Beyond Bear's Paw: The Nez Perce Indians in Canada

by Jerome A. Greene

Overview

In the fall of 1877, Nez Perce (Nimiipuu) Indians were desperately fleeing U.S. Army troops. After a 1,700-mile journey across Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana, the Nez Perces headed for the Canadian border, hoping to find refuge in the land of the White Mother, Queen Victoria. But the army caught up with them at the Bear’s Paw Mountains in northern Montana, and following a devastating battle, Chief Joseph and most of his people surrendered.

The wrenching tale of Chief Joseph and his followers is now legendary, but Bear’s Paw is not the entire story. In fact, nearly three hundred Nez Perces escaped the U.S. Army and fled into Canada. Beyond Bear’s Paw is the first book to explore the fate of these “nontreaty” Indians. Drawing on hitherto unexplored Canadian and U.S. sources, including reminiscences of Nez Perce participants, Jerome A. Greene presents an epic story of human endurance under duress.

Greene vividly describes the tortuous journey of the small band who managed to elude Colonel Nelson A. Miles’s command. After the escapees crossed the “Medicine Line” into the British Possessions, they found only new trauma. Within a few years, most of them stole back to their homelands in Idaho Territory. Those who remained north of the line faced a difficult and uncertain future.

In recent years, Nimiipuu descendants from the United States and Canada have revisited their common past and sought reconciliation. Beyond Bear’s Paw offers new perspectives on the Nez Perces’ struggle for freedom, their hapless rejection, and their ultimate cultural renewal.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780806160450
Publisher:	University of Oklahoma Press
Publication date:	03/16/2018
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Jerome A. Greene is retired as Research Historian for the National Park Service. He is the author of numerous books, including Stricken Field: The Little Bighorn since 1876, Battles and Skirmishes of the Great Sioux War, 1876–1877: The Military View; Lakota and Cheyenne: Indian Views of the Great Sioux War, 1876–1877; and Morning Star Dawn: The Powder River Expedition and the Northern Cheyennes, 1876, all published by the University of Oklahoma Press.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Preface and Acknowledgments xi

1 The Nez Perce War and the Canadian Option 3

2 Lakota Precedent 24

3 Escape from Bear's Paw 47

4 Nez Perce Expatriates and the Teton Ordeal 70

5 Breaking for Home 93

6 Mission to White Bird 128

7 Canadian Stalwarts 155

Appendix A List of Identified Warriors Escaping the Bear's Paw Battle Who Were Killed by Enemy Tribes and Whites 175

Appendix B Nez Perces Escaping from Bear's Paw Who Were Later Captured 177

Appendix C Known Nez Perces Who Escaped to Canada in 1877 and Who Remained There or Returned to the United States in Subsequent Years 178

Notes 183

Bibliography 225

Index 235

Editorial Reviews

With his characteristically thorough scholarship and perceptive insights, Jerome Greene tells the scarcely known, tragic story of the Canadian exiles from the Nez Perce War of 1877. We are much the better for the telling.”—Elliott West, author of The Last Indian War: The Nez Perce Story


“Greene’s knowledge and understanding of the Nez Perce flight from Idaho and their pursuit by the U.S. Army in 1877 are undeniable. . . . The story here has long been waiting to be told, and it adds another shade to contemporary understanding of the complexity of Native-white history of the late nineteenth century.—Western Historical Quarterly

From the Publisher