第36章 CHIEF JOSEPH(2)

Their greatest difficulty was in meeting an unencumbered army,while carrying their women,children,and old men,with supplies and such household effects as were absolutely necessary.Joseph formed an auxiliary corps that was to effect a retreat at each engagement,upon a definite plan and in definite order,while the unencumbered women were made into an ambulance corps to take care of the wounded.

It was decided that the main rear guard should meet General Howard's command in White Bird Canyon,and every detail was planned in advance,yet left flexible according to Indian custom,giving each leader freedom to act according to circumstances.Perhaps no better ambush was ever planned than the one Chief Joseph set for the shrewd and experienced General Howard.He expected to be hotly pursued,but he calculated that the pursuing force would consist of not more than two hundred and fifty soldiers.He prepared false trails to mislead them into thinking that he was about to cross or had crossed the Salmon River,which he had no thought of doing at that time.Some of the tents were pitched in plain sight,while the women and children were hidden on the inaccessible ridges,and the men concealed in the canyon ready to fire upon the soldiers with deadly effect with scarcely any danger to themselves.They could even roll rocks upon them.

In a very few minutes the troops had learned a lesson.The soldiers showed some fight,but a large body of frontiersmen who accompanied them were soon in disorder.The warriors chased them nearly ten miles,securing rifles and much ammunition,and killing and wounding many.

The Nez Perces next crossed the river,made a detour and recrossed it at another point,then took their way eastward.All this was by way of delaying pursuit.Joseph told me that he estimated it would take six or seven days to get a sufficient force in the field to take up their trail,and the correctness of his reasoning is apparent from the facts as detailed in General Howard's book.He tells us that he waited six days for the arrival of men from various forts in his department,then followed Joseph with six hundred soldiers,beside a large number of citizen volunteers and his Indian scouts.As it was evident they had a long chase over trackless wilderness in prospect,he discarded his supply wagons and took pack mules instead.But by this time the Indians had a good start.

Meanwhile General Howard had sent a dispatch to Colonel Gibbons,with orders to head Joseph off,which he undertook to do at the Montana end of the Lolo Trail.The wily commander had no knowledge of this move,but he was not to be surprised.He was too brainy for his pursuers,whom he constantly outwitted,and only gave battle when he was ready.There at the Big Hole Pass he met Colonel Gibbons'fresh troops and pressed them close.He sent a party under his brother Ollicut to harass Gibbons'rear and rout the pack mules,thus throwing him on the defensive and causing him to send for help,while Joseph continued his masterly retreat toward the Yellowstone Park,then a wilderness.However,this was but little advantage to him,since he must necessarily leave a broad trail,and the army was augmenting its columns day by day with celebrated scouts,both white and Indian.The two commands came together,and although General Howard says their horses were by this time worn out,and by inference the men as well,they persisted on the trail of a party encumbered by women and children,the old,sick,and wounded.

It was decided to send a detachment of cavalry under Bacon,to Tash Pass,the gateway of the National Park,which Joseph would have to pass,with orders to detain him there until the rest could come up with them.Here is what General Howard says of the affair.

"Bacon got into position soon enough but he did not have the heart to fight the Indians on account of their number."Meanwhile another incident had occurred.Right under the eyes of the chosen scouts and vigilant sentinels,Joseph's warriors fired upon the army camp at night and ran off their mules.He went straight on toward the park,where Lieutenant Bacon let him get by and pass through the narrow gateway without firing a shot.

Here again it was demonstrated that General Howard could not depend upon the volunteers,many of whom had joined him in the chase,and were going to show the soldiers how to fight Indians.

In this night attack at Camas Meadow,they were demoralized,and while crossing the river next day many lost their guns in the water,whereupon all packed up and went home,leaving the army to be guided by the Indian scouts.

However,this succession of defeats did not discourage General Howard,who kept on with as many of his men as were able to carry a gun,meanwhile sending dispatches to all the frontier posts with orders to intercept Joseph if possible.Sturgis tried to stop him as the Indians entered the Park,but they did not meet until he was about to come out,when there was another fight,with Joseph again victorious.General Howard came upon the battle field soon afterward and saw that the Indians were off again,and from here he sent fresh messages to General Miles,asking for reinforcements.

Joseph had now turned northeastward toward the Upper Missouri.