Chief
Joseph (?-1904)
Joseph,
chief of the Wallowa band of the Nez
Perce in northeastern Oregon, was respected for
his leadership, wisdom, and eloquence.
When the United States government opened the land
of the Nez Perce to white settlement, Chief Joseph
led his people to Canada in an attempt to find refuge.
Stopped near the border by the U.S. Army, Chief Joseph
surrendered with these words:
"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 to see how many I can find. Maybe I shall find
them among the dead. Here me, my chiefs, I am tired. My
heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands,
I will fight no more, forever".
...
and he and his people were sent to the region known
as the Indian Territory, in what is now Oklahoma.
Joseph's requests to return to his home in the Wallowa
Valley were denied, and he died in front of his campfire
in 1904 on the Colville Reservation in central Washington.
(p)
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