Chief
Joseph, known by his people as In-mut-too-yah-lat-lat (Thunder coming
up over the land from the water), is best known for his resistance to
the U.S. Government's attempts to force his tribe onto reservations. The
Nez Perce were a peaceful nation spread from Idaho to Northern
Washington. The tribe had maintained good relations with the whites
after the Lewis and Clark expedition the U.S expedition to cross the newly acquired Western portion of the country.
He was born on March 3rd 1840 somewhere in the dramatic landscape centered on Wallowa
Lake in northeastern Oregon. His father, Tuekakas (d. 1871), was the
chief of the Wallowa Nez Perce band. They lived far from the main body
of the tribe, which was across the Snake River in Idaho, but they
reunited often to fish for salmon, gather camas roots, and socialize.
The Presbyterian missionary Rev. Spalding had arrived at Lapwai,
Idaho, in 1836 to spread Christianity amongst the Nez Perce. Tuekakas
was intrigued by Spalding and his white religion; Spalding baptized him
and gave him the name Joseph. When his son came along, he was called
Young Joseph. Young Joseph spent much of his earliest years at
Spalding's mission, and probably attended some of Spalding's lessons.
But he was too young to learn much English and when the boy was still
small, Old Joseph (Tuekakas) had a falling-out with Spalding. His band
returned to its old ways at Wallowa.
Yet it became increasingly
difficult to maintain the old ways of life. White miners and settlers
began to encroach on their lands. Uprisings by other tribes across the
Columbia Plateau had resulted in U.S. Army incursions, although Old
Joseph managed to keep the Nez Perce at peace.
When Joseph grew
up and assumed the chieftanship, he was under increasing governmental
pressure to abandon his Wallowa land and join the rest of the Nez Perce
on their reservation near Lapwai, Idaho. Joseph refused, saying that he
had promised his father he would never leave.
In
1855 Chief Joseph's father, Old Joseph, had signed a treaty with the U.S.
that allowed the Nez Perce people to retain much of their traditional lands. In
1863 another treaty was created that severely reduced the amount of
land, but Old Joseph maintained that this second treaty was never agreed
to by his people. A showdown over the second "non-treaty" came after
Chief Joseph assumed his role as Chief in 1877.
A
series of violent encounters with white settlers in the spring of 1877
culminated with a young brave named
Wahlitis avenging his father’s death by killing the white rancher who
was responsible.Igniting what an Indian war.
Figuring that they might still be able to avoid annihilation if they
flee rather than fight, Chief Joseph begins leading his tribe to seek refuge in Canada
in hopes that they can join Sitting Bull and the Sioux and remain free
there.
However at least 700 men, women, and children led
by Joseph and other Nez Perce chiefs were then pursued by the U.S. Army
under General Oliver O. Howard in a 1,170-mile (1,900 km) fighting
retreat known as the Nez Perce War. For nearly a month, they fought the
Army and settlers in the canyons and prairies near the Idaho
reservation. But in mid-July, after a grueling two-day battle in the
bluffs above the Clearwater River, it became clear to the families that
they were far outnumbered and had little hope of victory if they stayed
in Nez Perce country. For the next 2½ months, they fled with more than
1,000 horses across the Bitterroot Mountains into Montana Territory,
down through the Northern Rockies along the continental divide, through
the newly created Yellowstone National Park, and finally straight north
through the Montana plains toward the Canadian border, the “Medicine
Line.” Along the way, soldiers surprised the families several times,
massacred dozens, and repeatedly tried to trap and corner them. But each
time, the warriors outfought them, and the families and their horse
herd proved far more nimble on rough terrain. As they tried to justify
their difficulty in catching the renegade bands, officers attributed all
of their foes’ battlefield success to the leader they knew best. Even
though Joseph was not a war chief, in the minds of his enemies, he was
Achilles, Odysseus, Hannibal, and Napoleon.
The skill with which the Nez Perce
fought and the manner in which they conducted themselves in the face of
incredible adversity earned them widespread admiration from their
military opponents and the American public, and coverage of the war in
U.S. newspapers led to popular recognition of Chief Joseph and the Nez
Perce.
His retreat has been remembered as a brilliant military maneuver, but in
truth, it was a desperate attempt at a peaceful end to the violence
facing his people. Only once was his tribe engaged in a full battle
where they emerged victoriously – with 34 white soldiers killed and only
three Nez Perce men wounded.
In
October 1877, after
months of fugitive resistance, most of the surviving remnants of
Joseph's band were cornered in northern Montana Territory, just 40 miles
(64 km) from the Canadian border. Unable to fight any longer, Chief
Joseph surrendered to the Army with the understanding that he and his
people would be allowed to return to the reservation in western Idaho.
On October 5, 1877, his speech, as he surrendered to General Howard,
whilst handing over his rifle. immortalized him in American history
forever:
"I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Toohoolhoolzote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say, 'Yes' or 'No.' He who led the young men [Olikut] is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are — perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. 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."
Many of the Nez Perce were sent to a reservation in what is now Oklahoma, where many died from
malaria and starvation. Chief Joseph tried every possible appeal to the
federal authorities to return the Nez Perce to the land of their
ancestors. and up to
his death in 1904, the government kept reopening and reconsidering his
claims.
Chief
Joseph was promised by General Miles that he would be able to go back
to Idaho but he was kept captive and never allowed to return to Wallowa
Valley. Joseph was allowed to visit Washington D.C. in 1879 to plead his
case to president Hayes. It wasn't till 1885 that Joseph and other
refugees were returned to the Pacific Northeast. Nearly half (including
Joseph) were taken to a non-Nez Perce reservation in the Colville Indian
Reservation in the state of Washington, being separated from their people in Idaho.
It was at the Colville Indian
Reservation in the state of Washington, where according to the reservation doctor he died on September 21
1904 of a broken heart at the age of 64.
Chief
Joseph's life remains
an iconic event in the history of the American Indian Wars. For his
passionate, principled resistance to his tribe's forced removal. He
never got to return to his homeland as was promised. Still, despite
seeing his tribesmen die of disease and at the hands of the white man,
he never gave up being the conscience of his people. He never gave up
hope that one day, Native Americans would achieve freedom and equality.
Chief Joseph will forever be renowned as a brave, honourable Chief and a humanitarian and a
peacemaker.
Joseph became an inspiration to generations of civil rights and
human rights activists due his forceful message of universal liberty and
equality. “We only ask an even chance to live as other men live,” he
famously said. “Let me be a free man—free to travel, free to stop, free
to work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers,
free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to think and talk and
act for myself—and I will obey every law, or submit to the penalty.”
In
a period when many thought that "the only good Indian is a dead
Indian," Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce won the admiration of the
American public.Because of this there have been many schools, dams, and even hospitals
named in his honor. Chief Joseph spoke many words of wisdom, providing
the nation with a hero to be remembered for generations to come. “If the
white man wants to live in peace with the Indian, he can live in peace.
Treat all men alike. Give them a chance to live and grow.”
Chief Joseph I will fight no more forever
