The day that White Bird refused to surrender is October 5, 1877.

By the time the sun set that day, the nimíipuu community that had crossed 1,170 miles together had formally divided.

Some were under army control, beginning the journey that would take them to Fort Leavenworth.

Some had left the camp, moving north through the cold Montana darkness toward Canada.

Some were still somewhere between those two outcomes, making their own individual decisions in the chaos of a besieged camp’s collapse.

White Bird was among those moving north.