At the age of 30, the newly appointed Chief Joseph of the Wallowa band of the Nez Perce had little idea that he would hold the fate and lives of his people and his culture. He would spend the rest of his adult life fighting on their behalf all in the name of peace and human dignity. His story tells a heart-wrenching journey of one man’s struggle to retain the identity of his people and become the voice of conscience during the last years of America’s war on the natives. Yet this life-changing vision of peace was not his own, it was passed down from his father.
Chief Joseph was born as Hinmuuttu-yalatlat in Washington’s Wallowa Valley on March 3, 1840. His parents would raise seven children, Joseph was the second oldest. He became known as “Joseph the Younger” after his father Khapkhaponimi was baptized with the Christian name “Joseph.” Joseph’s father became one of the Chiefs of the Nez Perce (Nimíipuu) during the time of the United State’s “Westward Expansion.” Settlers began trickling into the valley bargaining for land from the native population and once Gold was discovered, the flood of white settlers continued.
“We ask to be recognized as men. Let me be a free man…free to travel… free to stop…free to work…free to choose my own teachers…free to follow the religion of my Fathers…free to think and talk and act for myself.” – Chief Joseph
The Nez Perce met with the governor of the Washington Territory to sign a treaty designating areas of white settlement in 1855. Joseph’s father was among those who signed the treaty which protected 7.7 million acres of the traditional 17 million acres of Nez Perce land for natives. Seven years later, the government wanted to reduce the Nez Perce to only 780,000 acres of land outside of Washington. It was at this time that Joseph’s father and many other Nez Perce chiefs decided not to sign, and instead remain on their ancestral lands. This caused the Non-treaty Nez Perce to face years of great injustices and violence from the American military.
In 1871, Joseph became chief replacing his father who had passed away. He promised to follow his father’s last wish to guide his people and never sell the land which holds the bones of his parents. After three years of keeping his tribe from retaliating in violence against those who harmed them, Chief Joseph was able to negotiate a deal with the federal government that would allow his tribe to remain in the valley. Unfortunately, the government decided to reverse the agreement three years later and threatened to attack if the tribe did not relocate to the Idaho Reservation.
“You might as well expect the rivers to run backward as that any man who is born a free man should be contented when penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases.” – Chief Joseph
Chief Joseph went to face the intimidating General Howard to express his view that all men were created equal and that all deserve freedom of choice. After jailing one of the chiefs to prove his authority, General Howard agreed to negotiate different lands for the tribe. However, the land he offered was inhabited by white settlers and the chieftains refused to do to the Whites what had been done to them by taking their homes.
Without a place to move, the attack from the army was imminent. Chief Joseph prepared plans and called a council to begin evacuating his ancestral lands in order to save the lives of his tribe.
While the chieftains argued between war and peaceful retreat, some of the young men rode off to kill white men to revenge a kinsman. As the Army came to attack, the chiefs began leading their people north toward their friends the Crows. Their group was about 1,000 in number and included many women and children, including Chief Joseph’s own wife, two sons, and two daughters.
For three months the Nez Perce deftly out battled and outmaneuvered 2,000 soldiers with their retreat tactics and as they were pursued 1,700 miles eastward to Canada. While the other chiefs worked together as war leaders, Joseph took charge as “guardian of the people,” the one who protected the women and children, the hope of their future. In three months of retreat, fighting and surviving in the bitter Montana cold, only 200 Nez Perce had died. However, the lack of food and blankets in the freezing cold wore on the tribe and they were forced to surrender after being surrounded only 40 miles from the Canadian border.
“I hope that no more groans of wounded men and women will ever go to the ear of the Great Spirit Chief above, and that all people may be one people.” – Chief Joseph
Chief Joseph negotiated the surrender, still maintaining that peace was in the best interest of all. During the negotiations, the Army General agreed to return the people to their valley. However, as soon as the Nez Perce boarded the unheated rail cars, they were redirected to a prisoner-of-war camp in eastern Kansas. Eight months later, they were shipped to Oklahoma where they would stay for ten years and face the volley of disease epidemics that killed countless natives.
In 1879 Chief Joseph was able to meet with President Hayes and plead on behalf of his tribe. Little came of this meeting, but in six years time, his people were finally granted permission to return to their native valley. Unfortunately, most of the Nez Perce, including Chief Joseph, had been lied to again and were instead forced to live on the Coleville Indian Reservation in another part of Washington.
“If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian…we can live in peace. There need be no trouble. Treat all men alike…. give them all the same law. Give them all an even chance to live and grow.” –Chief Joseph in Washington D.C. 1879.
For another 25 years, Chief Joseph would continue to lead his band of Nez Perce and eloquently speak out against the injustices and unconstitutional policies of the United States towards his people. He traveled around the country and was interviewed by many as he made his case. Until the day of his death on September 21, 1904, Chief Joseph believed and peacefully fought for the vision of his father, and for America’s promise of freedom and equality for all Americans, Native and otherwise. He is a hero of monumental strength because of his ability to remain true to non-violence and consistently appeal to openness and trust after a lifetime of injustice, broken treaties and blatant lies. For his outstanding leadership and commitment to peace in a time of war, we honor Chief Joseph as a Moral Hero.
