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Broken PromisesGovernor Isaac N. Stevens of Washington territory negotiated the first treaty with the Nez Perces In 1855. It was a liberal treaty confirming the rights of the Indian nation to hunting grounds In Idaho. Washington and Oregon. A second treaty was made in 1863. By this agreement, the fertile valleys of the Wallowa and Imnaha were relinquished by the Indians. The valleys In question were occupied by a tribe of the Nez Perce nation of which Joseph I. was chief, as had been his father before him. Old Joseph and his followers who were the ones who should have been consulted. refused to recognize the treaty. They were the original owners of the land. The government held that the agreement with the whole nation was binding on Joseph's Nez Perces. On the other hand, the old warrior leader held that the Indians not under him and not residing in the valleys which the treaty ceded to the United States had no right to sign away the rights of his people.Chief Joseph Chief Joseph is represented as being a royal blooded Indian, whose forebears had held high place In the council of his nation, lor many generations. The dissatisfied Indians rallied around him. The land that had been clandestinelyi;ui-sote. ne naa come mto power since the trouble had arisen between the Nez Perces and the government. As high priest of the order, he was the implacable foe of the whites. Their ascendancy meant, of course, that his cult would go to pieces, and he was always for war. Most of the Nez Perces believed in him and his doctrines were held sacred. He had almost as much power as did Chief Joseph.General O. O. Howard was sent out to try and placate Joseph. He took the position that the Wallowa valley was a legitimate possession of the United States; that the army would protect the settlers and force Joseph and his followers to go to the reservation allotted to them. Then came the order that the non-treaty Nez Perces must vacate the valley within one year. Joseph finally became convinced that the only thing for the Indians to do was to submit to the whites. He arrived at this conclusion very reluctantly, because he loved the fair land In which his people had always lived, and because his father and his mother were burled there. He set about to arrange for the removal of the tribe.Settlers AggressiveThe white settlers began aggressions. Three of Joseph’s Indians were killed. The murderers were tried In white courts and given their liberty. The relatives offrom the Big Hole battlefield to the Bear Paw mountains, are well known Incidents of history.Chief Joseph II.This Chief Joseph II. of the Nez Perces was the most notable Indian of all theOld West. He was courageous, a master CcIn war and strategy, of noble mind, and more nearly resembled the Cooper type of early Indian romance than any other Indian leader mentioned in history.Twenty-two years ago last October he died, old and heart-broken, on Tongue rivei*. Idaho, where he spent the last unhappy days of his life. General Miles once said of Joseph: He Is the whitest Indian I have ever known.” When Joseph was told of this remark, he said: “General Miles cannot compliment me by calling me white. I could not Insult a good Indian worse than by saying he was like a white man. All my life I have told the truth. I cannot say the same of any white man I have ever known.”The Nez Perces The Nez Perces were unequalled as warriors among all the Indian tribes of the nation, brave and wary in attack, determined and resourceful In defense, yet they were not In reality a war-making nation. When the white explorers first came to the Hocky mountain region, the Nez Perces were a powerful and
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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