Children of Grace: The Nez Perce War of 1877 (Military Frontier) - Softcover

"In his lucid, clear-eyed, day-by-day chronicle of the Nez Perce and their leaders, their tragedies, and their defeats, and his union of sympathy and objectivity, Hampton has achieved the most historically accurate account of the panorama of the 1877 war... A vigorous narrative that builds on diligent research, this study contributes to the upsurge of excellence in American Indian studies." Booklist

Although the Nez Perce (Nee-Me-Poo) Indians gave instrumental help to Lewis and Clark on their famous expedition, they were rewarded by decades of invasive treaties and encroachment upon their homeland. In June 1877, the Nez Perce struck back and were soon swept into one of the most devastating Indian wars in American history. The conflict culminated in an epic twelve-hundred-mile chase as the U.S. Army pursued some eight hundred Nez Perce men, women, and children, who tried to fight their way to freedom in Canada. In this enthralling account of the Nez Perce War, Bruce Hampton brings to life unforgettable characters from both sides of the conflict―warriors and women, common soldiers and celebrated generals. Looking Glass, White Bird, the legendary Chief Joseph, and fewer than three hundred warriors waged a bloody guerilla war against a modernized American army commanded by such famous generals as William Tecumseh Sherman, Nelson Miles, Oliver Otis Howard, and Philip Sheridan. Hampton also gives voice to the Native Americans from other tribes who helped the U.S. Army block the escape of the Nez Perce to Canada. A scholar of the American West, Bruce Hampton lives in Wyoming.