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The Battle of the Clearwater (July 11–12, 1877) was a battle between the Nez Perce under Chief Joseph and the United States army. The army under General O. O. Howard surprised a Nez Perce village. The Nez Perce counter-attacked and inflicted significant casualties on the soldiers, but they were forced to abandon the village. After the battle, the Nez Perce retreated in good order and undertook to cross the Bitterroot Mountains via Lolo Pass with General Howard in pursuit. ==Background== After the defeat of the U.S. Army by the Nez Perce at the Battle of White Bird Canyon, General Oliver Otis Howard took personal command of the army. Howard dispatched a small force to capture the neutral Looking Glass, but Looking Glass and his followers escaped and joined Joseph. With Howard in pursuit, but several days behind, Joseph, 600 Nez Perce, and their more than 2,000 livestock brushed aside a small U.S. military force at the Battle of Cottonwood July 3–5, 1877 and continued eastward for another 25 miles. Along their route they burned 30 ranches and farms.〔Brown, p. 187〕 The proprietors had fled to nearby Mt. Idaho. The ranches and farms were on the Nez Perce Reservation and illegal in the view of the Nez Perce. They established a camp in the steep-walled valley of the South Fork of the Clearwater River north of the present day town of Stites. There, on July 7, they were joined by Looking Glass and other Nez Perce bringing their total strength up to about 800 persons and 200 fighting men.〔 Calculated from the statistics given by Josephy. Other estimates of the number of Nez Perce warriors range from 190 to 300.〕 On July 8, a company of 75 civilian volunteers under Edward McConville, found the Nez Perce camp and reported its location to General Howard. The Nez Perce discovered the volunteers the next morning and attacked them, forcing them to take refuge on a hilltop and exchanging long distance fire with them. Out of water and their horses stolen by the Indians, the volunteers dubbed their hilltop “Fort Misery.” One Nez Perce was wounded. About noon on June 11 the volunteers withdrew from their hill to Mount Idaho without opposition. The Nez Perce anticipated that Howard and his soldiers would arrive at their village from the northeast, the same direction as the volunteers came from, but instead the General approached them from the south following the east bank of the South Fork of the Clearwater downstream through rugged country. About noon on July 11, Howard spotted the village, spread along both banks of the Clearwater. Perhaps lulled into complacency by their previous successes, the Nez Perce were surprised at his sudden appearance. To combat approximately 200 Nez Perce warriors, Howard had 440 soldiers plus civilian packers, scouts, messengers and Indian scouts, amounting all together to a force that may have exceeded 600 men. Among the Indian scouts were some Nez Perce. Many Nez Perce had not joined Joseph and remained friendly with the U.S.〔Brown, p. 188〕〔Hampton, pp. 113-115〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of the Clearwater」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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