This picture was taken the morning of May 18, 2003, not far from Grangeville, Idaho.
This is the entry from my book: "Wahlitits and two other members of White Bird’s Band of Nez Perce killed a man named Richard Devine. The next day they killed three more men."
The sign says: "Named for the Blue Flowering Camas an important root food for all interior Northwestern Indians the Camas prairie is a traditional Nez Perce cultural center. Tolo Lake visible below provided a campground for Chief Joseph's Wallowa band and White Bird's Salmon River band when war broke out on the Salmon River directly south of here, June 14, 1877. Both of these bands were under military pressure to settle on the Camas Prairie when three young men from White Bird's band avenged a long series of past wrongs and Army authorities retaliated."
Tolo Lake...
Many Nez Perce gathered here in June, 1877. The lake was named after a Nez Perce woman named Tuiekats Chikchamit. She was called Tolo by the settlers, who had trouble pronouncing her name. The Nez Perce name for Tolo Lake is Tepahlewam (Split Rocks).
Click here to read about the hundreds of mammoth bones discovered around Tolo Lake in 1994.
There is quite a grade between Grangeville and White Bird. At this elevation, the clouds were always close.
This sign marks the area of the White Bird Battlegrounds near Highway 95, south of Grangeville.
This is the entry from my book for June 15, 1877: "The Nez Perce deadline to be on the reservation arrived. Whites were at Grangeville."
Click here to see a detailed website about the battle from the National Park Service.
The sign says: "Near the base of this hill, more than 100 cavalrymen and volunteers met disaster in the opening battle of the Nez Perce War. Rushing from Grangeville on the evening of June 16, 1877, Captain David Perry planned to stop the Indians from crossing the Salmon River to safety. At daylight the next morning, he headed down the ravine below you. Some 60 to 80 Indians wiped out a third of his force and the survivors retired in disorder. No Indians were killed."
The signs are very informational.
This map/picture shows the movements of the different groups.
The entry from my book: "Another battle took place between the army and the Nez Perce. The army was led by Captain David Perry. There were approximately 140 warriors in the group. This was called the Battle of White Bird Canyon. The army unit had difficulty coordinating its actions because one trumpeter had been killed and the other lost his trumpet. According to army records, during the retreat First Lieutenant William Parnell, First Cavalry, would return and rescue a soldier whose horse had been shot out from under him. For these actions, Parnell would be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Lieutenant E. R. Theller and thirty-three soldiers were killed. No Nez Perce casualties were reported. The battlefield was at White Bird, south of Grangeville, Idaho."
...more of the map...
