The Real Story of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce War

The Nez Perce War of 1877 was the last great Indian war in which the US Army, protecting encroaching white settlers, pursued the Nez Perce people from Oregon, through Idaho, and into Montana before finally defeating them. The war began with the Nez Perce having the upper hand in several attacks and battles that gave their few warriors a reputation as terrifying fighters led by the military genius Heinmot Tooyalalkekt, also known as Chief Joseph. When the Nez Perce, represented by Chief Joseph,  surrendered in October of 1877, it was the culmination of a riveting war that people in the eastern US had been following avidly in the papers.

But the newspaper accounts only told one side of the story. The actual war followed decades of negotiations and broken treaties between the US and the Nez Perce. The US had a fundamental and possibly deliberate misunderstanding of the Nez Perce- they weren't one nation, but a network of bands of people, and none of them spoke for all of them. Chief Joseph was one of several chiefs, but it fell to him to communicate their final surrender to the army. The early victories of the Nez Perce had more to do with the US military's ignorance of how their culture worked, plus some major blunders, and the local civilians who did more harm than good. Meanwhile, Chief Joseph was more concerned with the safety of the women and children of his people than with military victories. Read how the war unfolded from the perspective of the Nez Perce in a chronicle at Damn Interesting. You can also listen to it in podcast form.