Madison Junction, Wyoming
August 23 - Nez Perce camp near tourists
On the night of August 23, a group of tourists camped in the Park became worried about the Nez Perce moving through the region. However, a scout assured the tourists that they would be safe in the Lower Geyser Basin as he wrongly believed the Nez Perce would never come into the Park on account of their fear of the geysers. Unaware of the close proximity of the Nez Perce that night, the tourist party hosted a large bonfire celebrating their last night in the Park.
The Nez Perce bands followed the Madison River east and camped the night of August 23 near the confluence of the Firehole and Gibbon Rivers. A scouting party led by Hímiin Maqsmáqs (Yellow Wolf) spotted a large camp fire and heard noises several miles to the south. They waited until the next morning to approach the camp of the tourist party.
Several days later as General Howard’s Bannock scouts traveled along the Madison River, they met up with two men who were fleeing their encounter with Nez Perce warriors. William H. Harmon, a Colorado prospector, and Charles Mann of the Radersburg party had escaped when their party was captured at Lower Geyser Basin. Two days later Henry H. Meyers and Albert Oldham of the same party met Howard’s command as they followed the trail of the Nez Perce out of the Park.
“We rode down about six miles when we overtook him. He proved to be an escaped prisoner from the enemy. His name was Harrison [Harmon]. Took him back to camp…Just after getting back to camp Paguite and the desperado came in with another escaped prisoner (Chas Mann) who they had found above the camp. The man had a ball hole through his hat.”
– S.G. Fisher (civilian scout), August 25, 1877
The Radersburg party – so-called because its members were from that community between Helena and Three Forks, Montana Territory – consisted of nine people: George F.Cowan, his wife Emma, her brother Frank D. Carpenter, andsister Ida Carpenter, besides Charles Mann and a young teamster, Henry (“Harry”) Meyers – all from Radersburg- plus three friends of Frank Carpenter’s from Helena, Andrew J. Arnold, William Dingee, and Albert Oldham.
