The “Taming” of the West: Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce War
American Realities, 1,1 The “Taming” of the West: Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce War
(This outline is not a “substitute” for reading the chapter, but it may help you review the story and understand it better.)
Overview: American soldiers and settlers “tamed” the West in wars with the Sioux in the Dakotas, the Apache in Arizona, the Modoc in northern California, the Nez Perce in the Northwest, and many other Native Americans throughout the West. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, some Americans began to view the Indian wars critically, and Indian leaders, formerly adversaries, were celebrated in parades and western shows. Chief Joseph’s career illustrates the subjugation of his tribe, the Nez Perce, and his emergence later on as a hero and spokesman for American values—values that Americans themselves often ignored.
Outline
1. Overview and Introduction to Chief Joseph: Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, Nez Perce, “Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain,” Joseph, Wallowa Valley, man of peace, war in 1877, longest battlefield.
2. Early White Contacts with the Nez Perce: assimilate white culture, Appaloosas, early French trappers, Palouse, “Pierced Nose”, French names, Lewis and Clark Expedition, Bitterroot Mountains, British and American fur trappers, "friends of the white men,” four Nez Perce traveled to St. Louis, Christian missionaries, Boston-based American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, Henry Spalding, Henry Spalding, Eliza Spalding, spoke through four languages, English, Iroquois, Flat Head, Nez Perce, “penetrated these wild regions,”“excited great curiosity,” printing press, translated portions of the Bible, “Old Joseph,” “Young Joseph,” began his life in a cave, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, Cayuse Indians.
3. Traditional Ways and American Intervention: Isaac Stevens and the Walla Walla Council, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, “extinguish” Indian land claims, John Mullan, providing gifts of tobacco, shirts, and cloth, “malcontents,” wars with other Indian groups (but not yet the Nez Perce), intrusion into Nez Perce land Hallahhotsoot, “Lawyer,” thousand Nez Perce on horseback, paying tribute to Governor Stevens, showing their strength, no right to give up land that was not even theirs, Non-Treaty Nez Perce, United States General Land Office, public domain, opened to settlement, "never sell the bones of your father and your mother,” the lovely valley, Oregon governor, “one of his brothers, ” Col. Charles E. S. Wood, Freedman’s Bureau, soon-to-be famous argument, General Oliver O. Howard, Lapwai, Toohoolhoolzote, “the irregular Cossacks of Russia," “quick-sighted, superior marksmen,” Looking Glass, “What makes me feel like laughing this morning,” “Mine is from real joy,” “hot-blooded young braves,” “a great wrong.”
4. The Nez Perce War: White Bird Canyon, Battle of White Bird Canyon, reinforcements, “driplets,” the Clearwater River, the Lolo Trail, the Crow, Fort Fizzle, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, "worst trails for man and beast on this continent,” paid good money for supplies, different kinds of press reactions, Col. John Gibbon, the Big Hole, "No Hip Bone,” ninety rounds of ammunition, two days’ rations, three quick rounds into the camp, Nez Perce regrouped and fought back, tight square, Camas Meadows, pack mules, Yellowstone Park, Bear Paw, party of tourists, two Nez Perce scouts, friendly to the Americans, "look for my children," "Hear me, my chiefs," Joseph’s surrender—“I will fight no more forever.”
5. Chief Joseph after the War: exile in Oklahoma, “thieves and murders,” Wounded Knee, President William McKinley, President Theodore Roosevelt, “the Napoleon of Indians,” “the great Joseph,” Gen. Grenville Dodge, his “aides,” “costume of gray and blue blanket," Colville Reservation, visit to New York, celebrated as a hero, life at his new home, Bear Paw, Charles Wood, Erskine, Nespelem Valley, Chief Joseph, “old friends," rations, "supplement their native food and clothing,” supported themselves, hunting and fishing, Cool-Cool-Smool-Mool, Looking Down, flour and coffee, shot cattle, Indian leader, North American Review, "treat all men alike," "Let me be a free man," “a spokesman for a broader humanity.”
(This outline is not a “substitute” for reading the chapter, but it may help you review the story and understand it better.)
Overview: American soldiers and settlers “tamed” the West in wars with the Sioux in the Dakotas, the Apache in Arizona, the Modoc in northern California, the Nez Perce in the Northwest, and many other Native Americans throughout the West. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, some Americans began to view the Indian wars critically, and Indian leaders, formerly adversaries, were celebrated in parades and western shows. Chief Joseph’s career illustrates the subjugation of his tribe, the Nez Perce, and his emergence later on as a hero and spokesman for American values—values that Americans themselves often ignored.
Outline
1. Overview and Introduction to Chief Joseph: Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, Nez Perce, “Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain,” Joseph, Wallowa Valley, man of peace, war in 1877, longest battlefield.
2. Early White Contacts with the Nez Perce: assimilate white culture, Appaloosas, early French trappers, Palouse, “Pierced Nose”, French names, Lewis and Clark Expedition, Bitterroot Mountains, British and American fur trappers, "friends of the white men,” four Nez Perce traveled to St. Louis, Christian missionaries, Boston-based American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, Henry Spalding, Henry Spalding, Eliza Spalding, spoke through four languages, English, Iroquois, Flat Head, Nez Perce, “penetrated these wild regions,”“excited great curiosity,” printing press, translated portions of the Bible, “Old Joseph,” “Young Joseph,” began his life in a cave, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, Cayuse Indians.
3. Traditional Ways and American Intervention: Isaac Stevens and the Walla Walla Council, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, “extinguish” Indian land claims, John Mullan, providing gifts of tobacco, shirts, and cloth, “malcontents,” wars with other Indian groups (but not yet the Nez Perce), intrusion into Nez Perce land Hallahhotsoot, “Lawyer,” thousand Nez Perce on horseback, paying tribute to Governor Stevens, showing their strength, no right to give up land that was not even theirs, Non-Treaty Nez Perce, United States General Land Office, public domain, opened to settlement, "never sell the bones of your father and your mother,” the lovely valley, Oregon governor, “one of his brothers, ” Col. Charles E. S. Wood, Freedman’s Bureau, soon-to-be famous argument, General Oliver O. Howard, Lapwai, Toohoolhoolzote, “the irregular Cossacks of Russia," “quick-sighted, superior marksmen,” Looking Glass, “What makes me feel like laughing this morning,” “Mine is from real joy,” “hot-blooded young braves,” “a great wrong.”
4. The Nez Perce War: White Bird Canyon, Battle of White Bird Canyon, reinforcements, “driplets,” the Clearwater River, the Lolo Trail, the Crow, Fort Fizzle, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, "worst trails for man and beast on this continent,” paid good money for supplies, different kinds of press reactions, Col. John Gibbon, the Big Hole, "No Hip Bone,” ninety rounds of ammunition, two days’ rations, three quick rounds into the camp, Nez Perce regrouped and fought back, tight square, Camas Meadows, pack mules, Yellowstone Park, Bear Paw, party of tourists, two Nez Perce scouts, friendly to the Americans, "look for my children," "Hear me, my chiefs," Joseph’s surrender—“I will fight no more forever.”
5. Chief Joseph after the War: exile in Oklahoma, “thieves and murders,” Wounded Knee, President William McKinley, President Theodore Roosevelt, “the Napoleon of Indians,” “the great Joseph,” Gen. Grenville Dodge, his “aides,” “costume of gray and blue blanket," Colville Reservation, visit to New York, celebrated as a hero, life at his new home, Bear Paw, Charles Wood, Erskine, Nespelem Valley, Chief Joseph, “old friends," rations, "supplement their native food and clothing,” supported themselves, hunting and fishing, Cool-Cool-Smool-Mool, Looking Down, flour and coffee, shot cattle, Indian leader, North American Review, "treat all men alike," "Let me be a free man," “a spokesman for a broader humanity.”
