Bear Paw Battlefield

I guess, if I had imagined the surrender scene of Chief Joseph, I would have thought that the Nez Perce were in the mountains when they were finally stopped after their 1300 mile trek through Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. They were north of the Bear Paw Mountains, thirty miles from the Canadian border. Some speculate that perhaps they thought they were across the border. They did know that they were ahead of General Howard, who had been following them. What they didn't know, and what became their undoing, was that Lieutenant Nelson Miles was coming up on the double from the Tongue River Cantonment.

There was chaos in the camp. Shallow gun pits were quickly dug, but there was no preparation time. After five days it was over.

I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Toohoolhoolzote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say, "Yes" or "No." He who led the young men [Olikut] is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are -- perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.