Old Missoula

Officer’s Report Describes Battle of Big Hole in 1877

Within a month after Capt. Charles C. Rawn and his troops arrived to establish Ft. Missoula June 25, 1877, those troops were dispatched to fight Indians in what developed into the Battle of the Big Hole, about 120 miles south of the fort.

Capt. Rawn’s report to the assistant adjutant general, Department of Dakota, St. Paul, dated Sept. 30, 1877, tells of the establishment of the fort and the excitement that followed when reports were received that the “hostile Nez Perce Indians” were coming in the direction of Missoula by way of “Lou Lou Pass.”

Capt. Rawn sent scouting parties into what is now called Lolo Canyon on July 18, 1877, to determine the size and direction of the Nez Perce body. A halfbreed, who had been a Nez Perce prisoner, escaped and caught up with the scouts, confirming that the Nez Perce were approaching this area through Lolo Pass.

The Rawn report said: “The truth of this report was soon made manifest and spread such alarm in the Bitter Root Valley that companies were organized to repel the Indians. The people of Missoula also formed volunteer associations for the purpose of protecting themselves.”

On July 25 Capt. Rawn took every available man that could be spared, five commissioned officers and 30 enlisted men, and with civilian volunteers entrenched his command in what he considered the most defensible and least easily flanked part of the canyon. This was about eight miles from the mouth of Lolo Canyon and two miles from where the Indians were camped.

He said his intentions were to compel the Indians to surrender their arms and ammunition and to stop them by force from entering the Bitter Root Valley.

On July 27 Capt. Rawn talked with Chief Joseph, White Bird and Chief Looking Glass, who proposed to march peaceably through the Bitter Root Valley if allowed to pass unmolested. He said he refused to allow them to pass unless they surrendered their arms. He set a meeting with Looking Glass for the next day, but they could not agree on a time, so he returned to the breastworks, expecting to be attacked.

Hearing of the chief’s offer to pass peaceably, about 100 or more volunteers left the breastworks, not wishing to provoke the Indians into a fight, Rawn said, adding that this was without his permission.

On July 28 the Indians climbed the hills about a half-mile south of the breastworks and passed around the Rawn command into the Bitter Root Valley. He said that as soon as he discovered they were passing and hearing that they had attacked a rear guard he had established to prevent desertions, he abandoned the breastworks (labeled from that date by residents of the area as Ft. Fizzle) and formed a skirmish line across the canyon “with my regulars and such of the volunteers as I could control and advanced in the direction the Indians had gone.”

He said the Indians did not fight and that by the time he reached the mouth of Lolo Canyon, all the volunteers but a dozen to 20 Missoula men, had left his command and he was forced to return to Ft. Missoula.

On July 29 the garrison was increased by the arrival of Co. G, 7^th Infantry. On Aug. 4 Companies A, G, and I – the troops of Ft. Missoula, marched with D, F and K companies under command of Col. John Gibbon, 7^th Infantry, in pursuit of the Nez Perce.

Troops Attack

It was on the morning of Aug. 9 that the troops attacked the Indians, who were encamped in the Big Hole. “Some portion of the troops becoming engaged, the whole line was ordered to charge the village and did so in good style, despite the difficult ground – “swampy and full of brush,” Capt. Rawn wrote. “I cannot but express the highest praise of the bravery and coolness of the men. Having the whole line under my eye, I did not see a single man hesitate or falter, the principal difficulty being to restrain their order and save their ammunition.”

11 Are Killed

A, G, and I companies and a detachment of the 2^nd Cavalry attached to Co. G, troops under Rawn’s command, suffered 11 killed in action and 13 wounded, according to his report.

The column, under command of Col. Gibbon, on Aug. 12 marched toward Deer Lodge, 96 miles away. The wounded who were unable to travel farther were placed in St. Joseph’s Hospital there. Co. D was ordered to return with A, G, and I companies to Ft. Missoula where all arrived Aug. 21 after a march of 75 miles.

Construction Resumed

The four companies resumed work on construction of the fort buildings. The Sept. 30 report said: “The officer’s quarters and the company quarters are under good headway, and the commissary and quartermaster storehouse has already been used for storing supplies. A large cellar is being dug for the purpose of preserving such articles of subsistence stores as might be injured by being frozen. A corral has been partly completed, in fact, considering the hardships the troops have undergone, the Indian campaigns, and the skeleton strength of the companies, I am well pleased with the progress made in the construction of the new post.”

Indians Are Prisoners

On Sept. 19 “Capt. G. S. Browning, with four enlisted men, was ordered to proceed to Stevensville about 30 miles from here to arrest a Nez Perce chief named Perischo who is now a prisoner at the post. The arrival of this chief increases the number of Indian prisoners to four, one of whom – Amps – was seized at Lou Lou, the other two were captured by Lts. Jones and Bloom, 4^th Artillery, in the pass and are supposed to have been in the Big Hole fight.”

Capt. Rawn’s report ends with the information that a detachment of six enlisted men under command of 2^nd Lt. J. T. Van Orsdale left the post Sept. 20 for the battlefield of the Big Hole to rebury the bodies of those soldiers killed in the battle. Word had been received that several of the graves were opened and the bodies dragged to the surface by bears and other animals.