Sahaptin People - Treaties and Conflict

Treaties and Conflict

In 1855 they sold by treaty a large part of their territory. In the general outbreak of 1855-56, sometimes designated as the Yakima war, the Nez Percés, almost alone, remained friendly. In 1863, in consequence of the discovery of gold, another treaty was negotiated between another Nez Percés chief known as Lawyer (whose band had converted to Christianity and was now assimilating to white culture) and General Oliver O. Howard of the U.S. Army in which Lawyer surrendered all but the Lapwai reservation. Chief Joseph of the Wallowa band refused to sign the new treaty, stating that the Treaty of 1855 was promised to be the rule of law for "as long as the sun shines," protecting their home land from white intrusion. Since Nez Percés custom dictated that no single chief spoke for all others, when Joseph and others (including Toohoolhoolzote and Looking Glass) refused to sign the treaty, it was done so with the understanding that the U.S. Government was still bound by their original agreement, and that only Lawyer's band would be bound by the new treaty that only they signed.

However, General Howard gathered numerous other Nez Percés to make their "X" on the document so as to give the illusion that Joseph and the others had indeed signed the treaty. Thus, in the eyes of the U.S. government, they would also be subject to its terms.

Joseph steadfastly refused to be a party to the treaty or to its terms, only relenting when it became clear that the survival of his people depended on it. But as they made the arduous trek out of their home land and to the new reservation, a small group of young Nez Percés warriors broke off and murdered numerous white settlers along the Salmon River. These events were what set in motion the Nez Percés war (1877). After successfully holding in check for some months the regular troops and a large force of Indian scouts, Joseph, Looking Glass, and other chiefs conducted a retreat for over a thousand miles across the mountains but were finally intercepted and forced to surrender within a short distance of the Canadian frontier. Despite the promise that he should be returned to his own country, Joseph and the remnant of his band were deported to Oklahoma, where they wasted away so rapidly that in 1885 the few who survived were transferred to the Colville reservation in Washington. Throughout the entire retreat no outrage was committed by Joseph's warriors. The main portion of the tribe took no part in the war.

In 1893 those of Lapwai were given individual allotments, and the reservation was opened to white settlement.