“I Will Fight No More Forever”

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“I Will Fight No More Forever”

by Chief Joseph

THE LITERARY WORK

A statement of surrender made in Montana by Chief Joseph of the Nez Percé to army officer Nelson Miles on October 5, 1877.

SYNOPSIS

Resisting a U.S. government order to move to a reservation, the Nez Percé tribe evaded U.S. troops for 1,500 miles. When the tribe finally succumbed to fatigue, sickness, and the relentless pursuit of the troops, their leader, Chief Joseph, ended the chase with a statement of surrender.

Events in History at the Time of the Statement

The Statement in Focus

For More Information

Born in Oregon in 1840, Chief Joseph belonged to a Nez Percé band—the white man’s name for an Indian tribe that preferred to call itself Numipu (meaning “We People”). Joseph grew up in their home territory of the Northwest, becoming a chief when his father passed away in 1871. By then the tribe had split into two factions, its bands differing over their willingness to engage in treaty-making with the whites. Chief Joseph rose to leadership of the renegade bands, who traveled 1,500 miles to escape the dictates of the whites and nearly succeeded. Defeated on the last leg of flight, Joseph issued a surrender statement that conveyed his people’s resignation and despair.

Events in History at the Time of the Statement

Territory

The traditional territory of the Nez Percé fell between the forty-fifth and forty-seventh latitude parallels on the North and South, the Bitterroot Mountains to the east, and the Blue Mountains to the west. This area is the region where present-day Washington, Oregon, and Idaho meet. In 1805, when the white explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark met the Nez Percé, the tribe had about six thousand members who lived in 130 villages, each housing from ten to seventy-five villagers. This population decreased over the next decades as whites moved west and began to mine the untapped minerals of the mountains.

In 1871 Hinmaton-Yalatkit (Thunder-Traveling-to-Loftier-Mountain-Heights), known also as Joseph, became chief of the Nez Percé band known as the Wallowas. Their village was located in the Wallowa Valley in what is now eastern Oregon. It was a lush country, with hills and mountains surrounding grassy fields, and the village sat at the meeting place of two rivers. Ancestors of the Nez Percé had been buried on this land, and Joseph’s father had vowed never to sell it, a promise renewed by his son when he became chief.

Other Nez Percé communities were spread around the territory as well. The villages of chiefs Peopeo Kiskiok (White Bird), Ippakness Wayhayken (Looking Glass), and Toohoolhoolzote (Sound) were neighbors of Joseph’s community; eventually all would join him in defending Nez Percé lands.

Nez Percé lifestyle

As one tribal member recalled, “we were raising horses and cattle—fast race horses and many cattle. We had fine lodges, good clothes, plenty to eat, enough of everything. We were living well [before the whites arrived]” (McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, p. 35). Time was spent fishing the rivers, traveling to Montana in pursuit of buffaloes, and racing horses for sport.

The Nez Percé placed high value on the right to live as one believed best. They were governed by chiefs, but these men ruled in a democratic style, holding councils before making decisions. The young learned from their elders, who told legends of spirits that lived in the world and recounted the histories of great leaders and relations. Extended families grew up together, and it was in this environment that young boys acquired the skills they would need to become big game hunters and warriors, while young women learned to hunt smaller game and take care of the village.

The Nez Percé were alternately allies and enemies with their American Indian neighbors. No lasting peace or alliance existed between the nations; an alliance with a certain group one season might become a bitter rivalry by the next snow.

Religion

The Nez Percé believed that Hunyahwat, the all-powerful being in their religion, had created the world with peace as the primary objective. Furthermore, the creator had made the earth for everything that lived upon it, a belief that inspired the Nez Percé to treat the country with respect. They took no more game than necessary, and carefully used every part of an animal once they had killed it.

The afterlife was thought to be a place of even greater peace. Nez Percé myths claimed that after a member of their community died, spiritual animals would present themselves to the dead. Should the deceased want venison, a deer would appear and the dead could cut off any appetizing part. The spirit deer would not be harmed.

After whites came and destroyed the Nez Percé lifestyle, many members of the tribe who believed in Hunyahwat expected a messiah to come and resurrect all their deceased ancestors, marshaling a powerful band to fight back against the intruders. This belief inspired them to resist white ways, continuing instead to live as their fathers had, hoping for spiritual intervention.

Wyakin

The Nez Percé believed in immortality. Hunyahwat had filled the earth with the spirits of animals, plants, and humans, which could empower and possess the living Nez Percé. Such power was gained during youth as a rite of passage to adulthood.

In accordance with Nez Percé beliefs, each child of the tribe needed to set out from the village on a solitary trek. This journey was undertaken when the child was between the ages of eight and thirteen. The child would spend a night or many nights alone in meditation until a spirit arrived. The spirit might make its presence known by feeling, voice, or vision. After its visit, the spirit then became the child’s guardian. Upon receiving the spirit, the child returned toward the village and lost consciousness near the outskirts. A shaman, or spiritual doctor, nursed the child back to health. From then on, the child was known by the name of the spirit encountered on his or her journey.

It was thought that Wyakin, the spiritual force, could help in situations requiring extraordinary ability. Many Wounds, a Nez Percé interpreter with great knowledge of his native religion, compared it to the white man’s religious beliefs: “You have faith, and ask maybe some saint to help with something where you are probably stalled. It is the same way climbing a mountain. You ask Wyakin to help you” (McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, p. 296).

LEWIS AND CLARK ENCOUNTER THE NEZ PERCÉ

The Lewis and Clark expedition was on the verge of collapse when it encountered the Nez Percé tribe, who provided the explorers with food and shelter. The whites found them to be peaceful, helpful, and resourceful, but these characteristics would not prevent them from suffering a dismal fate later in the century.

Missionaries

In September 1834, the Methodist minister Jason Lee became the first white preacher in the Northwest. He was followed in September 1836 by Marcus Whitman and Henry Harmon Spalding, two Presbyterian ministers. Whitman and Spalding began dealing with the Nez Percé and exerted great influence on them. Spalding baptized Joseph’s father.

According to biblical readings, God appeared to be more powerful than Hunyahwat. The Bible referred to three domains: heaven, earth, and hell. For the Nez Percé, there were only two domains, heaven and earth. Hunyahwat only created good places. Because the whites’ Christian religion also had a place for evil, the Nez Percé considered the God of the whites to be stronger and more vindictive than their own.

According to what they called God’s ideals, the Christian ministers created a written law for the whites and Nez Percé. All criminals were supposed to receive equal punishment, but justice was unevenly doled out under the law. As one historian noted, “whites guilty of horse and cattle stealing, fence burning, rape, assault, fraud, and various other crimes were in little danger as long as their accusers were Indians” (Haines, p. 183).

The treaties of 1855 and 1863

The U.S. government and the Nez Percé entered into a treaty in 1855 at Walla Walla, Washington. This treaty allotted five thousand square miles of their customary territory to the Nez Percé, and promised them financial aid. Supported by overwhelming resources, the U.S. government had the power to make these arrangements even though they did not yet own the Nez Percé lands. The treaty was signed in good faith by fifty-six Nez Percé chiefs.

Eight years later, in 1863, the U.S. government decided that more land was needed. Government representatives reopened negotiations and offered the Nez Percé less than six hundred square miles of territory plus some minor financial compensation. Chief Lawyer, respected as the head chief of the Nez Percé, feared the power of the newcomers. He offered to forfeit the northern territories originally guaranteed in 1855. His decision was not agreed upon by all chiefs, though, and the once-united tribe split into two groups—the “Treaty Nez Percé” and the “Non-Treaty Nez Percé.” Old Chief Joseph, Chief Joseph’s father, was one of the leaders who refused to sign. He died in 1871, passing his chieftainship to his son. Meanwhile, hostilities between whites and Nez Percé mounted as greater numbers of settlers and prospectors entered the homeland of the Non-Treaty Nez Percé.

Soon after Joseph had become chief, U.S. government officials ordered him to relocate his people to the Lapwai reservation in Idaho. Joseph refused, petitioning President Ulysses S. Grant to allow his people to stay in the Wallowa Valley. The President issued an executive order in 1873 supporting Joseph’s right to stay there. When gold was discovered in the area, however, and whites began to claim that the Nez Percé were a threat to peace there, Grant sent General Oliver Otis Howard, a Civil War veteran, to force the tribe out of the valley within thirty days. Joseph concluded that they had no choice but to move, and the Nez Percé began the difficult journey to Lapwai.

The spark

On June 15, 1877, Wahlitits (Springtime Ice), a young and powerful Nez Percé, went raiding with his cousins Sarpsis Ilppilp (Red Moccasin Tops) and Wetyetmas Wahyakt (Swan Necklace). They sought a prospector, Larry Ott, who had killed Wahlitit’s father. Unable to find their intended victim, they slaughtered several other miners who had wronged the Nez Percé. Four men were killed, while another man was wounded. After returning to their encampment at Rocky Canyon, the raiders were joined in their manhunt by seventeen more warriors. A number of settlers (variously estimated as between eight and twenty-two) were killed. Chief Joseph moved the tribe onward, to White Bird Canyon.

Thirty Nez Percé had been killed by whites since 1863, and the warriors felt that they were avenging these deaths, but the U.S. government condemned them for the violent spree. Chief Joseph’s reaction registered his dismay at both sides:

I would have given my life if I could have undone the killing of white men by my people. I blame my young men and I blame the white man.... My friends among the white man have blamed me for the war. I am not to blame. When my young men began the killing my heart was hurt. Although I did not justify them, I remembered all the insults I had endured, and my blood was on fire. Still I would have taken my people to the buffalo country without fighting if possible.
(Joseph in Beal, p. 49)

Retribution

On June 17, 1877, ninety-nine U.S. cavalry men descended from the mountains surrounding White Bird Canyon in Idaho and began an attack on the Indian group, only to find themselves surrounded by entrenched Nez Percé marksmen and warriors. The U.S. troops fired at a Nez Percé peace party carrying a white flag, and a devastating counterattack by the Nez Percé followed. The army quickly retreated, leaving thirty-four dead on the battlefield. Only three Nez Percé were injured in the fight.

Shortly afterward, a raid involving government soldiers was conducted on the village of Chief Looking Glass. This band had avoided other confrontations, asking only to be left alone. The band fled the village when attacked, and their homes were subsequently burned. Thereafter, Looking Glass’s band joined with the other Nez Percé for protection.

Unification of the Non-Treaty Nez Percé was thus achieved. By this time, the total number in the united bands had reached about eight hundred. As the army indiscriminately attacked Nez Percé villages, the chiefs came together and made plans to try and secure safety for their people. They began an escape toward the east, across the Bitterroot Mountains, in an attempt to reach peaceful territory. The U.S. government, furious at the loss of some of its soldiers and at the stubbornness of the Nez Percé people, assigned General Howard to chase the Nez Percé.

The flight

General Howard, known to the Nez Percé as General One-Arm (he had lost an arm in the Civil War), also became known as General Day-After-Tomorrow because he was almost always that far behind in the chase. He was not, however, the only soldier involved in catching the Nez Percé. By using telegraphs and messengers, the U.S. Army involved various commanders occupying points along the escape route.

After a battle at the Clearwater River (in present-day Idaho), the Nez Percé struck out across the Lolo Trail, a perilous route through the Bitterroot Mountains. They had about three thousand horses to aid them in their journey, but were slowed by the sheer size of their group. The band was composed of entire villages of people, including the old, sick, and wounded. At the end of the Lolo trail and the entrance to the Bitterroot Valley, they encountered a blockade called Fort Fizzle, set up by two hundred volunteers and a small number of trained soldiers. The Nez Percé circumvented the blockade by climbing the surrounding hills and bypassing the fort.

CHIEF JOSEPH’S ETHICS

The Nez Percé never make war on women and children; we could have killed a great many … while the war lasted, but we would feel ashamed to do so.

(Joseph in Beal, p. 129)

Colonel John Gibbon loomed as the next obstacle for the Nez Percé. He was a ruthless soldier, as displayed by his response when asked about the possibility of war prisoners: “We don’t want any prisoners” (Gibbon in Beal, p. 114). Gibbon proved able to take advantage of the toll that the journey was exacting on the Nez Percé.

Exhausted, the Nez Percé rested for an extended period at the Big Hole Basin in presentday Montana. Colonel Gibbon’s men mounted a sunrise attack upon the sleeping tribe on August 9, 1877. Soldiers charging the village shot men, women, and children until they were beaten back by the regrouped warriors. The Nez Percé were completely unprepared because their “code of

ethics convinced them that no one would execute a surprise attack upon a sleeping and undefended camp” (Beal, p. 115). The Battle of Big Hole lasted for five hours. It was followed by a twenty-hour siege on entrenched army soldiers. Approximately ninety Nez Percé were killed by the time the battle concluded; seventy of the dead were women and children. After the battle, the Nez Percé continued their flight.

The continuous travel wore down the sick and the wounded. Many dropped out at safe points along the trail to allow their families to continue on. The number of Nez Percé dwindled considerably as the weak abandoned the tribe to die in peace. Yet the majority continued on, vainly seeking aid from allied tribes stationed farther east on the plains.

Chief Looking Glass, a respected chief of the renegade Nez Percé, hoped that the Crow nation would help the Nez Percé. By combining forces, he felt the two nations could overthrow the U.S. army. But the Crow turned their backs upon the Nez Percé, fearful that such an alliance would bring punishment on themselves from the U.S. government.

During the flight, whites who encountered the Nez Percé were immediately distrusted, and many were killed. The chiefs had control over the group at large, but raids led by small war parties proved impossible to control. Young warriors, vengeful after the Big Hole slaughter, wreaked havoc on whites and white property in and around Bannock City, Birch Creek, and the recently recognized Yellowstone National Park.

Pushed relentlessly by the desire for survival, the Nez Percé kept up a pace too rapid for the chasing soldiers to overtake. Using the supply of fresh horses their large herd afforded them, they could remount continuously; the pursuing troops had no such supply and consequently lost ground. Crow warriors on the side of the U.S. troops chased the fleeing Nez Percé, however, and they were able to steal horses from the herd. In the short run, this only quickened the rate of the Nez Percé escape, but these thefts eventually contributed to the destruction of the united band.

The Nez Percé pushed on, ever conscious of their pursuers. Chief Looking Glass, aware that the group had a lead of several days over Howard and his troops, noted the availability of buffalo close by, the presence of oncoming storms, and the need for the sick and dying to regroup. He recommended a brief rest before making the final push to Canada, only forty miles away. Heeding his advice, the Nez Percé camped at Bear’s Paw in present-day Montana.

The final battle

Known as “Bear Coat” by the Nez Percé, Colonel Nelson A. Miles and his troops surrounded the camp and attacked on September 30. The fight lasted five days. Five Nez Percé chiefs died in the battle: Lean Elk, Hahtalekin, Ollokot, Toohoolhoolzote, and Looking Glass. Altogether, twenty-five Nez Percé were killed, while an additional forty-six were injured. U.S. soldiers suffered twenty-three dead and forty-five injured. Though remarkably even, the losses were especially devastating for the Nez Percé. In the words of the Nez Percé, “if we killed one soldier, a thousand would take his place. If we lost one warrior, there was none to take his place” (McWhorter, Yellow Wolf, p. 156).

A RESPECTED GENERAL’S PERSPECTIVE

William Tecumseh Sherman, the Civil War general who prepared the Seventh Cavalry to fight the Nez Percé in Yellowstone Park, offered this opinion of resolving conflicts with the native tribes: “The more we can kill this year, the less will have to be killed the next war, for the more I see of these Indians, the more convinced I am that they will all have to be killed or be maintained as a species of paupers” (Sherman in Warren, p. ix). Attempting to flee war altogether, the tribe escaped Sherman and his Seventh Cavalry and headed north toward Canada.

Chief White Bird, who opposed surrender, escaped to Canada with over 230 Nez Percé during the battle. Unanimity was unimportant in Nez Percé policy. Tribal law gave each chief and individual the right of decision, and so White Bird followed his own judgment. After he fled, Joseph was the sole remaining chief. Recognizing the imminent arrival of army reinforcements, Joseph finally surrendered on October 5.

The Statement in Focus

The statement of surrender

At least nine different versions of Chief Joseph’s statement of surrender were relayed by eyewitnesses to the event. The version listed here, printed on October 26, 1877, by the Bismarck Tri-Weekly Tribune, was the first one released by the press.

Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before I have in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Ta-hool-hool-shoot is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who leads 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—may be freezing to death. I want time to look for my children and see how many of them I can find. May be 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.
(Joseph in Aoki, p. 121)

How was the message given?

Because of the isolated location in which the Nez Percé surrendered and the lack of reliable communications technology, there has been great debate over the format as well as the exact phrasing of Chief Joseph’s famous words.

Whether the statement of surrender was spoken or written by Chief Joseph remains uncertain. Some sources assume that he wrote the majority of the statement and only spoke the words “Hear me my chiefs.” The Chicago Times of October 26, 1877, contends that the only part spoken was the phrase, “from where the sun stands, forever and ever, I will never fight again,” but this phrasing is inconsistent with other accounts (Joseph in Aoki, p. 121). Indeed, the words and phrases in Joseph’s message of surrender vary from version to version. The overall meaning, though, is never in question.

Joseph probably communicated verbally to the victorious U.S. generals through an interpreter, and his use of the phrase “Hear me my chiefs” may have been intended for the generals. After a treaty or defeat, American Indians of the 1800s sometimes acknowledged the whites with whom they were dealing as their new chiefs.

How was the statement received?

It was Chief Joseph’s understanding that by surrendering, the Non-Treaty Nez Percé would be returned to the Northwest and confined to a reservation. These terms were agreed upon by the commanding officers of the U.S. Army, who had an obligation to uphold the terms. Instead, after the surrender, the remaining Nez Percé were sent to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas Territory, a land of swamps in which diseases spread among the tribe. In June 1879, 370 remaining Nez Percé moved from Kansas to Oklahoma Indian Territory, another environment where they had difficulty surviving. By 1884 there were only 282 Nez Percé left.

Chief Joseph traveled to Washington, D.C., a few times over the years to discuss the fate of his people with politicians. He spoke with three presidents over the course of his life, and each leader promised to make efforts to return the Nez Percé to their original environment.

In April 1885, the U.S. government finally returned the Nez Percé to the Northwest. Many went to Lapwai Reservation (in present-day Idaho) to live with the original Treaty Nez Percé; others, including Joseph, went to Colville Reservation (in present-day Washington). These Nez Percé soon moved to the Nespelem Reservation (also in Washington), where conditions were more conducive to survival. Though the three reservations were near their original homeland, the Nez Percé never did resettle in their native Wallowa territory.

Reaction to Chief Joseph’s statement

Upon receiving the surrender of the Nez Percé at the Bear’s Paw battlefield, Colonel Miles made this report to his superior officers: “I have the honor to recommend that ample provision be made for their civilization, and to enable them to become self-sustaining. They are sufficiently intelligent to appreciate the consideration which, in my opinion, is justly due them from the government” (Miles in Beal, p. 273). Despite his report, the government sent the Nez Percé to Kansas and Oklahoma, where they lost nearly half their number because of climate and conditions.

When he learned of his people’s fate, a helpless Chief Joseph said, “I cannot understand how the government sends a man out to fight us, as it did General Miles, and then breaks his word. Such a government has something wrong about it” (Joseph in Beal, p. 273).

Another officer, C. E. S. Wood, the aide to General Howard during the campaign, became so enraged at the treatment of the Nez Percé that he resigned his post. Wood later sent his thirteen-year-old son Erskine to spend time with Chief Joseph at the Nespelem Nez Percé reservation. Erskine Wood later wrote a memoir of Joseph and as an older man made the remark, “I can say truthfully, knowing him was the high spot of my entire life” (Wood in Beal, p. 299).

Joseph was able to put the politics of war in perspective later in life at an address he made with General Howard at the Carlisle School for Indians:

Here sits a man, Arm-Cut. We were against each other in war, and I used to think I would like to shoot and kill him and would have been happy over it. Today, when we are old, I like him and he is my friend. If anything happens to him, if he dies, I will be very sad over him. This is the way I feel. Not for anything will I hold thoughts against him again, because that war is over
(Joseph in Aoki, p. 126)

Joseph’s words show a loyalty to the oath made in his momentous message of surrender: I will fight no more forever.