Promises
The future looked hopeful for Joseph. The fighting and dying appeared to be at an end. He had a promise from General Howard and Colonel Miles that the fighting was over and a promise from Miles that when the spring came he and his people could return to their homeland. During the winter, they would be safe and secure, free from hunger and the threat of freezing temperatures taking the lives of the young, ill, and elderly.
Unfortunately, even sincerely made promises—and there is every indication that Miles was sincere in his promise to allow Joseph to return—sometimes are not kept. Related to these failed promises was a root problem endemic to Indian-Euro-American relations: Neither adequately understood how the other was organized in terms of responsibility and leadership. The U. S. military kept assuming the existence of an Indian organizational structure similar to its own, with established hierarchies and chains of command, and always someone in charge able to give orders that all would follow. Such a structure was never truly natural to a people who relied on discussion, consensus, and persuasion, and who demonstrated tolerance for dissent in both word and deed. Typical of this military assumption was the false conclusion that Joseph was such an absolute commander when, in fact, he had little impact on decisions involving war strategy until the end, when most Nez Perce war leaders were dead. Even then, White Bird refused to go along with his decision.
Indian leaders also misunderstood the structural authority of U. S. military leaders. Joseph assumed that when Howard and Miles gave their word, they were personally committed to following through and would do so regardless of what other men did. After all, they were leaders, chiefs, the men in charge. They might not be able to dictate everyone else’s actions, but they themselves could do what they said they would do. Thus, when Howard and Miles promised Joseph that he would be able to return to his home, Joseph believed them. He did not realize that the chain of command went above both officers, that military and political superiors could countermand their assurances. That, of course, is what happened.
The remainder of Joseph’s life would be one long attempt to return to the Wallowa Valley. Joseph understood the necessity of compromise, and from time to time he did compromise, but always with the hope that he and his people, even if only gradually and step by step, would be able to return home someday.
Disappointments
As Howard and Miles took stock of the group of tired and hungry men, women, and children who came forward, they found that the original number of about 800 people in the group with Joseph had been cut almost in half—to
418, including more than 300 women and children. The number who escaped to Canada remains uncertain, with estimates ranging from a handful (according to Miles and Howard, a low figure that may be self-serving by officers not wanting to admit that a large number escaped from their control) to more than 230 (the number cited by the Nez Perce Black Eagle, a figure likely far too high). For those 418 Nez Perce who surrendered, the long flight to Canada was over, having covered some 1,800 miles, counting the backtracking and circumlocutions required to evade their pursuers.14
Now the remnant of the Nez Perce were to begin another long, torturous journey that would cover many years. It began shortly after the surrender that Joseph continued to believe in his heart was never truly a surrender.
The first disappointment for Joseph related to the location of their winter home. Howard and Miles had settled on the Tongue River Cantonment (renamed Fort Keogh the next year) near the confluence of the Tongue and Yellowstone Rivers in southeast Montana. Howard left Miles on October 7, and Miles departed with the Nez Perce the same day for Tongue River, soon meeting Sturgis, who had been looking for any excursion south by Sitting Bull.
Joseph rode with Miles at the head of the party on the 65-mile trek to the Missouri River, with Ad Chapman riding between the two to translate. At the Missouri, Howard returned to confer with Miles before taking a steamer for St. Louis. Miles sent wounded soldiers and Indians by boat to the nearest hospital, and the rest of the Nez Perce and Miles’s men continued overland to the Yellowstone River.
The 500-mile journey to the Tongue River Cantonment allowed ample time for Joseph and Miles to get to know each other well. Miles quickly came to respect Joseph and determined that he should do all he could to help Joseph return to his home region. Miles later wrote of his Nez Perce friend that “Chief Joseph was the highest type of the Indian I have ever known, very handsome, kind, and brave.”15
Further orders then arrived from General Philip Sheridan, commander of the Division of the Missouri, ordering that Joseph and the Nez Perce be sent farther east to Fort Abraham Lincoln near Bismarck, a new town in what is now North Dakota. The location was the meeting point for the Northern Pacific Railroad and the Missouri River, making supplying the captives less expensive. Miles objected but to no avail, and assured Joseph that he had tried to keep his promise.
Miles sent the wounded, elderly, and young by boat on the Yellowstone (continuing on the Missouri) while the rest of the party continued overland in wagons. Along the way, they stopped at Fort Buford in the northwestern corner of Dakota Territory, continued on to Fort Berthold, and finally arrived at Bismarck on November 19.
At Bismarck, Joseph was treated like a conquering hero. He and Miles were met by the mayor, serenaded with the “Star-Spangled Banner,” and applauded by many of the townspeople. Miles was feted at a banquet held at the Sheridan House Hotel, during which he spoke movingly about Joseph’s desire for peace,
Indian Territory
The area of the United States west of the Mississippi River comprising present-day Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and part of Iowa was designated "Indian country" in 1825, with general borders established by the Indian Intercourse Act of 1834. Indians were moved to this region starting in the early nineteenth century as part of the Indian Removal Policy of the U. S. government. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 accelerated that process, permitting the President to require tribes to move beyond the Mississippi—a position strongly advocated by President Andrew Jackson.
Portions of that area were gradually removed from its intended use—for tribes originally living in the eastern half of the country—as territories and later states were carved out of the region. After the Civil War, the remaining portion roughly approximated the later state of Oklahoma. In addition, western peoples, including the Nez Perce, were sent to Indian Territory.
Indian Territory, however, was never officially a territory, which made it relatively easy for the federal government to shift its boundaries. A federal court system was f nally established in the unoff cial territory in 1889; in the same year, frm boundaries for the area were established. Nonetheless, those boundaries were changed again in 1890 when Oklahoma Territory was carved out of the area, with Indian Territory comprising about the eastern half of the current state of Oklahoma.
Efforts by Indian leaders early in the twentieth century to receive statehood for the region as the state of Sequoyah failed. In 1 907, Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory were joined as the state of Oklahoma. At that point, Indian Territory ceased to exist.
His unjust sufferings, and his kindness toward wounded soldiers who had been captured. An enthusiastic Bismarck citizenry then threw another gala at the Sheridan for Joseph, who was accompanied by several other Nez Perce, including Husis Kute and Yellow Bull.
Before Joseph’s banquet, Miles departed for St. Paul without having the heart to tell his friend that additional orders had come through requiring the Nez Perce to be transported by train to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. There they would await a final decision regarding their permanent home, which would probably be in Indian Territory (the future state of Oklahoma), far from the Wallowa Valley. Having come so far since the Bear’s Paw, Joseph and the Nez Perce were pleased with the reception they were given in Bismarck and wanted to spend the winter there. However, that was not to be.
Yet another indignity awaited Joseph before he boarded the train to Fort Leavenworth: He had to sell his horse that he had ridden for so many miles. The money he received from the forced sale was $35.
Chief Joseph Indian Territory
The train made its way through the city of St. Paul, where Joseph was disappointed that he did not see Colonel Miles. As the train made its stops, people crowded around to see the famous “Red Napoleon,” and Joseph responded graciously, moving out onto the rear platform to greet the onlookers.
The train arrived at Fort Leavenworth on November 27, 1877. Again Joseph proved an immensely popular draw, with people traveling even from other states to see him. Joseph willingly signed autographs, spelling out “Young Joseph” (which he had been taught to write years earlier at the Spaldings’ mission) as well as he could.
By summer of 1878, the living conditions for the Nez Perce had deteriorated badly at their riverside camp. The water was polluted by sewage from the city of Leavenworth, the high temperatures spoiled their food, and increasing numbers of Joseph’s people fell ill and died. On July 21, the Nez Perce were again herded onto a train, their destination this time Indian Territory.
That evening the train chugged into Baxter Springs at the southern edge of Kansas, and the Nez Perce boarded wagons brought by Modoc drivers. In charge of the Nez Perce was a Quaker agent named Hiram Jones. Quakers, under President Grant’s Peace Policy, were given charge of Joseph’s people. Unfortunately, Jones was a thoroughly corrupt individual whose personal morality was sharply at odds with Quaker principles. Jones, while in charge of Quapaw Agency in the northern stretch of Indian Territory, skimmed off much of the money allotted to him for his Indian charges and cheated them on rations.
Several tribes, most of them consisting of small remnants of their people (including the Peoria, Miami, Shawnee, Seneca, Wyandot, Ottawa, and Quapaw), had been moved to Indian Territory from the Midwest and East. From the West came the Modocs and now the Nez Perce. It was among the Modocs that the Nez Perce were initially settled.
The Nez Perce arrived at the agency virtually destitute of the possessions necessary to survive, including clothing and materials for shelter. They also lacked food, and sickness spread rapidly among the group, especially killing children. The new arrivals’ condition alarmed government visitors who came to help Joseph choose a site for the Nez Perce to live. In addition to their deplorable physical condition, they seemed to have given up. Yet, Joseph, despite his people’s current condition, balked at another move short of a return to their original home.
The government representatives contacted the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, A. E. Hayt. Hayt informed Joseph that his people would not be permitted to return to the Wallowa Valley and would have to accept permanent residence in Indian Territory. According to Nerburn, this was the first time that Joseph had definitively been told that he would not be permitted to take his people back home.16
Joseph did not give up his quest. During the following years, he struggled to make his case for a return to the Wallowa Valley. Assisting him was Ad Chapman, paid by the government to serve as interpreter but increasingly a passionate advocate for the Nez Perce. Joseph and Chapman used tools previously unknown to Joseph, such as the newspaper and the telegraph, to raise public awareness of their plight. Chapman wrote letters reporting on the actions of Agent Jones. They gave interviews to reporters, appealed to Congress, and visited Washington, D. C. On January 17, 1879, Joseph, wearing traditional Nez Perce dress of a blanket coat of skins and furs and beaded moccasins, and with his forelock flipped backward and braids hanging down the sides of his face, spoke to a large and responsive audience in Lincoln Hall in the nation’s capital. Accompanied by Yellow Bull and with Chapman translating, Joseph told his story. An English-language version of Joseph’s speech was soon published in a respected journal, North American Review, contributing further to his fame. Before leaving Washington, he met with President Rutherford B. Hayes. Joseph was a great hit, but, unfortunately, nothing changed for his people.
Back at Qualpaw Agency, Jones attempted to counter attacks on him by bringing in several treaty Nez Perce who had converted to Christianity. James Reuben, a former scout for General Howard, served as interpreter. Archie Lawyer, a schoolteacher and minister, and Mark Williams, who had become an accomplished farmer, were among the group. They were good and decent men who sincerely believed that the nontreaty Nez Perce should accept Christianity and the white man’s ways, but they offered yet another obstacle for Joseph. He now not only had to persuade the U. S. government to honor the promises made by Colonel Miles, but also had to contend with an increasing division within his own people.
Over the next six years, Joseph continued his campaign to move his people back west. During those years, Jones was removed as Quapaw agent, but illness and suffering continued to afflict the Nez Perce. Among those who died was Joseph’s young daughter, who had been born as the Nez Perce were starting their journey to the northeast in 1877. Still, success was coming gradually. Miles and Howard, Joseph’s old adversaries, lobbied in support of Joseph’s requests. Reuben and Lawyer expanded their religious contacts, especially among Presbyterians, to gain support from religious communities. Although far from Joseph on spiritual issues, they shared his goal of returning to the homeland.
A group of about three dozen Nez Perce, mainly widows and orphans, was permitted to leave in June 1883 under the direction of James Reuben. During the following year, a number of Presbyterian congregations petitioned Congress to permit the relocation of all the Nez Perce. Miles, now a general and commanding officer of the Department of the Columbia, continued to make his pleas, still trying to honor his promise made years before.
Finally, in July 1884, Congress acted, authorizing the return of the Nez Perce to their home in the West. Immediately, opposition arose to allowing Joseph to return, as his fame now became a double-edged sword. In the East, he was a hero; in the West, he was held accountable for violence that he had never wanted and had vehemently opposed. Warrants were still outstanding on some of the Nez Perce, including Joseph. For the sake of his people, he agreed to a division of the Nez Perce into two groups. Joseph and those who chose to follow him would join Chief Moses of the Columbias (also known as the Sinkquaius) at Colville Reservation 200 miles north of Lapwai in Washington Territory, not far from the Canadian border. The rest of the Nez Perce would return to Lapwai.
Return to the Northwest
On May 21, 1885, the Nez Perce started for the railroad station at Arkansas City. Only 268 of the original number of about 800 remained. About 100 had died since arriving at Indian Territory. Ultimately, 118 chose Lapwai as their destination; 150, including Joseph, went on to Colville. In 1890, those who wished to do so were permitted to leave Colville for Lapwai, but only a few—among them Yellow Wolf—made the move.
Joseph, who had moved with his Nez Perce group farther west on the reservation to Nespelem Valley to live with the Columbias shortly after arriving, did not view Lapwai as his home. He continued to wait, hoping that eventually he would be permitted to return to the Wallowa Valley. He rejected an allotment of land under the Dawes Act of 1887 (authored by Senator Henry Dawes of Massachusetts). Also known as the General Allotment Act, it divided reservations into small parcels of land that were given to individuals and families. The same legislation also reclaimed substantial amounts of reservation land that could then be made available to settlers. Joseph believed that to accept such an offer would mean that he was relinquishing his right to his native land in the Wallowa.
Joseph resumed his journeys to Washington, D. C., meeting with officials, including the president. On an 1897 trip, he was invited to visit New York City. There he joined in a parade and participated in dedicating Ulysses Grant’s tomb. He also attended Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show at Madison Square Garden and was visited during the show by Generals Howard and Miles, who were in the audience.
James McLaughlin, who served as the agent in charge of Standing Rock Reservation, where Sitting Bull spent the final years of his life, was charged with preparing a report and recommendation regarding Joseph’s potential return to the Wallowa Valley. Together Joseph and McLaughlin traveled to the Wallowa Valley in the summer of 1900. Joseph visited the graves of his father and mother, finding that someone had put up a fence around the site to protect it. McLaughlin
From the Dawes Act (1887)
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in all cases where any tribe or band of Indians has been, or shall hereafter be, located upon any reservation created for their use... the President of the United States be, and he hereby is, authorized, whenever in his opinion any reservation or any part thereof of such Indians is advantageous for agricultural and grazing purposes...to allot the lands in said reservation in severalty to any Indian located thereon in quantities as follows:
To each head of a family, one-quarter of a section;
To each single person over eighteen years of age, one-eighth of a section;
To each orphan child under eighteen years of age, one-eighth of a section; and To each other single person under eighteen years now living, or who may be born prior to the date of the order of the President directing an allotment of the lands embraced in any reservation, one-sixteenth of a section____
[A]t any time after lands have been allotted to all the Indians of any tribe as herein provided, or sooner if in the opinion of the President it shall be for the best interests of said tribe, it shall be lawful for the Secretary of the Interior to negotiate with such Indian tribe for the purchase and release by said tribe... of such portions of its reservation not allotted... Provided however, That all lands... so sold or released to the United States by any Indian tribe shall be held by the United States for the sole purpose of securing homes to actual settlers____
Eventually recommended that Joseph stay at Colville, and the Indian Commission agreed, effectively ending Joseph’s final real chance for a permanent return.
Joseph returned to Colville but continued to remain loyal to the old ways. He lived in a tipi, rejecting the wooden house built for him. He opposed sending his people’s children to boarding schools, encouraged traditional spiritual beliefs, and generally used his Nez Perce name—Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekht. In 1903, he traveled to Washington yet again, meeting with President Theodore Roosevelt. On the trip back, he visited with General Howard when the two spoke at an event at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Joseph died on September 21, 1904. Sensing death’s approach, he asked his wife to get his headdress so that he could die looking like a leader, but he died before she returned with it. Joseph was buried in the Nespelem Valley, preceded in death by all nine of his children. His daughter Noise of Running Feet (also known as Sarah Moses) was never reunited with the father who had sent her off, he hoped to safety, during the final Nez Perce battle.
To the very end, Joseph had refused to accept a U. S. takeover of his homeland. Ironically, this man of peace had persisted perhaps more consistently than any other Indian leader, including the great war leaders, in resisting pressure to submit to the wishes of the U. S. government.
World History
