The Battle of Big Hole (Montana, USA, 1877): History, Archaeology, GIS, and Military Terrain Analysis

Abstract

The Battle of Big Hole took place in western Montana on August 9–10, 1877, between the US 7th Infantry and the Nez Perce Indians. Big Hole was a short but very deadly battle (28 dead from an Army force of less than 200 and 60–90 Nez Perce killed) but provides an outstanding historical record. Eyewitness accounts from both sides, as well as oral traditions passed down to descendants, provide a detailed description of the battle. Archaeology surveys in the early 1990s recovered artifacts (primarily bullets and shell casings) and allow identification of individual weapons used by both sides. The original archaeological work used a computer-aided design (CAD) program. Reanalysis of the archaeological survey provides several new perspectives on the battle. The archaeological record shows a series of Army bullets moving up the slope to the location in historical records of a Nez Perce sniper firing on the Army troops. A weapons fan drawn from the sniper location shows where the Army anti-sniper fire could have originated and suggests where those soldiers fired from and which weapons they likely used. A weapons fan from the location of an ineffective Army mountain howitzer shows that it was poorly positioned to hit the Nez Perce village and that it also had extremely limited visibility to its flanks and rear, helping explain why it was captured so easily. The GIS can animate the locations of the individual weapons identified by shell casings, helping to trace the movement of troops during the initial attack on the Indian village and then the retreat to a fortified area. This study verifies a strong link among historical records, battlefield archaeology, GIS, and military terrain analysis.