders of current U.S. states and their topography - the mountain ranges, valleys and rivers. The map includes the eastern parts of Washington and Oregon, all of Idaho, most of Montana, and the northwest corner of Wyoming. Canada is indicated at the top of the map.
Starting at the left or western side of the map, and crossing over where Washington, Oregon and Idaho meet, a brown shaded area is drawn on the map illustrating the approximate area of the nımí·pu· homeland – an area approximately 7.5 million acres bordered by the Rocky Mountains on the east and including the Snake and Salmon Rivers.
Superimposed over the homeland is a shaded area designating the approximate boundary of the reduced nımí·pu· territory after the 1855 Treaty with the U.S. government – approximately 11,700 square miles – pulling in the boundaries on the West and South edges.
Superimposed over the reduced 1855 Treaty territory is a darker brown shaded area designating the final nımí·pu· reservation as dictated by the U.S. government in 1863 – approximately 1,200 square miles. On the map, the nımí·pu· reservation is labeled Nez Perce Reservation.
On the map a brown line follows the winding path through the valleys of the Bitterroot and Rocky Mountains traveled by the nımí·pu· and a blue line illustrates the U.S. military’s path following them across an over 1,000-mile journey. The map notes key mountain ranges, passes, and rivers. Each of the 8 battles and major conflicts along the route are identified and named with bright yellow starburst shapes. There are also bright yellow dots that identify the location of other incidents.
Moving from west to east northeast on the map and chronologically, the battles and major conflicts and dates included on the map and identified by yellow starbursts are the following:
The other incidents identified by yellow dots are the following:
As illustrated by the start of the brown line on the map, the nımí·pu· began their journey from the 1855 Treaty area in present-day Oregon and traveled into the 1863 Reservation in present-day Idaho. The first major conflict is identified with a yellow starburst, at Tolo Lake on June 2nd through 14th, 1877.
Marked by a blue line, General Howard’s troops departed from Fort Lapwai, located within the nımí·pu· Reservation, towards White Bird Canyon, on the southwestern edge of the 1863 Reservation and near the northeastern border of present-day Idaho. The Battle of White Bird Canyon on June 17th is marked with a yellow starburst.
July 4th and 5th, twenty miles from White Bird Canyon Battle, the Cottonwood Skirmishes took place noted on the map with a yellow starburst.
July 11th and 12th on the southwest corner of the 1863 Reservation was the Battle of the Clearwater, noted on the map with a yellow starburst.
After the Battle of the Clearwater, the nımí·pu· left the Reservation and travelled northeast through mountains and to Lolo Pass, on the border of current day Idaho and Montana. The brown line representing the trail of the nımí·pu· appears on the map parallel to the blue line of General Howard’s troops.
Lolo Pass is marked on the map with a yellow dot. Fort Fizzle, July 26th, on the Montana side of Lolo Pass, is also marked with a yellow dot.
A blue line shows the 200 mile movement of Colonel Gibbon’s troops from Fort Shaw in central Montana, across the mountains to Fort Missoula on the eastern edge of Montana, and then down the Bitterroot Valley.
From Fort Fizzle, a brown line illustrates the nımí·pu· path south through the Bitterroot Valley – with the parallel blue line of the U.S. military following them – through Gibbon Pass, approximately 75 miles to the Battle of the Big Hole, August 9th and 10th, noted on the map with a yellow starburst.
Following the mountain valleys on the edge of the current Montana Idaho border, the nımí·pu· continued their travel southeast approximately 100 miles south through Bannock Pass to Birch Creek, noted on the map with a yellow dot, and then continued 75 miles east to Camas Meadows.
General Howard’s troops traveled across the mountains, slightly north of the path the nımí·pu· took. August 20th the Battle of Camas Meadows took place and is noted on the map with a yellow starburst.
The map identifies Yellowstone National Park with gray shading in the Northwest corner of Wyoming. The nımí·pu· route continued north through Targhee Pass, east into Yellowstone, then north through Clarks Fork Yellowstone, to the northeast of Yellowstone.
The blue lines on the map illustrate General Howard’s troops following in a parallel route.
On August 12th General Sturgis’ troops departed the Tongue River Cantonment located east in the Great Plains of current day Montana – traveled approximately 150 miles west, then approximately 100 miles south, then looped back to the north for approximately 75 miles to catch up with General Howard and the nımí·pu·.
September 13th General Sturgis’ troops and the nımí·pu· met at the Battle of Canyon Creek over 200 miles from the previous battle. A yellow starburst highlights this location.
The brown line of the map illustrates the continued route of the nımí·pu· north approximately 175 miles through Judith Gap to the Cow Island Landing on the Missouri River noted on the map with a yellow dot in the center of current day Montana. The blue line illustrates that General Howard’s troops traveled to Cow Island by an alternative route further south and following the Missouri River.
September 18th General Miles and his troops departed the Tongue River Cantonment and traveled approximately 150 miles northwest across the Great Plains of Montana and intersected with the nımí·pu· at the Battle of Bear Paw, September 30th through October 5th, marked by a yellow starburst. Several days into the battle General Howard’s troops joined the confrontation. The blue line of the U.S. military’s path stops at this battle.
On the map, a dashed brown arrow illustrates some nımí·pu· leaving the Battle of Bear Paw and going southeast into exile. This line does not have a clear endpoint.
A solid brown line follows the path of Chief White Bird and his group of survivors as they traveled over 100 miles east along the Milk River to Cree Crossing near the border of Montana and Canada, then north 50 miles across the Canadian border to Sitting Bull’s Camp at Wood Mountain. Two dashed brown arrows heading west from Sitting Bull’s Camp on the map note that ultimately, all of the tribal members were dispersed to the Colville Reservation, Umatilla Reservation, and to the nımí·pu· Reservation – identified on the map as the Nez Perce Reservation.
IMAGE 1 of 3: White Bird Battlefield
DESCRIBING: A small horizontal color photograph grouped as the first of three images on the bottom of the brochure.
SYNOPSIS: A landscape featuring two yellow-green grassy hills in front of one other under a bright blue sky with fluffy clouds. From the viewer's perspective, the hill on the right is in the foreground. It appears to be lined with craggy rock. The hill on the left is further in the background. In some places throughout both hills, the grassy areas appear drier and browner in clumps.
CAPTION: White Bird Battlefield
CREDIT: U S Forest Service
Related Text: In addition to Big Hole National Battlefield, Nez Perce National Historical Park includes sites in four states related to nımí·pu· history and the events of 1877. Visit White Bird Battlefield, where the battles began, and Bear Paw Battlefield (far right), where they ended. Learn more at the visitor center in Spalding, Idaho, or on the park website. The Nez Perce (Nee-Me-Poo) National Historic Trail also commemorates the flight.
IMAGE 2 of 3: Canyon Creek Battlefield
DESCRIBING: A horizontal color photograph grouped as the second of three images on the bottom of the brochure
SYNOPSIS: A mostly dusty landscape with sparse green grasses and a large tree. On the right side of the image in the background is a large rocky butte. The sky above is a vivid, cloudless blue. At the left side of the landscape, a single large tree is surrounded by two smaller shrubs. The tree, which is full with green leaves on the lower branches, has three large, bare branches shooting out of the top. The rocky butte, which is an isolated mountain with steep sides and a flat top, has a reddish hue with sparse, dark green vegetation scattered throughout.
CAPTION: Canyon Creek Battlefield
CREDIT: U S Forest Service
Related Text: The battle at Canyon Creek took place 10 miles north of present-day Laurel, Montana. Most of the battlefield site is on private property, but Nez Perce National Historical Park maintains an outdoor exhibit at the junction of Montana 532 and 401 and provides information about the battle on its website.
IMAGE 3 of 3: Bear Paw Battlefield
DESCRIBING: A horizontal color photograph grouped as the third of three images on the bottom of the brochure.
SYNOPSIS: A long, curved shadow is cast across a golden grassy landscape. The top third of the photograph is filled with a light blue sky streaked with wispy thin clouds.
The sun, which is not visible in this photograph, casts a long, curving shadow along a shallow depression in the land at the base of a hill. The rolling grassland gently slopes up to form a hill on the viewer’s right side. As the hill rises to the sky, the grass becomes a lighter and brighter gold where the sunlight becomes more direct.
CAPTION: Bear Paw Battlefield
CREDIT: NPS / Stephanie Martin
Related Text: Bear Paw Battlefield is along MT 240, 16 miles south of Chinook, Montana. It is part of Nez Perce National Historical Park and is open year-round from dawn to dusk. Outdoor exhibits explain the events of 1877. The Blaine County Museum (w w w dot blaine county museum dot com) in Chinook serves as the visitor center for the battlefield and has exhibits and a film about the battle.
IMAGE: Camas in bloom
DESCRIBING: A transparent color photograph.
SYNOPSIS: A field of blue flowers, known as camas. Two camas flowers are in the foreground, in focus, with many other flowers behind them out of focus. The picture is taken from the ground, so that the viewer is at eye level with the flowers.
IN-DEPTH DESCRIPTION: A seemingly endless field of camas flowers are blooming, each with long, narrow, blue petals that taper to a point and extend down the stems. The petals are dense, covering about 80% of the stem, almost to the ground. The petals point out in every direction, reaching for sunlight wherever they can. At the base of each flower are several long, tapered green leaves that reach nearly straight up towards the sky. Two camas flowers are the focus of this image, standing tall and straight, but there are many flowers behind them as well. There is also green grass surrounding the flowers. This picture has text overlayed, that is unrelated to the image itself.
CAPTION: Camas in bloom
CREDIT: P R Wreden
We strive to make our facilities, services, and programs accessible to all. For information go to the visitor center, ask a ranger, call, or check our website.
The services provided at Big Hole include:
The Visitor Center's exhibits and restrooms are fully wheelchair accessible. Each restroom has one fully accessible stall. Audio description and a braille guide are available for all exhibits. Also available for free download is this audio-described park brochure. The 3-D map in the lobby is designed to be touched and has a braille legend and braille features on the map. The park's award-winning film has open captioning, the theater is wheelchair accessible and has two wheelchair designated seating spaces. There is also a wheelchair available to borrow if needed. The doors to the visitor center are automated for assistance. There are two accessible parking spaces in front of the visitor center near the flagpole with a paved path to the visitor center doors.
One sign language interpreter is available on-site Monday through Friday, but her services must be requested in advance. If you would like to use this service, please call 4 0 6 6 8 9 3 1 5 5.
The outside observation deck, adjacent to the visitor center, is wheelchair accessible and has one lowered viewing scope that can be used to look out over the battlefield.
The lower parking area of the park is open seasonally, check our website n p s dot g o v slash b i h o for updates. The lower parking lot has a pit toilet and wheelchair accessible picnic tables. The picnic tables are positioned on an island in the middle of the parking lot; the island unfortunately has a curb surrounding it. From the lower parking lot, you can access the Nez Perce Camp Trail. The Nez Perce Camp Trail is a 1.6 mile round-trip walking trail across relatively flat terrain. Wheelchair users are usually able to make it out to the site of the Nez Perce camp in most weather conditions, though assistance makes the trip easier. The surface is packed earth and may be muddy in the early summer or rutted when dry. A wheelchair is located at the visitor center if you need to borrow one.
The park's other two trails are not flat. Most of the Siege Area Trail is wide and level enough that it could be traversed by a wheelchair user, though assistance makes the trip easier. More details about the park's trails can be found on the hiking page of our website n p s dot g o v slash b i h o.
Qualified service animals trained to assist people with disabilities are always welcome in all park facilities and on all trails. Service animals must be leashed. For the definition of a service animal please visit the Department of Justice A D A webpage. Animals whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the A D A and are not allowed in park facilities or on park trails. When it is not obvious what service an animal provides, staff may ask two questions:
Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability?
What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?
Staff cannot ask about the person's disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task.
Big Hole National Battlefield is one of over 400 parks in the National Park System. To learn more about national parks and National Park Service programs in America’s communities, visit w w w dot n p s dot g o v
Start your journey by getting information at Big Hole National Battlefield in Wisdom, Montana, or contact:
Phone: 4 0 6 6 8 9 3 1 5 5
Website: w w w dot n p s dot g o v slash b i h o
Physical Address:
1 6 4 2 5 Highway 43 West
Wisdom, Montana 5 9 7 6 1
Mailing Address:
PO Box 237
Wisdom, Montana 5 9 7 6 1
You can also contact the following partner organizations for more information:
Nez Perce National Historical Park
3 9 0 6 3 US 95; Spalding, Idaho 8 3 5 4 0
2 0 8 8 4 3 7 0 2 0 w w w dot n p s dot g o v slash n e p e
Nez Perce (Nee-Me-Poo) National Historic Trail
w w w dot f s dot u s d a dot g o v slash n p n h t
Planning Your Visit
Big Hole National Battlefield is on Montana 43 between US 93 on the west and I 15 on the east.
Visitor Center: Visitor Center hours vary seasonally. For the most recent information on hours, please call 4 0 6 6 8 9 3 1 5 5 or visit our website at n p s dot g o v slash b i h o. Park grounds are open daily, sunrise to sunset.
Camping and Lodging: National Forest campgrounds are nearby; Wisdom, Montana, has limited lodging and services. More services are available in Butte, Dillon, or Hamilton, Montana, or in Salmon, Idaho.
Fishing and Hunting: Montana laws apply. Ask at the visitor center or check the park website for more information.
Firearms: For firearms regulations check the park website.
Accessibility: We strive to make our facilities, services, and programs accessible to all. For information go to the visitor center, ask a ranger, call, or check our website.
Emergencies call 9 1 1
(Limited cell phone service.)