My people ask me for food, and I have none
                                                     to give. It is cold, and we have no blankets, no
                                                    wood. My people are starving to death.
                                                   Where is my little daughter? I do not know.
                                                   Perhaps, even now, she is freezing to death.
                                                    Hear me, my chiefs. I have fought. But
                                                        from where the sun now stands,
                                                      I will fight no more forever

                                                                             

                                                                                          

                                                                             Chief Joseph, known by his people as In-mut-too-yah-lat-lat (Thunder
                                                                             coming up over the land from the water), was best known for his resistance
                                                                           to the U.S. Government's attempts to force his tribe onto reservations. The
                                                                         Nez Perce were a peaceful nation spread from Idaho to Northern
                                                                            Washington. The tribe had maintained good relations with the whites after
                                                                            the Lewis and Clark expedition. Joseph spent much of his early childhood at
                                                                     a mission maintained by Christian missionaries

                                                                               In 1855 Chief Joseph's father, Old Joseph, signed a treaty with the U.S.
                                                                                that allowed his people to retain much of their traditional lands. In 1863
                                                                               another treaty was created that severely reduced the amount of land, but
                                                                                                Old Joseph maintained that this second treaty was never
                                                                                                                           agreed to by his people.
 

                                                                                  A showdown over the second "non-treaty" came after Chief Joseph
                                                                                                                  assumed his role as Chief in 1877.

                                                                             After months of fighting and forced marches, many of the Nez Perce were
                                                                               sent to a reservation in what is now Oklahoma, where many died from
                                                                                                               malaria and starvation

                                                                                  Chief Joseph tried every possible appeal to the federal authorities to
                                                                                return the Nez Perce to the land of their ancestors. In 1885, he was sent
                                                                                along with many of his band to a reservation in Washington where,
                                                                                according to the reservation doctor, he later died of a broken heart.
 


                                          The Spirits only warn you twice
 

                                                                         
 

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                                                                                  This is the first in a series of  Native American  Pages I plan on doing....
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