THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN
7
country and migrate to Lapwai in Idaho, the site of one .of the Whitman
mission stations. Part of the Nez Perces, in their desire for peace with
the United States, agreed to go, but others refused, relying upon the
treaty of 1855. But our treaties with the Indians have had even less
virtue than "scraps of paper." Troops wrere sent to remove the un
willing Nez Perces by force. It was then that the masterly energies of
Chief Joseph came into play. He placed himself at the head of his re
bellious people, intending to lead them into Canada, where, as he said,
the Government kept faith with its wards.
The Federal troops in that region were commanded by General O.
O. Howard, whose ardent piety did not interfere with the execution of
inhuman orders from his superiors. His first move was to block the
exits to Canada, expecting to pen up the Indians in the Wallowa Valley
and carry the entire tribe into captivity. But Joseph found a way out
over the Lolo Pass, which led inio the Bitter Root Valley, then a wild
region but now a paradise. His plan w7as to proceed toward Canada
through the Mullan Pass, not far from Helena, but, learning that it was
held by a strong guard,' he turned southward and sought shelter in the
Big Hole Basin, a retreat which seemed secure. General Howard's
troops were four days in the rear and Joseph knew of no other danger.
But Major Gibbon had pursued him with a battalion of cavalry which
attacked the sleeping Indians before dawn. Confused at first, the Nez
Perces soon rallied and inflicted a terrible defeat upon the foe. Gibbon's
cavalry was rendered so helpless that he could not interfere with the
movements of the Indians, who quietly decamped from the Big Hole,
made their way eastward and northward through the Yellowstone Park
and across the valleys of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers to within
eighty miles of the Canadian border. Here, on the western slope of the
Bears Paw Mountains, they camped to replenish their store of provisions
by a buffalo hunt.
During their flight before the Federal troops the Indians had com
mitted no depredations. They injured nobody and paid for the supplies
which they received. This is strictly true of Joseph's band, whatever
may be said of other and less competently commanded parties. But the
military made no distinctions between the bad and good. They visited
upon the heads of the innocent the real or imaginary crimes of the
guilty. It fell to Colonel Miles to strike the last and killing blow at the
fleeing Nez Perces. Passing round the northern flank of the Bears Paw
Mountains, he came upon their camp early in the morning of the last
day of September. The year was 1877. Mr, Titus narrates in careful
detail the events that followed. If any white reader can peruse the ac
count with pride, we do not envy his stone heart and moral insensibil
ity. The usual attempt was made to surprise the Indians, but it failed.