Historians think
he was born in 1840, but they aren't sure. He was one of the leaders
of a band of the
Nez Perce. His Nez
Perce name is In-mut-too-
yah-lat-lat or "Thunder coming up from the water over
the land."
In 1873 he succeeded his father as
Chief. He continued the policy non-compliance to the 1863 treaty:
it allowed the government to confine the Nez Perce to the reservation.
In 1877 hostilities broke out as a
result of attempts by the U.S. government to enforce the treaty.
The Nez Perce were ordered to leave Wallowa Valley of Oregon territory
and relocate to a reservation in Idaho. Joseph reluctantly agreed,
but when a few of his men killed a group of whites, he decided to lead
several hundred people on a march to find a refuge in Canada.
Joseph and his men defeated the U.S. Army units that tried to stop him
on the Big Hole River in Montana. Though he was stopped about 48
km (30 miles) from the border by a force under General Nelson Miles.
Miles forced him to surrender after a 5 day battle. Joseph and his
people were sent to Oklahoma where many became sick and died.
In 1885 Joseph and the other survivors
moved back to Washington and Idaho. They were forbidden to return
to their home land. Joseph died in 1904 on the Colville Reservation
in Washington.
One year before Joseph died he visited
Washington D.C. There he received a welcome from President
Theodore Roosevelt.
Microsoft Encarta
Microsoft Co.
1994
