is the same as that already quoted from General
Gibbon's report.

[Illustration: THE MONUMENT ON THE BIG HOLE BATTLE-FIELD.]

The stone was cut in Concord, N. H., shipped to Dillon, Mont., by rail,
and hauled from there to the battle-field by ox teams. It was placed in
position in September, 1883, by a detachment of soldiers from Fort
Missoula, under command of Capt. J. P. Thompson, of the Third Infantry.
It cost about $3,000, an appropriation of that amount having been made
for the purpose by Congress.

General Howard followed the Nez Perces through the mountains, and
learning that they had determined to take refuge in the British
Possessions he sent a courier to General Miles, at Fort Keogh, who,
taking the field at the head of six hundred men, headed off the
fugitives at Bear Paw Mountains in Northern Montana, and captured them
after a desultory fight lasting through four days.

Chief Joseph's reply to General Miles' demand for surrender is a
curiosity in the way of Indian rhetoric. It is in these words:

"Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before I have in
my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass
is dead. Too-hul-hul-sote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the
young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is
cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to
death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no
blankets, no food; no one knows where they are--perhaps freezing to
death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many of
them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my
chiefs. I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now
stands I will fight no more forever."

As stated in Joseph's message, while the negotiations for the surrender
were in progress, White Bird, with a few of his followers, escaped
through Miles' lines and fled to the north. They were not pursued, and
succeeded in time in reaching Woody Mountain, in the Northwest
Territory, where Sitting Bull and his band were encamped at the time.
When the Sioux saw the Nez Perces coming, they supposed them to be
their enemies, the Black Feet, and prepared to fight them, but White
Bird halted when within a mile of the Sioux camp, sent in a runner to
announce himself, and when the Sioux learned who their visitors were,
they received them with open arms.

Major Walsh, of the Northwest mount