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Chief Josephll.The Most Remarkable Indian of All North American Aboriginal Tribesmen; Nez Perces were Peace Loving People, Yet Brave, Fearless and Honest in their Battle for a Cause to Them Most Just. Fiftieth Anniversary of Big Hole Battle to be Commemorated(By DAN R. CONWAY)The storm may drive to bosh and den The creatures of the field and fen.But neither storm nor darksome night. Nor ice-bound stream nor frowning height. Could check or -turn or put to flight This iron-hearted man.—With apologies to Joaeph Mills Ranson.WHEN the thousands of Americans (both red and white) have gathered on the ridge that forms the j headwaters of the main fork of the Big Hole river, in August of this year, that gathering will be in marked contrast to that which convened in the historic Big Hole country fifty years ago.It Is Just a half century ago that Chief Joseph II. left the Wallowa valley In Idaho In his futile effort to pilot his people out of a country whose government. In his opinion, had treated his people In a shameless manner.The famous march of the Nez Perces has been the subject of innumerable narratives. Its story is familiar to every school child In the Northwest. Too much cannot be said, however, of the remark-ceded to the United States government was the home of hts childhood and his people from time Immemorial. At a great council of the dissenters Joseph made a speech In the course of which he said:A man who would not love the land of his father and his mother Is worse than a beast. Our brothers have betrayed us. The men who spoke for the Great White Father of the palefaces should have known that they were doing something which was not right. The white people have much power, but we must fight them If they attempt to take our homes away from us.”This cry of Joseph, the red patriot, went up and down the land of the Nez Perces. Many of the chiefs and head men who had assented to this treaty left the country of the nation, so bitter was the feeling against them.Death of Chief Joseph This controversy continued over a number of years. In 1872 Old Joseph died and on his deathbed, he called his son. Young Joseph, to his side, and said: My son. my body is returning to Mother Earth, and my spirit is going very soon to see the Great Spirit Chief. When I am gone, think of your country. You are the chief of these people. They look to you to guide them. Always remember that your father never sold his country. You must stop your ears whenever you are asked to sign a treaty selling your home. A few years more -and the white men will be all around you. They haveable man who proved himself so capablea leader, and of whom General Nelson A Miles once said: He Is the whitest Indian I ever knew.Cause of Nez Perce UprisingAfter the Civil war. Grant and Sherman were the military dictators of the United States. These two dignitaries had become the idols of the north, in consideration of their salient victories which had brought the recent war to a close. There word was law In military circles. And. today. In the northwest, the question arises as often before it has: Did these officials exercise their power to the very best advantage in treating with the Indian tribes? The story of the rebellion of Chief Joseph against the confiscation of the lands of the Nez Perces by General Grant: the story of the repudiation by General Sherman of the terms made by General Miles to Chief Joseph, following the latter's surrender at the Battle of the Bear Paws, would indicate that these men might have abused their power.The white race, and more especially those who were living in Montana at thetime of the Nez Perce uprising, are Inclined to blame Chief Joseph for thebloodv war which he waged against the settlers of Montana In 1877. As a matter of fact, however. Joseph was fighting for a principle—an ideal which was astheir eyes on this land. My son. never This countryforget my dying words holds your father's body. Never sell the bones of your father and mother.”The government, unable to induce the Indians to leave, further complicated matters by giving the “Non-Treaty Nez Perces. as Chief Joseph IT. and his followers were called, permission to remain in Wallowa valley.Another Broken Promise In 1873. a commission decided that the non-treaty Nez Perces Were without their rights, and that the7 must leave the country In which they had always lived Along about this time, encouraged by the attitude of the government, settlers began to locate In Wallowa valley. Josephwent to them and explained his position He told them that the treaty by whichthe land had been ceded to the United States had been repudiated by the Nez Perce nation. He warned them that there would be war If they remained. Instead of heeding this warning, they encouraged other settlers to come.Grant was then president of the United States. His training had been militant. He answered the Indians by proclaiming the Wallowa valley a part of the public domain of the United States, and open to settlement.Naturally enough, this proclamation brought more settlers. Joseph now real-they stood their ground In a fight with white men, when their numbers were anything near equal. Here, however, was a band of Indians who stood up against force not much Inferior to their own and fought so stubbornly and bravely that they turned the rout at the opening assault into what was virtually a victory. They compelled the white men who had driven them from their camp to take refuge behind breastworks and then they followed the whites, hemmed them In and harassed them for 24 hours, only desisting when scouts brought them news of the approach of strong reinforcements for the soldiers.It was an unusual experience for the veterans in the ranks of the whites, many of whom had fought the Sioux In eastern Montana and In the Dakotas. Some of these men afterward said that they would rather fight five Sioux than one Nez Perce; and yet this tribe had never before been at war against the whites. If the Nez Perces had been experienced In this sort of fighting, there Is no telling what might have been the outcome of Chief Joseph's famous march through Montana ir. 1877. The reputation of Sit-In his later years. Joseph was not ?ered his pror and he kept it. He kept It indeed betterdisturber; he rememberthan many a paroled white would have done; It was lived up to in spirit as well as In letter. Not only did he refrain frommaking any trouble himself, but hl councils were always for peaceting Bull and his Sioux would have been forfeited. But. the Nez Perces were bynature peaceable and their one clash with whites arose from a cause that justified their actions In the eyes of those who believed that the United States should play fair with such or the T--liana ns were themselves honorable.Jen who served during the Civil war ad in the Indian wars in the middle west and south have given testimony that the battle of the Big Hole was the most bitterly contested field upon which they ever fought. These veterans state that they never witnessed such determined fighting maintained for so long aCHIEF JOSEPH II.. OF THE NEZ PERCES. the most notable Indian leader o( all time who fearlessly led his people across an enemy-infested Montana, in his search of a new home for his followers. Was peace-loving, yet a fearless and tactful warrior leader.hgperiod of time and at such short range by any Indians as was carried on bythese unseasoned warriors under JosephIt was a brave body of whites who faced Chief Joseph that hot day on the bluffs that overlook the Basin where the waters of mountain streams mingle to form the main fork of Big Hole river They were worthy foes and worthily did this Indian leader and his followers meet them.Among the men hemmed In by Joseph in the earthworks on the brow of that fatal hill, was one grizzled old surgeon who had fought with that same regiment in the defense of Little Round Top at Gettysburg. In his story of the fight told In an interview a short time after the battle of the Big Hole, the surgeon said that there was no hotter place on the Round Top than he found that August day ten years or more later.When his fight at the Big Hole was ended. Chief Joseph took up his march down the valley, cumbered with women and children and his wounded warriors heading in the direction of the BritishPeaceable to the LastmlseHe realized the hopelessness of a struggle aaginst the white invasion and he adopted the course that seemed to him wisest.Chariot a Malcontent The case of tne Nez Perces was almost an exact parallel with the treatment which Chief Chariot and his Saleeshes of the Bitter Root valley received from the government. Chariot, however, refrained from any act of violence against the whites. When Joseph sent Chariot an Invitation to participate in the march out of the country, the latter refused. But Chariot remained sullen and morose, a perpetual trouble breeder on the reservation; a chronic malcontent. Joseph, on the other hand, became a model Indian after his brief struggle against the Inevitable had been decided.Chariot a Malcontent When Chariot had his famous conference with Senator Vest. Major Martin Maginnis and others regarding his proposed departure from the Bitter Root val-ey. he referred to this incident. He said that his father. Victor, had welcomed Lewis and Clark and helped them on their Journey: that during the intervening years no white man had been killed by the Flathead Indians In anything that looked like hostility; that recently when his kinsman Joseph of the Nez Perces had come over the mountains and asked him to Join with him In his war upon the whites, he told him that he would not do so. He said that he told Joseph he would not Join the whites, and that so far as the Saleeshes were concerned, Joseph might march through the valley if he would do so peaceably; but that if he took anything belonging to the white men. or even killed a calf, then he (Chariot) would Join forces with the white men.Was Greatest of Indian Leaders Joseph's resentment against the whites was of the same nature as that of Chariot. but It found vent In a different manner. Instead of remaining sullenly In the Wallowa valley. Joseph determined to leave the country entirely. None familiar with the circumstances and events believes that Joseph at any time intended to wage war against the whites Had he been on the warpath. It would have been a very simple matter for him to slay the soldiers and volunteers who opposed him in Lolo pass. Much rather, however, he left the members of this force sleeping and marched quietly around them.Whatever may be the general opinion held as to the iustice of the course pur-
Newspaper Details
Bozeman Courier
Bozeman, Montana, US
Fri, May 13, 1927
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Geri L.
NA, 10 Jul 2024
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