Battle of Camas Creek

On August 20, 1877, warriors of the Nez Perce people struck an Army encampment situated in Idaho Territory, an episode that unfolded as part of the wider Nez Perce War. What began as a nighttime raid escalated into a clash in which the Nez Perce got the better of three cavalry companies, allowing them to press onward with the fighting withdrawal they had undertaken to elude their pursuers.

Background

After the punishing losses they suffered at the Battle of the Big Hole on August 9-10, the Nez Perce moved south through Montana Territory, then crossed back into Idaho Territory at Bannock Pass before dropping down into the Lemhi River valley. Knowing full well that soldiers were on their trail, they deliberately avoided the direct path they normally used to reach the Montana Great Plains, choosing instead a winding course meant to throw off their pursuers. Guiding them through this stretch of the retreat was a man of mixed Nez Perce and French ancestry known by several names, most commonly Poker Joe, who led the march during this period. Word had already reached the White settlers of the Lemhi Valley that the Nez Perce might pass through, and most had already sought safety in the town of Lemhi.

Rather than trailing the Nez Perce along their own path, Brigadier General Oliver O. Howard chose a shorter eastward route across southern Montana, aiming to cut them off somewhere near Yellowstone National Park. His force consisted of 310 soldiers, along with a fluctuating body of civilian volunteers, typically numbering in the dozens, and Indian scouts drawn mostly from the Bannocks, with a handful of Nez Perce allies aiding the army as well. To try to trap the fleeing bands between two forces, Howard sent a detachment of 50 men, including some of his scouts, ahead under Lt. George R. Bacon, tasking them with securing Red Rock Pass. By this point Howard faced mounting criticism, since two months into the campaign he still had not managed to defeat the Nez Perce.

As for the Nez Perce Howard was chasing, their numbers had fallen after the Big Hole battle to roughly 700 people, of whom fewer than 200 were warriors.

Birch Creek

The bloodshed at Big Hole, where numerous Nez Perce women and children perished, left the tribe's younger fighters burning for retaliation, and even their own leaders found themselves powerless to hold this anger in check.

Five ranchers lost their lives on Horse Prairie, Montana, on August 12 at the hands of the Nez Perce. The following day, having pushed through Bannock Pass into Idaho territory, the band came upon a stockade at Junction packed with White settlers. Looking Glass and White Bird, acting as leaders, sat down with those inside and assured them of their peaceful intentions.

Two days after that encounter, along Birch Creek, the traveling Nez Perce crossed paths with a wagon train consisting of eight covered wagons and eight men. What began as a cordial meeting soured once the warriors asked for whiskey and received it. Violence followed, claiming the lives of five of the White travelers. A single man managed to flee, while two Chinese members of the party were let go unharmed. Amid what seems to have been a drunken quarrel between warriors, one Nez Perce man also died. Before moving on, the leaders emptied what whiskey remained onto the earth and set the wagons ablaze.

Race to Camas Meadows

After leaving Birch Creek, the Nez Perce swung east toward Henrys Lake, while Howard kept pace on the Montana side of the continental divide, hoping his northern track would let him beat them across the border. His scheme called for slipping into Idaho through Monida Pass, the spot travelers now know as the route of Interstate 15, and pinning the Nez Perce down at Camas Creek near Dubois. On August 17, thirty-nine volunteers from Virginia City, led by James E. Callaway, caught up with Howard and folded into his cavalry.

That same day brought another reinforcement: Captain Randolph Norwood arrived with fifty fresh troopers designated Company 4 of the Second Infantry, also joining Howard's column. Despite pouring every effort into reaching Camas Creek in time, Howard missed his chance by a single day. Bannock scouts riding ahead of his cavalry spotted the Nez Perce rear guard crossing the road on its way to Camas Meadows, and Chief Buffalo Horn, one of the scouts serving Howard, managed to glimpse their encampment.

By August 18 the Nez Perce had settled at Camas Meadows, a stretch of ground split by Spring Creek and Camas Creek, some fifteen miles east of Howard's position. In their own language they called this campsite Kamisnim Takin, which translates to "camas meadows." Howard's forces reached the same spot on August 19, only to find the Nez Perce already gone, having pushed further east that morning. Howard made camp there for the night, naming it Camp Callaway, and reportedly went to considerable lengths, taking what he called "great pains," to ring the position with pickets facing every direction.

The Raid

Nez Perce lookouts noticed the unusual measures Howard had put in place to guard Camp Callaway, and word of these defenses traveled back to their own encampment, where the chiefs weighed the intelligence. Their answer was a plan to strip Howard's cavalry of its horses through a swift raid. Accounts differ on how many warriors took part, though the figure stood at no fewer than 28 and may have climbed considerably higher. None of the chiefs anticipated that the venture would turn into open combat.

Yellow Wolf recalled how the group moved that night. They kept their pace unhurried and their voices low, with no smoking allowed since even a lit match might give them away. After covering considerable ground, the band split into two columns, one following each bank of the creek. Short of the soldiers' camp, everyone halted while the older men convened to settle on a strategy. Debate arose over whether to leave the horses behind and slip in on foot, but Looking Glass and others argued against abandoning their mounts under any circumstance. Their view carried the day, and the warriors resolved to ride in rather than walk. Joseph himself was absent from the party.

Close to four in the morning, a number of the Nez Perce slid off their horses and moved quietly among the army's picketed animals, working to cut them free. Almost immediately, two disruptions occurred together. A sentry's challenge of "Who goes there?" rang out just as the mounted warriors neared the camp, and in that same instant a scout on foot named Otskai set off his weapon by accident right in the heart of the encampment. The alarm thus went up from two directions before the raiders had managed to loose very many horses. Even so, two hundred mules broke free, and the warriors turned their efforts toward driving them north, which let the raiders keep command of the runaway animals. Amid the chaos and shouting, several soldiers later claimed they could make out what they called the great voice of Looking Glass calling out commands. Shots flew through the camp and struck the wagons here and there, yet only a single soldier was hit, and that wound proved minor. The combination of darkness, gunfire, and shock threw the camp into disorder, but the officers and cavalrymen managed to dress and mount their horses without much delay.

Howard responded by directing that a substantial detachment be readied to chase down the raiders and reclaim the animals. Three companies of cavalry stood ready within just a few minutes. By the time the sun rose, close to 150 riders were racing northward after the raiders, who by then held a lead of several miles. Beyond the stolen mules, roughly 20 horses belonging to volunteers from Virginia City had also vanished. Word had it that the government paid these volunteers $150 for each animal lost.

A newspaper writer later captured the episode in verse, describing himself as one of the volunteers marching home on foot after Joseph left the men without their horses at the fight near Callaway's camp.