The Battle of the Big Hole: A History of General Gibbon's Engagement with Nez Percés Indians in the Big Hole Valley, Montana, August 9th, 1877.Shields, G. O. (George O.)
History
The Battle of the Big Hole: A History of General Gibbon's Engagement with Nez Percés Indians in the Big Hole Valley, Montana, August 9th, 1877.
Shields, G. O. (George O.)
Big Hole, Battle of the, Mont., 1877
When the troops retired to the mouth of the gulch on the morning of the
9th, the warriors were examining the dead. Among them they found a
white man, a citizen, who was breathing; his eyes were closed and he
pretended to be dead, but they saw that he was not though he was
severely wounded. They took hold of him and raised him up. Finding that
his "possoming" would not work, he sprang to his feet. Looking Glass
was at hand and ordered the Indians not to kill him, reminding them
that he was a citizen and that they might obtain valuable information
from him. They then questioned him closely concerning the white
soldiers. He told them that Howard would be there in a few hours, and
that volunteers were coming from Virginia City to head the Indians off.
While he was talking with them, a squaw who had lost her brother and
some of her children in the fight, came up and slapped him in the face.
He gave her a vigorous kick in return, and one of the warriors, enraged
at this, killed him. The Indians having thus learned that
reinforcements were close at hand, ordered the squaws to move camp, and
the warriors remained to continue the fight, but in such light trim
that they could retreat rapidly whenever it should become necessary.
The departure of the squaws had been so hurried by flying bullets that
they left large quantities of buffalo robes, a considerable quantity of
dried meat and other plunder on the field. They took all the
pack-animals with them, however, so that the bucks were unable to take
the property with them when they left, and it subsequently fell into
the hands of the white men. One citizen volunteer gathered up
thirty-two buffalo robes, which he subsequently took to Helena and sold
at good prices as relics of the battle. Several of them were badly
stained with blood, but this, of course, enhanced, rather than
lessened, their value in the eyes of the class of buyers he sought.
Captain Comba was sent out on the morning of the 11th with a party of
men to bury the dead soldiers and citizens, all of whom were found,
recognized, and decently interred. Rude head boards, obtained by
breaking up cracker boxes, were placed at the heads of the graves, on
which were written, or carved, the name, company, and regiment of the
soldier, or the name and residence of the citizen, whose grave each
marked.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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