Big Hole National Battlefield in Wisdom, Montana preserves a battlefield fought between the US Army and the Nez Perce Indian tribe. The Nez Perce fought a delaying action against the 7th Infantry Regiment here on August 9 and 10, 1877 as they were trying to escape to Canada. In 1992 the park was made a part of Nez Perce National Historical Park, which consists of 38 separate locations in five different states, following the flight of the Nez Perce tribe from the U.S. Cavalry.
Big Hole National Battlefield is located on 1,010.61 acres with a year-round visitor center in the park.
Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt more popularly known as Chief Joseph was the leader of the Wal-lam-wat-kain (Wallowa) band of Nez Perce in the early 1870s when they were forcibly removed by the United States federal government from their ancestral lands in the Wallowa Valley of northeastern Oregon onto a significantly reduced reservation in the Idaho Territory. Conflicts with white settlers in 1877 led to the Nez Perce War culminating in this final battle at the Big Hole.
Trails lead off from the visitor center,
leading to markers denoting sites where Joseph and others were captured or killed.
