Reached the Bear Paw Mountains.

Fought a five-day siege.

Made the decision that split the community between surrender and escape.

These were not 126 days of continuous military action.

They were 126 days of continuous crisis management by a community that included children who were learning to walk and grandparents who were approaching the end of their lives and everyone in between.

The military history is the frame; the human experience is the substance.

White Bird, who was probably between sixty and seventy years old when the flight began, made this journey.