|
|
|
| The Nez Perce were given their names by the French because some of the Nez Perce wore nose pendents. After the introduction of horses the Nez Perce were then noted after that to be horse breeders and this made buffalo hunting easier. In 1805 the Nez Perce were visited by Lewis an Clark. In 1830 they sent leaders and chiefs to St. Louis to ask for books and teachers. In 1855 they gave away a large part of their land to the United States. | |
| The War of 1877 was the non-treaty Nez Perce against U.S. troops. In 1877 most of the Nez Perce were living on reservations, but some of them refused to move. The leader of one Nez Perce tribe was Chief Joseph. Chief Joseph inherited the leadership because his father died and Joseph was elected new leader. In 1877 Chief Joseph led, one of the most brilliant retreats in Indian history with it scanning over 1,500 miles. The Nez Perce won many battles along the way only fighting troops if they came to close or were engaged. Joseph refused to leave the Wallowa Valley, given to the U.S. by the Treaty of 1863, because Joseph and the Nez Perce never signed it. General Oliver Howard was ordered to remove the Nez Perce. Joseph was finally going to agree and start to move his people to the reservation, but before they could leave a band of his own Indians slipped away and killed eighteen settlers. Howard was furious and sent Captain David Perry to bring in all of the Nez Perce. At Whitebird Canyon Perry attacked, but the Nez Perce were ready and drove them back, thirty-three soldiers died at Whitbird Canyon, but only three Nez Perce warriors died. After the battle, the indians did nothing to the dead. |
Chief Joseph (1804-1904) |
| After Whitebird Joseph took his people on a three month retreat toward Canada. On July 3rd they killed a scouting party of thirteen soldiers. On July 4th at an abandon stage stop called Cotton Wood they fought off another attack. On July 11th they killed thirteen more of Howard's men at the Clearwater River. In the Clearwater battle Looking Glass joined the Nez Perce and strengthened their warriors greatly. Afterwards they had to climb the Bitterroot Mountains. At this time Looking Glass led them. They were following the trail that had led Lewis and Clark to them just must more than seven centuries earlier. There were about seven-hundred people but only two-hundred of those were warriors the rest were women and children. Even though they had all these women and children they moved fast. They were hoping that if they made it to Montana they could join there allies the Crow. When they finally made it to Montana they turned south following the Bitterroot River. Sometimes they would stop in towns so they could get supplies. Some of the towns were scared and asked for army protection. | |
|
Looking Glass (1832-1877) |
At Big Hole Looking Glass convinced the elders they could rest for many days, because he thought Howard was many days back, but what Looking Glass didn't know was that Colonel John Gibbons had mustered a small army of troops and had tracked the Nez Perce to Big Hole. At dawn on August 9th at Big Hole Colonel Gibbons attacked and at first ninety Nez Perce died, mostly women and children, but the remaining Nez Perce and warriors regrouped and drove the remaining soldiers out of the camp. The warriors trapped Gibbons and his men while Joseph led the rest to safety. After Big Hole the Nez Perce went back to Idaho then east to the Yellowstone Plateau The Nez Perce captured more than a dozen settlers and murdered two before they let the rest go. They still went seeking the Crow, but what they didn't know was that the Crow were chasing them on behalf of the military. |
| After they found out that the Crow had betrayed them they headed north to try and join Sitting Bull. On August 20th at Camas Meadows they stole one-hundred-fifty mules and slowed Howards march. On September 13th at Canyon Creek they fought off an attack by Colonel Sturgis. The Nez Perce had crossed many rivers and finally they crossed there final the Missouri. They had come more than 1,500 miles, fought in more than seventeen engagements, and had fought more than two-thousand Indian scouts and soldiers. They had suffered many losses and hardships. They had beaten or avoided every army set against them. Now they were only miles away from freedom. | |
| At Bear Paw only forty miles away from Canada they took a final break before their final journey to freedom. They knew that Howard was more than two days march back, but who they didn't know about was Colonel Nelson A. Miles. Miles had pushed his unit through Montana to intercept the Nez Perce. Also fighting with Mile's army were Cheyenne and Lakota warriors. The Bear Paw battle was the last battle for both sides. The soldiers charged at dawn but the Indians were ready and drove back the first, the second, and the third attack. The Nez Perce killed or wounded fifty-three soldiers but all of there horses had been driven off and they couldn't escape. The weather turned cold an Miles dug in for a siege. Some of the Indians slipped behind the lines and made their way into Canada. Sitting Bull welcomed them warmly but would send no help. Miles opened negotiations and said if they turned over their rifles that in the Spring they could return to the Wallowa Valley. The people were divided about surrendering but Jospeh couldn't bare to see his people suffer. He also believed Miles about returning to their homeland. On October 5, 1877, Chief Joespeh or the "Red Nepolean" ,as he was known to the whites, rode out on his horse, got off, and handed over his rifle to Miles in token of surrender. Chief Joseph gave one of the most eloquent surrender speeches ever. | |
| "I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are all killed. Looking Glass is dead... The old men are all 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 food. No one knows where they are... 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." | |
| On the same day as Joseph's surrender Looking Glass rode out to join Sitting Bull, but before he made it to Canada he was killed by a Cheyenne scout. The rest of Joseph and his people were sent off to Fort Abraham Lincoln in Dakota Territory where they thought they would stay the winter, but on the way the promise that Miles had made about them returning to their homeland was overruled by General William Tecumseh Sherman. when the Nez Perce arrived at the fort they were loaded onto a train. On the train they were told that they weren't returning to their homeland in Oregon, but to exhile in Indian Territory. Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce were once again betrayed. In this new territory conditions were unlivable and supplies were scarce. Sixty-eight Indians died in the first year alone. Not long after they had a cemetery set aside just for babies with a hundred graves. Joseph died in 1904, but still twenty-seven years after the War of 1877 Joseph died with a "broken heart." | |
|
|
|
Ryan Kerwin
8th American History Rossville Jr. High Plains History Project 2004 |
|
