Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 26.djvu/339

Rh groups bedecked in gayest and gaudiest trappings were soon arranged in a semicircle in front of the speakers' stand. Major General Scott, who in his long army service had maintained most fraternal relations with them, spoke,

using both oral and sign languages. The chiefs of the various tribes responded. The head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Chairman of the House Committee on Indian Relations were also heard. A pageant of flag raising followed—the French, the English and the American in order. That of the United States remaining to wave from the top of the newly erected pole. In the afternoon and evening there were displays, dances and contests and the initiation of some of the notables of the expedition, including Associate Justice Pierce Butler of the United States Supreme Court, into the Blackfeet tribe. The expedition then proceeded by train westward to the Montana town of Havre, from which a side trip in autos was made to the scene of the last stand and capitulation of Chief Joseph and his band of Nez Perces in the autumn of 1877. Chief Joseph with his people, including women and children, but with not more than three hundred warriors, had retreated nearly two thousand miles through the enemy's country. He had met the United States troops eleven times, and had fought five pitched battles with them, of which he had won three, drew one and lost one. The total force opposing him was nearly two thousand men. General Miles coming from the east intercepted him at Bear Paw% Mountain, and as a fall of snow deprived the Indians of fuel, brought about their surrender. The salient features of this story and the prowess of General Miles as an Indian fighter were related on the spot by General Scott. A survivor who had participated in the affair also added graphic details.

The expedition the next morning, the 20th, arrived at Glacier Park. It retraced its course a few miles to the station Meriwether. Here a granite shaft had been