26 pages • 52 minutes read
Chief JosephI Will Fight No More Forever
Chief JosephNonfiction | Essay / Speech | Adult | Published in 1877A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Cultural Context: Nimíipuu / The Nez Perce People
Historically a seminomadic confederation of people, the Nimíipuu had ancestral lands that covered parts of what is now Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Landmarks within this region indicate the boundaries and sacred sites that are preserved in oral traditions. Though each oral tradition has its tropes and draws from its distinct worldviews, oral traditions tend to share rhetorical devices such as repetition, repeated motifs, audience interaction, idioms, and rhyme and meter to serve as mnemonic devices and ensure faithful reproduction. Chief Joseph’s speech, as a work of oratory from an oral tradition, contains some of these rhetorical tropes, though translation likely obscures some devices and meanings. In oral traditions, religious practices, history, stories, and laws are passed from generation to generation by speakers. Rather than leaving a historical record in print, oral cultures require people and language to survive. Nimíipuu stories and the language are recognized today as part of a living history that predates the arrival of Europeans. Today the Nimíipuu maintain a sovereign nation of more than 3,000 members in central Idaho. The current seat of tribal government is in the city of Lapwai.
The Nimíipuu moved with the seasons, sometimes beyond their homelands into Wyoming and Montana in search of game, resources, and trade. The Nimíipuu had contact with white settlers, including Lewis and Clarke, and traded goods with them as they did with other tribes in the region. They were and continue to be part of a complex community of cultures coexisting in the Pacific Northwest and Great Plains. Encroachment by white settlers onto tribal lands combined with efforts made by the US government to undermine Nimíipuu claims to lands became increasingly disruptive to their culture, religious convictions, and ways of life in the latter half of the 19th century. For the Nimíipuu during Chief Joseph’s time, these encroachments were viewed not simply as a matter of resource or property disputes, but as an assault on an identity, culture, and way of life.
The Nimíipuu governing structure traditionally consisted of as many as 56 regional bands, each autonomous and led by multiple leaders who oversaw functions such as hunting, fishing, religious matters, warfare, and camp management. Leaders were advised by councils, generally of elders, and each served according to their specializations and expertise. The failure of the United States to recognize the complexity of Nimíipuu governance and the autonomy of the bands within the nation when initiating treaty talks contributed to perceptions of treaty violations. In traditional Nimíipuu governance, if one leader entered an agreement, it did not bind all leaders. Western culture typically assumes a hierarchy with a single head who speaks for all, and US officials wanted to make an agreement with one regional band that would be binding for all. This led to federal enforcement, often violent, of what many Nimíipuu considered to be rejected or unacknowledged treaties. The confusion made it easy for encroaching settlers and the US government to claim treaty violations, which in their eyes justified land grabs and removal policies.
As of today, following the Dawes Act that forced allotment, or sale, of lands unclaimed following the forced removals of Indigenous people from their homelands, the Nimíipuu settled in 1893 on what is today the Nez Perce/Nimíipuu reservation in Idaho. In part because of an 1855 treaty argued for and signed by leaders of all the bands, the Nimíipuu retain rights to land use in unclaimed lands inside and outside their current borders. As a sovereign people, the Nimíipuu are entitled to these rights in legal disputes, as they represent a binding agreement between nations.
Historical Context: The Nez Perce War of 1877
Chief Joseph’s surrender marked the end of this conflict that occurred between June and October 1877. The conflict was the culmination of years of tension following a series of encroachments into Nimíipuu land following the 1855 Treaty of Walla Walla. Unlike the incomplete treaties that would follow, the 1855 treaty was signed by the leaders of all the Nimíipuu bands. Chief Joseph’s father, a Wallowa leader named Tuekakas, also known as Old Joseph, was among those who signed. Congress ratified the treaty in 1859, marking it a lawful and binding agreement with a sovereign nation. Through the treaty, Nimíipuu leaders maintained their exclusive rights to more than 7.5 million acres, including their right to move unhindered beyond those borders into Wyoming and Montana as they had always done for purposes of hunting, fishing, and trade. In addition to reserving land for future generations, the treaty detailed payment for some five million acres ceded to the United States. Territorial Governor Isaac I. Stevens opened the land to settlement immediately following the treaty, but payment was never given to the tribes. Discoveries of gold in 1860 brought many settlers who trespassed on tribal lands. Though tribal leaders appealed to the US to enforce the 1855 treaty, opinions were split among the different bands as to how to respond to the violations. Some bands believed that it was better to cooperate and renegotiate, others favored forcible eviction of settlers, and some felt it best to continue to honor the terms of the 1855 deal in nonviolent resistance. The Wallowa continued to live where they always had and honored the 1855 treaty.
One leader from another band, Hallalhotsoot, without gaining the agreement of the other bands, agreed to lease land to settlers, who founded Lewiston, a mining town. The gold rush town soon earned such a wild reputation, with skirmishes between settlers and the Nimíipuu happening regularly, that by 1863 Congress sought to put an end to the problem by offering a new treaty. Hallalhotsoot and others signed, but the Wallowa band and many others did not. They continued to live within the Wallowa Valley per the 1855 treaty. At the 1863 council, the elders declared that the tribe was split. However, the United States did not acknowledge this split and regarded the 1863 treaty as binding on all parties despite the lack of unanimous support.
The conflict escalated between settlers and the Nimíipuu. A series of murders of Nimíipuu people at the hands of settlers was never prosecuted, leading to further mistrust and anger. In May 1877, General Howard issued an eviction notice to the remaining Nimíipuu, giving them 30 days to pack and move to the reservation in Idaho territory near Fort Lapwai. Howard also jailed Toohulhulzote, an elder mentioned in Chief Joseph’s surrender speech, because he spoke out against heeding the eviction. Jailing the elder for speaking angered many of the remaining leaders. Chief Joseph and others, believing they could not win in the long run against the US Army, complied and moved out as ordered, but a separate group made it clear they preferred to fight. A handful of them raided the white settlement of Shore Crossing, killing four white settlers and moving General Howard to send 130 soldiers under Captain David Perry to retaliate and force the Nimíipuu to submit.
Nimíipuu warriors defeated Perry at White Bird Canyon and, after meeting up with Chief Joseph’s group, began a fighting retreat. Some 250 warriors and 500 civilians, including children and elders, moved toward Montana where they hoped to meet Crow reinforcements. Skillfully maneuvering and evading the US Army, the Nimíipuu retreated, fighting when necessary. When it became clear that the Crow would not lend support, they decided to run for the Canadian Border where they hoped to seek asylum and meet up with the Sioux leader, Sitting Bull. Travel was difficult and supplies were limited, as they had been unprepared to make such a long journey with so many civilians. Believing they had evaded Howard, the retreating Nimíipuu stopped at the foot of the Bear Paw Mountains, just 40 miles from the Canadian Border, to rest and for reprovisions. General Miles was ordered to stop them, so he moved in and cut them off on September 30. Miles proceeded to lay siege to the largely civilian camp. By October 5, after repeated shelling, loss of life, cold weather, and the realization that requested Sioux reinforcements were not coming, Chief Joseph surrendered under the promise that the remaining people would be allowed to return to the reservation in Idaho. General Sherman, however, ordered they be marched to Kansas where the survivors of the long journey were imprisoned, many succumbing to death and disease. In 1885, Chief Joseph’s remaining band of 268 was granted permission to return to the Pacific Northwest, but due to opposition in Idaho territory, they were relocated to the Coleville Reservation in Washington. As the leader of the Wallowa band, Chief Joseph continued advocating for his people and the return of their lands until his death in 1904.
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