Big Hole NB preserves the site of the largest battle between the Nez Perce and the U.S. Army (August 9 and 10, 1877). After suffering broken treaties on their ancestral lands in Oregon and Washington, Chief Joseph decided that escape to Canada (where they could reunite with Sitting Bull and his Lakota band) would be better than being forced onto reservation land. At Big Hole, 183 soldiers ambushed 50 Nez Perce warriors and 750 women and children. After four days of sporadic fighting, the Nez Perce escaped, having suffered 89 dead, mostly women and children, while the Army lost 29 men. Ultimately, the Nez Perce surrendered at the Battle of Bear Paw Mountains two months later, a mere forty miles from the Canadian border. The park service maintains a very nice interpretive center here, along with several miles of trails where the battle transpired.
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