Nez Perce Forlorn Hope: The Battle of White Bird Canyon

1. Yellow Wolf was about 21 years old. Well-built and a fine athlete, he stood about five feet ten and one-half inches in height. McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, pp. 13-16, 58.

2. Account of Roaring Eagle in Hear Me, fn 29, p. 251; Yellow Wolf, p. 59; Beal, I Will Fight No More Forever (Seattle, 1963), p. 56.

3. Account of About Asleep, Packet 168, item 49, McWhorter Collection.

4. Account of Two Moons in Hear Me, p. 247.

5. Account of Arthur Simon as told to Camille Williams, packet 166, item 19, McWhorter Collection.

6. Wounded Head had had too much to drink. Wandering from camp while intoxicated, he had lost consciousness and fallen into some bushes. it was there that his wife found him the next morning, after most of the men had already left to meet the enemy. She was able to arouse him, and he quickly looked for his rifle, but it was not to be seen; another warrior must have taken it. Mounting his horse, he rode after the rest of the men. Later he overtook one of his tribesmen, and, stopping, he asked the man if he had his gun. The warrior handed him an old pistol with the last powder and cap in place. But then one shot was better than none, and Wounded Head accepted the offering and hurried ahead to join in the fray. Account of Wounded Head in Hear Me, p. 240.

7. During the retreat, Isabella had been given a horse by William Coram and Private John Schorr, but she had been unable to control the frightened animal and had been thrown. Her children also had been mounted by the men, but they had been more fortunate and had made their way back to Mount Idaho with the retreating party. Letter from Isabella Benedict to Mrs. Orchard and Mrs. Daugherty, June 19, Mount Idaho, Idaho World, July 13, 1877, p. 1; "William Coram," North Idaho, p. 493; Schorr in Hear Me, p. 235; Elsensohn, Pioneer Days, 1, p. 528.

8. Wounded Head's version of the release of Mrs. Benedict is slightly different. He stated that he took a circuitous route down the hill, which hid him from the rest of the Nez Perce. Later he halted in a gulch and told the woman to dismount. He knew that she feared for her life, but he soon put her at ease. He told her how to make her way back to safety, and, after shaking hands, he continued back to the village. Account of Wounded Head in Hear Me, pp. 240-1; Letter from Isabella Benedict to Mrs. Orchard and Mrs. Daugherty, Idaho World, p. 1; Account of Isabella Benedict in Kirkwood, Nez Perce Indian War, p. 52.

9. Yuwishakaikt, one of the friendly Nez Perce captured in the battle, reported to an officer shortly after his return to Fort Lapwai that there were four warriors suffering from wounds. H. M. Chase of Lewiston also claimed that there were four wounded Indians in a letter written on June 22 to The Daily Oregonian. He had spoken with an Indian who had come directly from the Nez Perce camp. See Memorandum of Indian's Statement Relative to Fight with Colonel Perry, Letter no. 1451. Letter Received, DC, 1877; The Daily Oregonian, June 26, 1877, p. 3.

10. Bow and Arrow case received the wound about 40 feet west of the White Bird Monument on U. S. Highway 95, near the end of the first diagonal ridge referred to by Perry. see account of Bow and Arrow Case in Hear Me, p. 253.

11. Land Above received the wound when he reached for the gun of a soldier who appeared to be dead. The man had been wounded but was still alive, and when the Indian attempted to obtain the weapon, the soldier pulled the trigger. Yellow Wolf, p. 60.

12. Four Blankets fell from the horse when fired at by one of the men in the dead-end ravine. Account of Philip Williams in Yellow Wolf, fn. 7, p. 60.

13. Memorandum of Indian's Statement, Letters Received, DC; Statement of Yuwishakaikt, December 30, 1899, Nez Perce Claims, Sen. Ex. Dec. 257, p. 103.

14. Yellow Wolf, p. 65.

15. Memorandum of Indian's Statement.

16. Yellow Wolf, p. 61; Account of Yellow Bull in North American Indian, 8, p. 165. Perhaps the differences can be partially reconciled by considering that Yuwishakaikt may have been speaking of carbines only, while Yellow Wolf and Yellow Bull included revolvers in their estimates.

17. Account of Black Feather in Hear Me, pp. 216-7; Patrick Brice, "The Nez Perce Outbreak," Idaho World, September 14, 1877, p. 2. Brice mistook Black Feather for White Bird, and in his account of the affair, the Irishman credited the chief with saving his life. In later years a story evolved that Brice had gained his freedom by awing the Indians with a cross tattooed on his breast, but it is probably untrue. Brice did not mention it in his first account, which is elaborate in detail Black Feather denied having seen markings of any kind. Besides the nontreaty Indians were non-Christian and did not hold the sign in reverence. In any event the story came to be accepted as fact, and, as the years passed, the tale grew to heroic proportions. Apparently it was nurtured and fed by Brice and eagerly swallowed and relished by all who heard it. The story reached the epitome of preposterousness in an article entitled, "The Bravest Deed I Ever Knew," written by Charles Stuart Moody for the March issue of Century Magazine in 1911. In it Moody related that Brice made a deal with the Nez Perce to return to the Indian camp after he had taken the girl to Haunt Idaho. According to Moody, Brice offered to let the warriors work their will upon him after he had seen the girl placed in good hands. To cap the story, Moody had Brice return as promised and gain his freedom because the Nez Perce were impressed by his courage.

18. Statement of Brice, November 23, 1897, Anaconda, Montana, Brice 7427; Brice in Idaho World, September 14.

19. George Popham, "From the Scene of Hostilities," Lewiston Teller, June 30, 1877, p. 1; Account of Maggie Manuel Bowman in Defenbach, Idaho, 1, p. 418. For other accounts written by Maggie Manuel see the Walla Walla Union Bulletin, January 23, 1944, copy in McWhorter Collection, packet, 211-D; and the Grangeville Free Press, April 1, 1903.

20. McCarthy, "Diary," June 17, 1877. This account was probably written on June 20. The narrative has been partially punctuated and paragraphed for greater readability.

21. Yellow Wolf, pp. 61-2. The council took place just within the corporate limits of the town of White Bird at a point a short distance north of U. S. Highway 95.

22. Testimony of Yuwishakaikt, December 30, 1899, Nez Perce Claims, Sen. Ex. Doc. 257, p. 103.

23. Albert later rejoined the nontreaty Nez Perce during the Clearwater Battle, after he learned that his father had been killed in the fighting at Cottonwood, July 4-5. Yellow Wolf, p. 65.

24. Because he stayed with the victors for a short time, Minthon earned the emnity of his agency associates and became an outcast to both sides. Yellow Wolf, p. 65.

25. Yellow Wolf, pp. 63, 69; Josephy, Nez Perce, 527.

26. H. W. Cone, "White Bird Battle," pp. 5-6. Robert Bailey erroneously stated that Cone had written that Yellow Bull had bragged to the settlers that Mrs. Manuel was in his camp. See Bailey, River of No Return, p. 188. Cone's statement is as follows: "She [Tolo] began to talk upbraiding them for killing their friends and hers, and Mrs. Manuel, who we learned from them [that] 'one of them had killed, who was full of bad whiskey.'"

27. Yellow Wolf, pp. 62-3.

28. After the war had ended, Rudolph had second thoughts and presented McCarthy with a bill for the items. See note in McCarthy, "Diary," June 20, 1877.

29. Muster Rolls of Companies H and F. See also I.W. Redington, "Battle of White Bird Canyon, Idaho, June 17, 1877," Winners of the West 4 (April 30, 1929), p. 2.

30. McCarthy, "Diary," June 21; Letter from Perry to Forsyth, c. October 21, 1878, DC.