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Chris Wimmer (1:06)

The Nez Perce have one of the more gory and gruesome creation myths of the Native American peoples. It features some of the same elements of other myths, but it's much more vivid and graphic. In virtually all of the mythologies of the tribes of the west, the Coyote is a prominent character. He is Coyote with a capital C. He's a walking, talking figure who is known as a trickster, and he's the central figure in the birth of the Nez Perce. Long ago, before humans were on the earth, a giant monster entered the area that would be the homeland of the Nez Perce. The monster was eating all the creatures in the area and Coyote thought that was bad. So he armed himself with a fire making kit and five sharp flint knives. He had a clever, tricky plan. He placed himself in the path of the monster and the monster inhaled him. But Coyote didn't die. He explored the inside of the monster until he found its heart. He lit a fire in the monster and smoke belched out of the monster's nose and mouth. Coyote started hacking at the monster's heart with his knives to try to kill it, but it was hard. Coyote broke four of his five knives and now he was down to his last one. With one last slice, he cut the last bit of flesh that held the heart in place and he killed the monster. Coyote chopped up the monster. Each time he cut off a piece, he threw it in a different direction. Wherever those pieces landed, a group of humans grew. They became the Blackfeet, the Cayuse, the Coeur d'alene, the Shoshone, the Crow, the Sioux, and on and on. Coyote looked like he was done, but then another mythical figure showed up he was fox. And he asked Coyote who would live right there, the place where the monster's heart lay. That was the only piece of the monster that was left. Coyote washed his bloody hands with some of the water and sprinkled the blood water over the ground. There, another group of people was born. They were called the Nimi Poo, the real people. Many years later, French Canadian trappers would call them Nez Perce, which loosely translates to pierced nose. By that time, the Nimi Poo had spread throughout the region. But the heart of the monster remained the heart of their land. Outside the small town of Kamiai, Idaho, there's a large basaltic mound that is the heart of the monster. It was the birthplace of the Nez Perce. And then, after hundreds of years of living within its spiritual power, five groups of Nez Perce wondered if they would ever see it again. War had come to Nez Perce country, and those five groups now faced the decision of a lifetime. They could stay and fight for the right to live free on their homeland, or they could give up all their traditions and ways of life and move to a reservation. But over a two week period in July of 1877, it turned out there was a third option. It was probably more dangerous than staying and fighting, but it was the only option that still retained the hope of freedom. From Black Barrel Media, this is Legends of the Old West. I'm your host Chris Wimmer. And this season we're telling the story of the Nez Perce people and their epic fight to remain free. This is the Nez perce war. Episode 3 the Battle of Clearwater. The Nez Perce had good relations with Americans for about 30 years, since the first meeting with explorers Lewis and Clark in 1805, until the arrival of the first Christian missionaries in 1836. For the next 40 years, there was a slow decline. But to be fair, the decline didn't fully apply to all the bands of the Nez Perce. The bands in the northern part of Nez Perce territory were much more accepting of the Christian religion and life on a reservation. The first treaty that proposed a reservation happened in 1855. A second came eight years later, and that one robbed the bands in the southern part of Nez Perth's territory of all their lands. So the five southern bands refused to accept the treaty and resisted moving to the reservation for 13 years. But the breaking point came in May of 1877. The US government ordered the army to move the southern bands to the reservation by force if necessary. General Oliver Howard arrested the leader of one of the non treaty bands and that fanned the flames of war. Then a young warrior and two of his friends killed several white settlers in a spontaneous moment of revenge. That sparked two days of bloody attacks by the Nez Perce against the white settlers whom they viewed as invaders. The attacks culminated in the Battle of White bird Canyon on June 17, 1877, and the war was well and truly on. After a small contingent of warriors routed a force of 100 soldiers and 11 civilian volunteers in Whitebird Canyon, the Nez Perce did exactly what the civilians feared they would do. The people gathered their possessions and their 3,000 horses and crossed the Salmon river that ran through the canyon. On the other side of the river, they moved up into the Seven Devils Mountains where they had numerous advantages over the army. But not all of the civilians fears came true. People in the nearby towns of Mount Idaho and Grangeville had pushed the army to attack the Nez Perce in Whitebird Canyon because they feared the Nez Perce would cross the river and then disappear into the mountains. The Nez Perce did cross the river and they did move up into the mountains, but they intentionally did not disappear. For a week after the battle, they stayed in plain sight. They wanted the army to see them. They wanted the army to believe that they were resting before they continued west over the mountains toward the Wallowa Valley, the traditional homeland of Joseph's band. But the Nez Perce had no intention of going west, as General Howard would learn too late. While the Nez Perce waited in the mountains, General Howard began his trip south to see the battle site. Howard had been on the reservation 60 miles north of Whitebird Canyon waiting for the five non treaty bands to arrive. When he arrested one of their leaders, he thought he had convinced them to finally move to the reservation. He was wrong. And 34 soldiers died in an embarrassing fight in the canyon. By the time Howard arrived at the canyon on June 26th, he had more than 500 men with him. They were a mix of soldiers and civilian volunteers and their first task was to bury the mutilated bodies of the dead that had been laying out in the Open for 10 days. When the work was finished, he led his men in pursuit of the Nez Perce. But it took them three days to cross the Salmon River. After the rough crossing, his men began the slow, treacherous climb up the steep mountain trail. He was following three of the five non treaty bands and the Nez Perce plan worked just as they had hoped. The slow moving soldiers followed the trail and assumed it would head west. By the time they discovered they were wrong, the Nez Perce were already attacking two smaller army units that were separate from Howard's command, and by that time a fourth non treaty band had joined the fight. The band, led by lookingglass, the son of a famous leader with the same name, was unsure about joining the war. But on July 1, while Howard's troops fell for the fake out, the army made the decision for them. Hey Legends family, Here's a fun fact I love Irish, Scottish, Welsh and British TV shows. I have no doubt you've heard of a service called NordVPN and that's what helps me watch my favorite shows from the UK region. NordVPN is an Internet protection service that helps keep you safe from hackers and tracking systems and lots of other things. It allows you to switch your virtual location, which is what lets you stream shows and movies from other countries. That feature can also help you get better deals on flights, hotels and subscriptions. NORDVPN protects me when I have to use public wifi at a library or a coffee shop or a hotel. It's also the fastest VPN in the world so I never have to worry about my Internet speed slowing down. This is a long way of saying there are a ton of benefits. Go to NordVPN.com OldWest and you'll get four extra months on a two year plan. It comes with a no risk 30 day money back guarantee. The link is in the show notes but I'll say it again. Nordvpn.com Old West Thanks. While Howard pursued the three bands of Nez Perce into the mountains, he sent one of his captains to arrest Looking Glass. The goal was to keep his band from entering the conflict. Captain Whipple had 86 men who were a mix of soldiers and civilians. He wanted to attack Looking Glass camp at dawn on July 1, but he arrived too late. So Whipple sent messengers to propose a meeting with lookingglass. Whipple hoped to capture the leader with subtlety rather than force, but Looking Glass refused to meet. Whipple's troops were arranged outside the camp and Whipple continued to demand a meeting and Looking Glass continued to refuse. But then one of the soldiers fired an errant shot and all the soldiers and civilians followed suit. There were only 11 lodges in the camp and the volley of gunfire tore through all of them. There were about 150 Nez Perce in the camp and they scrambled out of their lodges and scattered in all directions. They ran into the hills and dove for cover. Tragically, a mother and her baby drowned while trying to rush across the Clearwater River. Captain Whipple didn't arrest lookingglass, but his soldiers destroyed the village and they considered their work done. They headed for an abandoned ranch to regroup and in doing so, put themselves right in the path of Joseph and the other Nez Perce. Joseph, his brother Olakut and the leaders of two other non treaty bands had lured General Howard's force into the mountains and then led them along dangerous trails. As the bands came down out of the mountains, they learned about the attack on Looking Glass Camp. Instead of turning left to go west into Joseph's homeland of the Wallowa Valley, they turned right and headed toward Looking Glass Camp. They crossed the Salmon river again, which ran along the base of the mountains they had just exited. As they headed toward the prairie where Looking Glass lived, the first obstacle in their path was the abandoned ranch where Captain Whipple's men now waited. The ranch had been the home of a family who ran a stagecoach stop. They had been attacked on June 14 and 15 during the two days of bloody attacks that led up to the Battle of Whitebird Canyon. Not surprisingly, the survivors fled the ranch and now Whipple used it as a base. On July 3, 1877, two days after the attack on Looking Glass, the three bands of Nez Perce ran into two of Whipple's civilian scouts. Warriors killed one, but the other raced back to the ranch and alerted Whipple to the threat. Whipple sent 13 men to Scout the advancing Nez Perce, and the scout turned into a fight for survival. The Nez Perce set up an ambush. They cut down some of the soldiers right away and trapped the others behind some rocks and tree stumps. It was a hopeless position, and the Nez Perce quickly killed the rest of the group, including the civilian scout. That made 14 men of Whipple's 86 who died in probably a matter of minutes. Captain Whipple organized the rest of his men and marched out to meet the Nez Perce. The two sides traded fire for a couple hours until Whipple pulled his men back to the ranch. At dawn the next morning, July 4th, Captain Perry, who had led the disastrous battle at Whitebird Canyon, arrived at the ranch with 29 men and a Gatling gun. Perry was the senior captain and he was now in command, and he told the troopers to dig in and prepare to defend their position. That afternoon, the Nez Perce surrounded the camp, but they stayed out of rifle range. The attackers and defenders traded fire until sunset, but Neither side took casualties. The Nez Perce started firing again at 9am the next morning. But it was only to cover the advance of the women and children who moved through the area behind the warriors. Before the day was done, Captain Perry learned that 17 civilians from the town of Mount Idaho, about 15 miles down the road had ridden north to join the fight. They became trapped by the advancing Nez Perce column. Two messengers pleaded with Perry to send help to the civilians but he still had an army of warriors right outside his door and he wasn't anxious to deplete his numbers to help a group that never should have left town in the first place. Eventually, he sent Captain Whipple with 60 men. By the time they arrived, the Nez Perce were gone. Three civilians died from the group that was called, somewhat ironically, the brave 17. As July 5 ended, the Nez Perce had made it past Captains Whipple and Perry and were about to join up with Looking Glasses Band. And behind them, General Howard was finally realizing the Nez Perce had not turned west but instead turned east back toward the rest of his soldiers and all the white settlers. On July 4, while the Nez Perce surrounded Perry and Whipple at the abandoned ranch, General Howard's command finally made it out of the Seven Devils Mountains. At that point, he expected to see the Nez Perce Trail turn to the west. But when it turned east and crossed the Salmon river again, he knew he was in trouble. It had taken him three days to get his 500 men across the river the first time. That had been a week ago, before they entered the mountains. Now he tried to follow in the Nez Perce's footsteps and crossed the river at the same spot they had crossed, but failed miserably. Joseph and the other leaders had moved hundreds of people and 3,000 horses across the river in a single day. Howard's force couldn't do it at all. After trying to make rafts and other flotation devices, Howard gave up. He turned his men around and marched all the way back through the mountains and down to the crossing in Whitebird Canyon. They trudged back up through the canyon and arrived at the town of Grangeville on July 8, two weeks after they started their chase and without ever getting within rifle range of the Nez Perce. While Howard regrouped at Grangeville, the Nez Perce continued moving east toward the home of Looking Glasses Band. Along the way, they burned homes and fences and crops. They turned back a group of civilian scouts who had been tracking them and stole more than 40 of their horses. The three non treaty bands arrived at Looking Glass camp somewhere between July 8 and July 10. That meant they had been fighting and marching for three straight weeks. They had crossed a range of small mountains, made two river crossings, and never faced any real danger from the roughly 600American soldiers in the field. When they joined with Looking Glasses band, they had approximately 750 people in their camp and the additional leadership of a highly respected warrior in Looking Glass. But now they had to decide what to do. Every decision over the past three weeks had been in reaction to one thing or another. There had been no time to plan any kind of strategy or even to discuss the most basic elements of their situation. What exactly was happening here? Were they actually in a full blown war with the US Army? It certainly felt like it, but that was a massive step that hadn't really been debated or agreed to. It just kind of happened. And if they were in a real war, how far were they prepared to take it? Those were all unanswered questions, but there wouldn't be much time for debate. Thanks to the civilians who had briefly skirmished with the group. General Howard now had a really good sense of where the Nez Perce were. They were in camp along the Clearwater river near its junction with Cottonwood Creek. But instead of taking the most direct route to the camp, Howard marched his men two miles north of the camp, crossed the Clearwater river, and then marched back down the other side. He was on high ground on some bluffs above the camp, but he was also on the wrong side of the river. The Nez Perce spotted him and sounded the alarm. It was about noon on July 11th and Howard fired the first shots of the Battle of Clearwater. His artillery lobbed shells toward the camp from his small howitzers. But he was too far away and the shells exploded in the air instead of destroying the camp. And now, with the element of surprise gone and his cannon useless, Howard was in a nearly identical position to Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. His men were on high ground above the village, but on the wrong side of the river. They would have to try to charge down one of two ravines and then cross the river to attack the village. But one or both of those ravines could quickly turn into death traps. And while Howard tried to put his plan in motion, warriors splashed across Cottonwood Creek and rode up one of the ravines. They poured fire on the troops from the same ravine that that the troopers were trying to use to attack the camp. At the same time, a second group of warriors, partially led by Joseph's brother, raced up the other ravine and unloaded on the troopers from a different direction. Now both avenues down to the village were blocked and the battle turned from a replica of Custer's last stand to a replica of the siege of Reno Hill.