Learn about history at ‘Museum After Hours’
Published 3:00 am Tuesday, April 23, 2024
- First Sgt. Edward Ball of the 1st U.S. Dragoon, portrayed by Lyle Gleason, was a veteran fighter in the Mexican War and fought against the Navaho and Apaches until his dragoons were posted north to support Lt. Col. Edward Steptoe at recently built Fort Walla Walla early in 1858.
WALLA WALLA — An innocuous-looking butte juts up on the way to Roslyn, Washinton, but it is anything but a bump in the road.
In 1858, the knoll immortalized a clash between the Indian tribes living north of the Snake River and the U.S. military command under Lt. Col. Edward J. Steptoe. Steptoe had made an error in diplomatic judgment by bringing two howitzer cannons to talks at the tribal encampments nearby, and the tribes, fearing for their women and children, attacked and pursued the American soldiers.
In the ferocity of the Battle of Tohotonimme on the butte, the U.S. military ran out of ammunition and retreated as fast as it could, only stopping to bury their four dead, their equipment and the cannons underground in the cover of night.
Most of the beaten troops escaped on a route pointed out to them by a Nez Perce scout named Chief Timothy. One veteran fighter, 1st Sgt. Edward Ball of the 1st U.S. Dragoons, became separated from the group and had to make his way back to Fort Walla Walla alone, without horse or provisions. It took him six days.
Sgt. Ball is rising from the past to speak at Fort Walla Walla Museum’s monthly feature Museum After Hours on Thursday, April 25 at 5 p.m. in the Grand Hall. The talk is titled “The Steptoe and Wright Campaign: An American Dunkirk.”
He will focus on the Steptoe retreat and the subsequent punitive Wright campaign three months later and the aftermath of both missions.
Lyle Gleason is an actor and reenactor with more than 30 years of experience. He has represented Medieval, Revolutionary War, Civil War, mountain men, and even played in the odd Steampunk event.
Currently, he is in the Pacific Northwest Living Historians’ troupe. He also serves in character as a member of the Lewis & Clark Expedition and has recently branched out to include the Indian Wars of the Inland Empire, 1847 to 1858.
The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the outdoor Pioneer Village is now open. Admission to the three exhibit galleries and five exhibit buildings, plus the entire village, is $12 adults, $10 seniors and students, $5 children ages 6-12, and free for children age 5 and under.
To see a calendar of events, visit fwwm.org. For more information, call 509-525-7703. The museum is in Fort Walla Walla Park at 755 NE Myra Road.
