Battle of Canyon Creek was a Indian Wars and Frontier Conflicts engagement fought in Montana, 1877.
In Montana Territory, the 7th Cavalry of the United States Army clashed with the Nez Perce Indians in what became known as the Battle of Canyon Creek. This clash formed one piece of the broader Indian Wars sweeping the latter part of the 19th century, and more specifically, it unfolded within the Nez Perce War itself. The fighting occurred on September 13, 1877, in the canyons and benches surrounding Canyon Creek, a stretch of terrain lying west of what is now Billings, within Yellowstone County.
In Montana Territory, the 7th Cavalry of the United States Army clashed with the Nez Perce Indians in what became known as the Battle of Canyon Creek. This clash formed one piece of the broader Indian Wars sweeping the latter part of the 19th century, and more specifically, it unfolded within the Nez Perce War itself. The fighting occurred on September 13, 1877, in the canyons and benches surrounding Canyon Creek, a stretch of terrain lying west of what is now Billings, within Yellowstone County.
On the Yellowstone's north side, above and below where Clark's Fork enters, cliffs rising roughly 400 feet (120 m) hemmed in the land, with Canyon Creek offering the sole way through. Traveling upstream along this creek through open terrain, a traveler would find that after about five miles (8 km) the rock walls tighten and the waterway divides into three separate forks. Each fork cuts its own canyon, barely a few hundred feet across, with lesser canyons branching off from these. Flat-topped ridges, standing 300 to 500 feet (90 to 150 m) tall, divide one canyon from the next. These tight passages stretch some six miles (10 km) before opening onto prairie beyond. The fighting unfolded across this maze of canyons and the high ground above them.
On September 12, the Nez Perce made camp close to where the narrow canyons of Canyon Creek began. The following morning found many warriors scattered along the Yellowstone, taking horses and provisions from nearby ranches, when word reached them that Sturgis had drawn near. His speed in catching up caught them off guard. Sturgis's own soldiers, worn out and hoping for rest once they forded the Yellowstone that morning, instead learned from Crow scouts that the Nez Perce were pressing up Canyon Creek some six miles distant. Recognizing his chance, Sturgis dispatched Major Lewis Merrill's battalion forward along a lengthy ridge, aiming to cut off the Nez Perce as they moved through the shallow canyon underneath. Benteen's battalion trailed behind, and Sturgis remained with the troops guarding the rear. Nez Perce warriors sent a smattering of rifle fire toward Merrill's position, bringing his advance to a stop atop the ridge. Civilian scout Stanton G. Fisher later remarked that Merrill's men got off their horses and took defensive positions "instead of charging which they should have done." Yellow Wolf recounted that a lone warrior, Teeto Hoonod, delayed the soldiers' progress for ten crucial minutes, loosing forty accurate shots at them from cover behind a boulder. This hesitation among the troops likely stemmed from the fearsome reputation the Nez Perce held for fighting skill and accurate shooting. Powerful winds that day also hampered shooting accuracy on both sides, helping explain the relatively light casualties suffered.
By the time Sturgis reached the scene, he judged that seizing the Nez Perce horse herd remained within reach. He directed Captain Benteen to swing left with his men, sealing off the canyon's exits to trap the horses along with the women and children. Merrill received orders to push into the canyon and threaten the Nez Perce column from behind, but mounting numbers of warriors kept his soldiers pinned down under long-range fire. He managed to seize only a handful of horses. Benteen likewise met resistance and could not cut off the herd, as Nez Perce fighters held the high ground and kept firing on his troops. A Nez Perce rearguard kept the soldiers at bay until darkness fell, allowing the bulk of their horses, along with the women and children, to reach open prairie and press on northward.
Fisher, like others present, felt "disgusted" by how carefully and slowly Sturgis had handled the engagement. His frustration deepened further when he got back to camp only to discover that Crow scouts had made off with his pack animals, his clothes, and his bedding.
On the following day a sizable body of Crow warriors, put by various estimates at anywhere from 50 to 200, caught up with Sturgis's command, mounted on horses that had not yet been worn down. These fresh riders pushed forward ahead of the main force alongside Bannock scouts, and in a brief clash they managed to make off with roughly 400 horses belonging to the Nez Perce.
Sturgis and his cavalry trailed behind them, covering 37 miles (60 km) in the course of that day. The distance came at a price, though: their mounts grew exhausted, leaving the troopers effectively stranded without usable horses, since neither the Crow nor the Bannock were willing to hand over any of the animals they had seized. A further stretch of hard travel followed, yet it brought Sturgis no closer to overtaking the Nez Perce. With no other option, he halted his column along the Musselshell River, where he had to wait for supplies to reach him. General Howard and his troops did not arrive at that same spot until two days afterward.
With considerably less trouble than one might expect, the Nez Perce managed to hold off a cavalry force twice their size and slip away entirely. Yet the outcome was not without cost. The Crow scouts had made off with roughly 400 of their horses, and this loss weighed heavily on the animals that remained, animals already pushed to exhaustion, making the journey north toward Canada that much harder. Ammunition, already scarce, had also been used up in large amounts. Perhaps worse than any material setback was the sting of being betrayed by the Crow, a blow to morale that landed hard on people already worn down physically after three straight months of fighting while retreating.
On Sturgis's side, the long-distance engagement cost three men their lives and left eleven wounded, one of whom would later die from his injuries. Martha Jane Cannary, known to history as "Calamity Jane," traveled downriver along the Yellowstone with the injured, serving as their nurse. Sturgis later claimed sixteen Nez Perce had been killed in the fighting, though Yellow Wolf offered a very different account, stating that only one warrior and two elderly men had died, and that the Crow, not the soldiers, were responsible for their deaths. According to him, soldiers had wounded three Nez Perce.
Soldiers of the 1st Cavalry spoke highly of the courage shown by three lieutenants from the 7th Cavalry, Nicholson, Wallace, and Gresham, and this praise eventually made its way into Benteen's own written commendation of the men.
The location where these events unfolded now forms part of the Nez Perce National Historical Park.
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