Qualla: Battle of Bear Paw

Battle of Bear Paw: Introduction

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Forest Service Northern Region, CC BY 2.0. Poker Joe saw it coming. "Looking Glass, you can lead," he said at the council on September 24, 1877. "I am trying to save the people, doing my best to cross into Canada before the soldiers find us. You can take command, but I think we will be caught and killed." Ten days later, Poker Joe lay dead on this Montana hillside, shot by a Nez Perce sharpshooter who mistook him for a Cheyenne scout. The Canada border waited just 40 miles north.

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Image: Forest Service Northern Region | CC BY 2.0

Battle of Bear Paw: A Thousand Miles of Running

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit MPSharwood, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Nez Perce began their journey in June 1877, fleeing forced relocation from their ancestral lands in north-central Idaho Territory. What started as resistance became one of the most remarkable fighting retreats in military history. Some 800 people, including fewer than 200 war...

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Image: MPSharwood | CC BY-SA 4.0

Battle of Bear Paw: The Fatal Delay

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Brands Studios, Chicago, Public domain. After the Battle of Canyon Creek on September 13, the Nez Perce seemed safe. General Oliver Howard's forces lagged far behind. But the exhausted people paused at Cow Island Landing on the Missouri River, raiding stockpiled supplies and losing a crucial day. Unknown to them, Colon...

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Image: Brands Studios, Chicago | Public domain

Battle of Bear Paw: Five Days of Siege

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Forest Service Northern Region, CC BY 2.0. Miles attacked on September 30 at 9:15 AM. The cavalry charge killed several Nez Perce leaders, including Chief Joseph's brother Ollokot and the war chief Toohoolhoolzote. The 7th Cavalry suffered the heaviest casualties, losing 16 dead and 29 wounded out of 110 men. By nightfall...

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Image: Forest Service Northern Region | CC BY 2.0

Battle of Bear Paw: Words That Echo

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Forest Service Northern Region, CC BY 2.0. On October 5, two Nez Perce intermediaries promised that the survivors would not be executed and would return to their Idaho homeland. With these assurances, Joseph surrendered. White Bird and perhaps 233 others slipped through army lines and reached Canada, where Sitting Bull's ...

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Image: Forest Service Northern Region | CC BY 2.0

Battle of Bear Paw: The Ground Remembers

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Philkon Phil Konstantin, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Bear Paw Battlefield remains much as it was in 1877, a rolling expanse of Montana grassland where coulees and ridges determined who lived and who died. The National Park Service manages the site as part of Nez Perce National Historical Park. In 1935, a survey team that includ...

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Image: Philkon Phil Konstantin | CC BY-SA 3.0