Excerpted from the Journal of Sergeant John Sutton

Co.H, 9^th U.S. Infantry

Sunday, Sept. 20

…Arrived (at the rendezvous) about 4:30 in the afternoon with Vice. Berce and Kane had arrived earlier and Berce already had the camp laid out, the firepit dug, firewood gathered and split, and coffee on the boil. … The camp was along the side of an abandoned wagon road, so the place was farely level, but the ground looked hard. …

Walker brought in a supply of beer, and so the men had a good-natured reunion that night. I brought out the map of our proposed route of march so all could see where we were headed. Berce turned inn early for mess. Stuckey volunteered for kitchen police. Retreat roll call found only nine men present: Sgt. Sutton, Privates Berce, Henry, Jurgella, Kane, Lid, Stuckey, Vice and Walker.

Monday, Sept 21

Bunked last night with Kane and henry. Night seemed very cold, and the ground was as hard as it looked—didn’t sleep well atoll. I had one blanket, my overcoat, blouse, wool shirt, drawers, trowsers and to pair socks on. Kane slept and sawed a few logs wile doing so. I mentioned to Kane that he seemed to sleep well, and he said he thought so too, and that his four blankets helped! Henry didn’t sleep well either owing to the lack of flexibility of the ground. Temperature was about 26 degrees.

…Breakfast consisted of hash, bacon, coffee, and hardtack was served up by Berce in good order. After policing the area … and making final arrangements for our departure, we drew rations for the march: 12 oz bacon, 1 can sardines, 1 can oysters, ½ can tomatoes, ½ can peaches, dried fruit, coffee, sugar and as much hardtack the men cared to take. Judging from the quantity left in the box, the men did not care too much for it.

The men piled into …(a) 6 mule wagon and headed out at about 9:30 a.m. The air was very cold and some unpacked their blankets and covered up. There wasn’t much room in the wagon box, so they were pretty cramped. We went up Trail Creek to Joseph’s Creek, then crossed the divide at Lost Trail Pass, then turned north into the Bitterroot Valley. At Sula’s Station, we climbed a trail up to Gibbon’s Pass on the divide. … Which the topographical engineers calculate is at an elevation of 6,941 feet above sea level!

We unloaded … (and) hiked about ¾ mile then paused by Trail Creek for a quick bite of cooked bacon and hardtack. Our orders were to conduct a reconnaissance up Trail Creek to it’s source, then down Trail Creek to its junction with May Creek, then there to Gibbon’s battle site on the Big Hole.

The reconnaissance of the upper portion of the creek was completed by 3:30 p.m. – a good practice hike of 4 miles for the men. No sign of hostiles were seen, however there were some sign of cattle. While returning to the main trail, I happened to notice Walker left the main camp without filling his cartridge belt!

"Where’s your ammunition, Walker?"

"Uhhhhh, Back in camp, Sergeant" came the reply.

For forgetting his AMMUNITION wile on scout in HOSTILE territory, Walker was ordered to carry the ammunition belts for the rest of the squad the remaining half-mile to the main trail.

In camp the men tried the ground and found it a bit softer than the abandoned road at the main camp. The usual wood details, cooking and blanket fatigue occupied the remainder of the afternoon. … Since there were sign of cattle along the creek, the men were ordered to boil water, which is a slow process at this altitude. Dinner was by sets. Vice and I boiled Tomatoes, fried bacon and hardtack with coffee. Total miles marched: 4 ¾. Weather: Cool, partly cloudy with a slight breeze. Perfect marching weather.

Tuesday, Sept. 22

Heavy frost last night. … Canteen corks froze in place, and the boiled water in the drinking cups froze up. You could turn the cup over with out fear of the water coming out.

Owing to the cold I did not sleep well. Most of the men apparently did not either. I heard Stuckey and Lid snoring from time to time, and Jurgella and Walker doing their "old man and old woman" dialog over their blankets. Most men had 1 blanket, overcoat and poncho, except for Jurgella who was carrying more fur than a trapper heading for market.

The frost made getting a fire started slow, but once started, things proceeded well. Breakfast was fried bacon, hardtack, canned peaches and coffee. Broke camp and began marching at 10 a.m.

The trail is generally a slight down hill grade on the left (east) bank of the valley formed by Trail Creek. The first 1 ½ miles wer through an area heavily logged of its timber. … Passing the logged area, the valley broaded to a park-like appearance. The dark wooded mountains on the opposite site stood in contrast with the valley floor where the cured grass gave a golden color. The road at this point was excellent and we made good time. …. Took our noon break at 12:15 at a place where the valley narrows, forcing the creek and road threw a narrow defile.

After the noon break Jurgella’s clothing bag strap failed and he had to fall out to make a repair. I noted at this time that he was carrying both haversack and clothing bag with blanket roll. Apparently, he had to carry his buffalo gauntlets and muskrat hat and other impedimenta. Ho should have brought along his brace at this point as he appeared to have everything else the Quartermaster kept on his books. Stuckey’s old wound in his foot began to act up. He took the remaining killers…but was still hurting. Followed the trail through successive parks to where Trail Creek joins Joseph Creek. The road from this point to May Creek is much used and hard packed, so the surface was hard on the men. Met Berce coming up the road with supplies. We loaded our packs into the wagon and hiked the remaining mile to May Creek where we made camp.

As soon as the men unrolled their packs, a light rain opened up, which served no purpose other than to P___-off the sergeant.

Supplies consisted of more bacon, hardtack, coffee, and ½ can each of tomatoes and peaches, plus a ½ can of salmon freighted in at great expense by Uncle Sam. Now, reader, this canned salmon must have been consigned to General Gibbon and staff and somehow misdirected to us. But "ours is not to reason why" so we ate the stuff.

Total distance marched: 8 ½ miles, Weather cool, sunny with occasional clouds, light breese.

Wednesday, September 23

Another cold night – 27 degrees. Heavy frost. Breakfast consisted of bacon, hardtack, coffee and canned peaches. Berce …at about 8am…transported the packs on to BigHole, so the men were now under light marching order, except for Jurgella. Departed May creek at 8:30 a. Pvt. Henry returned to camp with Berce. Overnight temperature was 25 degree.

We marched along a new road surface still continued to be hard-packed and we deviated our route of march as much as possible to the old roadbed which was much easier on the men. While marching on the hard roadbed, the men’s feet became hot and uncomfortable. Nothing else to note this morning, …. We took a long break at Placer Creek, in the vacinity where Gibbon’s command halted while the scouts moved forward to locate the Nez Perce village. When the village was discovered, the men dropped their packs, haversacks and canteens in order to advance upon the village without being discovered.

The last mile into camp was across a treeless hillside, and the weather was becoming increasingly warmer. … Arrived in camp at about 1 p.m., and Berce and Henry had hot tea ready. Very refreshing. Stuckey dropped his pack near the fire, and Berce gave him a few words. Supper soon followed with hash and hardtack.

During our absence from camp, a courier brought mail for some of the men. Mail call is always a source of amusement in the company, and the men SHOUTED FOR JOY, when their names were called. Private Lid received a letter from his sister, who was lamenting about his joining the army. It appears that without him the family manure business is failing. Henry received a letter from his cousin pleading with him not to leave the army for California, and that a book selling business in that state would be a bust due to the high leval of ellitericy amongst the populashun. Walker received his usual letter from one of his lady friends, breaking off their relationship including a refund for overpayment of services. Walker did not seem to be saddened with the news, but rather thought the refund was too little. VICE was the big winner with 2 letters, by golly! One of the letters was from Walker’s lady friend and included a similar message and refund. The other was from the Attorney General’s office of Dakota Territory wanting Vice to pay his bond in full for leaving the state prematurely after his detainment at Fort Buford.

The remainder of the afternoon the men laid about in camp. A man named James, who has been put in charge of the battlefield by the Interior Department came by the camp this afternoon and took me to a place in a forest reserve which would serve as our target range. The area was hilly had been heavily logged, and there was much down wood, so it made a poor range for firing for score, but would suffice for skirmisher practice….

Berce made dinner of boiled beans, hardtack and coffee. I admonished the men that they were consuming the other rations in preference to the hardtack, as the supply of hard bread had hardly been dented – of course it’s tough to dent a hardtack. The men did not seem inspired by my admonitions to eat more tack. …

Total miles marched: 7. Weather: Clear and warm, no clouds. Grand total of miles hiked on campaign: 20.

Thursday, September 24

Did not get much sleep as the ground did not soften appreciably during our hike. Kane shared one of his this FOUR blankets by spreading it out on top of the ponchos, but that did not improve things very much. Temperature again in the mid-20s. Breakfast was a delightful repast of bacon and griddle cakes. The boys ate their fill and had some left over for taking to the range.

… At the range, the company was divided into two teams, Vice, Walker, Kane and Stuckey consisting of team 1 and Henry, Lid, Jurgella, and Sutton on team 2. Each team started from approximately 225 yards out and moved in to about 75 yards, stopping intermittently to fire 2 rounds in one minute at a Laidly No.1 target. Each man fired 20 shots. The agrigrate score would determine the winner. Team one scored 248 points out of a possible 400 with five bulleyes and team 2 scored 211 with nine bullseyes, but had more shots off target.

We returned to camp around 2pm and cleaned arms. The remainder of the afternoon was spent laying about camp, playing cards, swapping stories …

Dinner was a fine combination of bacon, onions and potatoes all fried together fixed by Berce and Vice. The evening was a continuation of the afternoon with more story telling, including the Sergeant reminiscing about his experience working on a goat farm.

Friday, September 25

Finally got a decent sleep. It was not as cold as previous nights, and my body probably did not care about the hard ground anymore. Breakfast of bacon and canned pears. Broke down camp and packed wagons.

Caretaker James has collected many remininces of the participants and his narrative was very informative. We went over the site where Gibbon’s men were holed up and the rifle pits can plainly be seen. James also allowed the men to view the collection of battle relics found on the site.

Our orders being accomplished, the company traveled a few miles by wagon and checked into a hotel, bathed and went to a local bar for a steak dinner and a few (?) beers.

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