Nez Perce Summer, 1877

The U.S. Army and the Nee-Me-Poo Crisis

Jerome A. Greene

• Publisher: Bison Books
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781496234483
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

Nez Perce Summer, 1877 tells the story of a people's epic struggle to survive spiritually, culturally, and physically in the face of unrelenting military force. Written by one of the foremost experts in frontier military history, Jerome A. Greene, and reviewed by members of the Nez Perce tribe, this definitive treatment of the Nez Perce War is the first to incorporate research from all known accounts of Nez Perce and U.S. military participants. Enhanced by sixteen detailed maps and forty-nine historic photographs, Greene's gripping narrative takes readers on a three-and-one-half month 1, 700-mile journey across the wilds of Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana territories. All of the skirmishes and battles of the war receive detailed treatment, which benefits from Greene's astute analysis of the strategies and decision making on both sides. Between 100 and 150 of the more than 800 Nez Perce men, women, and children who began the trek were killed during the war. Almost as many died in the months following the surrender, after they were exiled to malaria-ridden northeastern Oklahoma. Army deaths numbered 113. The casualties on both sides were an extraordinary price for a war that nobody wanted but whose history has since fascinated generations of Americans.

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• List of Maps
• Foreword, by Alvin M. Josephy, Jr.
• Introduction and Acknowledgments
• CHAPTER 1: Reasons
• CHAPTER 2: Eruption and White Bird Canyon
• CHAPTER 3: Looking Glass’s Camp and Cottonwood
• CHAPTER 4: Clearwater
• CHAPTER 5: Kamiah, Weippe, and Fort Fizzle
• CHAPTER 6: Bitterroot and the Big Hole
• CHAPTER 7: Camas Meadows
• CHAPTER 8: The National Park
• CHAPTER 9: Canyon Creek
• CHAPTER 10: Cow Island and Cow Creek Canyon
• CHAPTER 11: Yellowstone Command
• CHAPTER 12: Bear’s Paw: Attack and Defense
• CHAPTER 13: Bear’s Paw: Siege and Surrender
• CHAPTER 14: Consequences
• EPILOGUE: Later Lives
• APPENDIX A: U.S. Army Casualties, Nez Perce War, 1877
• APPENDIX B: Known Nez Perce Casualties, 1877
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index