Fort Owen sign. It is near Stevensville, Montana.
This sign speaks for itself. It is on Highway 92, a little south of Lolo.
The area along Highway 93 between Missoula and Hamilton, Montana. The elevation is apporximately 3,200 feet.
Chief Joseph Pass at the juncture of Highwys 93 & 43 on the Montana-Idaho state line.
A snow storm as it approaches the Big Hole National Battlefield (highway 43, east of Highway 93). The elevation is approximately 6,500 feet.
The entry from my book for June 20, 1939: "By Proclamation No. 2339, the president transferred certain lands from the Beaverhead Nation Forest and made them the Big Hole Battlefield National Monument in Montana. This was the site of one of the battles on the Nez Perce flight in 1877."
Click here to see a map of the battlefield
Click here to see a general article about the battle from the National Park Service.
Click here to see a detailed article about the battle from the NPS.
The entry from my book for August 9, 1877: "During the Nez Perce War, the army was led by Colonel John Gibbon (they had found the remains of Custer’s forces after the Battle of the Little Big Horn). Depending on the source, 183 to 191 soldiers started the fight, twenty-nine to thirty-one soldiers were killed, including Captain William Logan and First Lieutenant James Bradley, and forty soldiers were wounded, including Colonel Gibbon. The soldiers today mounted a surprise attack at dawn. The Nez Perce set up eighty-nine teepees in a mountain valley called the Big Hole (west of modern Wisdom, Montana). The soldiers took the upper hand in the fighting early on. When the Nez retreated, the victorious soldiers did not follow. This allowed the Nez Perce to regroup and mount a counterattack. Captain Richard Comba, in charge of the burial detail, reported finding the bodies of eighty-nine Nez Perce on the battleground. Chief Joseph reported his losses as thirty warriors and fifty women and children killed during the fight, which ended the next day. Private Lorenzo D. Brown, Company A, Seventh Infantry, Private Wilfred Clark, Company L, Second Cavalry, First Sergeant William D. Edwards, Company F, Seventh Infantry, musician John McLennon, Company A, Sergeant Patrick Rogan, Company A, and Sergeant Milden Wilson, Company I, would be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for their actions."
