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ABOUT FACTS NET
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Chief Joseph
| Chief Joseph, a Native American leader, is best known for
his principled resistance to the U.S. government's attempts to force the
Nez Perce onto a reservation. An 1863 treaty took away their lands and
forced the Nez Perce and their leader into a position of resistance. Though
he consistently opposed war, when conflict became inevitable Chief Joseph
and other leaders led the Nez Perce on a courageous retreat in 1877 for
more than a thousand miles through Montana and Idaho. After a five-day
siege only 30 miles from safety, he surrendered. In his final years, Chief
Joseph spoke eloquently of the injustice of United States policy toward
his people and held out hope that one day freedom and equality might come
for Native Americans.
Chief Joseph was born in Oregon in 1840. He was given the name Hinmaton-Yalaktit (Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt) or Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain but was known as Joseph, or Joseph the Younger, because his father had been baptized Joseph by a Christian missionary in 1838. In 1871, Chief Joseph succeeded his father as Chief of the Wallowa band of Nez Perce. He inherited a volatile situation because some Nez Perce resisted the federal government's efforts to force them into a small Idaho reservation one tenth the size of their native lands. In 1877, after the cavalry threatened to attack, Chief Joseph and other leaders began the journey to the reservation. On a night that Chief Joseph was away from camp, a young Nez Perce man and his friends, avenging the killing of his father, attacked and killed a white settler. Immediately, the cavalry began to pursue Chief Joseph and other Nez Perce, and although he opposed war, he sided with the war leaders. In a valiant series of battles which took place over three months, the Indian tribe of 700 with fewer than 200 warriors fought 2,000 U.S. soldiers in four major battles and several smaller ones. General Howard, leading the opposing cavalry, was impressed with the skill with which they fought using advance and rear guard, 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 on October 5, 1877. After surrendering, Chief Joseph and his people were taken to Kansas and present-day Oklahoma. It was not until 1885 that they were returned to the Pacific Northwest, and even then Chief Joseph and others were taken to non-Nez Perce territory. Chief Joseph died in 1904, still in exile, on the Colville Reservation in Washington. (Source: US Treasury Department)
Burial Site: Source National Park Service The Old Chief Joseph Gravesite is a 5.1-acre cemetery on the west side of Oregon Highway 82, just north of Wallowa Lake and 1 mile south of Joseph, Oregon. Old Chief Joseph was reinterred at this site in 1926. The beautiful scenic view encompasses Wallowa Lake, the Eagle Cap Wilderness, and an imposing glacial moraine. The cemetery, a national historic landmark, is sacred and sensitive for the Nez Perce people. Old Chief Joseph's grave is marked by a tall stone marker bearing the legend, "To The Memory of Old Chief Joseph, Died 1870." The cemetery is separated from the highway by a cobble wall and gateposts built by the Umatilla Tribal Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1938 -- 1940. (Source: National Park Service) |
