Big Hole National Battlefield

Big Hole National Battlefield, about 10 miles west of the ranching town of Wisdom, marks the place where US troops attacked a sleeping Nez Perce camp at dawn on 9 August 1877. The Nez Perce, or nimí·pu·, were fleeing their homelands in Oregon and Idaho in the Nez Perce War, and had stopped to rest in the Big Hole valley. Colonel John Gibbon led about 200 soldiers and civilian volunteers into the camp. The Nez Perce rallied, pinned Gibbon's force down in the trees on the hillside, captured and dismantled its mountain howitzer, and then withdrew to continue their flight towards Canada. The National Park Service puts Nez Perce deaths at up to about 90, many of them women and children; 31 soldiers and volunteers died.

The site was set aside as a military preserve in 1883, became a national monument in 1910 and was renamed a national battlefield in 1963. Since 1992 it has been part of Nez Perce National Historical Park.

Start at the visitor centre on the hill, which has an observation deck over the valley, exhibits on the Nez Perce flight of 1877, and a 26-minute park film, Weet'uciklitukt: There Is No Turning Back. Then drive down to the lower parking area for the trails. The Nez Perce Camp Trail, 1.6 miles round trip and flat, leads to the site of the Nez Perce camp. The Siege Area Trail, 1.2 miles round trip with about 50 feet of climb, goes to the timbered slope where Gibbon's men dug in. A steep 0.8-mile spur, the Howitzer Trail, climbs 320 feet to where the cannon was captured. Allow about an hour for the camp trail and 45 minutes for the siege trail. Rangers lead tours and talks, and descendants gather at an annual commemoration whose date is posted by the park.

There is no entrance fee. The trails are open from sunrise to sunset all year. The visitor centre has been on its winter schedule since 14 October 2026 and stays on it until late May, open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm and closed Sundays and Mondays; from late May to mid-October it opens daily, 9 am to 5 pm. In winter the road to the lower lot closes to vehicles, and the trails are used for snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. Pets are not allowed on the trails or in the visitor centre.

Treat the site with respect: it is a place of mourning for Nez Perce families.