Chapter 13: Bear's Paw: Siege and Surrender (continued)
Just at dusk, riders appeared from the south. They
proved to be General Howard with two aides and an escort of twenty-one
men, besides several scouts, one white interpreter, and two elderly Nez
Perce men. [82] After leaving Sturgis with
the main force at Carroll and ascending aboard the Benton to Cow
Island with part of his foot troops, Howard had set out on October 3 on
the trail with only this small party, which included the general's son,
Lieutenant Guy Howard, and Lieutenant Charles E. S. Wood, anxiously
intent on finding Miles. Scout Redington wrote of the Nez Perces, who
but recently had raided the stores at Cow Island, that "for many miles
up Cow Creek and Bull Creek we could trail them by the packages of
finecut tobacco, beans and coffee that had trickled and dropped off
their packs." [83] During the afternoon of
the fourth, Howard's group met two men carrying dispatches from Sturgis
to Miles and first learned of the battle then underway. (Unknown to
Howard, Colonel Sturgis, meanwhile, had on October 2 received Miles's
dispatch of the thirtieth announcing the battle, mobilized his troops,
and crossed the Missouri on the steamers Meade and Silver
City. [84] Pushing north with ten days'
rations, Sturgis had covered thirty miles to the base of the Little
Rocky Mountains by evening, October 4. [85]) Soon after, Howard's party crested the
divide south of the battlefield and saw campfires in the growing
twilight. A few bullets from the Nez Perce position whistling past their
heads momentarily caused Howard to think that his party was mistakenly
under attack by the pickets. Then Miles appeared, saying, "We have the
Indians corralled down yonder," and with an escort conducted them
forward. [86]
At a meeting that evening, Howard told Miles that he
had no wish to assume command and that the colonel would be free to
complete the work he had started. That view probably brought Miles
certain relief, knowing that his imminent victory over the Nez Perces
and whatever laurels and promotional possibilities it might entail
remained secure. [87] Because the end of
the siege did not appear immediately at hand, however, and because the
Sitting Bull factor remained, Howard prepared dispatches directing
reinforcements ahead from his command. Unaware of Sturgis's movement
north, he also sent word directing Major Mason (who was with Sturgis) to
supervise the transport of the supplies at Cow Island and Carroll to the
mouth of Little Rocky Creek on the Missouri, and there to await Miles's
wagon train, which would be bringing the wounded from the battlefield
for conveyance to Fort Buford on the Benton along with Captain
Miller's artillerymen. [88] Finally, Howard
suggested using his two Nez Perces, Jokais (Lazy), known as Captain
John, and Meopkowit (Baby, or Know Nothing), known as Old George, [89] both with daughters among the besieged
people, to try to induce their surrender, an idea that Miles supported.
Howard then prepared a status report for General McDowell in San
Francisco, complimentarily concluding that Miles's "successful march . .
. of three hundred miles could not be excelled in quickness of
conception and promptitude of execution." [90]
Friday, October 5 arrived "a beautiful morning." [91] The bombardment of the Nez Perce camp,
which had gone on at intervals all during the night, finally began to
subside. Doctors Tilton and Gardner had finished performing three
amputations at the hospital, [92] and
Lieutenant Guy Howard at his father's direction sent a message to
Sturgis telling him to bring along the howitzer, as it was "in special
demand here." (In fact, Sturgis had left the gun behind because the
horses were too weak to carry it.) [93]
Then, at 8:00 a.m., all firing ceased. [94]
The two Nez Perces who had come with Howard, Captain John and Old
George, stepped forward under a white flag, descended to the Snake Creek
bottom, and crossed into the Nez Perce position. Hours passed. The two
returned, reported to Miles and Howard, and then went back to the Nez
Perces. [95] "They were getting very tired
of the siege," related Tilton. "They report that one shell killed three,
and wounded others. [96] They had sent
runners to the Assiniboines, who had been killed. The soldiers fired at
them; citizens fired at them; and Indians fired at them. They were ready
to surrender." [97]
In the space since Howard's arrival, Joseph had
learned of the presence of Arthur Chapman, the interpreter who was his
friend. "We could now talk understandingly," he remembered. [98] But the major face-to-face consultations
involved the two Nez Perces Howard had brought with him. Reminiscent
accounts of the talks in the camp between the besieged and Captain John
and Old George were given by Yellow Wolf and Tom Hill, both of whom were
present. Perhaps at about 9:00 a.m., [99]
Captain John and Old George, who had attached themselves to Howard's
army in an effort to find and retrieve their children and who had been
primed by Howard through Chapman, entered the Nez Perces lines to mixed
greetings. White Bull, who had wanted to kill Lieutenant Jerome, also
wanted to kill these men, but was ordered away from them. "We see your
sons and relations lying dead, but we are glad to shake hands with you
today," said Old George. Captain John said that Howard had sent word
that the people need not be afraid. Then they told them that Howard's
army was but a day behind, that a surrender would bring no executions,
and that the people would be treated well and given blankets and food.
Probably, too, the two Nez Perces told the leaders that the people would
be sent to the Lapwai Reservation, as this was what Miles and Howard
believed was expected. [100]
At Joseph's direction, the two emissaries passed back
to the soldier's lines. While they were gone, the men counciled over the
proposal. Some were inclined to believe that the leaders, notably
Joseph, would be hanged. Others wanted assurances that they would be
compensated for the property taken from them before the warfare had
erupted. Yellow Wolf remembered seeing General Howard standing in the
distance and calling to the Nez Perces. Then Captain John and Old George
returned with a message from Miles asking to speak directly to Joseph.
The leaders counciled again and decided that Joseph should go forward.
[101] All realized that the individual
bands could decide unilaterally and might not act together, and,
moreover, that each individual was free to choose his or her own course.
[102] Tom Hill said that Joseph asked him
to accompany him, saying that to quit fighting "is the best thing we can
do." [103] Captain John and Old George
returned to the army command, this time likely carrying the reply from
Joseph that has since defined Bear's Paw and the conclusion of the Nez
Perce War while assuring the stature of Chief Joseph in history and in
legend. [104] When the two emissaries, at
Joseph's direction, passed back to the soldiers' line, Captain John,
"with tears in his eyes," relayed (and possibly
paraphrased)through ChapmanJoseph's response to Howard, an
oral report on the Nez Perces' stricken condition, in essence, that
became known as Joseph's surrender speech. [105] As transcribed in pencil by Lieutenant
Wood, Howard's adjutant, the historic message read:
Tell General Howard I know his heart.
What he told me before I have in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our
chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Tu-hul-hul-sote is dead. The
old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led
on the young men is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. The little
children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away
to the hills, and have no blankets, no food; no one knows where they
areperhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my
children and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them
among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired; my heart is sick and
sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever. [106]
Halfway between the lines, Joseph, with Tom Hill and
some other Nez Perces, all apparently unidentified, met with Miles and
Howard and Chapman. "I remember well the council held, in a circle on
the grass, in full view of the camp," wrote Kelly. [107] At this meeting, the proceedings of
which were evidently not transcribed, Joseph indicated his intention of
surrendering his own band and himself, leaving to others to decide the
respective fates of the other Nee-Me-Poo. He later related that "General
Miles said to me in plain words, 'If you will come out and give up your
arms, I will spare your lives and send you to your reservation.'" [108] White Bird did not attend, but
reportedly concurred with Joseph's decision to surrender, sending word
that "What Joseph does is all right; I have nothing to say." [109] Yellow Wolf, who apparently was not
present at this council, mentioned some minor perturbation of Howard and
said that, after the officers promised to provide food and supplies to
the people, the leaders and commanders shook hands all around. Joseph
said, "Now we understand these words, and will go with General Miles."
At 11:00 a.m., October 5, Joseph's negotiated surrender was thus
complete. [110]
At midafternoon, in formal consummation of the
agreement, Joseph mounted a pony and, closely surrounded on either side
by five men afoot who clung to his person and spoke softly yet intently
to him, slowly rode out of the Nez Perce entrenchments. In appearance,
according to Wood,
His scalp-lock was tied with otter fur. The rest of
his hair hung in a thick plait on each side of his head. He wore
buckskin leggings and a gray woolen shawl, through which were the marks
of four or five bullets. . . . His forehead and wrist were also
scratched by bullets. [111]
His hands were crossed on the pommel of his saddle,
his Winchester carbine straddling his knees, and his head hanging down.
Contemporary observers said that Joseph rode up a hill. Quite logically,
he passed across the creek bottom to the west side of the bluff opposite
the south end of the camp, then ascended the slightly rising tableland
adjoining the west side of the coulee through which Carter's assault
party had come on September 30. This rise is between the south bluff and
that adjacent on the west where the Hotchkiss gun stood. The site, while
not far from that presently designated for the formal surrender, is
furthermore shielded from known warrior positions to the northwest and
would have been within the protective encirclement of the army line
situated back from the edges of the bluffs. [112] Probably there, Miles and Howard stood
waiting to receive him. [113] It was 2:20
p.m., according to Lieutenant Wood. [114]
On his approach, Joseph sat upright, then gracefully dismounted before
the senior officers, who were accompanied by Lieutenants Wood, Long, and
Howard, besides the interpreter, Arthur Chapman, and an unidentified
enlisted orderly. Some distance away, a courier stood by his horse,
bridle in hand. [115] The other warriors
and headmen fell back as Joseph raised his head, walked forward, and
"with an impulsive gesture" extended his Winchester carbine to General
Howard. [116] The general, true to his
word, stepped back and motioned the Nez Perce leader over to Miles, who
received the gun. [117] It is not certain
if he uttered any statement, although Howard told a newspaperman that
Joseph had said, doubtless in his own language: "From where the sun
stands, forever and ever, I will never fight again." [118] Wood remembered: "Those present shook
hands with Joseph, whose worn and anxious face lighted with a sad smile
as silently he took each offered hand. Presently turning away, he walked
to the tent provided for him." Howard and Miles, riding on either side,
accompanied Joseph to the rear, where Lieutenant Wood took charge of
him. [119] The chief was described as "in
great distress" over the whereabouts of his daughter, who had escaped at
the time of the initial attack. "He was afraid she would perish from the
cold, as she had on very little clothing at the time," related Tilton.
[120] Then, almost randomly, probably as
they concluded that capitulation was the only alternative, other groups
of Nez Perces came filing out of the pits to turn in their weapons in an
impromptu demonstration that lasted until dusk. Wrote a witness: "The
other chiefs and their companions who had followed Joseph into the camp
performed the same ceremony. . . . In reversing their weapons [they]
gave a significance to the act easily appreciated by the veterans who
were silent witnesses of it." [121]
Heinmot Tooyalakekt, or Chief Joseph, was photographed by John H.
Fouch at Tongue River Cantonment shortly after the arrival of the Nez
Perce prisoners on October 23, three weeks following the surrender at
Bear's Paw battlefield. National Anthropological
Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
|
During the remainder of the day, sixty-seven warriors
and an unspecified number of noncombatants had turned themselves in.
Besides Nez Perces, they included the Palouses of Husis Kute. Howard
recalled the "forlorn procession" as "covered with dirt, their clothing
was torn, and their ponies, such as they were, were thin and lame." [122] By dark, not all of the people ensconced
in the earthworks had committed to surrender, and the military lines
were maintained through the night. [123]
Nonetheless, that evening Miles prepared a dispatch for delivery to
General Terry:
We have had our usual success. We made a very direct
and rapid march across the country, and after a severe engagement, and
being kept under fire for three [sic] days, the hostile camp of Nez
Perces, under Chief Joseph, surrendered at two o'clock to-day. [124]
Not all of the people chose to follow Joseph's
course, however. At least seventy of the tribesmen had managed to escape
Miles's investment on September 30 in the opening moments of the attack.
Most of them had eluded the Second Cavalry pursuit and continued north
toward the British possessions. And during the course of the siege,
under the cover of darkness other bodies of tribesmen, probably
numbering as many as one hundredsometimes including whole
familieshad managed to penetrate the military cordon and escape.
Now, in the hours following Joseph's surrender, White Bird and many
other people chose to attempt to escape and drive for Canada and what
they hoped would be freedom and a reunion with those friends and
relatives who had gotten away earlier. [125] At about 9:00 p.m., aided by darkness,
White Bird's party, perhaps as many as fifty people, quietly made its
way north along the Snake Creek bottom, somehow eluding the attention of
the army pickets, and headed toward Milk River and beyond. [126] The next morning, the chief not having
appeared, Howard and Miles visited the Nez Perce entrenchments to find
him and there learned of his departure. [127] Howard, oblivious to the nature of
Nee-Me-Poo societal dynamics, considered White Bird's escape, "after the
terms of surrender had been agreed upon," a violation of the accord. [128] As Yellow Wolf later explained, "All who
wanted to surrender took their guns to General Miles and gave them up.
Those who did not want to surrender, kept their guns. The surrender was
just for those who did not longer want to fight. Joseph spoke only for
his own band, what they wanted to do." [129]
|