The Nez Perce Surrender

The Nez Perce Surrendered. Several hundred of the people did indeed make it to Canada, but the Nez Perces ended up without horses and with no clear means of escape, despite by all means winning the initial battle when they were attacked by surprise. The sad thing is that hundreds of Nez Perce went on to die in captivity. When Chief Joseph surrendered, he was told they would go back to Idaho. That didn't happen for EIGHT more years. They were stuck in a malarial swamp with insufficient medicine and supplies. Most of their children died. How much does that suck? Promises broken over and over and over again, and the near destruction of a generation of Nez Perces. Chief Joseph worked the system the best he could (pretty masterfully) to eventually get his people sent back to Idaho, but it still took eight years.

The Nez Perce stop short

Ahhhhh! The Nez Perces were ahead of Howard by 150 miles! They had only 70ish left to go before they reached the Canadian border. Instead of maintaining their grueling pace and getting to safety, they oust their current leader in favor of one who wants to take it easy, to relax and rejuvenate because they don't believe Howard will catch up to them. Little do they know someone else is on their way! This astonishingly terrible choice baffles me. Get to safety first! Don't go back to the leader who had you go slow and relaxedly the LAST time you got caught and had a bunch of people get killed. Dah! Right now they're about 25 miles from the Canadian border. The end is at hand.

The race is on

In this part of the book I really just feel bad for the Nez Perce. They fought a bunch in Idaho and outmaneuvered the whites, managing to escape through to Montana. When they finally got into Montana, they assumed they were free and clear. They had no qualms with the whites there and assumed they would be able to live peacefully. It displays a total lack of understanding of the scope and nature of the US Army, as well as a poor understanding of the capabilities of the telegraph system. In fact, they were allowed to move peacefully across the plains, purchasing goods from local whites, and it wasn't until they were in the next mountain range that they were attacked, losing many of their women and children. They decided then that all whites must be against them and did not treat civilians kindly thereafter (though they still refrained from killing women and children, I think).

Gold!

The Nez Perce were living peacefully on the reservation when somebody found gold. Immediately, a flood of settlers moved onto the reservation. The government made some small effort at the beginning to stop people but there were too many people and too little military in the area to keep people out, and so they flooded in. Though public and government opinion agreed that the miners were there illegally, instead of trying to get them to move out, they decided instead that the old treaty was untenable and that they would have to renegotiate and force the Nez Perce onto a smaller reservation. If this doesn't sound like a recipe for war, I don't know what would.

Treaties

I was reading more of the Nez Perce story and it is bothersome how the US government made treaties that were understood so differently between the two groups. In one case, they got a chief to sign a treaty and took it to mean that a bunch of tribes were bound to the treaty, when the chief in question was most likely just binding himself and his immediate family. The government continuously tried to impose their own structure on cultures that were vastly different.

After the signing of major treaties that were supposed to relocate the natives to reservations, there was a very irresponsible article that opened the lands for white settlement, despite the fact that the government had not yet ratified the treaties (it took four years for them to do that) and precipitated war with several of the tribes in the area. There was some serious fighting and then a new man was put in charge of the military, and he took a stance that moved the white settlers out and left the natives alone since the treaties weren't ratified. There was over a year of peace while he was in charge, and yet he was ostracized in Washington for his pro-native rights stance. To think we could have actually ended up with peace instead of wars and found an acceptable way to live together. Too bad that didn't last.

Nez Perce and the White Missionaries

Today I learned that the expedition that went to St. Louis was really comprised of 3 Nez Perce and 1 half-blood Nez Perce/Flathead (Salish). They most likely went to St. Louis with dual purposes of opening trade opportunities and acquiring copies of the bible and/or a missionary to teach them. However, the meeting was popularized and spread as four wise men from the west coming to be converted to Christianity and ready to abandon their "heathen" ways. Needless to say, when the missionaries actually came, things didn't go as expected. Whitman and Spalding came down, and the Whitmans ended up settling among the Cayuse while the Spaldings settled among the Nez Perces. The missionaries had some small successes... the natives came to the school and attended some religious services, but they had problems because the missionaries expected the natives to pretty much adopt the culture of the white men. They were expected to learn English, to give up hunting in favor of farming, to move closer to the missions, and basically adopt all the laws and customs of the Americans. They also expected the natives to come to an understanding that they are sinful creatures and are inherently bad without the redemption of Christ. The Nez Perce viewed themselves as essentially good and so this notion of going to hell without Christ's atonement was completely foreign and frankly unacceptable. They did have a few baptisms but it's hard to say if they had any true converts. The Nez Perce held beliefs about spirit animals and a person's successes and failures were linked to their spirit animal (which they discovered on a quest when they were 8-10 years old). Power was linked to spirits and they were probably trying to find additional spiritual power from Christianity to add to their religion, rather than to replace it.

Serious problems didn't come up until Whitman led the first big group of settlers into the Oregon territory. It comprised approximately 125 settlers and thousands of livestock. The author estimated that the group of settlers was about a third of the current Nez Perce population. Within a few years there were thousands. They weren't settling in Nez Perce country, preferring instead the comfortable Willamette valley, but the numbers must have been disconcerting. Also, they brought the measles, and, as I think I said in another post, the white missionaries were blamed for the outbreaks. The Whitmans were eventually massacred and the Spaldings were lucky to escape with their lives. What I didn't realize before was that the missionaries were providing medical aid but since the native populations were so much more susceptible to the diseases, their children were killed in droves while the missionaries were much more successful in helping white children (and adults). I can see how the natives could think it was purposeful.

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.

Modoc War

I'm still reading "Pacific Northwest Indian Wars" but have found it excruciatingly dry, so I skipped ahead to the chapter about the Modoc war and will not read any of the rest of it. Today I learned that the Modocs twice attempted to live on the Klamath reservation with the Klamath tribe but the Klamaths kept stealing their timber and taunting them and their appeals to the government were not handled effectively. The Klamaths and Modocs used to be the same tribe but had a war and broke apart so they really don't get along very well. We're just about to start the real fighting and Captain Jack is retreating to the lava beds. dun dun dun.

Colonel Gilliam

Today I learned that Colonel Gilliam died during the Cayuse War when a harness or lead rope caught on the trigger of a pistol and caused him to get shot and die.

Colonel Cornelius Gilliam

Colonel Gilliam served in both the Black Hawk and Seminole Indian wars on the East Coast, was a captain of State Militia of Missouri when they tried to expel the Mormons from the state, and then went on to fight the Cayuse war (and maybe more, I don't know yet) in Oregon territory. He was super anti-any-religion-except-his-own and was prepared to blame the Catholics for the Indian war, and even to go up against the Hudson's Bay Company, even though only one of their main leaders was Catholic.

Modoc wars

Today I learned that the fighting with the Modoc Indians was some of the fiercest in the northwest. Apparently the Modocs were put on a reservation with an enemy tribe and were understandably unhappy about the situation so they rebelled. They ended up waging battle over in the lava beds.

The Settling of Oregon

I just finished the book "Adventurers of Oregon" by Constance Lindsay Skinner. It's an interesting narrative and includes details mostly of the fur trade in early America. The parts that I have found thought provoking are the start of the vast American settler influx and e role of alcohol in trading with the native Americans.

After the war of 1812 the British controlled much of the Oregon territory through the Hudson Bay company, lead at the time by one McLaughlin. he ruled the area much as a feudal lord and was respected by white and native alike. He was strong and fair. The natives called him chief white eagle and everyone lived fairly peaceably. some farming was established by retired traders. Then one of the native tribes, the Salish, sent some men to find Clark (from Lewis and Clark), to ask him to give them a bible and to send a missionary to teach them. Clark did not do so, but word of the expedition got out and interest in Oregon rose once again. After this a flood of missionaries and settlers began to head for Oregon. The natives became uneasy about their lands being taken. McLaughlin was deposed as the Americans were against the Hudson's bay company (despite being treated fairly and generously), and the natives began to rise up. I don't doubt that settlers would eventually have come to Oregon, but I can't help but wonder how long it would have taken had the Salish not sent to Clark in search of the Bible.

The use of alcohol in trading with the native Americans was a controversial practice. Some trading companies provided alcohol liberally and some forbade the practice of trading with alcohol. I am a little torn on the topic. On the one hand I commend The companies that did not allow alcohol because they seem much more honest and concerned for the well-being of their fellow men, but on the other hand, I believe that the natives should have been able to withstand the temptation. Having lived near an Indian reservation, I have seen first-hand the hold that alcohol still has on many of the people. It makes me wonder if there is some genetic predisposition toward alcoholism or perhaps some historical reason why the natives would be likely to become abusers of alcohol. Is it because it was so new? Who knows. I do think it contributed to the decline of the natives and their defeat by the Americans. I was also surprised at how much the tribes warred against each other and it made me a little sad every time a tribe was kind and helpful to the whites. Part of me wishes I could warn them that they are facilitating their own downfall through their kindness. Who knows, but we may never have discovered the mouth of the Columbia at all without their help.