Col. John Gibbon
Here at Rye Creek, seventy Bitterroot volunteers caught up with Gibbon's command.
We overtook the soldiers the first day out, and there we were informed that the General did not care to be encumbered with citizens. But we stuck.
J.B. Catlin
Captain of Bitterroot volunteers
Thirty-four of these citizen volunteers from the Bitterroot stayed with Gibbon's command while the other thirty-six had second thoughts and returned to their homes.
Now some have accused us of going out just to steal the horses; that gives the wrong impression, as we did not think of that until the general [Gibbon] made us the offer. He told us that we could have all the horses except enough to mount his command, if we could whip the Indians. (But we never got to ride many of that bunch of ponies, you bet.)
c
Tom Sherrill
Bitterroot volunteer
From here, Gibbon's command followed the road east along Rye Creek and down into Ross Hole where they again picked up the trail of the Nez Perce. The Nez Perce had continued south along the Bitterroot River.