Chief Joseph (Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kelt)

Although it has not come out that well, I wanted you to see Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce as a young man The extra picture shows him in older age. Chief Joseph is one of my heroes. He and his band of Nez Perce Native Americans refused to be confined to a reservation, and were taken on by the US Army in 1877. The Nez Perce skillfully evaded their pursuers until winter and hunger forced them to surrender, when Joseph uttered his famous words: ‘I will fight no more, forever.’
   The Nez Perce had lived peaceably with Spaniards, Mexicans and Californians for centuries. They were given their name by French Canadian traders: Nez Perce meaning pierced nose. They were skilled horsemen and notable horse breeders. When Lewis and Clark passed through their lands in 1805, the struggling explorers they were given food and hospitality by the tribe. Up until the 1870s, the peacable Nez Perce had never fought the US Army.
   After their surrender, the Nez Perce were greatly admired by those who sought to confine them. They had been seen as ‘the wilderness gentry of the Pacific Northwest,’ not that it did them any good. They were relocated to a reservation in Oklahoma (I’m guessing here) about 2000 miles away from their beloved Wallowa Valley; the place to which Joseph had been promised, they would return. Same old story.