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Jiuve auuocu mcume* uiuupower.The white race, and more especially those who were living In Montana at the time of the Nez Perce uprising, are Inclined to blame Chief Joseph for the bloody 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 as sound as any patriotic principle which ever inspired a soldier of the United States.Nez Perces a Superior TribeProm the time of Lewis and Clark, up to the days when the government began to play a fast and loose game with the Nez Perce nation, that tribe had always been staunch friends of the white people. The Nez Perces were a superior race of aborigines. They were devoted to peace and were praised by every explorer and settler who has passed over the Oregon Trail, as well as by the early missionaries. Fathers DeSmet and Ravalli and Marcus Whitman.The story of the Nez Perces was much similar to that of the Flatheads (Sa-leeshes). Just as General Garfield had misrepresented to the government his negotiations with the Bitter Root valley Indians, claiming that Chief Chariot had surrendered the rights of the Saleeshes to that valley, when he had not. Early day commissioners sent out to treat with the Nez Perces made a treaty with subchiefs and head men who did not by any means represent the entire nation.It was this plan of pursuing the course of least reslstence—a plan too much In vogue by commissioners endeavoring to make a name for themselves in those days—that was the direct cause of the Nez Perce uprising. A group of subchiefs were cajoled into signing away the rights of the entire Nez Perce nation; and when the matter was reported to the tribe, the greater portion of the tribesmen resented It bitterly.Broken Promises Governor 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, for many generations. The dissatisfied Indians rallied around him. The land that had been clandestinelytheagaWhkilleratheatforialt;y1vaialvfortrllglt;maavipetterheibe1serThInlt;gl'tigother 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 realized that he must make his fight for his people, or submit to what he and they considered a rank injustice. He issued an ultimatum that if the white settlers did not leave at once he and his followers would go on the war path.Settlers Arrive In Valley The settlers, feeling themselves secure In the attitude of President Grant, remained. The Indians began to commit petty depredations. Settlers In unprotected places began to feel the hand of the Indian. The settlers, alarmed, asked for military protection. The government sent a troop of cavalry into the valley. This, the Indians considered an act of war.The non-treaty Nez Perces were members of a religious order known to the government as The Dreamers.” The doctrine of the Dreamers was that the Great Spirit had made the earth complete, and that it was sinful to disturb it by cultivation. The Dreamers, it is said, were also opposed to churches and schools as disturbing the natural conditions of things. They also believed that a leader would come who would show them how to resist the encroachments ot the whites, which had long ago begun to alarm the Indians. This leader was to be endowed with divine power, and would bring the spirits of all the dead Nez Perces back to life, to help the nation fight for their rights, if necessary.Too-Ilul-Hul-Sote The head or this religious order was a fierce old medicine man named Too-hul-hul-sote. He had come into 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 I a. 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 buried there.He set about to arrange for the removal of the tribe.Settlers Aggressive The white settlers began aggressions. Three of Joseph's Indians were killed. The murderers were tried In white courts and given their liberty. The relatives ofwahawaHeotlfelt;ofinianfrcPaofWfOlInmiofInlt;hrl’hforInwierInIrtlwW;tld«ytbfl!tl
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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