![John Mullan](https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/902/2014/04/2014summer-mullan-thumb-198x198.jpg)
Lost highway
John Mullan closed the last link of the Northwest Passage and vanished from history—until now
On a May morning in 1858, along a small creek on the northern edge of the Palouse, hundreds of warriors from several Inland Northwest Indian tribes closed in on 160 Army soldiers led by Col. Edward Steptoe. An Army retreat turned into a 10-hour running battle. Two company commanders were mortally wounded, panicking the men. At last, the troops took up defensive positions on a hillside in what is today Rosalia. As night fell, they were surrounded, outgunned, and down to two rounds of ammunition apiece.
More than a … » More …