Great Warriors II

Even the best military commanders can have battles where things just don't go right.  Whether or not the fault was theirs or just a matter of circumstance, the buck always stops at the top.  Looking Glass of the Nez Perce suffered this unfortunate truth during the retreat of the Nez Perce toward Canada during the Nez Perce War of 1877. The Nez Perce were fighting to avoid being placed on a reservation.  Though they had held their own against the Army in several battles, being able to withdraw after each engagement, the Nez Perce leaders knew that their only safety lay in Canada.  Chief Joseph, Looking Glass and White Bird knew that their only safety lay in reaching Canada.  They crossed the border of what is now Idaho, trekked through Montana's Bitterroot range and entered the Bitterroot Valley.  While on the march, the Nez Perce warriors were under Looking Glass' command.  He convinced the local settlers that the Nez Perce would pass through the are...

A fighting retreat while bein pursued by an enemy is an extremely complex and dangerous military maneuver.  Couple that with harsh conditions and a fighting force burdened with non-combatants and the task becomes even more complex.  Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce is often called the Indian Napoleon because his command of the retreat of his people toward Canada in 1877 resembles Napoleon's disastrous Russia Campaign in 1812-13.  Napoleon, though, had a fighting marshal and rear-guard commander in Michel Ney, Prince of the Moskowa.  Chief Joseph's Ney was Looking Glass, leader of the Alpowai band of the Nez Perce, who lived along the Clearwater River in Idaho. Looking Glass, 1832-1877, was the son of a Nez Perce chief, known as Flint Necklace or, in some translations, Looking Glass Around Neck, referring to a small mirror carried on a leather string around the neck.  His son, Looking Glass, inherited the name and proved his right to his father's chiefship....