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  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  Map

  Cries from the Earth Cast of Characters

  Introduction

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Epilogue

  Notes

  Afterword

  The Plainsmen Series by Terry C. Johnston

  Praise

  High Praise for the Work of Terry C. Johnston

  Copyright

  with my deep admiration and heartfelt respect for how he breathes such passion into our common history, I dedicate this novel on the outbreak of the Nez Perce War to my friend,

  Paul Andrew Hutton

  Cries from the Earth Cast of Characters

  Civilians

  Larry Ott

  Emily FitzGerald

  Elizabeth FitzGerald

  Bert FitzGerald

  Jennie

  Mrs. —— Perry

  John B. Monteith

  Charles Monteith

  Erwin C. Watkins

  Perrin B. Whitman

  —— West

  William Watson

  John Wood

  Hiram Titman

  E. R. Sherwin

  —— Van Sickle

  Harry Cone

  CIVILIANS INVOLVED IN THE FIRST MURDERS

  Jurden Henry Elfers

  Fritz Elfers

  “Harry” Burn Beckrodge

  —— Whitfield

  Norman Gould

  George Greer

  Samuel Benedict

  Emmy Benedict

  Catherine Elfers

  Richard Devine

  Robert Bland

  Victor ——

  Charles “Charley” P. Cone

  Isabella Benedict

  CIVILIANS INVOLVED IN THE SECOND RAID

  James Baker

  George Popham

  Conrad Fruth

  John J. Manuel

  Maggie Manuel

  Jennet Manuel

  Albert Benson

  William Osborn

  Annie Osborn

  Helen Walsh

  William George

  “French Frank” / “Frenchie” / François Chodoze

  —— Koon

  August Bacon

  Patrick Brice

  H. C. “Hurdy Gurdy” Brown

  Harry Mason

  Elizabeth Klein Osborn

  Edward Walsh

  Masi Walsh

  “old man” Shoemaker

  CIVILIANS INVOLVED IN THE CAMAS PRAIRIE RAIDS

  Benjamin B. Norton

  Hill Norton

  Luther P. “Lew” Wilmot

  Lewis “Lew” Day

  Mrs. —— Chamberlin

  F. Joseph “Joe” Moore

  Charles Rice

  James Adkison

  Doug Adkison

  John G. Rowton

  Jennie Norton

  Lynn Bowers

  Pete Ready

  John Chamberlin

  Hattie Chamberlin

  Frank Fenn

  George Hashagen

  John Adkison

  Cash Day

  George Shearer

  Charles Horton

  Herman Faxon

  John W. Crooks

  John Crooks, Jr.

  Delia Theller

  William Coram

  Theodore Swarts

  Loyal P. (L.P.) Brown

  Sarah Brown

  Charley Crooks

  Arthur “Ad” (“Admiral”) Chapman

  Joe Robie

  Military

  General Oliver Otis Howard—

  “Cut-Off Arm”

  Captain David Perry—

  Commander, Fort Lapwai, F Company, First U.S. Cavalry

  Captain William H. Boyle—

  Commander, G Company, Twenty-first U.S. Infantry

  Captain Joel Graham Trimble—

  H Company, First U.S. Cavalry

  First Lieutenant Peter Bomus—

  Fort Lapwai post quartermaster

  First Lieutenant Edward Russell Theller—

  F Company, First U.S. Cavalry

  First Lieutenant Melville C. Wilkinson—

  aide-de-camp to General Howard

  Second Lieutenant William Russell Parnell—

  H Company, First U.S. Cavalry

  First Sergeant Alexander M. Baird—

  F Company, First U.S. Cavalry

  First Sergeant Michael McCarthy—

  H Company, First U.S. Cavalry

  Sergeant Patrick Gunn—

  F Company, First U.S. Cavalry

  Sergeant Patrick Reilly—

  H Company, First U.S. Cavalry

  Sergeant Isidor Schneider—

  H Company, First U.S. Cavalry

  Sergeant Henry Arend—

  H Company, First U.S. Cavalry

  Sergeant John Conroy—

  H Company, First U.S. Cavalry

  Corporal Charles W. Fuller—

  F Company, First U.S. Cavalry

  Corporal Joseph F. Lytte—

  F Company, First U.S. Cavalry

  Corporal Michael Curran—

  H Company, First U.S. Cavalry

  Corporal Roman D. Lee—

  H Company, First U.S. Cavalry

  Corporal Frank L. Powers—

  H Company, First U.S. Cavalry

  Trumpeter John M. Jones (“Jonesy”)—

  F Company, First U.S. Cavalry

  Trumpeter Michael Daly—

  F Company, First U.S. Cavalry

  Trumpeter Frank A. Marshall—

  H Company, First U.S. Cavalry

  Farrier John Drugan—

  H Company, First U.S. Cavalry

  Blacksmith Albert Myers—

  H Company, First U.S. Cavalry

  Private James Shay—

  H Company, First U.S. Cavalry

  Private Aman Hartman—

  H Company, First U.S. Cavalry

  Private Charles E. Fowler—

  H Company, First U.S. Cavalry

  Private John Schoor—

  F Company, First U.S. Cavalry

  Privat
e John White—

  F Company, First U.S. Cavalry

  Surgeon John FitzGerald

  Nez Perce

  Abraham Brooks

  Abraham Watsinma

  Alpowa Jim

  Jonah Hayes

  Frank Husush

  James Reuben

  Joe Rabusco

  Nat Webb

  Putonahloo

  THREE TREATY SCOUTS CAPTURED AT WHITE BIRD

  Robinson Minthon

  Yuwishakaikt

  Joe Albert (Elaskolatat)

  NEZ PERCE (CONT’D)

  Yellow Wolf / He-mene Moxmox (White Thunder—Heinmot Hihhih)

  Swan Necklace (Wetyetmas Wahyakt)

  Five Wounds (Pahkatos Owyeen)

  Rainbow (Wahchumyus)

  Old Rainbow

  Old Joseph (Tuekakas / Old Grizzly)

  Young Joseph (Heinmot Tooyalakekt / Thunder Traveling to Loftier Heights Upon the Mountain)

  Ta-ma-al-we-non-my (Driven Before a Cold Storm)

  Ollokot / Frog

  Wetatonmi

  Hophop Onmi / Sound of Running Feet

  Welweyas

  Half Moon

  Three Eagles

  John Wilson

  Two Moons (Lepeet Hessemdooks)

  Sun Necklace (Yellow Bull / Chuslum Moxmox)

  Big Morning (Big Dawn / Hemackkis Kaiwon)

  Toohoolhoolzote

  Bare Feet

  Stick-in-the-Mud

  Tissaikpee

  Red Elk

  Geese Three Times Lighting on the Water

  Red Grizzly Bear (Hahkauts Ilppilp)

  Black Feather

  Two Mornings

  Wounded Head (Husis Owyeen)

  Five Winters (Pahka Alyanakt)

  Jyeloo

  Five Times Looking Up (Pahkatos Watyekit)

  Going Alone (Kosooyeen)

  No Feet (Seeskoomkee)

  Hand in Hand (Payenapta)

  Vicious Weasel (Wettiwetti Haulis)

  Red Raven (Koklok Ilppilp)

  Going Fast (Henawit)

  Fire Body (Otstotpoo)

  Strong Eagle (Tipyahlahnah Kapskaps)

  Looking Glass Alalimiatakanin / “A Vision”)

  Yellow Bear

  Tucallasasena

  White Bird (Peopeo / White, White Goose, White Crane, White Pelican)

  Eagle Robe (Tipyahlanah Siskon)—father of Wahlitits

  Shore Crossing (Wahlitits)

  Red Moccasin Tops (Sarpsis Ilppilp)

  Yellow Grizzly Bear (Heyoom Moxmox)

  Teeweawea

  Black Foot

  Tolo / Tula (Tulekats Chickchamit)

  Palouse

  Bald Head / Shorn Head (Huishuish Kute)

  Red Echo (Hahtalekin)

  Introduction

  Before you begin, take a moment to consider …

  The story you are about to read is entirely true.

  I haven’t fabricated a single one of the scenes to follow this introduction. Every incident happened when and where and how I have written it. Every one of the characters you will come to know actually lived, perhaps died, during the outbreak of the Nez Perce War.

  After my previous thirteen Plainsmen novels, hundreds of thousands of you already have an abiding faith in me, a belief that what you’re going to read is accurate and authentic. But for those of you picking up your first Terry C. Johnston book, let me make this one very important vow to you: If I show one of these fascinating characters in a particular scene, then you best believe that character was there, when it happened, where it happened. I promise you, this is how that history of the Nez Perce War was made.

  What’s more, I want you to know I could have written a book nearly twice as long as this if I had gone back to explore the background of the old treaties and how they were broken, to tell of the discovery of gold deep in Nez Perce country, if I had begun reciting, chapter and verse, all the intrusions by whites where they were not allowed by the treaties, the seductive lure of alcohol and firearms on the young warriors, the firestorm of rapes and murders committed against those Nez Perce bands helplessly watching their old way of life passing away right before their eyes, not to mention the government’s feeble efforts to keep a lid on each troubling incident after the fact … Suffice it to say that the government’s position was that the minority Non-Treaty bands (those who refused to sign) were bound by the vote of the more populous Treaty bands (even though no more a minority of the Treaty males signed the government’s land-grab).

  But for all that background I’m not going to give, the reader can learn everything he wants to know in the following books:

  I Will Fight No More Forever, by Merrill D. Beal

  The Flight of the Nez Perce, by Mark H. Brown

  The Nez Perce Tribesmen of the Columbia Plateau, by Francis Haines

  The Nez Perce Indians and the Opening of the Northwest, by Alvin M. Josephy, Jr.

  As for my story, I’m going to dispense with all that historical background you can learn elsewhere because I prefer to drop you right down into the middle of the outbreak of this war.

  As you are drawn back in time, you may well wonder: what of those brief news stories that appear here and there at the beginning of certain chapters or scenes? Keep in mind that those aren’t the fruits of my creative imagination. Instead, they are torn right from the front pages of the newspapers of that day.

  Oh, one more thing before you start what will surely be one of the most fascinating rides of your life—the letters that Emily FitzGerald, wife of surgeon John FitzGerald, writes home to her mother from Fort Lapwai are real, too. Transcribed verbatim for you, every last word of those letters makes them simple, heartfelt messages from a woman who finds herself squarely at ground zero, right in the middle of an Indian war. They, and those brief newspaper stories too, I hope will lend an immediacy to this gripping tale that little else could.

  As you make your way through this story, page by page, many of you might start to worry when you find this tale missing our intrepid Irishman, Seamus Donegan. But take heart! He, Samantha, and their son, Colin, are at Fort Laramie this spring of 1877, preparing to make their way north to Fort Robinson, where they will be center stage for the last months of Crazy Horse’s life … a distance that makes it impossible for Donegan to be in Idaho Territory for this start of the Nez Perce War at the very same time he is returning from the end of the Great Sioux War on the Northern Plains.

  So please remember as you begin this ride with me: Every scene you are about to read actually happened. Every one of these characters was real—and they were there … to live or die in this outbreak of a damned dirty little war.

  I don’t think I could have made up this tragic story if I’d tried. I’m simply not that good a writer.

  Prologue

  Autumn, 1874

  A jagged shred of lightning split the leaden sky suspended just over his head. On its heels rumbled a peal of autumn thunder so close he felt it clear to his marrow. Clouds hung low, wisps of their shredded underbellies suspended like tatters of the white man’s muslin among the heavy branches of the firs towering over him like silent giants.

  The rain would not be long behind, Eagle Robe thought as the cabin made of unpeeled logs came into sight. He sucked in a sudden breath, startled to find the crude structure standing there at the edge of the clearing. Even more surprised to see the second, larger, building slowly take shape out of the mist behind the cabin. It was not made out of unchinked logs, but from planks milled from the huge pines that steepled this paradise of the Nee-Me-Poo,1 the people a band of long-ago white explorers first called the Chopunnish.2

  At that time of first contact, the Nee-Me-Poo numbered more than six thousand souls who referred to the light-skinned traders coming among them as “Boston Men.” But in the last few generations, as a full half of the Nee-Me-Poo died off with the rampant diseases brought them by the newcomers, Eagle Robe’s people started referring to the white men as Shadows. Dark, soulles
s creatures, most of whom were cordial, while some took real pleasure in conniving to get their hands on everything they coveted, especially what already belonged to others.

  Beyond both structures Eagle Robe saw the first of the cattle grazing in a far pasture. As he got closer, he could hear them lowing. On the far side of the larger building stood a sizable pole corral where a few horses milled.

  Another crack of thunder reverberated off the hillside, all the closer now. So close Eagle Robe felt the vibration drag a rusty finger to the base of his spine. The storm would not be long in coming now.

  Perhaps this white settler named Larry Ott would give him shelter if the rain came hard, if a strong wind blew. As he got older, Eagle Robe had discovered the cold grew more and more painful, stabbing him all the way to the bone with the approach of winter. He had no reason to suspect that this Shadow would not offer him a place out of the wind and the cold. Larry Ott had been a most pleasant sort early last spring when that white man began to graze his cattle and horses on the fringes of the tribe’s land, right beside some of Eagle Robe’s garden plots. Then last spring, this Shadow appealed to chief White Bird’s band of Lamtama to allow him a little more land where he could graze even more cattle.