The Native American Chief Joseph headed the Wallowa (Wal-lam-wat-kain) band of the Nez Perce people following the death of his father in 1871 for the next 25 years. He is best known for his struggle to retain the homeland of his people while also avoiding violence at all costs, becoming a legendary peacemaker.
Chief Joseph was born in Wallowa Valley of Northeastern Oregon in 1840 and died in 1904 in Washtington State at the age of 64.
Chief Joseph is often remembered for his heartbreaking Surrender Speech where he mourned the defeat of his people in maintaining their homeland, saying:
“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.”
Chief Joseph’s People
The Nez Perce tribe is called the Nimi’ipuu in their own language, which means “The People.” They originally came from the Rocky Mountains, moving west into the Pacific Northwest areas around the Snake, Salmon and Clearwater Rivers and in parts of Washington, Oregon, Montana, and Idaho. Like other Eastern tribes they were migratory and would travel as far east as the Great Plains to hunt buffalo and then as far west as the Columbia River to fish for salmon.
Chief Joseph’s Name
Joseph’s name among his people was Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain rendered something like Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt. It is also sometimes recorded as Thunder Coming Up Over the Land from the Water.
Chief Joseph’s father, Joseph the Elder, took his name when he was baptized by Henry Spalding in 1838. He was one of the first Christian converts among his people.
Struggle for His People
Army General Oliver Howard often threatened war and demanded that Chief Joseph’s band relocate to an established reservation in Idaho. Chief Joseph had been asked by his father not to abandon the place of his burial and tribal home in the Wallowa Valley of northwestern Oregon.
Whenever the other chiefs urged war, Chief Joseph sought peace. Battles ensued, however, and many chiefs and over 200 of his own people died in battle, in skirmishes with other tribes on the reservation, with their white neighbors and from epidemics as his people were forced to move to eastern Kansas and what is now Oklahoma.
In the end, Joseph and his people were taken to the Colville Indian Reservation, in Washington State, where they remain today, still apart from the rest of his people in Idaho.
Through all of the skirmishes, forced relocations and injustices inflicted on his people, Joseph did not become bitter and always advocated peace at all costs.
He even retained friendly relations with his encroaching white neighbors, and retained a hope that one day the American government would keep its promises of freedom for his people and their return to their ancestral home.
Still in exile in September of 1904, according to his doctor, Chief Joseph sadly died “of a broken heart.” He was buried in Nespelem, Washington where others of his tribe still live.
Sources
- New World Encyclopedia. “Chief Joseph.”
- New Perspectives on the West. “Chief Joseph.” PBS.
- Indigenous People. “Chief Joseph, Nez Perce.”
Paula I. Nielson - Paula I. Nielson, Ph.D., holds credentials and interests in anthropology, archaeology, religion, the Middle East and Asia.
