Chief Joseph and the Heroic Nez Perce Indians
04-01-2015
Author: Blog Editor in Roadrunner History Buff
Last week, I attended the annual conference for Southeast Publications in New Orleans. One of the attendees told me that that his uncle was a Nez Perce Indian. I told him that I have visited two of the battlefield sites of the U.S. Army and the Nez Perce Indians. I recommended a book to him.
The Nez Perce is an American Indian tribe who lives in the Pacific Northwest region (Columbia River Plateau) of the United States. An anthropological interpretation says they descended from the Old Cordilleran Culture, which moved south from the Rocky Mountains and west into lands where the tribe coalesced. The federally recognized Nez Perce Nation currently governs and lives within its reservation in Idaho.
Chief Joseph (“Thunder traveling to higher areas") was the best-known leader of the Nez Perce, who led his people in their struggle to retain their identity, with about 60 warriors, he commanded the greatest following of the non-treaty chiefs. He was also known as Young Joseph.
Seven years ago, I had written in my personal blog, Victor’s Meanderings, about visiting these battlefield sites. On one of my visits to the Big Hole National Battlefield site, in Montana there was a ceremony held in remembrance of those Indian citizens killed that day in 1877.
The following is what I wrote in my blog back in 2010:
“When I first moved to Montana, about six years ago, I visited The Big Hole Battlefield site. In early summer, 1877, the Nez Perce Indians were camped when they were attacked by the U.S. Army while they still slept in their tepees. The warriors quickly woke up and engaged the soldiers, giving the old people, women and children time to escape. The U.S. government wanted to put all Indians on reservations but most of the Nez Perce would not agree to sign the treaty. The treaty would require them to relocate to reservations. So they left the homes in Idaho and were trying to go to Canada under the leadership of Chief Joseph.
After visiting the Big Hole Battlefield Site, I purchased a book called Nez Perce Summer, 1877: The US Army and the Nee-Me-Poo Crisis by Jerome A. Greene. He details the events after that battle at The Big Hole. The army pursued Chief Joseph and his band across Montana, through the area now called Yellowstone National Park and then north towards Havre, Montana and Canada. For several months, the wise old tactician and chief (Joseph) eluded the army. It was not until three different army units closed in on the Nez Perce that Chief Joseph finally surrendered, but it was not without a fierce battle at a place near the Bear Paw Mountains. (1) the band of Nez Perce were only 30 miles from the border.”
During the surrender negotiations, Chief Joseph sent a message, usually described as a speech, to the US soldiers. It has become renowned as one of the greatest American speeches:
“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.”
(Pictured is Chief Joseph aka Young Joseph)
I wanted to visit Bear Paw Battlefield site to see it firsthand. I get a special feeling when I visit places like this. So I made the trip out to the site one Sunday afternoon. It is close to Havre, Montana. What a beautiful campsite at the foot of a small mountain range, on the bank of a small creek and near lots of grass that would have fed their horses. Many warriors and soldiers died there.
There was much suffering that summer by the Indians. It was cold, and early snow storms made it difficult to stay warm. They were short of food and clothing after months of travel. Tired and displaced it was the end of their lifestyle. The Nez Perce were not particularly warlike but they were treated like all the other Indians. These so called “savages” had to be punished and civilized by the White Man. They had to be gotten rid of so the west could be settled by cattlemen and the land mined by miners and farmed by farmers.
A short time after Indians surrendered just south of Chinook, at the foot of the Bear Paw mountains, the Army built a large fort called Ft. Assiniboine. It is just southwest of Havre. After securing a guide, I visited the fort. This fort had over 100 brick buildings. Many of them still stand and are used by Montana State University's Agricultural Department. So the university has been maintaining the buildings over the years. Some of the staff lives on site in the original buildings.
The Agricultural Department is getting some new buildings soon, and the department will be moving out of the old fort's buildings thus allowing the Ft. Assiniboine Historical Society access to the buildings... Then the Society will be able to maintain staff and volunteers at the site making it easier for the public to gain access.”
(Pictured are the old officers’ residencies at Ft. Assiniboine now used by Montana State University Ag Dept.)
There is a good summary of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce Utes in the Wikipedia Encyclopedia. In it a brief explanation of Chief Joseph says:
Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, Hinmatóowyalahtq̓it in Americanist orthography, popularly known as Chief Joseph, or Young Joseph (March 3, 1840–September 21, 1904), succeeded his father Tuekakas (Chief Joseph the Elder) as the leader of the Wal-lam-wat-kain (Wallowa) band of Nez Perce, a Native American Tribe in the Wallowa Valley in northeastern Oregon, interior Pacific Northwest region of the United States.
Chief Joseph led his band during the most tumultuous period in their contemporary history when they all were forcibly removed from their ancestral lands in the Wallowa Valley by the United States Federal Government to move northeast, onto the significantly reduced reservation in Lapwai, Idaho Territory. A series of events that culminated in episodes of violence led those Nez Perce who resisted removal including Joseph's band and an allied band of the Palouse tribe to take flight to attempt to reach political asylum and ultimately with the Lakota chief Sitting Bull in Canada.
They were pursued by the U.S. (add period after each initial) Army in a campaign led by General Oliver O. Howard. This 1,170-mile (1,900 km) fighting retreat by the Nez Perce in 1877 became known as the Nez Perce War. The skill with which the Nez Perce fought and the manner in which they conducted themselves in the face of incredible adversity led to widespread admiration of both their military adversaries and the American public.
Coverage of the war in United States newspapers led to widespread recognition of Joseph and the Nez Perce. For his principled resistance to the removal, he became renowned as a humanitarian and peacemaker. However, modern scholars like Robert McCoy and Thomas Guthrie argue that this portrayal as well as Joseph’s speeches and writings, distorted the true nature of Joseph’s thoughts and gave rise to a “mythical” Chief Joseph as a “red Napoleon” that served the interests of the Anglo-American narrative of manifest destiny. (2)
Sources:
About the Blogger: Victor Ray has had a love for travel and history since he was a small boy. Now he has found a way to combine the two, traveling in his motorhome with Raleigh, his pure bread Australian Shepherd. He shares his passions exploring the highways and byways in search of scenic, historic, unique and pristine places.
The Nez Perce is an American Indian tribe who lives in the Pacific Northwest region (Columbia River Plateau) of the United States. An anthropological interpretation says they descended from the Old Cordilleran Culture, which moved south from the Rocky Mountains and west into lands where the tribe coalesced. The federally recognized Nez Perce Nation currently governs and lives within its reservation in Idaho.
Chief Joseph (“Thunder traveling to higher areas") was the best-known leader of the Nez Perce, who led his people in their struggle to retain their identity, with about 60 warriors, he commanded the greatest following of the non-treaty chiefs. He was also known as Young Joseph.
Seven years ago, I had written in my personal blog, Victor’s Meanderings, about visiting these battlefield sites. On one of my visits to the Big Hole National Battlefield site, in Montana there was a ceremony held in remembrance of those Indian citizens killed that day in 1877.
The following is what I wrote in my blog back in 2010:
“When I first moved to Montana, about six years ago, I visited The Big Hole Battlefield site. In early summer, 1877, the Nez Perce Indians were camped when they were attacked by the U.S. Army while they still slept in their tepees. The warriors quickly woke up and engaged the soldiers, giving the old people, women and children time to escape. The U.S. government wanted to put all Indians on reservations but most of the Nez Perce would not agree to sign the treaty. The treaty would require them to relocate to reservations. So they left the homes in Idaho and were trying to go to Canada under the leadership of Chief Joseph.
After visiting the Big Hole Battlefield Site, I purchased a book called Nez Perce Summer, 1877: The US Army and the Nee-Me-Poo Crisis by Jerome A. Greene. He details the events after that battle at The Big Hole. The army pursued Chief Joseph and his band across Montana, through the area now called Yellowstone National Park and then north towards Havre, Montana and Canada. For several months, the wise old tactician and chief (Joseph) eluded the army. It was not until three different army units closed in on the Nez Perce that Chief Joseph finally surrendered, but it was not without a fierce battle at a place near the Bear Paw Mountains. (1) the band of Nez Perce were only 30 miles from the border.”
During the surrender negotiations, Chief Joseph sent a message, usually described as a speech, to the US soldiers. It has become renowned as one of the greatest American speeches:
“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.”
(Pictured is Chief Joseph aka Young Joseph)
I wanted to visit Bear Paw Battlefield site to see it firsthand. I get a special feeling when I visit places like this. So I made the trip out to the site one Sunday afternoon. It is close to Havre, Montana. What a beautiful campsite at the foot of a small mountain range, on the bank of a small creek and near lots of grass that would have fed their horses. Many warriors and soldiers died there.
There was much suffering that summer by the Indians. It was cold, and early snow storms made it difficult to stay warm. They were short of food and clothing after months of travel. Tired and displaced it was the end of their lifestyle. The Nez Perce were not particularly warlike but they were treated like all the other Indians. These so called “savages” had to be punished and civilized by the White Man. They had to be gotten rid of so the west could be settled by cattlemen and the land mined by miners and farmed by farmers.
A short time after Indians surrendered just south of Chinook, at the foot of the Bear Paw mountains, the Army built a large fort called Ft. Assiniboine. It is just southwest of Havre. After securing a guide, I visited the fort. This fort had over 100 brick buildings. Many of them still stand and are used by Montana State University's Agricultural Department. So the university has been maintaining the buildings over the years. Some of the staff lives on site in the original buildings.
The Agricultural Department is getting some new buildings soon, and the department will be moving out of the old fort's buildings thus allowing the Ft. Assiniboine Historical Society access to the buildings... Then the Society will be able to maintain staff and volunteers at the site making it easier for the public to gain access.”
(Pictured are the old officers’ residencies at Ft. Assiniboine now used by Montana State University Ag Dept.)
There is a good summary of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce Utes in the Wikipedia Encyclopedia. In it a brief explanation of Chief Joseph says:
Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, Hinmatóowyalahtq̓it in Americanist orthography, popularly known as Chief Joseph, or Young Joseph (March 3, 1840–September 21, 1904), succeeded his father Tuekakas (Chief Joseph the Elder) as the leader of the Wal-lam-wat-kain (Wallowa) band of Nez Perce, a Native American Tribe in the Wallowa Valley in northeastern Oregon, interior Pacific Northwest region of the United States.
Chief Joseph led his band during the most tumultuous period in their contemporary history when they all were forcibly removed from their ancestral lands in the Wallowa Valley by the United States Federal Government to move northeast, onto the significantly reduced reservation in Lapwai, Idaho Territory. A series of events that culminated in episodes of violence led those Nez Perce who resisted removal including Joseph's band and an allied band of the Palouse tribe to take flight to attempt to reach political asylum and ultimately with the Lakota chief Sitting Bull in Canada.
They were pursued by the U.S. (add period after each initial) Army in a campaign led by General Oliver O. Howard. This 1,170-mile (1,900 km) fighting retreat by the Nez Perce in 1877 became known as the Nez Perce War. The skill with which the Nez Perce fought and the manner in which they conducted themselves in the face of incredible adversity led to widespread admiration of both their military adversaries and the American public.
Coverage of the war in United States newspapers led to widespread recognition of Joseph and the Nez Perce. For his principled resistance to the removal, he became renowned as a humanitarian and peacemaker. However, modern scholars like Robert McCoy and Thomas Guthrie argue that this portrayal as well as Joseph’s speeches and writings, distorted the true nature of Joseph’s thoughts and gave rise to a “mythical” Chief Joseph as a “red Napoleon” that served the interests of the Anglo-American narrative of manifest destiny. (2)
Sources:
About the Blogger: Victor Ray has had a love for travel and history since he was a small boy. Now he has found a way to combine the two, traveling in his motorhome with Raleigh, his pure bread Australian Shepherd. He shares his passions exploring the highways and byways in search of scenic, historic, unique and pristine places.
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