Joseph commented: "I clasped my father's hand and promised to do as he asked. Scripture describes how, after Moses protected Jethro 's daughters from shepherds who did not allow them to access the local well, Jethro "gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses."3. Pressure was building to move all of the Nez Perce onto the small Idaho reservation. Furthermore, Merle Wells argues in The Nez Perce and Their War that the interpretation of the Nez Perce War of 1877 in military terms as used in the United States Army's account distorts the actions of the Nez Perce. Yet his tomb, marked by a tall white monument, remains in Nespelem, Washington, not far from where he died. Svetlana Alliluyeva spent a lifetime trying to escape the shadow of her father. We strive for accuracy and fairness. He succeeded his father tuekakas (Chief Joseph the Elder) in the early 1870s. He insisted Williams submit the story to WSU Press. Azeez believes Joseph and condemns his wife. Moses greeted Joseph as a brother, but the reception was cooler amongst the San Poil and Nespelem tribes, which also shared the reservation. A handwritten document mentioned in the Oral History of the Grande Ronde recounts an 1872 experience by Oregon pioneer Henry Young and two friends in search of acreage at Prairie Creek, east of Wallowa Lake. A newspaper correspondent from St. Louis said, "A more noble captive has never graced our land." Toohoolhoolzote, insulted by his incarceration, advocated war. The old men are all dead. Miles and accompanied by Cheyenne scouts intercepted the Nez Perce on September 30 at the Battle of Bear Paw. Chief Joseph: [00:46:11] Yeah, yeah that's good. A Wilbur reporter wrote the "two old murdering rascals" strutted around town "as only becomes men of rank" (Ruby and Brown). You are the chief of these people. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. You must stop your ears whenever you are asked to sign a treaty selling your home. Isaac Stevens, governor of the Washington Territory, organized a council to designate separate areas for natives and settlers in 1855. Uprisings by other tribes across the Columbia Plateau had resulted in U.S. Army incursions, although Old Joseph managed to keep the Nez Perce at peace. But acting without Chief Josephs knowledge, a band of 20 young hotheaded braves decided to take revenge on some of the more offensive white occupiers in the region, sparking the Nez Perce War of 1877. [36], In 1973, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. In their new book, Run-DMC's Rev Run and his longtime love share how they healed from their grief . A handwritten document mentioned in the Oral History of the Grande Ronde recounts an 1872 experience by Oregon pioneer Henry Young and two friends in search of acreage at Prairie Creek, east of Wallowa Lake. Joseph the Elder and the other Nez Perce chiefs signed the Treaty of Walla Walla, with the United States establishing a Nez Perce reservation encompassing 7,700,000 acres in present-day Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Some Nez Perce, as many as 200, escaped and made their way over the Canadian border. The old men are all dead. "His expression was mild and impassive, except when aroused, when a light would come into his small bright eyes, which denoted the iron will and defiant, war-like spirit that lay beneath" (Warren). At the council, he spoke on behalf of peace, preferring to abandon his father's grave over war. Joseph the Elder demarcated Wallowa land with a series of poles, proclaiming, "Inside this boundary all our people were born. She was the daughter of Jacob and Leah Shechem means 'shoulder' or 'saddle', the shape of mountains encircling ancient Shechem. In 1897, he visited Washington, D.C. again to plead his case. Although Joseph had negotiated with Miles and Howard for a safe return home for his people, General Sherman overruled this decision and forced Joseph and 400 followers to be taken on unheated rail cars to Fort Leavenworth, in eastern Kansas, where they were held in a prisoner of war campsite for eight months. Although Joseph was respected as a spokesman, opposition in Idaho prevented the U.S. government from granting his petition to return to the Pacific Northwest. Josephs younger brother, Olikut, was far more active in leading the Nez Perce into battle, and Olikut helped them successfully outsmart the U.S. Army on several occasions as the war ranged over more than 1,600 miles of Washington, Idaho, and Montana territory. Changing the day will navigate the page to that given day in history. He rode with Buffalo Bill Cody in a parade honoring former President Ulysses Grant in New York City, but he was a topic of conversation for his traditional headdress more than his mission. By. Separated from her father during the attack at the Bear's Paw, she had escaped to Canada with her mother. His daughter strangled him 6 month later. During a series of parlays with government officials, he continued to insist that he "would not sell the land" nor "give up the land" (Nerburn). Colville, Stevens, Washington, United States, Nespelem, Okanogan County, Washington, United States. If they refused, the army would move them by force. He was convinced it was the only way to keep his people safe and intact. Howard offered them a plot of land that was inhabited by whites and Native Americans, promising to clear out the current residents. The chief jailer committed to Joseph's charge all the prisoners who were in the jail; so that whatever was done there, he was responsible for it. It is your task to keep the soldiers away" (Beal). This time, many of the chiefs were alarmed at the provisions of the treaty. The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph's charge because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made to prosper. In 1877, these disputes erupted into violence and Joseph's band, along with other Nez Perce bands, fled across the Bitterroot Mountains into Montana, with federal troops in pursuit. Under Chief Joseph's leadership, a band of about 700 people traveled more than 1,100 miles . The government presumed that the Nez Perce wanted to settle down and become farmers, a notion that particularly appalled Young Joseph, who was passionately committed to his band's ancient roaming ways. The Nez Perce were a peaceful nation spread from Idaho to Northern Washington. Stevens convinced the region's tribes that the best way to preserve their homelands from white encroachment was to sign a reservation treaty. Dinah means 'she who has been judged and found innocent'. When Joseph grew up and assumed the chieftanship, he was under increasing governmental pressure to abandon his Wallowa land and join the rest of the Nez Perce on their reservation near Lapwai, Idaho. Joseph, a longtime makeup artist in the fashion industry, became a model herself when "discovered" at age 49 on a Manhattan street. Chief Joseph Surrenders. What eventually happened to Chief Joseph? At this council, too, many leaders urged war, while Joseph continued to argue in favor of peace. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Joseph the Younger succeeded his father as leader of the Wallowa band in 1871. Joseph tried to use some of this newfound admiration to get a better deal for his people. Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt (or hinmatowyalahtqit in Americanist orthography), popularly known as Chief Joseph, Young Joseph, or Joseph the Younger (March 3, 1840 September 21, 1904), was a leader of the wal-lam-wat-kain (Wallowa) band of Nez Perce, a Native American tribe of the interior Pacific Northwest region of the United States, in the latter half of the 19th century. The song contains several references to his famous speech. Yet Joseph never gave up his crusade to return to the Wallowa Valley. At least 800 men, women, and children led by Joseph and other Nez Perce chiefs were pursued by the U.S. Army under General Oliver O. Howard in a 1,170-mile (1,900km) fighting retreat known as the Nez Perce War. On September 21, 1904, the Nez Perce leader Chief Joseph dies on the Colville reservation in northern Washington at the age of 64. It is the young men who say yes or no. The Pacific Northwest remains remote from the rest of the country, but here, as elsewhere, Native Americans figure prominently in its unfolding history. Do Eric benet and Lisa bonet have a child together? They even stopped for several days at Stevensville to rest up and to trade stock with white settlers. The Nez Perce chiefs, including Old Joseph, signed it because the reservation included the band's Wallowa homeland and almost all of the other areas in present day Oregon, Washington, and Idaho where the band roamed. Unable to find any suitable uninhabited land on the reservation, Howard informed Joseph that his people had 30 days to collect their livestock and move to the reservation. Changing the day will navigate the page to that given day in history. Before his death, the latter counseled his son: "My son, my body is returning to my mother earth, and my spirit is going very soon to see the Great Spirit Chief. 04:00, Gustaf . They had traveled the route for centuries, on the way to the buffalo grounds. Relentlessly pursued, they endured multiple battles, cold, hunger, and death. I want to have time to look for my children, to see how many I can find. He was instead transported between various forts and reservations on the southern Great Plains before being moved to the Colville Indian Reservation in the state of Washington, where he died in 1904. If he had followed their example, after three days he "would not have had ten mules left on their feet" (Howard). I want to have time to look for my children, to see how many I can find. The Names of Joseph's Children M. Dods, D. D. Genesis 41:51-52 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, has made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house. His attitude towards God and his own family was disclosed in the names which he gave to his children. The band led by Chief Joseph never signed the treaty moving them to the Idaho reservation. I am tired of fighting. : Nez Perce Legend and History, Lucullus V. McWhorter argues that the Nez Perce were a peaceful people that were forced into war by the United States when their land was stolen from them. Soon after, Chief Joseph's long journey was over. Chief Joseph's Surrender Speech - October 5th, 1877. Meany and Curtis helped Joseph's family bury their chief near the village of Nespelem, Washington. Although Joseph was not technically a war chief and probably did not command the retreat, many of the chiefs who did had died. Howard called another treaty council in May 1877, but this time, there would be no negotiation. He surrendered with the assurance from Miles that he and his people would be transported back to the reservation in Idaho. Finally, in 1885, Chief Joseph and his followers were granted permission to return to the Pacific Northwest to settle on the reservation around Kooskia, Idaho. Before the outbreak of hostilities, General Howard held a council at Fort Lapwai to try to convince Joseph and his people to relocate. Once, when someone asked Moses if Chief Joseph was going to come to the Yakima Jubilee, Moses said, "He is not very good to ride now and it will take him as long to come down here as an old woman" (Ruby and Brown). In 1903, Chief Joseph visited Seattle, a booming young town, where he stayed in the Lincoln Hotel as guest to Edmond Meany, a history professor at the University of Washington. Birthday March 3, 1840. During the long retreat, he treated prisoners humanely and won the admiration of whites by purchasing supplies along the way rather than stealing them. But in truth, the Nez Perce Chief Him-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt (Thunder Rolling Down from the Mountains) was more of a diplomat than a warrior. EAST HAVEN After spending nearly five decades trying to identify her, police want to speak to anyone who knew . Joseph wrote to his old friend Chief Moses (1829-1899), of the Columbia tribe, and asked him if his band could join Moses on his recently established Colville Reservation in North Central Washington. Looking Glass patrolled the streets of Stevensville, making sure his young warriors weren't getting drunk and causing trouble. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many I can find. Flowers were left outside the Odell S. Williams Now and Then African American History Museum, whose founder, Sadie Roberts-Joseph, 75, was found dead in the trunk of a car Friday. They have their eyes on this land. Joseph never pretended to be a master military strategist, as others later claimed, yet he did play a key role in salvaging an important victory at Big Hole. Joseph finished his address to the general, which focused on human equality, by expressing his " [disbelief that] the Great Spirit Chief gave one kind of men the right to tell another kind of men what they must do." Howard reacted angrily, interpreting the statement as a challenge to his authority. And Heidrun was only 4 when she was killed. Enter a date in the format M/D (e.g., 1/1), https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/chief-joseph-surrenders, Seattle Mariners set American League record for wins in a season, New York Times publishes bombshell investigation into allegations against Harvey Weinstein, American circumnavigates the globe on foot, Harry Truman delivers first-ever presidential speech on TV, The Dalton Gang is wiped out in Coffeyville, Kansas, Isaac Singer wins Nobel Prize in Literature, Henry & June is first NC-17 film shown in theaters, Enzo Ferrari makes his debut as a race car driver, General Washington informs Congress of espionage. Joe Redthunder, the oldest direct descendant of Chief Joseph, who fought the U.S. Army in the last major military engagement between the government and an Indian tribe, has died at age 87. You can navigate days by using left and right arrows, Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce peoples surrenders to U.S. General Nelson A. But Joseph later specified that he did say words which amounted to, "From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more" (Joseph). Warfare broke out. In 1903 he was invited to give an anniversary speech at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, where he shared the stage with General Howard. Initially they had hoped to take refuge with the Crow Nation in the Montana Territory, but when the Crow refused to grant them aid, the Nez Perce went north in an attempt to obtain asylum with the Lakota band led by Sitting Bull, who had fled to Canada following the Great Sioux War in 1876. Hear me, my chiefs! He took the name of his father, (Old) Chief Joseph, or Joseph the Elder. Some white settlers of the region considered Joseph's presence to be dangerous. - Genesis 39:20-23, emphasis added It was there that he also befriended Edward Curtis, the photographer, who took one of his most memorable and well-known photographs. It was there that he also befriended Edward Curtis, the photographer, who took one of his most memorable and well-known photographs. She was unaware of all the abuse that her daughter endured over the span of 24 years. They have their eyes on this land. It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. : The Journey of Chief Josephs Daughter, is unlike many popular and historical novels written for adolescents, because the protagonist is not portrayed as a modern heroine. They lived far from the main body of the tribe, which was across the Snake River in Idaho, but they reunited often to fish for salmon, gather camas roots, and socialize. During that time, several tribal members, hoping to correct errors and misconceptions from previous accounts as well as educate future generations about their history and culture, approached him with an idea for a book. He who led on the young men is dead. Son of Tuekakas and Khatkhatonni All Rights Reserved. The sad, strange life of Joseph Stalin's daughter. But most were tired, wounded and exhausted. He had a newborn child-- one of his wives, Springtime, had just given birth days before to a daughter. A Harahan woman killed the 6-year-old daughter of her boyfriend, wedged the child's body into a 10 . He received a huge ovation when he spoke to a group of congressmen and other officials, but no other satisfaction. He was met with jeers. I had a kind o' comforter o' red yarn, I wore rund my neck; an' at last I got Jo to take that, jest as a kind o' momento.[31]. Although Joseph was respected as a spokesman, opposition in Idaho prevented the U.S. government from granting his petition to return to the Pacific Northwest. According to various reports, Rosemarie Fritzl did not know what was happening in the basement of their house. READ MORE: Native American History Timeline. Soon that steadfast commitment would be stretched to the breaking point. In 1855, Old Joseph and Young Joseph attended a treaty council called by territorial governor Isaac Stevens (1818-1862) at Walla Walla. How Rev Run, Justine Simmons Healed After Newborn Daughter's Death: 'I Was Lonely for My Child'. A few weeks later, on June 17, 1877, the twelve-year-old heard the gunfire that marked the start of warone that swept the Nez Perce into a harrowing journey across the American West. A chance encounter between Williams and Native American artist Jo Proferes resulted in an enduring affiliation, and she illustrated the text with exquisite pen and ink drawings as well as twenty large oil paintings. When Joseph returned from the council, he discovered that soldiers had already moved in to the Wallowa Valley, ready to force them off. Then they struck straight north for the Canadian border, their refuge of last resort. He was born in 1840 and he was called Joseph by Reverend Henry H. Spalding (1803-1874), who had established a mission amongst the Nez Perce in 1836. Joseph was by no means the military leader of the group, yet his standing in the tribe made him the camp chief and the group's political leader. 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. Father of unknown and Kapkaponmi He died on September 21, 1904, and was buried in the Colville Indian Cemetery on the Colville Reservation. Returning home, Joseph called a council among his people. Joseph believed that they had left the war behind them. Names in Dinah's story. A first responder who. The latter two were strongly in favor of crossing Lolo Pass and then continuing even farther east to the buffalo plains of central and eastern Montana. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. They were camped at the foot of the Bear Paw Mountains in Montana, only a couple of days ride from the Canadian border, when troops under Colonel Nelson Miles (1839-1925) caught up with them. The Chief told Young that white men were not welcome near Prairie Creek, and Young's party was forced to leave without violence. White miners and settlers began to encroach on their lands. The Egyptian's wife endeavours to seduce Joseph but he was preserved from her enticements. McWhorter interviewed and befriended Nez Perce warriors such as Yellow Wolf, who stated, "Our hearts have always been in the valley of the Wallowa". Joseph continued to lead his Wallowa band on the Colville Reservation, at times coming into conflict with the leaders of the 11 other unrelated tribes also living on the reservation. According to the early dating theory, it was Thutmoses II's rebellious daughter, Hatshepsut, that rescued Moses. While the council was underway, a young man whose father had been killed rode up and announced that he and several other young men had retaliated by killing four white settlers. In 1903, Chief Joseph visited Seattle, a booming young town, where he stayed in the Lincoln Hotel as guest to Edmond Meany, a history professor at the University of Washington. Tuekakas was intrigued by Spalding and his white religion; Spalding baptized him and gave him the name Joseph. She subsequently shot herself in 1932, but her children were told she died of peritonitis to spare them any further suffering. Howard later wrote that the Indians "jammed their ponies through, up the rocks, over and under the logs and among the fallen trees without attempting to cut a limb, leaving blood to mark their path." Government commissioners asked the Nez Perce to accept a new, much smaller reservation of 760,000 acres situated around the village of Lapwai in western Idaho Territory, and excluding the Wallowa Valley. The Nez Perce continued to repel the Army's advances, eventually reaching the Clearwater River, where they united with another Nez Perce chief, Looking Glass, and his group, bringing the size of their party to 740, though only 200 of these were warriors. What was the name of the Indian chief who accepted Magua's gifts? In the face of their hopeless situation, it was left to Joseph to meet with Miles and Howard on October 5, 1877, and hand over his rifle in a symbolic gesture of surrender. He also faces two misdemeanor charges for failing to stop on police command and for simple. [24] Joseph also visited President Theodore Roosevelt in Washington, D.C. the same year. War broke out in 1877 when Gen. Oliver O. Howard attempted to force non-treaty Nez Perce from the land. Any illusion of peace was shattered at the Battle of the Big Hole. He was known as Young Joseph during his youth because his father, Tuekakas, was baptized with the same Christian name and later become known as "Old Joseph" or "Joseph the Elder". Joseph and the tribe were taken to a reservation in Indian Territory in present day Oklahoma, where they remained until 1885 when they were sent to the Colville Reservation in North Central Washington. One of those battles was led by Captain Perry and two cavalry companies of the U.S. Army led by Captain Trimble and Lieutenant Theller, who engaged Chief Joseph and his people at White Bird Canyon on June 17, 1877. When I am gone, think of your country. He, along with four other chiefs, refused to have any part of it and walked out. Finally, in 1885, Chief Joseph and his followers were granted permission to return to the Pacific Northwest to settle on the reservation around Kooskia, Idaho. HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. In a series of bloody battles, some fought in the snow, Looking Glass and Toohoolhoolzote were killed. A government inspector who accompanied Joseph recommended that Joseph was better off staying on the Colville. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever" (Beal). While the council was underway, a young man whose father had been killed rode up and announced that he and several other young men had retaliated by killing four white settlers. I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. Articles with the HISTORY.com Editors byline have been written or edited by the HISTORY.com editors, including Amanda Onion, Missy Sullivan and Matt Mullen. People also asked. "Tell General Howard I know his heart. INTRODUCTION. The U.S. Army's pursuit of about 750 Nez Perce and a small allied band of the Palouse tribe, led by Chief Joseph and others, as they attempted to escape from Idaho became known as the Nez Perce War. How many minutes does it take to drive 23 miles? Howard reacted angrily, interpreting the statement as a challenge to his authority. Why Walden's rule not applicable to small size cations. Returning home, Joseph called a council among his people. [16] The band led by Chief Joseph never signed the treaty moving them to the Idaho reservation. The State of WashingtonWashington Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, Studio portrait of Nez Perce Chief Joseph (1840-1904), Photo by Milton Loryea, Courtesy Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture (L88-330), Governor Stevens with Indians, Walla Walla Council, May 1855, Detail, Illustration by Gustav Sohon, Courtesy Washington State Historical Society (1918.114.9.39), Courtesy Washington State Historical Society (1994.0.369), Chief Joseph's House, Colville Indian Reservation, 1901, Photo by Edmond Meany, Courtesy UW Special Collections (SOC11381). However, as Francis Haines argues in Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce Warrior, the battlefield successes of the Nez Perce during the war were due to the individual successes of the Nez Perce men and not that of the fabled military genius of Chief Joseph. Still hoping to avoid further bloodshed, Joseph and other non-treaty Nez Perce leaders began moving people away from Idaho. What is the cast of surname sable in maharashtra? By this time, even Joseph was resigned to crossing all the way over the Rocky Mountains and getting to the plains. Joseph died in 1904 in Nespelem, Washington, of what his doctor called "a broken heart." They called him a "large, fat-faced, scheming, cruel-looking cuss" (Nerburn). However, as Francis Haines argues in Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce Warrior, the battlefield successes of the Nez Perce during the war were due to the individual successes of the Nez Perce men and not that of the fabled military genius of Chief Joseph. Chief Old Joseph dies The spot where he is buried today is considered the start of the Nez Perce (Nee-Me-Poo) National Historic Trail Young Joseph spent much of his earliest years at Spalding's mission, and probably attended some of Spalding's lessons. It circles the graves of our fathers, and we will never give up these graves to any man.". The following year, she was among the first group which went back to Idaho. Joseph the Younger succeeded his father as leader of the Wallowa band in 1871. He remained a celebrity back East, however. What he told me before, I have it in my heart. Joseph is said to have replied, "This is your fight, not mine. In the midst of their journey, Chief Joseph learned that three young Nez Perce warriors, had killed a band of white settlers. Joseph estimated that 80 Nez Perce were killed; 50 of them women and children. Chief Joseph did not live to see again the land he'd known as a child and young warrior. In 1879, Chief Joseph went to Washington, D.C. to meet with President Rutherford B. Hayes and plead his people's case. 1993); Merrill D. Beal, I Will Fight No More Forever: Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce War (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1963, twelfth printing 1991); Robert H. Ruby and John A. The skill with which the Nez Perce fought and the manner in which they conducted themselves in the face of incredible adversity earned them widespread admiration from their military opponents and the American public, and coverage of the war in U.S. newspapers led to popular recognition of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce. On October 5, 1877, Chief Joseph, exhausted and disheartened, surrendered in the Bears Paw Mountains of Montana, forty miles south of Canada. The Flathead people, however, had chosen to remain neutral and were far from welcoming. For his passionate, principled resistance to his tribe's forced removal, Joseph became renowned as both a humanitarian and a peacemaker. In 1873, Joseph negotiated with the federal government to ensure his people could stay on their land in the Wallowa Valley. Everywhere he went, it was to make a plea for what remained of his people to be returned to their home in the Wallowa Valley, but it never happened. Instead, Joseph and others were taken to the Colville Indian Reservation in Nespelem, Washington, far from both their homeland in the Wallowa Valley and the rest of their people in Idaho. Tensions grew as the settlers appropriated traditional Indian lands for farming and livestock. Most poignantly, it lives on in the places he loved best: Joseph Creek, Joseph Canyon and the small town of Joseph, Oregon, in the heart of the Wallowa Valley. They look to you to guide them. I will conduct the retreat of the women and the children. Before the outbreak of hostilities, General Howard held a council at Fort Lapwai to try to convince Joseph and his people to relocate. [17], For over three months, the Nez Perce deftly outmaneuvered and battled their pursuers, traveling more than 1,170 miles (1,880km) across present-day Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. Still, I would have taken my people to buffalo country without fighting, if possible" (Joseph). And so it becomes precarious and sometimes very dangerous, like, like what happened with, Gissele: [00:46:24] yeah, for sure. A band of Nez Perce warriors had ridden off to the white settlements to exact bloody revenge for an earlier murder. Chief Josephas non-Natives knew himhad been elected chief of the Wallowa band of Nez Perce Indians when he was only 31. Chief Joseph was born Hinmuuttu-yalatlat (alternatively Hinmaton-Yalaktit or Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt [Nez Perce: "Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain"], or Hinmatoyalahtq'it ["Thunder traveling to higher areas"]) in the Wallowa Valley of northeastern Oregon. Chief Joseph Question Set On a separate sheet of paper, answer the following questions after having carefully read I Will Fight No More Forever, Chief Joseph's Surrender Speech and Broken Promises, his speech to President Rutherford B. Hayes and our country's leaders, in an attempt to obtain justice for his people, the Nez Perce. Where is Chief Joseph's father buried? For more than three months, Chief Joseph led fewer than 300 Nez Perce Indians toward the Canadian border, covering a distance of more than 1,000 miles as the Nez Perce outmaneuvered and battled more than 2,000 pursuing U.S. soldiers. Chief Joseph's legacy lives on in numerous other ways. [7][8] In exchange, they were promised financial rewards, schools, and a hospital for the reservation. Before his death, the latter counseled his son: My son, my body is returning to my mother earth, and my spirit is going very soon to see the Great Spirit Chief. General Howard, who was dispatched to deal with Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce, tended to believe the Nez Perce were right about the treaty: "the new treaty finally agreed upon excluded the Wallowa, and vast regions besides".