Just as the fleeing Nez Perce arrived at Weippe, twenty miles north of Kamiah, they met a small band led by Chief Red Heart returning from Montana.

Here [at Weippel we found Indians who had not been in the war They were Chief Temme llppilp's [Red Heart] band. Friendly to both sides. Next morning, coming daylight, one of General Howard's Nez Perce scouts came riding in....

But he came and said to these Indians, "it will be best to come on your own reservation. There you will be safe.'

'We will go,' answered most of those Indians. There were about twenty of them, men, women, and a few children. They had not joined us. Never had been in any of the war. Coming from Montana, they had only met us there. Those Indians not joining with us in the war now bade us all good-by-a farewell, that we would never return to our homes again!

Yellow Wolf

Red Heart and sixteen of his warriors and 23 women and children came and gave themselves up as prisoners and are under guard...

Lewiston Teller
July 17, 1877

The Indian prisoners arrived at Lapwai on Friday and their hair cut short (it should have been under the scalp) and then they were placed in irons.

Lewiston Teller
July 19, 1877

Totally innocent of the war, the people of Red Heart's band were nonetheless taken as prisoners of war when they arrived in Kamiah. After nine months in prison at Fort Vancouver, Washington, the innocent Nez Perce were finally returned to Lapwai in April 1878.