The series of decisions that took the nimíipuu from Clearwater to Big Hole to Camas Meadows to Yellowstone to Canyon Creek to Bear Paw were all made with incomplete information, in real time, by leaders who were doing their best to navigate an unprecedented situation.

The decision at Bear Paw — specifically White Bird’s decision — was made by a man who had been part of all of those earlier decisions, who had watched the pattern of military reversal and continued pursuit, who had reached a specific conclusion about what American promises meant.

Yellow Wolf’s Account And What It Preserved

Yellow Wolf was a young warrior of the Wallowa band who participated in the 1877 fight from beginning to nearly the end.

He escaped from Bear Paw and eventually returned to the United States, living to old age on the Colville Reservation.