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| Photo of Chief Joseph. |
"Mut-too-yah-lat-lat" (Thunder traveling over the mountains). Chief of the Wal-lam-wat-kin, band of Chute-pa-he or Nez-Perces (nose pierced) Indians.
Joseph was born in Eastern Oregon about 1830. The Nez Perces belong to the Sahaptin family. Lewis and Clark styled them Chopunnish, while they call themselves Numepo. The tribe have always been friendly to the whites. Chief Joseph's father counseled him to continue this friendliness. The Government took away a large portion of their reservations, to this there was very emphatic objection by the Indians, yet Chief Joseph counseled peace and meek submission. Very soon, however, nearly the whole of the remaining reservation was taken, and while the Indians were preparing to move, they were as they believed mistreated by the army, and quite a number of them were killed. Chief Joseph, however, with but about three hundred followers, showed himself a great warrior, a strategist and a statesman, as it required forty companies of United States troops, together with a small army of Volunteers, over two months to hunt down and capture this little band, and although he lacked the warriors, yet in prowess and cunning he stands in a class with Tecumseh, Black Hawk and Pontiac. Joseph died September 22, 1904, at the Calville Indian Reservation, Miles, Washington. In the death of this noted chief, the United States lost its most celebrated Indian since the death of Red Cloud. In Chief Joseph's own story, after enumerating many wrongs which he believed had been perpetuated upon his people, he concluded: "Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose. Free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to think, talk and act for myself, and I will obey every law or submit to the penalty. Whenever the white man treats the Indian as they treat each other, then we shall have no more wars. We shall be alike, Brothers of One Father, with one sky above us, and one country around us, and one government for all. Then the Great Spirit who rules above will smile upon this land and send rain to wash out the bloody spots made by brothers' hands upon the face of the earth."
The Shahaptin stock is noteworthy on account of the Nez Perces and this famous chief, probably one of the most remarkable Indians of any age whose "retreat" in 1877 has often been compared to the celebrated "March of the Ten Thousand" of old. During this two months retreat Joseph forbade his men to interfere with any white non-combatants.
Joseph was born in Eastern Oregon about 1830. The Nez Perces belong to the Sahaptin family. Lewis and Clark styled them Chopunnish, while they call themselves Numepo. The tribe have always been friendly to the whites. Chief Joseph's father counseled him to continue this friendliness. The Government took away a large portion of their reservations, to this there was very emphatic objection by the Indians, yet Chief Joseph counseled peace and meek submission. Very soon, however, nearly the whole of the remaining reservation was taken, and while the Indians were preparing to move, they were as they believed mistreated by the army, and quite a number of them were killed. Chief Joseph, however, with but about three hundred followers, showed himself a great warrior, a strategist and a statesman, as it required forty companies of United States troops, together with a small army of Volunteers, over two months to hunt down and capture this little band, and although he lacked the warriors, yet in prowess and cunning he stands in a class with Tecumseh, Black Hawk and Pontiac. Joseph died September 22, 1904, at the Calville Indian Reservation, Miles, Washington. In the death of this noted chief, the United States lost its most celebrated Indian since the death of Red Cloud. In Chief Joseph's own story, after enumerating many wrongs which he believed had been perpetuated upon his people, he concluded: "Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose. Free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to think, talk and act for myself, and I will obey every law or submit to the penalty. Whenever the white man treats the Indian as they treat each other, then we shall have no more wars. We shall be alike, Brothers of One Father, with one sky above us, and one country around us, and one government for all. Then the Great Spirit who rules above will smile upon this land and send rain to wash out the bloody spots made by brothers' hands upon the face of the earth."
The Shahaptin stock is noteworthy on account of the Nez Perces and this famous chief, probably one of the most remarkable Indians of any age whose "retreat" in 1877 has often been compared to the celebrated "March of the Ten Thousand" of old. During this two months retreat Joseph forbade his men to interfere with any white non-combatants.