The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1927-08-12
Wien FORCED 20 F19nt AGAINST tne OUted OtdteS ITOOpS ne
Liitary Lines than Any Other Indian KnOl0n to American HistOry

MY father left the council Some of
the chiefs of the other and Of the Nez
Perces signed h treaty, and then Gov
ernor Stevens gave them presents Of
blankets. My father cautioned his people
to take no presents, for after awhile he
said, they will claim that you accepted
pay for your country"
Old Joseph maintained this attitude to
his death and thoroughly converted Chief
Joseph to this policy. In 1868, another
council was held and Chief Joseph went
in the place Of his father who had be-
come blind and feeble. Chief Joseph, ac-
cording to his own history, addressed this
council as follows:
ct did not want to come to his coun-
Gil, but I came hoping that we could
save blood. The white man has no right
to come here and take our country (the
Wallowa country. We have never ac-
cepted presents from the government.
Neither Lawyer "a Nez Perez chief) nor
any other chief had authority to sell this
land. 1t has always belonged to my peo-
pie. 1t came unclouded to them from
our fathers, and we will defend this land
as long as a drop of Indian blood warns
the hearts Of our men"
Chic Joseph was told by representa-
tives Of the government that ultimately
he and his band would nave to move to
the Lapwai reservation, which Chief
Joseph said he would refuse to do. But
for a time affairs were quiet and Chief
Joseph was u~ndisturbed.
Peace Could Not Last
In Chief Joseph's own words:
For a short time we lived quietly. But
this could not last. White men had
found gold in the mountains around thu
land of the winding water. They stole a
great many horses from us, and we could
not get them back because we were In
dams. The white men told lies for each
other. They drove of a great many OF
our cattle. Some white men branded oul
young cattle so they could claim them
w had not friend who would plead oul
cause before the law councils. 1t seemed
to me that some Of the white men in
Wallowa were doing these things on pur-
pose to get up a war. They knew thai
! we were not strong enough to fight them
! I labored hard to avoid trouble anC
2 ~bloodshed. We gave up some Of ou
: country to the white men, thinking thai
{ then we could have peace. We were mis-
= taken. The white men would not let III
alone. We could have avenged on
: wrongs many times, but we did not
: to help them against other Indians, w
= have never refused. When the Whit
E men were few and we were strong WI
could nave killed them of, but h Ne!
Perces wished to live in peace"
! Finally, in 1876, General Howard wa
sent to notify Chief Joseph that he haC
been sent to remove ain and his banC
to the Lapwai reservation, out it was no
until the next spring that he actual,
set about to do it. A council was held
at which Chief Joseph was not present
but at which he claims General Howart
a was most dictatorial and arrested one o
Chief Joseph's envoyS-Too-hul-hul-sot
without just provocation, just to sho'
u his authority.
n This arrest stirred all of Nez Perez
a under Chief Joseph to war talk, an
n Chief Joseph went there in an effort t
4. quiet the hot-heads. Finally he an
y, General Howard came to an agreemen
that if another good place could b
a found, the Nez Perces would move. Chic
Joseph asked Tor time to round up an
move his stock, but General Howar
"a would allow but 80 days, saying that
y, the Indians were not on the reservatio
III by that time, ST shall consider you war
~ to fight, and I will send my soldiers t
drive you on"
20 HOt-Heads Precipitate War
je Chief Joseph, proud as he was an
- convinced as he was that he had nevt
~ sold his country and that he had no Ian
- in LapWai, ave in for the sake of peac
is But things worked badly. The your
- bloods Of the tribe were incensed at il
Of justices they had suffered and they dt
~ manded a war ouncil Too-hul-hul-sot
~ who felt he had been outraged whe
imprisoned by General Howard, demanC
ed that the Nez Perces declare war c
az the whites. There was another your
- 1000 49, N4G $1,000 H+LO9 NAAN -
IN been killed by the whites.
So in spite of Chief Joseph's couns
es for peace, several Of his young warrio
". went out. unknown to him, and killC
ns four white men, then rode back al
chided the council: why do you sit he
like women? The war has begun a
ready" From then Chief Joseph had
choice. AS the head Of the tribe he h;
to fight, and he showed himself a gel
eral in every respect. If he had had
Id, many soldiers as the enemy; if he HI
he not had solicitous concern for the squa'
and children of the tribe and his liv
ed stock, all of which he was trying to sa
Id and to move to safety with his warrior
he undoubtedly would have defeated
- attempts Of the army to capture hi
and he would have made good his esca
~ to Canada.
4 One cannot read the story of Chi
II Joseph without great sympathy and a
miration for him, and certainly not wit
= out a pang Of regret that the Unit
he States policy toward the Indians did n
IKE have b same ound craftsmanship pc
lty sessed by Chief Joseph himself.
Ter