In 1877, the United States government seized the ancestral lands of the Nez Perce Indians and ordered them to move to a reservation in Idaho. A band led by the charismatic Chief Joseph reluctantly complied, but after a group of disgruntled warriors killed several white settlers, the tribe found itself at war with the U.S. Army. What followed was one of the greatest fighting retreats in military history. Hoping to find sanctuary in Canada, the Nez Perce led their pursuers on a 1,400-mile chase across Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. Despite numbering just 700—only around 200 of whom were warriors—they outmaneuvered or defeated some 2,000 U.S. cavalrymen in multiple battles and skirmishes. General William Tecumseh Sherman later noted that the Indians “fought with almost scientific skill, using advance and rear guards, skirmish lines and field fortifications.” Finally, after 15 weeks on the run, the Nez Perce were cornered after October 1877’s Battle of Bear Paw and forcibly moved to a reservation. They were just 40 miles from the Canadian border. “My heart is sick and sad,” Chief Joseph said in a famous surrender speech. “From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.”
