During the summer of 1877, U.S. soldiers pursued Chief Looking Glass and Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce along the Nez Perce National Historic Trail after treaties forced bands of Nez Perce from their homes in Idaho and Oregon. Refusing to settle or surrender, the non-treaty Nez Perce traveled a meandering 1,170 mile route while federal armies pursued them. From the Battle of the Big Hole in southwestern Montana to evasive maneuvers through Yellowstone Park, they followed the Clark Fork Canyon into Yellowstone River country southwest of present-day Billings. On September 13, 1877, at the Canyon Creek Battle west of Billings, the Nez Perce entered the Canyon Creek valley, took four horses, food, and property belonging to early homesteader Joseph Cochran, defeated Colonel Samuel Sturgis's 7th Cavalry, and continued north toward Canada. Just 40 miles south of the Canadian border at the Bear Paw Mountains, army troops under Colonel Nelson Miles defeated the Nez Perce and forced their surrender. With four of the five major chiefs of the Nez Perce killed, Chief Joseph surrendered and reportedly said, "Here me, my Chiefs, I am tired; my hear is sick and sad, From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever."