Nez Perce Summer, 1877: The US Army and the Nee-Me-Poo Crisis

by Jerome A. Greene, Alvin M. Josephy Jr. (Foreword)

The great fighting retreat of the Nez Perces, struggling for their lives, lands, and freedom, outwitting and battling off one pursuing force after another, is one of the giant epics of the American West, and the literature about it is immense. But there is no volume like this monumental account of the war by Jerome A. Greene. Written by one of the foremost experts in frontier military history and reviewed by members of the Nez Perce tribe, Nez Perce Summer, 1877 details the dozen armed encounters between U.S. Army troops and a desperate body of Nez Perces that spanned the long summer of 1877 in the wilds of Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana territories. A meticulously researched and well-written narrative, it chronicles a peopleÕs epic struggle to survive spiritually, culturally, and physically in the face of unrelenting military force. Sixteen maps detail troop and Indian movements and skirmishes, while 49 photographs further illuminate this dramatic conflict.
Between 100 and 150 of the more than 800 Nez Perce men, women, and children who began the trek were killed during the war. Almost as many died in the months following the surrender, after they were exiled to malaria-ridden northeastern Oklahoma. Army deaths numbered 113. The casualties, on both sides, were an extraordinary price for a war nobody wanted, but whose history has since intrigued generations of Americans.

Genres: History, American History, Military Fiction, Nonfiction

576 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2000

Reviews

[Kurt · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my younger and more vulnerable years a certain college professor of mine gave me some advice that I have been turning over in my head ever since.

"Everyone," he said, "should learn something about everything, and everything about one thing."

I took that advice to heart. I had always, from the time I was a small child, yearned for and actively sought out broad-based knowledge -- the somethings about everything -- but I had not, until a little over 25 years ago, decided upon a specific subject about which I wanted to learn everything. Then I began studying native American history. I was more than enthralled. It was so fascinating. Finally I had discovered a subject that I truly wanted to know everything about.

But it was the specific story of the Nez Perce people that especially caught my attention and my interest. So over the past several years I have managed to become somewhat of an expert on the subject, albeit an amateur one. I have read nearly every book on the subject, and this one is the latest.

Nez Perce Summer, 1877 is certainly the most thorough telling of the story of the 1877 war from the perspective of the U.S. military. Details of military communications, maneuvers, strategies as well as biographical details of military personnel that are not described in any other work abound in this one. It is also one of the best for describing the routes taken by the various military parties and the Indians themselves. It is a very commendable effort.

For my part, however, because my sympathies and my interests lie more closely with the Nez Perce, I found some of the military-related details to be a little excessive, leading me to consider this tome slightly less interesting than some of the other histories I have read on the subject -- purely a matter of personal taste.

[Alethea Hammer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. The only problem I had with it is the footnotes which are all at the back so you need to use two bookmarks.

[Julia Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I consulted Jerome Greene's Nez Perce Summer, 1877, early and often during the many years I spent researching my novel on the Nez Perce War. Thank you, Mr. Greene, for this excellent resource!

[andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is well detailed and always sad and hard for me to read.

[Corey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book- very well researched and I spent this summer walking the battlefields with this book!

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding book!