Battle of Canyon Creek

Battle of Canyon Creek
Part of the Nez Perce War

Chief Joseph and his band in the spring of 1877.
DateSeptember 13, 1877
Location
Canyon Creek, Yellowstone County,
Montana Territory, United States
45°46′09″N 108°48′49″W / 45.76917°N 108.81361°W / 45.76917; -108.81361 (Calamity Jane Horse Cache Butte)[1]
Result Nez Perce victory
Belligerents
 United States
Crow Indians		 Nez Perce
Commanders and leaders
Samuel D. Sturgis
Lewis Merrill
Frederick Benteen		 Chief Joseph
Looking Glass
Strength
425 soldiers
about 100 White and Indian scouts		 <200
Casualties and losses
4 killed
11 wounded		 3 killed
3 wounded
Battle of Canyon Creek is located in the United States
Battle of Canyon Creek
class=notpageimage|
Location in the United States
Battle of Canyon Creek is located in Montana
Battle of Canyon Creek
class=notpageimage|
Location in Montana Territory
The U.S. army and cavalry fought on the ridges bordering Canyon Creek while the women, children, and horse herd of the Nez Perce escaped via the valley floor.

The Battle of Canyon Creek was a military engagement in Montana Territory between the Nez Perce Indians and the United States Army's 7th Cavalry. The battle was part of the larger Indian Wars of the latter 19th century and the immediate Nez Perce War. It took place on September 13, 1877, west of present-day Billings in Yellowstone County, in the canyons and benches around Canyon Creek.[2]

  1. ^ "Calamity Jane Horse Cache". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  2. ^ Greene, Jerome A. (2000). "9". Nez Perce Summer 1877: The U.S. Army and the Nee-Me-Poo Crisis. Helena, MT: Montana Historical Society Press. ISBN 0-917298-68-3.