Essay On Chief Joseph

Who Was Chief Joseph?

Who was Chief Joseph? Chief Joseph otherwise known as Hinmatóowyalahtq'it among his people was the chief of the Wallowa band of Nez Perce. He governed the Nez Perce from 1871 when his father died to his own death in 1904. While chief he did many things that may not have been the best decisions and he did many things that helped the Wallow band. As a whole he kept the Wallowa band together.

Life Before Being Chief

Chief Joseph was born in Wallowa Valley, Oregon. His mother’s name was Khapkhaponimi and his father’s unbaptized name was Tuekakas and his baptized name was Joseph. Chief Joseph was born in 1840. Soon after Hinmatóowyalahtq’it was born his father chose to share his baptized name with Hinmatóowyalahtq'it. Old Joseph (Chief Joseph’s father) was the first Native American to get baptized. As the son of the chief it was chief Joseph’s duty to attend special sessions taught by the best warriors among the tribe to learn the ways of a native warrior. In 1863 Old Joseph being the chief signed a treaty giving the Wallowa Band more area of Wallowa Valley and the whites agreed. Soon after this happened the whites

went back on their word and took the land back from the natives by just intruding Wallowa Valley and other area owned by the Wallowa Band.

Nez Perce War
While Chief, Hinmatóowyalahtq'it had to fight a lot for land and regain land owned by the Natives but taken by the whites during the California gold rush lasting from 1848 to 1855.

“In 1873, Joseph negotiated with the federal government to ensure his people could stay on their land in the Wallowa Valley. But in 1877, the government reversed its policy, and Army General Oliver Howard threatened to attack if the Wallowa band did not relocate to the Idaho Reservation with the other Nez Perce”. During this fight for land the Wallowa Band had to flee from place to place hoping to find some unoccupied land. They also tried going to the Crow Nation in the Montana Territory and they also tried going to Lakota where they tried seeking asylum with Sitting Bull who was the chief of another tribe and they had fled America in 1876 to go to

Canada.

In the sequence of events part of trying to find land the Wallowa Band had to face many gruesome events like the battle of Camas Meadows on August 20 1887 and the battle of Clearwater on July 11 and 12 1887. In the Nez Perce War, the whites wanted the Nez Perce to all go to the Idaho reservation instead of staying in their ancestral homes. The reason this war was caused was because the Nez Perce refused and decided that they were going to fight for their own land instead of fleeing. In the Nez Perce War, the U.S. Army were chasing about 250 Nez Perce tribe and a small band of Palouse tribe. In a period of three moths the Nez Perce travelled over 1,170 miles fighting and outmaneuvering the U.S. Army.