Battle of the Clearwater
The Battle of the Clearwater was a battle between the Nez Percé and the United States army. Retreating from the battlefield the Nez Percé, under the leadership of Chief Joseph began the long trek across Idaho and Montana before surrenedering to Oliver Otis Howard near the Canadian border.
Background
After the defeat of U.S. soldiers at the Battle of Whitebird Canyon, General Oliver Otis Howard took personal command of the army. Howard dispatched a small force to capture the neutral Chief Looking Glass but instead dispearsed his camp and allowed him to join with Joseph. Howard moved forward to attack Joseph and Looking Glass near the Clearwater River.
The Battle
On July 10, 1877 Howard attacked Joseph's and Looking Glass' combined forces along the Clearwater River. Howard's men charged into Joseph's force which had surrounded a village of civilians at the bottom of a ravine. The U.S. attack faltered and soon Howard's men were on the defeansive. Joseph's men flanked the U.S. position and began to push the soldiers back from the canyon onto an open prairie. The fighting on the prairie lasted for several hours. The army brought up howitzer artillery pieces and devasted the warriors. Even though Joseph managed to capture a few of the artillery pieces (only briefly) his warriors could not hold up in the pitched battle and began the give way and were forced from the field.
Aftermath
The Battle of the Clearwater had been costly for the U.S. army but it forced the Nez Percé to retreat from Idaho into Montana. They turned south near Fort Missoula and finally stopped to rest in the Big Hole Basin after almost a month of fleeing. Howard's army was to bloodied to immediately pick up the pursuit and Howard telegraphed ahead to Colonel John Gibbon who would intercept the Nez Percé at the Battle of the Big Hole.
Sources Dillon, Richard H. North American Indian Wars (1983) Greene, Jerome A. Nez Perce Summer, 1877 (2000)
|
|
