Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce Campaign of 1877
Chief Joseph, a Nez Perce leader, known to his people as Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt or Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain (1840-1904), constantly appealed to the federal government to return his people to their ancestral homelands and not to a distant reservation in Idaho. His band is known for their brilliant military retreat, one that lasted over three months until their eventual surrender to the US.
The Nez Perce had never been ‘hostile’ to Americans. They aided Lewis and Clark, as well as the 1830 expedition of Benjamin Bonneville. Joseph the Elder was one of the first Nez Perce to convert to Christianity, and was actively involved with the territorial governor to establish a reservation. But, like so many others, the Nez Perce found themselves being squeezed from their traditional lands. A gold rush into their territory in 1863 prompted the federal government to take back 90% of that promised reservation, infuriating even pacifists like Joseph. As settlers continued to flood in, tension continued to rise, and the Nez Perce refused to sign the treaty specifying the new boundaries. Joseph the Elder felt so betrayed, he burned his Bible and American flag and dug into his beloved Wallowa Valley.
At his father’s death in 1871, Joseph the Younger was elected chief. He continued his father’s pacifist policies and continued to refuse to move to the new reservation in Idaho. Two years later the federal government ordered white settlers to be removed from the valley and it appeared as though the Nez Perce would be allowed to stay. But, as usual, the federal government reversed its decision and again ordered the band to move. In 1877 General Oliver Otis Howard threatened to attack Joseph’s band and force them to move. Believing themselves ‘outgunned’, Joseph reluctantly decided to move his people. But along the way, a few young ‘hot heads’ raided settlements and killed several whites; Howard began his pursuit of the Nez Perce.
The historic flight that followed gained Joseph grudging respect from the federal government, military and civilian alike. With about 700 people, only 200 of whom were warriors, the band fought 2,000 soldiers and eluded them for 1400 miles through rugged territory in Idaho and Montana. Joseph was never a war chief, and it is thought that much of this strategy was devised by Looking Glass, White Bird and Joseph’s younger brother, Olikut, among others.
With winter coming and the deaths of many in the band, Joseph decided to surrender at Bear Paw Mountain in October 1877. The speech he reportedly made when he surrendered (there is some doubt about this), however, will insure his place in history. ‘I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed… It is cold, and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death… Hear me my chiefs. I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.’
He actually continued to fight with words to regain land in his beloved Wallowa Valley. General Miles promised that they would receive a reservation there in exchange for their surrender, and agreed with Joseph that the Nez Perce had never signed the treaty giving up the valley. It didn’t matter, since the powers in Washington decided to ‘divide and conquer.’ A few people were allowed to return later, but Joseph and the other chiefs never saw the valley again. He was sent to a reservation in Kansas, then moved to Indian Territory (Oklahoma), before finally being sent to the Colville Reservation in Washington where he died in 1904.
Information courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions Inc.