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A
Project of the Idaho GenWeb |
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Nez Perce
Indian Chiefs and Leaders |
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Mark Arthur |
| A
full-blood Nez Perce, born in
1873. His mother being captured
with Chief Joseph's band in
1877, Mark became a wanderer
among strange tribes until about
1880, when he found his way back
to the Nez Perce res., Idaho,
where he entered the mission
school of Miss McBeth and soon
began to prepare for the
ministry. When the Nez Perce
captives sent to the Indian
Territory were returned to their
northern home, Mark found his
mother among them and cared for
her until her death . About 1900
he was ordained by the Walla
Walla presbytery and became
pastor, at Lapwai, Idaho, of the
oldest Presbyterian church west
of the Rocky Mountains, in which
charge he has met with excellent
success. In 1905 he was elected
delegate to represent both
whites and Indians at the
general assembly of the
Presbyterian church. |
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Chief Joseph |
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The
chief of the Wal-lam-wat-kain
(Wallowa) band of Nez Perce
during General Oliver O.
Howard's attempt to forcibly
remove his band and the other
"non-treaty" Nez Perce to a
reservation in Idaho. For his
principled resistance to the
removal, he became renowned as a
humanitarian and peacemaker.
Born Hinmuuttu-yalatlat
(alternatively Hinmaton-Yalaktit
or Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, Nez
Perce: "Thunder Rolling Down the
Mountain") in the Wallowa Valley
of northeastern Oregon, he was
known as Young Joseph during his
youth because his father had the
same name.
Their refusal to sign caused a
rift between the "non-treaty"
and "treaty" bands of Nez Perce.
The "treaty" Nez Perce moved
within the new Idaho
reservation's boundaries, while
the |
"non-treaty" Nez Perce remained
on their lands. Joseph the Elder
demarcated Wallowa land with a
series of poles, proclaiming,
"Inside this boundary all our
people were born. It circles the
graves of our fathers, and we
will never give up these graves
to any man."
The non-treaty Nez Perce
suffered many injustices at the
hands of settlers and
prospectors, but out of fear of
reprisal from the militarily
superior Americans, Joseph never
allowed any violence against
them, instead making many
concessions to them in hopes of
securing peace.
Unable to find any suitable
uninhabited land on the
reservation, Howard informed
Joseph that his people had
thirty days to collect their
livestock and move to the
reservation. Joseph pleaded for
more time, but Howard told him
that he would consider their
presence in the Wallowa Valley
beyond the thirty-day mark an
act of war.
Returning home, Joseph called a
council among his people. At the
council, he spoke on behalf of
peace, preferring to abandon his
father's grave over war.
Too-hul-hul-sote, insulted by
his incarceration, advocated
war.
The Wallowa band began making
preparations for the long
journey, meeting first with
other bands at Rocky Canyon. At
this council too, many leaders
urged war, while Joseph argued
in favor of peace.
While the council was underway,
a young man whose father had
been killed rode up and
announced that he and several
other young men had already
killed four white men, an act
sure to initiate war.
Still hoping to avoid further
bloodshed, Joseph and other Nez
Perce chiefs began leading his
people north toward Canada.
With 2,000 U.S. soldiers in
pursuit, Joseph and other Nez
Perce chiefs led 800 Nez Perce
toward freedom at the Canadian
border. For over three months,
the Nez Perce outmaneuvered and
battled their pursuers traveling
1,700 miles across Oregon,
Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, and
Montana. General Howard, leading
the opposing cavalry, was
impressed with the skill with
which the Nez Perce fought,
using advance and rear guards,
skirmish lines, and field
fortifications. Finally, after a
devastating five-day battle
during freezing weather
conditions with no food or
blankets, Chief Joseph formally
surrendered to General Nelson
Appleton Miles on October 5,
1877 in the Bear Paw Mountains
of the Montana Territory, less
than 40 miles (60 km) south of
Canada in a place close to the
present-day Chinook in Blaine
County. The battle is remembered
in popular history by the words
attributed to Chief Joseph at
the formal surrender:
"Tell General Howard I know his
heart. What he told me before, I
have it in my heart. I am tired
of fighting. Our chiefs are
killed; Looking Glass is dead,
Too-hul-hul-sote is dead. The
old men are all dead. It is the
young men who say yes or no. He
who led on the young men is
dead. It is cold, and we have no
blankets; the little children
are freezing to death. My
people, some of them, have run
away to the hills, and have no
blankets, no food. No one knows
where they are—perhaps freezing
to death. I want to have time to
look for my children, and see
how many of them I can find.
Maybe I shall find them among
the dead. Hear me, my chiefs! I
am tired; my heart is sick and
sad. From where the sun now
stands, I will fight no more
forever." |
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Looking Glass |
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Chief Looking
Glass (Allalimya Takanin c.1832-1877)
was a Nez Perce war leader who, with
Chief Joseph, directed the 1877 retreat
from eastern Oregon into Montana and
onward toward the Canadian border during
the Nez Perce War. He was killed in 1877
after the Battle of Bear Paw.
Although he bitterly resented white
encroachments on his ancestral lands, he
opposed going to war with the United
States over its plans to force his
people onto the small Indian reservation
assigned to them at Lapwai, Idaho.
When the Nez
Percé and the U.S. Army first clashed at
Whitebird Canyon on June 17, 1877,
Looking Glass was already living on the
Lapwai reservation, as he had agreed to
do. Nevertheless, General Oliver Howard
believed that Looking Glass would soon
join |
the fighting,
and he sent a detachment of troops to
arrest him. Howard's plans backfired,
however, for Looking Glass eluded arrest
and fled the reservation to join Joseph
and his fugitive band just as Howard had
feared.
For both better and worse, the Nez Percé
flight bore the mark of Looking Glass's
leadership. A respected battlefield
commander, he convinced the band to flee
to Montana, despite Joseph's opposition,
and then persuaded them to stop at Big
Hole, where he incorrectly believed they
would be free from attack. After
soldiers under the command of Colonel
John Gibbon surprised the Nez Percé
there on August 9, inflicting heavy
casualties, Looking Glass lost much of
his prestige as a military leader.
Nearly two months later, when the Nez
Percé were finally surrounded by Colonel
Nelson A. Miles's troops in Northern
Montana's Bearpaw mountains, Looking
Glass remained stubbornly opposed to
surrender. By this time, however, Chief
Joseph had concluded that surrender was
the only viable option, and on October
5, he rode out to hand over his rifle.
That same day, Looking Glass set out to
join Sitting Bull's band in Canada, but
before he could make it to the border,
he was killed by a Cheyenne scout. |
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Smohalla |
| An
Indian prophet and teacher, the
originator of a religion current
among the tribes of the upper
Columbia River and adjacent region
in Washington, Oregon and Idaho,
whence the name "Smohallah Indians"
sometimes applied. The name,
properly Shmoqula, signifies "The
Preacher," and was given to him
after he became prominent as a
religious reformer. He belonged to
the Sokulk, a small tribe cognate to
the Nez Percé and centering about
Priest rapids on the Columbia in
eastern Washington. He was born
about 1815 or 1820, and in his
boyhood frequented a neighboring
Catholic mission, from which he
evidently derived some of his
ceremonial ideas. He distinguished
himself as a warrior, and began to
preach about the year 1850. Somewhat
later, in consequence of a quarrel
with a rival chief, he left home
secretly and absented himself for a
long time, wandering as far south as
Mexico and returning overland
through Nevada to the Columbia. On
being questioned he declared that he
had been to the spirit world and had
been sent back to deliver a message
to the Indian race. This message,
like that of other aboriginal
prophets, was, briefly, that the
Indians must return to their
primitive mode of life, refuse the
teachings or the things of the white
man, and in all their actions be
guided by the will of the Indian God
as revealed in dreams to Smohalla
and his priests. The doctrine found
many adherents, Chief Joseph and his
Nez Percé being among the most
devoted believers. Smohalla has
recently died, but, in spite of
occasional friction with agency
officials, the "Dreamers," as they
are popularly called, maintain their
religious organization, with
periodical gatherings and an
elaborate ceremony. See Mooney,
Ghost Dance Religion, 14th Rep. B.
A. E., 1896. |
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Lawyer |
Throughout the entire history of
settlement, Lawyer was a friend
of the Whites. He was especially
prominent in the negotiations
with Governor Stevens after the
great war of 1855. He threw the
weight of his great influence in
favor of the treaty, which
established the existing
reservations and confirmed the
Indians in the property which
they now hold. Though opposed in
his peace policy by Owhi,
Kamiakin, Peu-peu-mox-mox and
Joseph, the persistence of
Lawyer and the numerical
strength of his people turned
the scale in favor of the
treaty. The benefit to the
settlers by this event can
scarcely be overstated. As was
just, the astute chief was ever
afterwards held in great favor.
In person Lawyer was a typical
Indian. Though not of large
stature, he was exceedingly
straight and well-built with the
eye of an eagle and the nose of
a hawk. He has had few equals in
general intelligence among his
people.
"Lawyer" was a nickname given to
Hallalhotsoot by the mountain
men of the early 1830s. He was
known as "the talker," and his
speaking abilities and wisdom
enabled him to influence both
native and non-native peoples.
Lawyer devoted his life to
making peace with the white
population and following the
terms of the treaties he signed.
Nevertheless, in 1870—after
holding his post for twenty-five
years—he voluntarily stepped
down from the leadership of the
Nez Perce.
His
descendants tell the tale of his
death on January 3, 1876, in
this manner: It was Lawyer's
custom to fly his American flag
from a pole in front of his
lodge or house. On the day that
he died, knowing that his end
was near, he instructed some
member to gradually pull down
the flag. The flag would be
lowered a bit and then Lawyer,
after a time would say: "Pull it
down a little more." So the flag
was lowered a little more. This
was repeated several times and
when the flag touched the
ground, Lawyer died. |
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