Chief Joseph

Chief Joseph, known in his own language as Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, 'Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain', was born in 1840 in the Wallowa Valley, in what is now northeastern Oregon. His father, also called Joseph, led the Wallowa band of the Nez Perce and refused to sign an 1863 treaty that greatly reduced their lands. After his father's death in 1871, Joseph became leader. In 1877 the United States Army ordered the band onto a reservation in Idaho, and after fighting broke out, about 800 Nez Perce fled, traveling some 1,170 miles through Idaho, Wyoming and Montana and fighting several battles as they tried to reach Canada. They were caught about forty miles from the border, and Joseph surrendered; his words as reported, ending 'I will fight no more forever', became famous. His people were sent to Kansas and then to Indian Territory, and Joseph visited Washington to plead for their return home. He was never allowed back to the Wallowa Valley and died on the Colville Reservation in Washington in 1904.

Chief Joseph is also an author in the library: author page and works.

Faith: Faith not well documented; his father had been baptized a Christian and took the name Joseph. Source: Wikipedia