Background
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 September, the Nez Perce had travelled nearly one thousand 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.
After passing through Yellowstone National Park the Nez Perce eluded the forces of Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis (see Nez Perce in Yellowstone Park) and followed the Clark’s Fork of the Yellowstone River north out of Wyoming into Montana. General O. O. Howard, who had chased the Nez Perce unsuccessfully for three months, ordered Sturgis to continue the pursuit. Sturgis had 360 men in six cavalry companies, divided into two battalions, one commanded by Major Lewis Merrill and the second by Captain Frederick Benteen. Howard reinforced Sturgis’s 360 men with 50 additional cavalrymen, two mountain howitzers, twenty-five white scouts, and a few Bannock and Crow scouts. Howard and his soldiers, whose horses were worn out, would rest and follow a couple of days behind Sturgis.
The route of the Nez Perce had been predicated on the belief, especially by Looking Glass, that they would find asylum and safety among their friends, the Crow who lived near the Yellowstone River. Looking Glass met with representatives of both bands of the Crow on the Clark’s Fork. The Crow, realizing that helping the Nez Perce would lead to retaliation on them by the U.S. army, rejected the appeal of the Nez Perce for help. Moreover, a few Crow warriors would join the Army as scouts with an eye on capturing the large Nez Perce horse herd. At this point, the Nez Perce realized that their one hope for safety was to join the Sioux leader Sitting Bull in Canada, 250 miles (400 km) to their north.
In their journey down the Clark’s Fork, the Nez Perce killed several prospectors and ranchers.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Canyon Creek
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