The Nez Perce

It was 1805 when the Lewis and Clark expedition descended the western side of the Rocky Mountains.  Weak from lack of diet, racked with pain and dysentery, they were given sustenance and aid by a tribe of Indians named the Nez Perce, so called because of their habit of wearing shells in their noses.  For seventy years the Nez Perce and the white men were friendly to one another in the land that would one day be Washington and Idaho.

In 1855 Governor Stevens of Washington Territory invited Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce to sign a treaty whereby the Indians would enter a reservation along the Washington/Idaho border.  Chief Joseph informed Stevens no man owned mother earth, no man could sell it, and he refused to sign any white man’s paper.  In 1863 he again refused to sign a treaty placing his band onto a reservation.  In 1871 Chief Joseph died and the tribe was then led by his son, also named Joseph.

In 1877 The Nez Perce were given 30 days to move onto a reservation or face the wrath of the white men.  The band of some 700, of which 250 were warriors, under Chief Joseph headed toward Canada as had Chief Sitting Bull of the Sioux.  Although faced by soldiers the entire band managed to cross the Bitterroot Mountains into Montana where they turned south into the Big Hole country where they intended to rest and hunt.  If left alone there possibly they would not have to travel to Canada.

It was not to be.  Attacked again and again the small band of Nez Perce first continued south before turning east and then north.  They passed near what is Billings, Montana today and continued north into the Bear Paw Mountains continually chased by the bluecoats.  One more forced march would place them in the relative safety of Canada.  After a pitched battle Chief Joseph no longer held a belief he could make it to the Grandmother’s Land, and in a fervid speech told General Howard “ …from where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.”  His band had fought a running battle with the whites for over 1100 miles, but was stopped forty miles short of their goal.

Chief Joseph’s remaining band, minus some who escaped to Canada, was promised a safe conduct to the Lapwai Reservation, but in fact were sent by train to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.  His band sickened and began to die.  By 1885 only 287 captive Nez Perce survived.  About 137 of these were allowed to go to the Lapwai Reservation, while Chief Joseph and 150 others were sent to the Colville Reservation to keep them separated from the rest of the tribe.

Chief Joseph died there September 21, 1904.  It was said he died of a broken heart.