Nez Perce

Today I started reading The Last Indian War by Elliot West which is one book in a series called Pivotal Moments in American History. I'm only a chapter in so far but it is much better than the Pacific Northwest Indian Wars, which was entirely too dry. Today I learned that Nez Perce is pronounced "Nezz Purse" and that the tribe traveled over 1500 miles during the course of the war. They were trying to make it to Canada but were finally stopped just 40 miles shy of the border. I don't know why we didn't just let them go. I am really interested to read this story because everything I've read about the Pacific Northwest tribes to date has painted the Nez Perce as very cooperative with whites and very peaceful.

The Nez Perce lived in a vast area that encompassed part of southeastern Washington, northeastern Oregon, and Idaho all the way to the Bitterroot Mountains. They lived in villages and primarily fished, gathered, and hunted with stunning bows. They became excellent horsemen and horse breeders. There was a cool Origin story about how some great monster came and ate up all the people (animals) that lived on the land and the coyote thought that was messed up so he brought in knives and cut out the monster's heart so that it died, then he scattered bits all around and it made up the surrounding tribes (the Cayuse, Palouse, Wallowas, etc, etc), and the Nez Perce were the tribe that ended up at the heart of the monster, small, but powerful.