Pioneers making the 2,100-mile trek on the Oregon Trail from Independence, Missouri to Oregon City, Oregon endured five to six months of severe hardships and the loss of loved ones. After successfully traversing the blistering heat of and lack of water in Wyoming and southern Idaho, they entered northeastern Oregon, an area with rich, sweeping grasslands, clean water, timber and minerals.
Some who had survived the ordeal decided to settle here rather than enduring the challenges involved in fulfilling their original plans. Over time, they were joined by others drawn to the area by gold strikes in the 1850’s.
Tragically, their new home was the sacred territory of the Wallowa Band of the Nimiipuu were sociable and helped the newcomers, just as they had assisted Lewis and Clark and John Jacob Astor. However, as the onslaught of settlers squatters continued, conflicts inevitably arose, tensions escalated, and, by 1877, coexistence became impossible.
Here is one account of what occurred next:
Today in History – October 5 | Library of Congress (loc.gov)
In 1873, Chief Joseph negotiated with the federal government to ensure that his people could stay on their land in the Wallowa Valley as stipulated in 1855 and 1863 land treaties with the U.S. government. But, in a reversal of policy in 1877, General Oliver Otis Howard threatened to attack if the Indians did not relocate to an Idaho reservation. Chief Joseph reluctantly agreed.
As they began their journey to Idaho, Chief Joseph learned that a group of Nez Percé men, enraged at the loss of their homeland, had killed some white settlers in the Salmon River area. Fearing U.S. Army retaliation, the chief began a retreat. With 2,000 soldiers in pursuit, Chief Joseph led a band of about 700 Nez Percé Indians—fewer than 200 of whom were warriors, towards freedom—nearly reaching the Canadian border. For over three months, the Nez Percé had outmaneuvered and battled their pursuers traveling some 1,000 miles across Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana.
By the time Chief Joseph surrendered, more than 200 of his followers had died.
Chief Joseph’s surrender to General Nelson A Miles on October 5, 1877
Chief Joseph, exhausted and disheartened, surrendered in the Bear Paw Mountains just south of Chinook, Montana and forty miles south of Canada.
I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed; Looking-glass is dead. Too-hul-hul-suit is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men, now, who say ’yes’ or ’no’[that is, vote in council]. He who led on the young men [Joseph’s brother, Ollicut] 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—perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find; maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever! Chief Joseph’s surrender to General Nelson A. Miles, October 5, 1877.
Today in History – October 5 | Library of Congress (loc.gov)
The surrender led to exile and the Wallowa Band of the Nimiipuu were never allowed to return to their homeland.
Although he [Chief Joseph] had negotiated a safe return home for his people, the Nez Percé instead were taken to eastern Kansas and then to a reservation in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). In 1879, Chief Joseph went to Washington, D.C., to meet with President Rutherford Hayes and plead the case of his people. Finally, in 1885, nineteen years before his death, Chief Joseph and his followers were allowed to return to a reservation in the Pacific Northwest, far from their homeland in the Wallowa Valley.
Today in History – October 5 | Library of Congress (loc.gov)