USA > Montana > Blaine County > In the land of Chinook; or, The story of Blaine county > Part 8
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After the destruction of this train they continued toward the Canadian line but stopped when they arrived at Snake Creek at a point on it about or almost one-half way from the Bear's Paw mountains to the Milk river, sixteen miles from Chinook by the wagon road, but several miles nearer by air line.
The ground which they chose for their encampment was about twelve miles north of the mountains and to the ordinary observer it showed no strategic strength. The writer had read all that he could find descriptive of this battle and had been lead to believe that the place was chosen for its impregnability by the wiley Joseph.
The fact is it was chosen as any plainsman or mountain man, be he white or Red, would have chosen for a camping place, especially at that season of the year, October, for comfort.
No crags, no canyons, no timber or brush, no serrated peaks or giant rocks, where the besieged could skulk and defy, because of the strength of their position itself, a party superior to theirs in number.
When the writer visited this place he was so surprised that he told his son and another young man that surely this could not be the place where Joseph held an army twice as large as his war- worn warriors for several days before he had to finally give up and say as he surrendered his gun "From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever."
Let me try to give a pen picture (if possible a photo will accompany this) of the field. The Snake creek runs in a north- easterly direction from the mountains to where it runs into the
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IN THE LAND OF CHINOOK
Milk. The great plains extend from the base of the mountains to the north farther than the eye can see toward the Canadian coun- try. The place chosen for the camp was a crescent shaped flat or cove which laid on the east side of the creek. It is a strange thing, but the peculiar shape of this cove or flat is typically primi- tive and to even the casual observer not hard to trace as the back- ground form the bow and the creek the string. The back of this bow does not arise more than twenty-five feet high above the bottom land on which the Indians had made their camp. At the upper end of the cove is a cut bank that rises abruptly. This particular cut bank did not offer much protection, though it did help the Indians some as the whites could not approach near enough from that direction to shoot without exposing themselves to the marksmanship of a band of Indians of whom Lieutenant Woodruth said after the battle of the Big Hole: "Don't try to sharp shoot with them because they are the best shots I ever saw, and I had several years' experience in the Civil war as well as years on the plains fighting Indians." This cut bank came to the creek at the upper end of the bow. The back of the bow was not abrupt but it, too, came to the creek at the lower end in a bluff or ridge. To the west or northwest, in front of the string (creek) was a plain with a gradual slope toward the stream. From this part of the field the whites had a good view of the Indian camp. The whites came in from the southeast and the guides or scouts found the Indians, or many of them, hunting buffalo which dotted the plain in almost every direction. It is a fact that the Indians thought that they were beyond the danger zone and as the buffalo were in abundance they would stop right where they were and lay in a supply of food as they had done so many times in years past. Tired and weary with the long flight and their many fights with the several armies which the Government had from time to time sent against them, they had found the very acme of Indian happiness in the numberless buffalo, so easy to be procured. These same buffalo proved the temptation which, listening to, proved their undoing as had the apple to our first mother in another garden so long ago.
Out on the vast plains of the west the Indian and plainsmen had found fuel in the dry dung of the buffalo which was called, to make it sound more pleasing to the refined ear, "Buffalo chips." Here where Joseph had chosen his camp fuel, water and grass were abundant, an ideal place for a few days.
Coming in from the northeast was a small coulee that came in and cut the back of the bow near the lower end of the camp. This coulee had formed two mouths and it was because of that peculiar formation that the point became a strategic one. Between the mouths of the coulee was a triangular bar of about one acre in
PHOTO NO. 2.
Along and down the stream you can see all the battlefield as occupied by Joseph. It is a cove about one-fourth of a mile long and probably 200 yards wide, with the bluff to the east and across the creek. To the west, where the soldiers were, was a plain. as will be indicated in Photo 4. The arrow points to a ridge on which the Indians had dng pits, as a protection in picket duty. There were four of these pits and this particular point was high enough for a good view of the field.
H-This is the top of the cut-bank as indicated by arrow in No. 1. Indian encampment was on the creek bottom just above (to the left) and it was to reach it by coming into the bottom to the left of the ent bank that the Indians surprised the soldiers and abont fourteen of them were killed and several wounded.
One is looking north or northeast in this picture. Just under this arrow was the gulch with two months-where the "Last Stand" was made, as indicated by No. 4.
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PHOTO NO. 3.
This is looking south toward the upper end of battlefield, or toward the cut-bank. This bank is about 40 feet high. The cross shows, or indicates, the point where the soldiers were buried, as will be shown in No. 5. O indicates one of the shallow conlees in which the Indians got before they had time to dig the pits at the "Last Stand." This cut shows, also, the large coulee coming in from the east.
Record - 11/9/18 NOTED SCOUT DEAD IN HAVRE
LOUIS SHAMBO, FRIEND OF. PER- SHING, HITS LAST TRAIL IN THIS CITY
Special to The Record-Herald.
HAVRE, Nov. 7 .- Louis Shambo, one of the pioneer scouts of the north- west, is dead here.
The late scout was born in Grace- ville, Minn., in 1846, and he was one of the greatest scouts blazing the trail to civilization known to the west. He was a government scout and guide with General Miles during the time of the capture of Chief Joseph in the Bear Paw mountain district in 1876. After this he served in the capacity of scout and interpreter for the gov- ernment.
He was a special friend of General Pershing in the early '90s at Fort As- sinniboine in his official capacity as interpreter and government scout. Shambo was very reticent in his de- meanor, silent and reserved, friends only in his reminiscent mood could get him to divulge his experience of the early days.
Volumes could be written of private history related in his personal experi- ence. He lived as a boy among the Chippewas of Minnesota, grew to man- hood among the manners and customs of the aborigines, graduated in the school of frontier life, thus becoming a valuable servant to the government in later years as one of the most val- iant and reliable scouts that this coun- try has ever known.
He is survived by his daughter, Mrs. Maggie Burch, and a son, Edward Shambo, both of Dodson.
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THE STORY OF BLAINE COUNTY
area, with its base along the stream. The gulches formed by the coulee were not more than four feet deep and of gentle slope and not abrupt. The soil in the bottom of the ravine was alluvial and easy to dig. The Indians had taken advantage of this particular section and excavated many holes that were jug-shaped, as the opening was much smaller than the main room. Some of these holes were connected by tunnels. Behind these ravines the bar came to a point and offered a splendid view of the plain from which the whites would approach. The point was used as a means of defense by digging pits and placing some small rocks close enough so they would be a protection from the rifle bullets. To the north, the right hand side of the ridge which formed the coulee, ran out a little, or one should say the creek cut around the lower end of it so it extended out a little into the valley or cove and on it there were some rifle pits fixed in the same way. The peculiar formation of the triangle furnished the Indian a full view of the soldiers' battle line to the west and the rifle pits gave them the view of the rest of the field. After the Indians had had time to entrench it was impossible for the soldiers to take their position by a charge. Another thing that was in favor of the Indians, they could get all the water they needed as their fortifi- cations extended to the creek down the ravine.
Now the description of the battle as given by Miles or Howard does not enter into detail. A story without detail lacks everything that goes to make a story interesting. It has been the writer's good fortune to have found some of the men who were actively engaged in this fight and he is going to let them tell their stories in their own words.
The scout who found the Nez Perce camp for Miles was Louie Shambow, at this time (Dec., 1916) living in Havre. I am going to allow him to give his description as I consider it very interesting and because it has never been given to the public.
SHAMBOW'S STORY.
"I had been one of Crook's scouts and had made a trip to the Redwater, Dry Fork, etc., with 'Yellowstone Kelly.' I was introduced to Miles by Kelly. Miles wanted me to work for him and said he would give me the very best wages. I asked him what they were and he said 'Seventy-five dollars a month.' As J was at that time packing and getting $125 I did not feel that the wages offered were any inducement so I told him that the offer was too low but that I would consider the same price from him that I was getting.
"His reply was not one that made me feel very friendly toward him as he said in a tone, which I did not like, that he could get
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good men for forty dollars, placing too much emphasis on good. I turned on my heel and told him to get his forty dollar men, thinking then that I would see him in h- before I would work for him at any price. When we got into the Little Missouri the scouts they had did not know the country. They came to me for information and I told Captain Clark of the Second Cavalry to look to Miles' forty dollar men as I did not wish to interfere with their plans.
"When we got to the mouth of Powder river a fellow came from Keogh to tell us to come to that post as fast as we could. We went to Keogh to get ready to go after the Nez Perces. We crossed the Yellowstone in two or three days. The night after we crossed the head man came to me and said: 'You will not go on this trip.' I asked him why, and he replied that he wanted me to break in a bunch of mules to pack. My reply was that I might not want to stay; that I might go back to Wyoming. I went to the quartermaster and told him I was going to Miles City and when he wanted me he could send for me. In the course of four or five days an orderly hunted me up and said the commanding officer wanted to see me right away. I went over and he told me that the Nez Perces had burned a bull train at the mouth of Cow creek and asked me if I knew where it was. I told him yes. To my answer he said: 'Here is a dispatch and I want you to take it to General Miles.' I told him that I was no scout, that I did not go much on General Miles anyway from what he had said to me, and as they could get forty dollar men they had better get them. He turned to me and said: 'You had better go, Louie, as Miles will be sure to make it all right with you; and anyway there is no one else here that we can depend on.' A little of that kind of talk and I fell for it and told him I would go. 'When will you be ready ?' My reply was that all I wanted was a good horse and I would go. I started at once and overtook Miles the third day out at the east end of the Bear's Paw. I had a little trouble to get inside the guards but did so and delivered my dispatch to the General and went to bed. The next morning, so early that I could see no sense in it, they called me to go to Miles' tent.
"He explained to me that the guides did not know the country any more and wanted to know which way the Indians would go, as they were supposed to join the Gros Ventres. I told him that we were in the land of the Gros Ventres right now. He then replied to me that he wanted me to find the Nez Perces. 'I will give you ten Cheyenne scouts, see if you can find any trace of these people, and I will make it all right with you, money will be no object.'
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THE STORY OF BLAINE COUNTY
"I started with the Indians and only had gone about four miles when I found their trail. I sent an Indian back telling him the place where the Indians were going and for him to come on. We had only proceeded seven or eight miles when we saw a bunch of them running buffalo, probably ten or twelve of them. They soon discovered us, as they had glasses. I soon noticed that they were the Nez Perces as they had striped blankets-the other tribes had solid colors. I sent another Indian back to tell the General that we had found the Nez Perces and that they had better hurry up. The Nez Perces took what meat they wanted, as we did not crowd, not getting nearer than one-half mile.
"When they started for camp we followed but could see no lodges but could see their horses, which were on the northeast side of the creek. We had no business any nearer those fellows, so hung around till Miles came.
"Finally he came up and asked me what I had found. I told him what I had seen and that they were camped on Snake creek. He wanted to know how far and I told him about four or five miles. He told me he wanted me to take him to their camp and I told him I could not see the camp but that I knew where they all went in and came out. We got within a mile of them but could not see them. Again he told me to take him right where I thought they were and had the bugle blow for 'double quick.'
"We did not see a thing of them till we got within seventy or eighty yards. (This was between eleven and twelve o'clock in the morning.) The Indians were waiting for us and opened fire and Miles stopped his command right there instead of making a charge-and it was right there he made his big loss. (We buried twenty-two men and they were dying all the way back.) I was in the lead and thought that Miles was coming. The Indians shot my horse three times and he fell dead and I was behind him for an hour or more or until the bullets began to come through and made my fortifications no pleasant place to stay. There was a boulder about four or five feet from me and I wiggled to and got behind it. It was not a large rock, only an inch or two above my head when I was lying close to the ground. Pretty soon 'Yellow- stone Kelley' and Haddow, a soldier, came to me and wanted to know if I saw anything. I told them I did and that I was getting some shots that counted. Haddow crowded up close to me and placed his arm around me and I told him to lie low or they would get him. I had no more than told him when a bullet hit him just above the collar bone and ranged down. I looked back and saw that he was shot to die, so I asked Kelley to take him by the legs and pull him off and we would see if we could get him to a place of safety. We started but he died on our hands.
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"Those Indians were the best shots I ever saw. I would put a small stone on the top of my rock and they would get it every time. They were hitting the rock behind where I was lying which made me duck so hard that it made my nose bleed.
"The next morning after the first day's fight a bunch of buffalo were coming into sight and the soldiers thought it was Sitting Bull's outfit. They could see black horses, pinto horses and every other kind and they called me and said that Sitting Bull was coming.
"I told them it was buffalo. You see it had snowed that night and the snow had blown into the hair of the buffalo and made them look white and spotted. I told them it was buffalo and took a horse that belonged to Miles and rode over and killed one and brought some of the meat back. Miles gave me fits for it. I believe that if the Indians had charged right then the soldiers would have run like hell. I have been in harder fights than that and will always believe that if we had not hesitated we would have ended that fight in fifteen minutes as there were twice as many white men as there were Indian warriors."
Surely that gives something that has never before been written for the people to think about when they study the fight at Snake creek.
The buffalo hunters that they had out had kept the Indians from being surprised, and they had returned to camp in time to be prepared to meet Miles with surprise and with such deadly effect that he waited and gave the Indians time to fortify.
We want to give the reader something of the battle as described by Col. Miles and then let him judge. Shambow says that he saw the Indians hunting buffalo and that they saw him and that they were ready for the soldiers when they made the charge between 11 and 12 o'clock. Now what does Miles say ? "The Nez Perces were quietly slumbering in their tents evi- dently without a thought of danger, as they had sent out scouts the day before to see if there were any troops in the vicinity, and as the scouts had reported 'none discovered,' but that they had seen vast herds of buffaloes, deer, elk and antelope quietly graz- ing on the prairie undisturbed, and no enemy in sight. The Seventh Cavalry was thrown in line while moving at a gallop, the commanding officer, Captain Hale, riding in advance. With a smile on his face he dashed forward to the cruel death awaiting him.
"Tyler's Second Cavalry was ordered to sweep to the left and then turn down the valley and secure the horses. The Fifth Infantry, under Captain Snyder, was deployed in the rear of the Seventh Cavalry at first, and finally extending the line to the left,
.
This is a view of the battlefield looking northeast. This picture was tal en near where Miles had his rifle pits and about one thousand feet from the ent-bank, which is to the right and not seen in the cut.
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THE STORY OF BLAINE COUNTY
charged directly on the camp while the Second was sweeping the valley of the horses.
"When the charge was made the spirited horses of the Seventh cavalry carried that battalion a little more rapidly over the plains than the Indian ponies of the mounted infantry, and it was expected to first strike the enemy with the Seventh. The tramp of at least six hundred horses over the prairie fairly shook the ground, and, although a complete (?) surprise to the Indians in the main, it must have given a few minutes' notice, for as the troops charged against the village the Indians opened a hot fire on them. (Italics are mine.) This momentarily checked the advance of the Seventh Cavalry, which fell back, but for only a short dis- tance, and was quickly rallied again and charged forward at a gallop, driving that portion of the Indian camp before it."
N. C. TITUS
Says: "With slight reconnaisance, Col. Miles ordered Capt. Hale to form his battalion (three companies of the Seventh Cav- alry) in battle line advance and charge direct the southern end of the camp, Capt. Tyler, with two companies of the Second Cavalry and thirty Cheyenne scouts, was ordered to approach the north end of the camp and prevent the escape of the Indians and capture the ponies. Miles approached the left with three com- panies of mounted infantry. The Seventh trotted forward in battle line and from Col. Miles' column could be seen sweeping forward over the undulating prairie, in the depressions out of sight; on the ascending slopes and succeeding ridges, the orderly columns reappear and roll over the crest and disappear. They are at last near the lodges, they are lost to view of their anxious comrades; for a few minutes the dreadful silence is unbroken ; then a few scattered shots are heard, followed by the terrible roar and din of musketry. All are in suspense and press forward to learn the fate of the gallant men of the Seventh. Some minutes pass in awful uncertainty, when Lieut. Eckerson, alone, covered with blood from his wounds, rushed to Col. Miles with the words: 'I am the only d-d man of the Seventh Cavalry who wears shoulder straps, alive.' In fact he had seen every officer shot down, either killed or wounded.
"Miles ordered the infantry to attack and the four-pound Howitzer to occupy the ridge northwest of the Indian camp. In this attempt one rider and two out of the four mules were killed, the gun left pointing toward the attacking force until night, when it was stationed for defense."
Miles continues : "The Fifth Infantry, under Capt. Snyder, charged forward to the very edge of the valley and opened a
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deadly fire with their long range rifles (it was good that they were long range) with telling effect.
"The infantry swept around to the left to enclose that portion of the camp and force the Indians into a ravine. A great part of the line encircling the Indian camp was dotted with dead and wounded soldiers and horses. The fight had been sudden, rapid and most desperate on both sides.
"Capt. Carter in one charge had thirty-five per cent of his command placed 'hors de combat.' I felt positive that we had secured the beleagured Indians in their camp without a possibility of escape. I did not, therefore, order a general assault, as I knew it must result in the loss of many valuable lives and possibly a massacre. (Massacre of whom? No doubt he meant his com- mand.) The Indians occupied a crescent-shaped ravine and it was apparent that their position could only be forced by a charge or a siege. The first could not be accomplished without too great a sacrifice.
"My one concern was the Sioux Indians under Sitting Bull only fifty miles away in Canada. On the morning of the third day of the siege the ground was well covered with snow and scouts reported a large body of black objects on the distant hills, moving in our direction. This occasioned much excitement among the troops, and every eye was turned to the north, from whence it was feared that Sitting Bull might come. I watched this with much anxiety. It was soon found to be buffalo. It was surely a relief to know it.
"Joseph came out under a flag of truce, and from him we learned that the principal chief, Looking Glass", and four other chiefs had been killed, besides a large number of others killed or wounded. He was informed that he must surrender.
"While Joseph was in our camp I directed Lieut. Jerome to ascertain what they were doing in the village, supposing that he would go to the bluff and look over into the camp. But mis- understanding my instructions, he went down into the ravine, whereupon he was seized and held until he was exchanged for Joseph.
"Howard came up on the evening of the fourth and Joseph surrendered at ten the next morning. Those who surrendered with Joseph and those taken outside the camp numbered four hundred. There were twenty-six killed in all and forty-six wounded.
"I had twenty-two killed and forty-three wounded."
Joseph surrendered to Miles on one condition; that he was to be allowed to return to his home in Oregon. Miles says that
*Looking Glass was killed at Big Hole-(Noyes).
H
-
--
Al.
PHOTO NO. 4.
This is the "Last Stand." The arrow points up the coulee with the two months. A is the triangular piece of ground with the base along the creek. One can see the pits or holes in which the Indians hid in these coulees. It was easy for them to get water by going down the coulees as the soldiers were careful not to get too near.
Il is where the Indian horses were when the fight began and where the cannon were planted. This view is west. There are four small trees that mark this "Last Stand." At the point where this picture was taken, which is on the low bluff, just to the cast, there is an Indian rifle pit which gave the Indians full view of the plains, as seen in No. 1, as both pictures were taken from the same place. Just across the coulee and not 100 feet away is another rifle pit which they used.
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THE STORY OF BLAINE COUNTY
he agreed to those terms but that the Government did not sanc- tion it. Now you do not need to read between the lines, for the fact stands out as clear as the noon-day sun, that Miles did not surprise Joseph but the soldiers were themselves surprised and did not know what to do after they had met their first rebuff when the Seventh charged the camp. It was in that one charge that about fourteen out of the twenty-two were killed and over half of the wounds were received. The repulse was of such a nature that the soldiers got back to a place of safety. Miles says they fell back. Louie Shambow, a man who had been in more Indian fights than Miles, said that if they had charged, fifteen minutes would have decided the conflict as there were twice as many soldiers as there were Indians. Miles tells us that four hundred surrendered. Did he any place tell in his life's story of what this four hundred consisted? No, but others who wanted to play fair, tell you that there were eighty-nine men, one hundred and eighty-four women and one hundred and forty-seven children. That kind of an outfit it took Miles six days to get and yet he said they were "slumbering in their tents." If he was right and those sleeping Indians put up such a scrap where would he and his troops have been if those Nez Perce warriors had been awake when the charge was made?
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