were greedy for land, taking territory that had been used by the indigenous peoples for centuries for grazing and agriculture. Joseph was among other Nez Perce chiefs who signed a treaty in 1855 establishing a new reservation to safeguard 7.7 million acres of land for his people. The treaty included the traditional territories of the Nez Perce tribes.
However, as soon as the European settlers discovered the yellow metal—gold—on the land designated to the Indians, they went back to the Nez Perce and asked them to accept a considerably smaller allotment—780,000 acres—in Idaho. This land excluded the traditional territories. Promises of a new school and various other financial incentives proved too tempting to refuse for some of the chiefs, but Joseph was among those who would not sign the treaty on behalf of the Nez Perce nation.
This split the Nez Perce nation into two: those who had signed the treaty, who relocated to the new reservation, and those who refused to sign, who stayed at home on their traditional territories. Joseph’s father outlined this territory with poles, and swore never to give up the precious land where their ancestors were buried to the white man. When the old chief died in 1871, his son, Joseph, took on the mantle of his father. His father had told Joseph, prophetically:
“Always remember that your father never sold his country. You must stop your ears whenever you are asked to sign a treaty selling your home. A few years more and white men will be all around you. They have their eyes on this land. My son, never forget my dying words. This country holds your father’s body. Never sell the bones of your father and your mother.”
Although the Nez Perce who did not sign the treaty were prey to unfair treatment by the settlers, who wanted them out, Joseph kept a level head and never retaliated with violence; he did all he could to maintain peace, often under extreme duress. In 1873 Joseph managed to arrange with the U.S. Government that his people would have the right to remain where they were, but just four years later the Government reneged once again on its promise. It was at this point that General Howard said that he would attack the band if they kept on refusing to do as they were told and move, with the other Nez Perce, to Idaho. Not wanting to fight, Joseph warily agreed to inspect alternative lands with the General. When the General offered them land that was already inhabited by other Native Americans and white people, Joseph refused it, telling Howard that he couldn’t take what wasn’t free either to give or to take. Exasperated, Howard gave Joseph’s people just 30 days to pack up everything and leave. Joseph wanted more time, but Howard declared that if the band were there after the designated 30 days, there would be war.
Explaining what had happened at a council meeting, Joseph advocated peace above all, even willing to sacrifice the land that his father had held so dear. But the others were prepared for war. Despite Joseph’s conciliatory attitude, blood was spilled shortly afterward when a young member of the band murdered four white settlers as an act of revenge after his father was killed. Wanting to avoid bloodshed, Joseph and other leaders began moving their people away from the Wallawa Lake region.
Now the people were on the run; this amounted to 800 Native American men, women, and children, including the elderly, being pursued by 2,000 United States Army soldiers. When the Nez Perce were refused asylum with the Crow Nation, they headed north toward Canada. In total they out-maneuvered their would-be attackers for three long months, traveling nearly 1,250 miles across five states. General Howard was apparently impressed with the fighting skill of the Nez Perce; their naturally developed strategies were common to those learned by European soldiers after years of training: advance guards, fortifications, skirmish lines. However, after a five-day battle in freezing weather with half his people starving, Joseph had to abandon the fight. He surrendered to General Appleton Miles on October 5, 1877. The Nez Perce tribe had traveled a long way from home and were less than 40 miles from the Canadian border when they surrendered.
Yet again the white man cheated the Indians. Despite the fact that Joseph had negotiated a safe return home for his decimated tribe, Joseph and 400 of his followers were taken in uncomfortable, unheated railroad cars to a prisoner of war camp in Kansas, where they were held for eight months. Those that survived were taken to a reservation in what is now Oklahoma. Here, during their seven-year stay, there were many more deaths.
In 1879 Joseph met with President Rutherford Hayes to argue for his people, but to no avail. Finally, however, in 1885 Joseph and what was left of his followers were permitted to return to the Pacific Northwest. Some went to the Idaho reservation, but Joseph and a few others were effectively segregated from their people, and removed to the Colville Reservation in Washington. The Native Americans from other tribes who already lived there were not pleased that they were forced to give away some of their allotted lands.
By now Joseph was an old man, but he continued to speak eloquently, stating his hope that America’s promise of freedom and equality for all men might actually one day include the Native American people, too. This was sadly not to come to pass during Joseph’s lifetime. He died in 1904, still exiled from his homeland.
CHIEF SEATTLE
“Let him [the white man] be just and kindly with my people, for the dead are not altogether powerless.” (attributed to Seattle)
1780(?)–1866
A chief of the Duwamish tribe, whose name would become immortalized for all time in the great city named after him, Seattle also became famous for one particular speech, although there is controversy as to the content, context, and precise nature of the speech.
Seattle—or Si’ahl—was born in the area of Blake Island, Washington. His mother was of the Duwamish and his father of the Suquamish. His position as chief was inherited from his maternal uncle, as was the tradition in a matrilineal tribe.
Accounts of Seattle tell us that he was tall for one of his tribe, standing at almost 6 feet; he was given the nickname Le Gros, meaning “The Big One,” by the European traders. A skilled orator, he also had the added vantage of a loud voice. He was a confident and skilled warrior, leading skirmishes against enemy peoples. It was a tradition among the Duwamish to make slaves of enemies that they captured.
Seattle’s first wife died after giving him a daughter; his second wife bore him seven children: four girls and three boys. His best-known child was his first daughter, Kikisoblu, who would become better known as Princess Angeline. In the late 1840s Seattle was baptized into the Catholic Church, taking the name of Noah Seattle.
The town of DuWamps was changed to Seattle when Chief Seattle formed an alliance with the Europeans against the Patkanim tribe, who were making incursions onto the traditional sites where the Duwamish caught clams and other shellfish.
After the Battle of Seattle in 1856, the Chief was reluctant to allow his people to relocate to the reservation that had been allotted them, since the Snohomish, their traditional enemies, were also going to be relocated there, and Seattle knew that this would lead to conflict. Instead, his people relocated to the Suquamish reservation in Washington, where he died in 1866. He was buried at the tribal cemetery there.
SEATTLE’S SPEECH
The quote at the head of this entry is an extract from the controversial speech involving Seattle. Consensus of opinion says that the occasion of the speech was March 11, 1854, in the then-town of Seattle. A public meeting had been called by the governor of the town to discuss the sale of Native lands to European settlers.
Seattle was asked to speak on the subject, and here the real controversy arises. Evidently Seattle spoke with passion and at some length, in the Lushootseed tongue, which was translated into Chinook and then into English.
