Chief Joseph : Guardian of the People (American Heroes)

From Booklist
Moulton has written extensively on western expansion. Here, she focuses on Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce tribe, who, after trying for years to accommodate encroaching white men on his tribal lands, gave up and attempted, in the fall of 1877, to lead his people to safety in Canada. Born in 1840, Joseph was present at the signing of the 1855 treaty, which allowed the tribe to hold on to a 5,000-square-mile region in Idaho and Oregon, including their beloved Wallowa Valley. By 1877, a year after the Battle of Little Bighorn, word came from Washington that they had to move to a small reservation instead. Joseph, now chief, decides to take his people through Yellowstone and Montana, hoping to join Sitting Bull and his followers 300 miles north in Saskatchewan. They are caught by U.S. army troops just 40 miles short of their goal, in the Battle of the Bear's Paw. Moving and well documented, this is a superb addition to the American Heroes series. Deborah Donovan
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Review
"Impeccably researched...will stand for generations as a testament to one man's heroic struggle to find a sanctuary for his people."


Book Description
Chief Joseph (1840-1904) became a legend due to his heroic efforts to keep his people in their homeland in Oregon's Wallowa Valley despite a treaty that ordered them onto a reservation in Idaho. In 1877, when the US army forced the Nez Percé away from their lands, Joseph led his tribespeople on a 1,500-mile, four-month flight from western Idaho across Montana, through Yellowstone National Park and Wyoming, toward safety in Canada.

During this journey, the Army attacked the Indians several times; in one battle alone, at the Big Hole in western Montana, ninety Indian men, women, and children were killed. The Nez Percés' flight ended at the Bear's Paw mountains in northern Montana, just forty miles from the safety of the Canadian border. There the Army surrounded the Nez Percé, captured their horses, killed all but two of their primary chiefs, and forced their capitulation.
When Chief Joseph surrendered to military leaders he told them, "From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever."

Promised by military commanders that they would be returned to Idaho, the Nez Percés were instead relocated to Indian Territory in Oklahoma where many died of fever and disease. Chief Joseph began a new fight-for better conditions for his people and the right to return to their home country. His diplomacy and eloquence won public support and ultimately resulted in the Nez Percé's return to Idaho and Washington.



About the Author
Candy Moulton is the author of twelve Western history books including Everyday Life Among American Indians from 1800 to 1900, Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in the Wild West from 1840 to 1900, Roadside History of Wyoming, and Roadside History of Nebraska. Moulton makes her home near Encampment, Wyoming, where she edits the Western Writers of America Roundup Magazine, writes regularly for several magazines including True West, Wild West, Persimmon Hill, and American Cowboy. She is a member of the Nez Percé Trail Foundation, Lewis and Clark Heritage Trail Foundation, Oregon-California Trails Association, and Western Writers of America.



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"Chief Joseph (1840-1904) became a legend through his heroic efforts to keep his people in their homeland in Oregon's Wallowa Valley despite a treaty that ordered them onto a reservation in Idaho. In 1877, when the U.S. Army forced the Nez Perces away from their lands, Joseph led his tribespeople on a fifteen-hundred-mile, four-month flight from western Idaho across Montana, through what is now Yellowstone National Park and Wyoming, and north toward safety in Canada." "During this journey, the army attacked the Indians several times; in one battle alone, at the Big Hole in western Montana, ninety Indian men, women, and children were killed. The Nez Perces' flight ended at the Bear's Paw Mountains in northern Montana, just forty miles from the safety of the Canadian border. There the army surrounded the Nez Perces, captured their horses, killed all but two of their primary chiefs, and forced their capitulation." "When Chief Joseph surrendered to military leaders, he told them, "From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever."" Promised by military commanders that they would be returned to Idaho, the Nez Perces were instead relocated to Indian Territory in Oklahoma where many died of fever and disease. Chief Joseph began a new fight - for better conditions for his people and the right to return to their home country. His diplomacy and eloquence won public support and ultimately resulted in the Nez Perces' return to Idaho and Washington.


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