message to Colonel Nelson A. Miles, who was stationed at Fort Keogh (then called the Tongue River Cantonment), requesting his assistance. On September 17, Miles received the message and replied that he would move northwest from the Yellowstone River with his soldiers in an attempt to intercept the Nez Perce and prevent what both officers feared: an alliance between the Nez Perce and the Lakota of Sitting Bull. To permit Miles the time he needed to get into position between the Nez Perce and the Canada–U.S. border, Howard slowed down his pursuit. The Nez Perce, exhausted by their long ordeal, also slowed down their flight, believing themselves a safe distance ahead of Howard's forces. They were not aware of Miles and his approach toward them. On their journey north from Canyon Creek and through the Judith Basin near the present-day town of Lewistown, Montana, the Nez Perce raided several ranches for horses and food and reportedly killed one sheepherder. The flight of the Nez Perce had incited sympathy among large segments of the American public, and even in the U.S. Army. After the Canyon Creek fight, an army surgeon said of the Nez Perce, "I am actually beginning to admire their bravery and endurance in the face of so many well-equipped enemies." Nevertheless, although they spoke favorably of the Nez Perce, Army commanders William Tecumseh Sherman and Philip Sheridan were determined to punish them severely to discourage other Indians who might consider rebelling against the rule of the United States. Cow Island Landing On September 23, the Nez Perce crossed the Missouri River near Cow Island Landing. Steamboats bound for Fort Benton, the local headquarters of Missouri River navigation, unloaded goods at Cow Island Landing late in the year, when the river's water levels dropped and the steamboats could not get up the river to Fort Benton. A small contingent of about a dozen soldiers under a sergeant were stationed at the landing to protect the stockpiled goods until they could be freighted on to Fort Benton by wagon train. Upon the approach of the Nez Perce the outnumbered soldiers, along with two civilians, retreated into their camp, which had a low earth embankment built around it to protect it during rains. After crossing the river at some distance from the soldiers' camp, the main body of the Nez Perce went up Cow Creek for two miles and camped. A