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The Battle of the Big Hole: The Story of the Landmark Battle of the 1877 Nez Perce War

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The battle of the Big Hole in western Montana, the bloodiest action of the flight of several Nez Perce bands from an Idaho reservation, was fought in August, 1877. One of the few Amerindian actions to be declared a National Battlefield Park, the battle sheds little credit upon frontier army forces that killed mostly women and children, fled an embattled Indian camp under fire, and suffered the ignominious loss of the their artillery piece to the tribal fighters. But the battle, as Haines demonstrates, also illustrates deep problems of leadership and diplomatic skills among the Indians who misunderstood the strengths and determination of white civilians and of the army officers charged with their distasteful duties. First issued as An Elusive Victory in 1991, this reprint edition is an excellent example of the "new" military history. Reports of commanding officers (including a heroic poem) are balanced against oral histories of the New Perce survivors, diaries and letters of other participants, newspaper accounts, and subsequent archaeological studies of the battlefield. The contemporary military park, which recognizes tribal as well as army perceptions, owes much to such research and analysis.