Chief Joseph led his people from 1871 until his death in 1904.
Chief Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, also known as Chief Joseph, was the well-respected leader of a band of Nez Percé living in the Wallowa Valley of Oregon. When gold was discovered in 1877, the U.S. government took nearly 6 million acres (2.4 million hectares) from the band’s reservation and tried to force them to a smaller reservation in what is now Idaho. Angered over the loss of their land, about 20 young men of the tribe attacked and killed several white settlers. The U.S. Army was charged with finding and punishing the warriors.
Chief Joseph opposed war but knew he had to defend his people. During the next three months, the chief and his band led the army on a 1,400-mile (2,253-kilometer) chase into what is now Montana, fighting four major battles along the way despite being outnumbered about 10 to one. But they couldn’t run forever. When Chief Joseph surrendered October 5, 1877, he sadly spoke these words:
“I am tired of fighting … 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! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.”1
American Indians lived in North America for thousands of years before European settlers arrived. The Indian people lived in many separate tribal groups across the continent. Each of the more than 600 tribes had its own language, culture, and way of life.
Some of the tribes stayed in one area. Others moved from place to place, following buffalo herds or changes in the weather. American Indian tribes shared a deep respect for nature. The majority of them believed that land was something no one could own, not themselves or the settlers. They believed that land could be used for a while, but must be preserved to be passed on to the next generation. Most also believed people were only a small part of nature and had a moral and spiritual obligation to give back whatever they took.
NEW INHABITANTS
When European settlers came to North America, many of them in the 1600s, Indians were curious about the new people who had moved to their land. The American Indians helped the settlers by guiding them through the area and giving them assistance as they set up their farms, sharing what they knew about native plants and animals. The Indians also warned the newcomers about dangerous winter weather. In 1607 Chief Wahunsenacawh, known to the settlers as Chief Powhatan, supplied food to hungry settlers in the colony of Jamestown, in what is now Virginia. In 1621 a Patuxet Indian named Tisquantam, also called Squanto, helped the settlers of Plymouth Colony survive by teaching them native methods of fishing and farming.
But as more and more settlers came to North America through the 1700s, the majority of American Indians grew increasingly unhappy. The settlers were moving onto land where the American Indians already lived. The Indians didn’t like seeing the land that they hunted, fished, and lived on being taken over. Their unhappiness sometimes led to attacks on the settlers. The Indians believed that if they fought the settlers, the settlers would be frightened into leaving.
The settlers didn’t go away. Instead, more immigrants moved to the United States every year. As the eastern United States became settled, the government wanted to expand its boundaries. But if the country was going to grow, it needed more land, so the government looked west.
In 1803 the United States doubled in size with the purchase of vast tracts of land from France, called the Louisiana Purchase. The Louisiana Purchase gave the United States an additional 828,000 square miles (2.1 million square km) of land.
President Thomas Jefferson chose the exploration team of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to go into the new territory to survey the land. The explorers’ reports on their journey into the Northwest encouraged more settlers to move west. These western lands weren’t empty, however. American Indians had made them their homes for centuries.
BROKEN TREATIES
In order to get the land in the west, the government began to negotiate with American Indians. Government leaders traded such things as guns, horses, and clothing with the Indians in exchange for the land. The Indians signed treaties that said they were giving their land to the United States. The treaties also said that the tribes would have to move off their land to reservations—land the government had chosen specifically for them. But reservations were usually on poor land where no one else wanted to live and were almost always much smaller than the Indians had been told they would be.
Sacagawea, a young Shoshone woman, helped Lewis and Clark explore the Pacific Northwest.
Sacagawea was married to Frenchman Toussaint Charbonneau, who was hired as an interpreter by Lewis and Clark. A pregnant Sacagawea was allowed to come on the expedition as a Shoshone interpreter. Her son, Jean Baptiste, was born on the trail. No one knows what happened to Sacagawea after the expedition ended. But most historians believe she died in 1812 in South Dakota.
Sacagawea (center) served as an interpreter for Lewis and Clark.
As the 1800s continued, more treaties were signed between the U.S. government and the American Indians. With every treaty, the American Indians lost additional land and were forced to relocate.
As the settlers traveled west, the routes they took were the ones that best suited their needs. All too often the treaties made with the Indians were ignored, and the settlers crushed grasses and scared away game. This upset the Indians, but since there was still plenty of land available, they often chose not to fight.
Some Indians were hopeful that they would be able to get along with the settlers. But the majority of American Indians weren’t as optimistic. They felt cheated by the U.S. government and angry over how they were treated.
It seemed clear to the American Indians that westward expansion was going to mean a huge change in the way they lived their lives. It was also clear that there wasn’t much that they could do about it.
FUR TRAPPERS AND AMERICAN INDIANS
White fur trappers came to the West beginning in the 1640s. The trappers hunted and trapped animals for their furs, which they sold in the East. Trappers never stayed long in one place. They moved around the countryside, always on the lookout for good places to trap.
The trappers were the first white settlers most American Indians had ever seen. As the trappers and Indians got to know each other, they got along well. Many American Indians helped trappers by showing them around the unfamiliar land and by acting as their guides.
Fur trappers and American Indians shared an annual event every summer near the borders of present-day Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah. Called the Rendezvous, it was a combination of games, gambling, and storytelling that lasted for several days.
Trappers and American Indians gathered each year for the Rendezvous
