Saga of Chief Joseph

by Helen Addison Howard

  Horner, J. H., and Butterfield, Grace. “The Nez Perce-Findley Affair,” Oregon Historical Quarterly, March, 1939.

  Howard, Major General Oliver Otis. “Famous Indian Chiefs,” St. Nicholas Magazine, Part XI. June, 1908.

  —. Famous Indian Chiefs I Have Known. New York: Century Co., 1908. Chapter XI.

  —. Life and Experiences among Our Hostile Indians. Hartford, Conn.: A. D. Worthington & Co., 1907.

  —. Chief Joseph, His Pursuit and Capture. Boston: Lee & Shephard, Publishers, 1881. The most valuable source account of the military campaign.

  Original Dispatches of General O. O. Howard. Three of these are dated, respectively, 1876, 77, 78, and were in Spokane Public Library in 1940.

  Hulbert, Archer Butler, and Hulbert, Dorothy Printup. Overland to the Pacific. Denver: 1935–37. Vols. IV, V, VI.

  Humphrey, Seth K. The Indian Dispossessed. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1905.

  Hunt, Garrett B. “Indian Wars of the Inland Empire.” Unpublished manuscript at Spokane Community College, Spokane, Washington. It is based upon government documents and participants’ accounts relating to the Columbia Basin Indian War of 1856–58. Written in 1908 it has been privately printed by Spokane Community College Library, September 1966.

  Hunter, Colonel George. Reminiscences of an Old Timer San Francisco: H. S. Crocker & Co., 1887.

  Irving, Washington. Adventures of Captain Bonneville. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1880.

  —. Astoria. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1880.

  Jackson, Helen Hunt (“H H”). A Century of Dishonor. New York: Harper & Bros., 1881.

  Jocelyn, Stephen Perry. Mostly Alkali. Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1952.

  Johnson, Henry C. “Volunteer Survivor Recalls Battle with Indians East of Cottonwood.” Manuscript in Idaho State Historical Library, Boise.

  Josephy, Alvin M., Jr. “The Last Stand of Chief Joseph,” American Heritage, IX, February, 1958. Gives a brief resumé of the war.

  Kappler, Charles J. Indian Affairs, Laws and Treaties. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1904–9. 4 vols.

  Kip, Colonel Lawrence. Indian Council at Walla Walla, 1855. Eugene, Ore.: Star Job Office, 1897. A pamphlet. Clark Memorial Library, Los Angeles, Calif.

  Kip, Lawrence. Army Life on the Pacific. New York: Redfield, 1859.

  Laut, Agnes C. The Blazed Trail of the Old Frontier. New York: Robert M. McBride & Co., 1926. Part III.

  McBeth, Kate C. Nez Percés Since Lewis and Clark. New York: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1908.

  McLaughlin, James. My Friend the Indian. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1910.

  MacLeod, William Christie. The American Indian Frontier. London: Kegan, Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., 1928.

  McWhorter, Lucullus V. Hear Me, My Chiefs!, edited by Ruth Bordin. Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1952. Presents the “entire story of the Nez Perce tribe,” including the War of 1877 from Indian sources.

  —. Yellow Wolf: His Own Story. Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1940. A Nez Perce warrior’s personal accounts of events leading up to, and including the war of 1877. A good supplementary volume to this text.

  Mannypenny, George W. Our Indian Wards. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co., 1880.

  Meany, Dr. Edmond Stephen, “Chief Joseph, the Nez Perce.” Master of Letters Thesis, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1901.

  —. History of the State of Washington. New York: Macmillan Co., 1910.

  Miles, Brigadier General Nelson A. “Future of the Indian Question,” North American Review, January, 1891.

  —. “Chief Joseph’s Surrender,” New York Tribune Supplement, August 4, 1907.

  —. “The Indian Problem,” North American Review, April, 1879.

  —. Personal Recollections of General Miles. New York: The Werner Co., 1896.

  —. Serving the Republic. New York: Harper & Bros., 1911.

  —. “On the Trail of Geronimo,” Cosmopolitan Magazine, July, 1911.

  Monteith, John B. “Letters: Lapwai Indian Agency, Idaho.” Vol. IV, August 27, 1875–December 30, 1876. U. S. Indian Agent. Original letters in Idaho State Historical Library, Boise. Additional copies of his original letters are in Spokane Public Library, which cover the period from October 1, 1871–June 27, 1874.

  Monteith, Mrs. Frances Whitman. “Original Papers of Mrs. Frances Whitman Monteith.” Spokane Public Library. She is the daughter of Perrin Whitman, the widow of Charles Monteith, and sister-in-law of John B. Monteith.

  Moody, Charles Stuart. “The Bravest Deed I Ever Knew,” Century Magazine, March 1911.

  Morrison, Edmund. “The Misfortunes of Joseph—A View of the Nez Perce War,” Parts I and II, Southern Branch, University of Idaho, Pocatello. Manuscript in Idaho State Historical Library, Boise.

  Mueller, Oscar O. “The Nez Perce at Cow Island,” Montana, the Magazine of Western History, Vol. XIV, April, 1964. The incident is based on newspaper accounts, but contains some errors of fact.

  “Nez Perce War Diary of Private Frederick Mayer,” George F. Brimlow, ed. Seventeenth Biennial Report, Idaho State Historical Society, 1939–1940. Boise, Idaho, 1940.

  “Nez Perce War Letters to Governor Mason Brayman,” Eugene B. Chaffee, ed. Fifteenth Biennial Report, Idaho State Historical Society, Boise, Idaho, 1936.

  Northrop, Henry Davenport. Indian Horrors. Oakland, Calif.: Pacific Press Publishing Co., 1891.

  Noyes, Al J. The Story of Ajax. Helena, Mont.: State Publishing Co., 1914.

  Oregon Adjutant-General’s Report 1866. Salem, Oregon, 1866.

  Palmer, Joel. Journal of Travels over the Rocky Mountains 1845–1846. Same in Thwaites’s Early Western Travels, Cleveland: A. H. Clark Co., 1906. Vol. XXX.

  Parker, Samuel. Journal of an Exploring Tour Beyond the Rocky Mountains under the Direction of the A. B. C. F. M. Performed in the Years, 1835, 36, 37. Ithaca, New York: Published by the author, 1838.

  Paterson, Arthur. The Daughter of the Nez Perces. New York: George Bottberger Peck, 1894. A factual account, fictionalized in many respects.

  Paxson, Frederic Logan. The Last American Frontier. New York: Macmillan Co., 1913.

  Phillips, Paul C., ed. “The Battle of the Big Hole,” Sources of Northwest History, No. 8, State University of Montana, Missoula. A pamphlet.

  —, ed. “Historical Reprints,” Frontier Magazine, November, 1929.

  Phinney, Archie, ed. Nez Percé Texts. New York: Columbia University Press, 1934.

  Pond, George E. “Nelson A. Miles,” McClure’s Magazine, November, 1895.

  Quaife, M. M., ed. “Yellowstone Kelley,” Memoirs of Luther S. Kelly. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1926.

  “Redfield’s Reminiscences.” Pacific Northwest Quarterly, Vol. XXVII, No. 1, University of Washington, Seattle, January, 1936.

  Redington, J. W. “When We Fought Chief Joseph,” Sunset Magazine, February, 1905.

  —. “Scouting in Montana in the 1870’s,” Frontier Magazine, November, 1932.

  Rhodes, Major General Charles D. “Chief Joseph and the Nez Perces Campaign of 1877,” Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Order of Indian Wars of the United States, Washington DC, February 18, 1938.

  Richardson, James D. Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Washington DC: Published by Authority of Congress, 1897. Vols. VI, VII, X, XI.

  Robertson, Frank C. On the Trail of Chief Joseph. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1927.

  Romeyn, Captain Henry. “The Capture of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce Indians,” Rocky Mountain Magazine, Vol. IV, No. 2. April, 1902. Same in Vol. II, Contributions: Historical Society of Montana, Helena, 1896.

  Roosevelt, Theodore. Winning of the West. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1889–94. 4 vols.

  Ross, Alexander. Adventures of the First Settlers on the Oregon or Columbia River. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1849. Same in Thwaites’s Early Western Travels. Cleveland: 1905–6, Vol. VII.

  Ruby, Robert H. “Josiah Red Wolf Tells His Story,” Sp
okesman-Review Inland Empire Magazine, November 17, 1963. A ninety-two-year-old Nez Perce’s boyhood recollections of the War of 1877.

  Russell, Charles M. Back-Trailing on the Old Frontiers. Great Falls, Mont.: Cheely-Raban Syndicate, 1922.

  Sass, Herbert Ravenel. Hear Me, My Chiefs! New York: William Morrow & Co., Inc., 1940. A picture of the United States before the white man’s domination, not only of the Indian way of life, but of the abundance of wild animal and bird life.

  Scott, Major General Hugh Lenox. Some Memories of a Soldier. New York: The Century Co., 1928.

  Seymour, Flora Warren. The Story of the Red Man. New York: Longman’s, Green & Co., 1929.

  Sherrill, Thomas C. Battle of the Big Hole in August, 1877, written by Ella C. Hathaway, July, 1919. n. p.

  Shields, G. O. Battle of the Big Hole. New York: Rand, McNally Co., 1889.

  —. Blanket Indians of the Northwest. New York: Vechten Waring Co., 1921. Subscribers’ edition.

  Spinden, Herbert J. “The Nez Percé Indians,” Memoirs of the American Anthropological Society. Lancaster, Pa.: New Era Printing Co., 1908. Vol. II, Part 3.

  Splawn, A. J. Ka-mi-akin: The Last Hero of the Yakimas. Portland, Ore.: 1917.

  Stanley, Edward J. Rambles in Wonderland. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1878.

  Stevens, Hazard. Life of General Isaac I. Stevens. New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1901. Vol. II.

  Sutherland, Thomas A. Howard’s Campaign against the Nez Perce Indians 1877. Portland, Ore.: 1878.

  Talkington, Dr. H. L. “Manuscript History of the Nez Perce Reservation.” State Normal School, Lewiston, 1938. Manuscript in Idaho State Historical Library, Boise.

  Thomson, Origen. Across the Plains in 1852. Greensburg, Ind.: 1896.

  Thwaites, Reuben Gold, ed. Original Journals of Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804–1806. New York: Dodd, 1904–6. 8 vols. A primary source and the most important work dealing with the Lewis and Clark expedition.

  Titus, Nelson C. “Last Stand of the Nez Perces,” Washington Historical Quarterly, Vol. VI, No. 3, University of Washington, Seattle, July, 1915.

  Townsend, John Kirk. Narrative of a Journey across the Rocky Mountains to the Columbia River and a Visit to the Sandwich Islands. Philadelphia: Perkins, 1839.

  Victor, Mrs. Frances F. Early Indian Wars of Oregon. Salem, Ore.: Frank C. Baker, State Printer, 1894.

  Warren, Eliza Spalding. Memoirs of the West; The Spaldings. Portland, Ore.: The Marsh Printing Co., 1916.

  Washington, State of. Washington Territorial Journal, House of Representatives, Olympia, Washington, 1854. Pp. 15–22.

  Weikert, Andrew J. “Journal of a Tour through the Yellowstone Park in August and September, 1877,” Rocky Mountain Magazine, Vol. IV, No. 1, March, 1902. Same in Vol. III, Contributions: Historical Society of Montana, Helena, Mont.: 1900.

  Wheeler, Olin D. Trail of Lewis and Clark. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1904. New Edition, 1926. 2 vols.

  Wood, C. E. S. “Chief Joseph, the Nez Percé,” Century Magazine, May, 1884.

  Wood, Erskine. “A Boy’s Visit to Chief Joseph,” St. Nicholas Magazine, September, 1893.

  —. “Diary of a Fourteen Year Old Boy’s Days with Chief Joseph,” Oregon Historical Quarterly, Vol. LI, No. 2, June, 1950. A source account giving a detailed description of a white boy’s experiences hunting and trapping among the Nez Perces, and of the reservation life of Chief Joseph and his tribespeople in the 1890s.

  Wood, Henry Clay. Status of Young Joseph and His Band of Nez Percé Indians under the Treaties between the United States and the Nez Percé Tribe of Indians and the Indian Title to Land. Portland, Ore.: 1876. Photostatic copy in Portland Public Library.

  Wood, Norman B. Lives of Famous Indian Chiefs. Chicago: L. W. Walter Co., 1906.

  Woodruff, General W. A. “Battle of the Big Hole,” Contributions: Historical Society of Montana. Helena, Mont.: State Publishing Co., 1910. Vol. VII.

  United States Documents

  Henshaw, H. W. “Nez Perce Vocabulary Secured,” Tenth Annual Report, Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington DC, 1888–89.

  Hodge, Frederick W. Handbook of the American Indian, Bureau of American Ethnology. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, Bulletin 30, Part I, 1907. Bulletin 30, Part II, 1910.

  Mallory, Garrick. “Pictographs of the North American Indians,” Fifth Annual Report, Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington DC, 1882–83.

  Mooney, James. “The Ghost Dance Religion,” Fourteenth Annual Report, Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington DC, 1892–93. Parts I and II.

  —. “Kiowa,” Seventeenth Annual Report, Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington DC, 1895–96.

  Royer, Charles C. “The Cherokee Nation of Indians,” Fifth Annual Report, Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington DC, 1883–84.

  Sheridan, Lieutenant General P. H. “Engagements with Hostile Indians within the Military Division of the Missouri, compiled at Headquarters Military Division of Missouri from Official Records.” Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1882.

  Teit, James A. “Salishan Tribes of the Western Plateau,” Forty-fifth Annual Report, Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington DC, 1927–28.

  Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Annual Reports of Department of Interior, 1878, 1881, 1888, 1890, 1891, 1892, 1893, 1894, 1897, 1898, 1899.

  Executive Documents. No. 93, 34th Congress, 1st Session.

  Executive Documents. No. 1, 36th Congress, 2nd Session. Report of Secretary of Interior, 1859–60; 1872–73 (Report of Special Commission). Also each Annual Report to 1877 in House Executive Documents.

  Executive Documents. No. 39, 41st Congress, 3rd Session.

  Executive Documents. No. 198, 42nd Congress. “Treaty with the Nez Perce Indians.”

  Executive Documents. No. 307, 42nd Congress, 2nd Session.

  Executive Documents. No. 156, 43rd Congress, 1st Session. “Nez Perce Indian Reservation in Idaho.”

  Executive Documents. No. 386, 48th Congress. House of Representatives Report, “Nez Perce and Bannock Indian Wars.”

  Executive Documents. No. 12. “Langford Land Claim against Indian Agent at Lapwai.”

  Executive Documents. No. 70, 51st Congress, 1st Session, 1889–90. “Agitation to Arouse the Nez Perce Indians.”

  Executive Documents. No. 552, 56th Congress, 1st Session. “Claims of the Nez Perce Indians.”

  Executive Documents. No. 97, 62nd Congress, 1st Session. “Memorial of the Nez Perces Indians,” 1911.

  Report of the Joint Special Committee. “Condition of the Indian Tribes,” Congressional Report, Appendix, 1867. Pp. 8–11.

  Report of Secretary of Interior, Executive Documents, No. 4, 1867. Report to the Senate.

  Report of Secretary of War, Executive Documents, No. 2, 46th Congress, 2nd Session. Letter to the United States Senate.

  Reports of Secretary of War, 1854–55; 1858–59. Also each Annual Report to 1876–77.

  Newspaper Accounts

  Anaconda Standard, Anaconda, Montana, September 25, 1904. “Chief Joseph Was a Good Indian before He Died.”

  Bismarck’s Tri-Weekly Tribune, Bismarck, Dakota Territory, November 21, 1877.

  Chicago Record, August 8, 1900.

  Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, New York, October 27, 1877. Vol. XLV, No. 1, p. 152.

  Lewiston Teller [Extras], June 16 ff., July, August, 1877. Lewiston, Idaho. A source account of the day-by-day happenings during the hostilities in Idaho.

  Sunday Missoulian, Missoula, Montana, June 14, 1925. “An interview with Sergeant Martin Brown,” reported by Addison Howard.

  Sunday Missoulian, Missoula, Montana, February 1, 1925. “When Charlot Changed,” by Addison Howard.

  Sunday Missoulian, Missoula, Montana, August 5, 1934. “Last Indian Survivor of Big Hole tells Story,” reported by Ralph R. Wayne.

  New Northwest, Deer Lodge, Montana, 1879. Extract from Duncan MacDonald’s The Nez Perces War of 1877—the Inside History from Indian Sources.

>   New York Sun, September 25, 1904. An account of the death of Chief Joseph reprinted in Dr. C. T. Brady’s Northwestern Fights and Fighters.

  Rocky Mountain Husbandman, Denver, Colo., February 26, 1942.

  Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 25, 1905. Reburial of Chief Joseph and the Potlatch Ceremonies.

  Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 8, 1900.

  Weekly Oregonian, Portland, Oregon, March 31, 1877.

  Histories, Compiled

  History of Montana, Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co., 1885.

  History of North Idaho, San Francisco: Western Historical Publishing Co., 1903.

  Original Correspondence With

  Chief James Allocott, Umatilla Indian Reservation, Pendleton, Oregon.

  Mr. Omar L. Babcock, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Umatilla Indian Reservation, Pendleton, Oregon.

  Mr. Joseph Blackeagle, Nez Perce Reservation, Lapwai, Idaho.

  Mr. T. C. Elliott, Historian, Walla Walla, Washington.

  Mr. J. H. Horner, Enterprise, Oregon.

  Mr. Corbett Lawyer, Nez Perce Reservation, Lapwai, Idaho.

  Mr. L. V. McWhorter, Historian, Yakima, Washington.

  Mr. Samuel Tilden, Flathead Indian Reservation, Arlee, Montana.

  Mr. W. Joseph Williams, Umatilla Indian Reservation, Pendleton, Oregon.

  Mr. Erskine Wood, Portland, Oregon.

  Report of Judge William I. Lippincott. (His investigations conducted under the auspices of the late W. A. Clark, Jr.)

  Personal Interviews

  The names of those persons engaged or present at the time of hostilities can be found in the notes.

  Index

  Page numbers refer to the print edition.

  agents, Indian, 25, 43, 46, 49, 56–57, 71–72, 84. See also Bolon, A. J.; Cain, A. J.; Hutchins, Charles; Jordan, Agent; Monteith, John B.; O’Neill, Agent; Palmer, Joel

  alcohol, 44, 104, 109, 110, 126, 218, 260–61, 311, 313

  Alokut: absent from council, 338n32; after Big Hole battle, 216; birth of, 7; borrowing spyglass, 131–32; in Camas Meadows raid, 220; in Clearwater battle, 163, 168; confused with Chief Joseph, 168–69, 225; in councils, 74, 81–82, 91; death of, 270; on land inspection ride, 102; possible death of wife of, 207, 350n10; reacting to massacre at Slate Creek, 112–14; representing Chief Joseph in negotiations, 86–88; in White Bird Canyon battle, 131–32, 134–35; youth of, 10–11, 15