In the days when
Bannock was a part of Oneida County, the Nez Perce
Indians went on the warpath. The trouble started in
Oregon and ended a thousand miles away at Bear Paw,
Montana. Several accounts of this outbreak have been
published, some of them going into much detail, but no
one, to our knowledge, has told the story of the rapid
flight of a band of Chief Joseph's followers across
Oneida County. To fill the gap and because the history
of Bannock County up to 1889 is identical with that of
the county of which she formed a part, this chapter is
written.
The Nez Perce war, like so many of the early troubles
between red men and white, was due to a dispute caused
by a treaty.
The first Indian treaty in Idaho was executed between
Governor Stevens, of Washington Territory, who was also
ex-officio superintendent of Indian affairs, and the Nez
Perce Indians, June 1, 1855. Up to this time there had
been no serious trouble with the Indians in this part of
the northwest, with the exception of the Whitman
massacre in 1847, when the Cayuse Indians killed Dr.
Whitman and several other settlers. The Nez Perce,
however, showing signs of uneasiness at the increasing
number of whites and the large tracts of land they were
appropriating, Governor 'Stevens thought it wise to have
an understanding with them. In brief, the treaty set
apart the Nez Perce reservation, allowing to the Indians
certain annual payments and providing for the
establishment of an agency and Indian schools, in return
for which the Indians ceded to the United States their
claim to other lands. One independent, sagacious and
brave Nez Perce chief, named Joseph, refused to sign
this treaty, and with his adherents, continued to roam
the country as before, untramelled by reservation limits
or the provisions of treaties.
In May 1877, Chief Joseph and his followers were ordered
from the Wallowa Valley, Oregon, to the Nez Perce
reservation in Idaho, and given until June 14th to make
the move. The Indians felt the injustice of being called
upon to observe a treaty to which they had never agreed,
and instead of obeying the order, made a rapid journey
to the east of the Salmon river country in Idaho, and
suddenly attacked the thinly settled whites there,
killing; seventeen, and wounding many others. They then
fired the settlers' homes and farms and drove away their
horses and cattle. Volunteer companies were quickly
formed to protect the whites in the outlying districts,
but during the mobilizing of the men, several more were
killed. Three other small bands of non-treaty Indians
linked their fortunes with those of Chief Joseph; one
band, under Chief Looking Glass, another under Chief
White Bird, and the third under Chief Tehulhulsote,
known as the Dreamer Chief.
General Howard, at Fort Lapwai, who had been relying on
a promise given by Chief Joseph to obey the order to
move on to the Nez Perce reservation, immediately sent
two companies of cavalry, under Colonel Perry, to deal
with the Indians, while other soldiers were summoned
from Walla Walla, Portland and San Francisco.
The Indians continued on the rampage for the next two
days until June 16, 1877. On that day, Colonel Perry
arrived on the scene and gave battle to the red men in
Whitebird canyon. In an hour thirty-four of his ninety
men were killed and two wounded. He beat a hasty retreat
to Grangeville.
On June 22nd, General Howard himself took the field with
a force of two hundred and twenty-five men and an
equipment of artillery. From that time until his final
surrender to Col. Nelson A. Miles, October 5, 1877,
Chief Joseph led his followers from one point to
another, extricating them from apparently hopeless
predicaments, and showing a military shrewdness that
ranks him among the first warriors of his race.
In their flight eastward one body of Nez Perces pursued
a southerly course, crossing Oneida County a little
above Eagle Rock, now called Idaho Falls. It is thought
that they expected the Bannock Indians on the Fort Hall
reservation to rise and join them, but if this was the
case they were disappointed. Perhaps the Bannocks saw
the folly of casting in their lot with an ally who was
already in flight, but as will appear presently, the Nez
Perces received no help from the Bannocks.
The Nez Perces followed a trail down Birch creek. At the
same time, August 1877, two freighters, named Hayden and
Green, were traveling northward to Salmon City, with
eight or ten wagons, loaded with merchandise. In their
party were two hired men, two Chinamen and a swamper,
who was working' his passage. A party of the Indians met
the Hayden and Green outfit and approaching them in a
friendly manner, said they wanted to buy flour. Hayden
asked them the price then current in Salmon City $1.75
per hundredweight. The Indians beat him down fifty cents
per hundredweight in his price, bought and paid for
their flour, and moved on. Soon Hayden met a second
detachment of the Nez Perces, who also wanted to buy
flour. He quoted these men the same price he had sold to
the first party for, but the second also beat him down.
After paying for their purchase, the Indians passed on
and joined their comrades. When the two bands compared
notes, they found a discrepancy in price, and turned in
their tracks to overtake Hayden. When they came up with
the freighters, they forced them to go into camp near
the sink of Birch creek, and began riding threateningly
around the wagons, which the freighters had corralled in
regular form. The swamper became uneasy and, when
opportunity offered, took to the hills. After a time the
Indians took a barrel of whiskey from one of the wagons
and having opened it, used it as a free bar. Now Hayden
and his companions felt alarmed. One by one they made
cautiously for a willow grove on the creek bank, but one
of them was killed within thirty yards of the camp,
another ten yards further, while a third was shot down
when nearly a quarter of a mile distant. All three
bodies were mutilated. The Indians, now maddened with
drink, turned their attention to the two Chinamen, whom
they abused cruelly. Forcing them down on all fours,
they rode the yellow men with spurs, using their whips
and rowels freely. Tiring of this sport, the Nez Perces
after taking what they wanted, made a bonfire of the
freight wagons, which were afterward found burned to the
hubs. The Chinamen availed themselves of this
opportunity to escape. Both they and the swamper were
rescued after wandering for several days in the
mountains, but all three men were insane from exposure,
hunger, fear and abuse.
Colonel George L. Shoup, of Salmon City, who was
expecting the arrival of the Hayden party, went up into
the hills where he could get a view of the road, just at
the time the Indians forced the freighters into camp, to
see whether the wagons had come into sight yet. Taking
in the situation, the colonel hurried back to Salmon
City for aid, but the rescuers arrived too late. All
they could do was to give decent burial to Hayden,
Green, and their two companions.
After this massacre, the Indians followed down Birch
creek, crossed the Lemhi River and made a long day's
journey, without water, to Hole-in-the-Rock, in Beaver
canyon, close to the present town of Highbridge.
At this time, Mr. E. N. Rowland who now lives on a ranch
five miles west of Pocatello was traveling northward
with a freight outfit. He had gone a little beyond Eagle
Rock when word came that the Indians were on the
warpath. Hurrying ahead, he overtook other freighters,
who in turn held back for others to overtake them. In
this way forty or fifty men banded together for mutual
protection. Presently, looking southward, these men saw
a great cloud of dust approaching, and prepared for
trouble, but the newcomers proved to be friendly
Bannocks, a hundred and fifty or two hundred strong, who
had heard that the Nez Perces were in the country. They
were making a raid to steal the invaders' horses. Mr.
"Rowland says the same band passed them again a few days
later, leading with them about two hundred captured
ponies.
Further on, just as they were going into camp for their
noonday meal, the freighters saw an Indian some distance
ahead turn out of the road and disappear among the
rocks. A couple of hours later, before resuming their
march, a few of the freighters made a cautious search
and found the Indian dead from thirst. This was the
first of several dead Indians found by the freighters,
all of whom had died in the same manner. The hot August
weather had dried up the few streams between the scene
of the Hayden tragedy and the Indians ' next halting
place, Hole-in-the-Rock. Their whiskey orgy of the
previous night had left them in bad shape for a long,
dry march and some of the weaker of them perished by the
way. It is but a few miles from Highbridge to the
Montana line, and the fleeing Nez Perce circled on
toward Bozeman, in that state, without perpetrating any
more outrages in Idaho. In June of this same year, 1877,
a band of Bannock Indians from Fort Hall, influenced
probably by the action of the Nez Perce in refusing to
be restricted by the terms of treaties, left their
reservation and proceeded toward Boise. The band was
well armed and well mounted. When word reached Boise
that these Indians were in camp, less than thirty miles
away, the town was greatly alarmed and a body of
volunteers, under Captain R. Robbins, was quickly
equipped for action.
A small detachment of men was sent to interview the
Bannocks, with instructions to bring the band, or at
least the chiefs, into Boise to have a talk with the
governor. The embassy returned the following morning,
June 20th, bringing with them thirty or forty stalwart
Bannock warriors. They created a sensation as they rode
double file through the main street of the city to the
governor's office. Here they were introduced to the
governor and several of the leading men of Boise, with
whom they held a long peace conference. In the end it
was agreed that the people of Boise should provide the
Indians with provisions and accommodations for their
horses until the following day, and give them a few
hundred pounds of flour and meat, beside certain amounts
of sugar, tea, coffee, tobacco, etc., the Bannocks for
their part undertaking to return peaceably to their
reservation.
Mr. John Hailey, who was detailed by the governor to see
that the compact was carried out, has given us the
following account of their departure:
"Early the next morning, with the assistance of a few of
our good boys, we gathered up all these contributions
and checked up to see if they filled the agreement.
Everything was satisfactory, we helped them to pack up,
and then tried to impress on them, first, that we had
kept and fulfilled our part of the agreement, and
second, that they must not fail to fulfill their part of
the agreement. They seemed to realize the importance of
fulfilling their part, so we bade them a goodbye,
wishing them a speedy and safe journey to their home on
the Fort Hall reservation. They went and kept their part
of the agreement for this year, 1877, but in 1878 they
gave us trouble."
The trouble to which Mr. Hailey refers was the Bannock
Indian war, which we will take up in the next chapter.
The History of Bannock County
Idaho, By Arthur C. Saunders, Pocatello, Idaho. U. S.
A., The Tribune Company. Limited, 1915
History of
Bannock County, Idaho
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