The Bear Paw Battlefield is the site of the last battle in the Nez Perce War. Following the breakout of war in Idaho, nearly 800 Nez Perce spent a long and arduous summer fleeing U.S. Army troops first toward Crow allies and then toward refuge in Canada. Forty miles short of the Canadian border and following a five-day battle and siege, the Nez Perce ceased fighting at Bear Paw on October 5th, 1877, where Chief Joseph gave his immortal speech.
“Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before I have in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Tu-hul-hul-sote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led the young men [Ollokot] is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are – perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.”
The battlefield is a peaceful place. There are no canons or forts just a few plaques and small monuments that describe what happened and honoring those who fought and died there. There is beauty with the Bear Paw Mountains in the background behind the prairie farmland; but as you walk the battlefield you are reminded that there was a battle here. The mass grave of U.S. Army soldiers who died there indicate a serious fight. The soldiers buried there were moved to Custer National Cemetery in 1912.
Bear Paw Battlefield, one of several units of the U.S. National Park Services Nez Perce National Historical Park, is located sixteen miles south of Chinook, Montana on Route 240 (Cleveland Road). On-site facilities include a 1.25 mile self-guided interpretive trail, picnic tables, and vault toilets. Daily tours start in Chinook at the Blaine County Museum, 501 Indiana Street.