Big Hole National Battlefield (U.S. National Park Service)

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Big Hole National Battlefield

On August 9, 1877 gun shots shattered a chilly dawn on a sleeping camp of Nez Perce. Colonel John Gibbon and 163 men of the 7th Infantry and 34 Bitterroot Volunteers had orders to stop the non-treaty Nez Perce and return them to Idaho. The nearly 800 Nez Perce men, women, and children had fled their native lands when being forced onto a smaller reservation.

		Bear Paw Battlefield Located 16 miles south of Chinook, Montana on Highway 240, the battlefield commemorates the final conflict of the Nez Perce War of 1877. Following the breakout of war in Idaho, nearly 800 Nez Perce spent a long and arduous summer fleeing U.S. Army troops first toward Crow allies and then toward refuge in Canada. Forty miles short of the Canadian border and following a five-day battle and siege, the Nez Perce ceased fighting on October 5th, 1877, in which Chief Joseph gave his immortal speech: “From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.” more...

		Nez Perce National Historical Park Nez Perce National Historical Park is a park about a people, for all people. It is not one place but many. Today 38 sites in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington commemorate the legends and the history of the Nez Perce and their interaction with others. As you travel from site to site you will come to sense the rich and diverse culture of the Nimiipu. more...

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PO Box 237
16425 Highway 43 West
Wisdom, MT 59761

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(406) 689-3155

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