Greeting Cards: Big Hole National Battlefield, Montana. On August 9, 1877, 162 men of the 7th U.S. Infantry and Montana volunteers, made an early morning attack on a sleeping Nez Perce camp at this spot in the Big Hole Valley as a part of an ongoing attempt to forcibly relocate the tribe to a reservation in Idaho. Not suspecting a secondary force, Looking Glass neglected to post lookouts. Though the Nez Perce eventually "won" the brutal battle from a military stand point, counterattacking, seizing and dismantling a 12-pound howitzer artillery, and pinning down the U.S. troops for nearly 24 hours before escaping. It was at a heavy loss of 60-90 dead, only 30 of whom were warriors, the rest women and children. U.S. Military losses were high too, at 29, roughly 1/3 of the regiment.