Howard's Strategy at Snowline
On August 17 near Snowline, fearing the Nez Perce might escape back into Montana, Howard sent 40 cavalrymen under the command of First Lieutenant George R. Bacon and several Bannock scouts under the command of Orlando "Rube" Robbins to proceed via Red Rock Lake to Raynolds Pass near Henry_s Lake. Lieutenant Bacon was to wait in the vicinity of Targhee Pass and watch for the Nez Perce for 48 hours, and, if they showed up, to detain them and send word back to Howard.
Just Following Orders
At Williams Junction, now present-day Snowline, General Howard was faced with a crucial decision; turn east and head for Henry’s Lake in an effort to get ahead of the Nez Perce or continue south into Idaho and pick up their trail. In the end, he compromised and dispatched Lieutenant Bacon with a small contingent of 40 men to Henry’s Lake, while he headed south with the majority of his force.
Lieutenant Bacon must have known the futility of this operation. There was little chance a force of 40 men could stand against the Nez Perce. Fortunately for Bacon and his men, his orders were to wait at Henry’s Lake for 48 hours and if there was no sign of the enemy, return to Howard. That is exactly what hedid, leaving the lake mere hours before the Nez Perce arrived and by a route that ensured no contact with the enemy.
An Adventurous Route following Lt. Bacon is detailed in Auto Tour 5.
"I was made one of a special detail to make a detour and get ahead of the Indians and fortify at Henry Lake. This detachment consisted of Lieuts. Bacon and Hoyle, myself, Guide Poindexter and 15 men. We started out at 3 a.m., and nearly all the camp saw us off, never expecting to see us again. We traveled hard for two days. ... I never knew what Lieut. Bacon’s orders were. They were evidently to wait at the lake for two days and if the main column did not reach us by the expiration of that time to return as best we could. Whatever his orders may have been, that is exactly what we did, rejoining Howard’s main column four or ve miles from the lake, near the trail we had previously passed over. But on our return, we made a wide detour in order to avoid the Indians."
-Pvt. William Connolly
The Remaining Journey
Never to Return Home
From Junction, near Leadore, Idaho, the weary Nez Perce headed south and east, hoping to put as much distance as possible between themselves and General Howard.
Several skirmishes followed as the Nez Perce struggled across Yellowstone National Park and eastern Montana, pushing hard to reach Canada and the sanctuary they hoped to finnd. Only 40 miles from the Canadian border, those hopes were crushed at the Battle of Bear Paw.
Chief White Bird led a group to safety in Canada, where they joined Sitting Bull and members of the Sioux tribe. Sitting Bull and his people had escaped to Canada a year earlier after helping defeat Lt. Colonel George A. Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
On October 5, 1877, Chief Joseph, believing the remaining Nez Perce would be sent to the Lapwai Reservation, agreed to stop fighting, the war was over. Following their surrender at Bear Paw Battle eld, the Nez Perce faced sickness, starvation, and death during eight years of exile in Oklahoma before they were allowed to return to the west.
During this time Chief Joseph became a powerful and eloquent spokesman pleading for the return of the surviving Nez Perce to their homelands. In 1885, they at last returned west, but not to their homeland.
Some were sent to the Nez Perce Reservation in north-central Idaho, the Umatilla Indian Reservation in north-central Oregon and Joseph and his people faced further banishment on the Colville Indian Reservation in northeastern Washington, where he died on September 21, 1904.
