Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce (circa 1877)
The image is from the 14th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1892-93, by J. W. Powell, Director, Part 2. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1896. The description which follows summarizes the detailed information accompanying the image in the report.
The ancestral home of the Nez Pierce in the Wallowa valley of northeastern Oregon was taken by the white man. Collision between the whites and Indians in the valley became more frequent, when a commission was appointed in 1876 to induce the Indians to give up the Wallowa valley and relocate to Lapwai reservation in Idaho. On May 3, 1877, U.S. Army General Howard held the first council with Chief Joseph and his followers at Fort Lapwai. Everything went smoothly toward a speedy and peaceful settlement when a single act of lawless violence undid the labor of weeks and precipitated a bloody war.
A band of white robbers attacked the Nez Pierce, ran off the cattle, and killed one of the party in charge. Joseph could no longer restrain his warriors and on June 13, 1877 – one day before the date that had been appointed for going on the reservation – the enraged Nez Pierce attacked the neighboring settlement on White Bird Creek, Idaho, and killed 21 people. The war was begun.
Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce (circa 1877)
The image is from the 14th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1892-93, by J. W. Powell, Director, Part 2. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1896. The description which follows summarizes the detailed information accompanying the image in the report.
The ancestral home of the Nez Pierce in the Wallowa valley of northeastern Oregon was taken by the white man. Collision between the whites and Indians in the valley became more frequent, when a commission was appointed in 1876 to induce the Indians to give up the Wallowa valley and relocate to Lapwai reservation in Idaho. On May 3, 1877, U.S. Army General Howard held the first council with Chief Joseph and his followers at Fort Lapwai. Everything went smoothly toward a speedy and peaceful settlement when a single act of lawless violence undid the labor of weeks and precipitated a bloody war.
A band of white robbers attacked the Nez Pierce, ran off the cattle, and killed one of the party in charge. Joseph could no longer restrain his warriors and on June 13, 1877 – one day before the date that had been appointed for going on the reservation – the enraged Nez Pierce attacked the neighboring settlement on White Bird Creek, Idaho, and killed 21 people. The war was begun.