Nez Perce in Yellowstone Park
The Nez Perce in Yellowstone Park was the flight of the Nez Perce Indians through Yellowstone National Park between August 20 and Sept 7, during the Nez Perce War in 1877. As the U.S. army pursued the Nez Perce through the park, a number of hostile and sometimes deadly encounters between park visitors and the Indians occurred. Eventually, the army's pursuit forced the Nez Perce off the Yellowstone plateau and into forces arrayed to capture or destroy them when they emerged from the mountains of Yellowstone onto the valley of the Yellowstone River.
In June 1877, several bands of the Nez Perce, resisting relocation from their native lands on the Wallowa River in northeast Oregon to a reservation in west-central Idaho on the Clearwater river, attempted to escape to the east through Idaho, Montana and Wyoming over the Rocky Mountains into the Great Plains. By late August, the Nez Perce had travelled hundreds of miles and fought several battles in which they defeated or held off the U.S. army forces pursuing them. The Nez Perce had the mistaken notion that after crossing the next mountain range or defeating the latest army sent to oppose them they would find a peaceful new home.
The Nez Perce War was extensively reported in the nation’s press. The fighting retreat of the Nez Perce had made their leader Chief Joseph something of a national hero and a military genius in the eyes of many in the American public. On Aug 9, 1877 the Nez Perce engaged the U.S. Army under the command of Colonel John Gibbon at the Battle of the Big Hole near the headwaters of the West fork of the Big Hole River in Montana. By all accounts, this battle was a draw with heavy casualties on both sides, but the Nez Perce escaped to the south and into Idaho. General Oliver O. Howard's force, just a day's ride to the west from the Big Hole encounter, pursued the Nez Perce into Idaho. The Army was embarrassed by its failure to defeat the Nez Perce.
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