Looking Glass

His name was 'elelímyete'qenin', and his band of about forty families was already living on the reservation. It was a Sunday; many people had gone to a Dreamer service in Kamiah, leaving fewer than twenty men of fighting age in camp. Looking Glass raised a white flag and sent Peopeo Tholekt to tell Captain Stephen Whipple to leave them alone, and the talk had barely begun when soldiers opened fire. Three people died, among them a woman and her baby who drowned fleeing across the river. He was killed at Bear Paw on October 5.

What the plaque says

Looking Glass During General O. O. Howard's 1877 Nez Perce campaign, Looking Glass and his band were camped up Clear Creek near here. Looking Glass told army authorities: "Leave us alone. We are living here peacefully and want no trouble." But after a military attack, July 1, that destroyed his village, ruined his gardens and captured 750 Nez Perce horses, Looking Glass and his band joined other Nez Perce refugees and soon headed for Montana's buffalo plains. Howard spent three more months pursuing Joseph, White Bird, Looking Glass, and their warriors after that fiasco. 347 Text prepared by the Idaho Historical Society Marker made & installed by Idaho Transportation Department

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Heart of the Monster — 5.9 mi
  Where the Nimiipuu say their story begins: Coyote, a monster, and the heart he tore loose, still on the Clearwater's bank.
• Weippe Prairie — 15 mi
  Where the Nimiipuu decided what to do with Clark's starving men, and fed them camas until they were sick.
• White Bird Battlefield — 29 mi
  Six Nimiipuu men rode out under a white flag. A shot came from the soldiers' side, and the Nez Perce War began.

More markers nearby

• Nez Perce War — 4.2 mi
• Long Camp — 6.5 mi
• Asa Smith Mission — 6.6 mi
• Camas Prairie — 10 mi