The light of dawn on June 17, 1877, revealed a column of about 106 U.S. Cavalry troops, plus a couple dozen civilians and scouts, moving down a trail along a ravine into White Bird Canyon. On either side of the narrow valley, high bluffs poked into the morning sky and surrounding Idaho Territory.
The column headed to the Salmon River to punish Nez Perce warriors who had launched a series of deadly attacks on White settlers as retribution for a killing.
The troopers, composed of two companies of the 1st U.S. Cavalry, included 1st Lt. William Russell Parnell of Company H. According to one comrade, Parnell’s leadership qualities in times of crisis endeared him to his men.
Irish-born Parnell, 40, brought years of experience as a soldier in wars on two continents. As a member of the British 17th Lancers in the Crimea, he survived the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava in October 1854. He crossed the Atlantic in 1860, and when civil war erupted the following year, he joined the 4th New York Cavalry as a first lieutenant. He distinguished himself in fighting in the Shenandoah Valley in 1862 and in numerous engagements in 1863. At Upperville, Va., on June 21, 1863, Parnell led a failed charge that resulted in a gunshot to his hip and numerous saber cuts. Falling into enemy hands, he escaped two months later and made his way back to his regiment. In 1864, he participated in actions large and small during the Overland Campaign and Siege of Petersburg.
Parnell ended the war as lieutenant colonel of the 4th and joined the Regular Army as a cavalry officer. He and his command headed to the West in 1867, and fought Native American warriors in California and the Pacific Northwest, including the 1872-1873 Modoc War.
At White Bird Canyon in 1877, Parnell and the cavalry came under attack by about 70 warriors, firing rifles and shooting arrows from concealed positions. According to one report, the U.S. troopers fired first. Overwhelmed and caught off guard by the attackers, Parnell and other officers conducted an orderly withdrawal despite losing 34 killed and 4 wounded.
As the troopers made it to safety, Parnell realized one man unaccounted for and rode back into a swampy area with volunteers to find him. They successfully located and extracted him under fire by the Nez Perce. Parnell managed to bring his man to safety. For this act, Parnell received the Medal of Honor.
Parnell remained in the army until 1887, when he retired from active service due to the effects of bullet, saber and arrow wounds received during a quarter century in the saddle. Placed on the retirement list in 1904 as a major, he settled in California. Six years later in San Francisco, he succumbed to injuries after a fall from a street car. He was 74.
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