Wednesday, October 5, 2011

They Almost Made It...!


It's always amazing to me when I read about the accomplishments of leaders like Chief Joseph.

He must have been a remarkable leader to his people. He also was smart enough to not antagonize innocent folks any more than necessary. Made him quite the opponent, I would imagine!

Oct 5, 1877:
Chief Joseph surrenders

Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Indians surrenders to U.S. General Nelson A. Miles in the Bear Paw mountains of Montana, declaring, "Hear me, my chiefs: My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever."

Earlier in the year, the U.S. government broke a land treaty with the Nez Perce, forcing the group out of their homeland in Wallowa Valley in the Northwest for relocation in Idaho. In the midst of their journey, Chief Joseph learned that three young Nez Perce warriors, enraged at the loss of their homeland, had massacred a band of white settlers. Fearing retaliation by the U.S. Army, the chief began one of the great retreats in American military history.


For more than three months, Chief Joseph led fewer than 300 Nez Perce Indians toward the Canadian border, covering a distance of more than 1,000 miles as the Nez Perce outmaneuvered and battled more than 2,000 pursuing U.S. soldiers. During the long retreat, he treated prisoners humanely and won the admiration of whites by purchasing supplies along the way rather than stealing them. Finally, only 40 miles short of his Canadian goal, Chief Joseph was cornered by the U.S. Army, and his people were forcibly relocated to a barren reservation in Indian Territory.

This man made a whole army of superior numbers look pretty bad for a very long time! You just can't do that without being a brilliant leader of men, regardless of who you are leading!

Let's get some fresh coffee and sit outside while it's still cool! It will climb up back to the high 80s later, but it's nice right now!

6 comments:

Ben in Texas said...

He and his people did make a historic exodus. Somewhere , sometime in the past I had read the book recounting that journey.

If I'm not mistaken some of the tribe of the Nez Perce ended up or migrated to the reservation south of Albuquerque along the Rio Grand near Los Lunas NM.

Ben in Texas said...

Update , if you're interested.


More history

Anonymous said...

Our Native Americans were very badly treated by our government, I don't blame them one bit for causing a dustup when we broke treaty after treaty. So I don't mind it much to hear of Indian Reservation gambling casinos making a killing - they have it coming to them.

Sixbears said...

One year we retraced most of the Trail of Tears. My wife had an ancestor who was in the army escorting the tribes along. His journal told how heartsick it make him.

JoJo said...

Another horrible story about our government and the Indians.
Just never stops making me cringe.

Coffee on the patio before it gets to hot sound good to me. we are at 44 this morning.

HermitJim said...

Hey Ben...
I remember reading the whole speech now. Thanks for finding it for us.

Amazing just how resilient the native Americans were when they were moved to a new place.

Thanks, buddy, for coming by today!


Hey Anon 7:25...
In a way, I guess that they are having some measure of revenge with those casinos.

Our history is full of some pretty sad things. I only hope we can learn from it.

Thanks for dropping by today!


Hey Sixbears...
I can certainly see how the soldiers escorting the Indians on that trip could feel heartsick. It had to be tough on those that were fair minded.

Pretty amazing trip all in all!

Thanks for coming by today!


Hey JoJo...
There are so many stories that are hard to hear, that's for sure.

Let's hope it never happens again.

Thanks, sweetie, for the visit today!