Scenario: A young newspaper reporter named Sidney is sent to Idaho Territory to cover the 1877 Nez Perce War.
My goal, since I was in my advanced school years, was to be a reporter. I finally got a chance to see if I had what it took to actually be one. I came from San Francisco, and was newly employed by The Bozeman Advent Courier in the Montana Territory.
The editor handed me my first assignment, which gave me quite a shiver down my spine. Trouble seemed to be brewing in the Idaho Territory between the U. S. Government and a band of Nez Perce Indians, under a leader named Chief Joseph. According to General Howard, a one-armed former Union soldier during the Civil War, the Indians were refusing to move their camp to the government reservation located at Lapwai, Idaho.
I was raised a city boy, and the thought of heading into the Idaho wilderness, and hostile Indian lands by myself, made my heart pound, and I became so frightened that it made me vomit. But I could not tell my employer that I would not take the assignment. I had no choice but to give up, or try to incite myself to develop the courage I would need for the assignment. I chose the latter.
As a reporter, I learned to check various sources to get the real story. I found out through some research into the history of the tribe and dealings with the U.S. Government, that the Bureau of Indian Affairs had recently broken a treaty with the Nez Perce, a treaty from years before that had promised them their original homelands for as long as the rivers run and the grass grows. This sounded like a familiar tactic of the Indian Bureau - promise one generation of Indians anything - and then break the promise to the next generation.
I made preparations for the journey, and then I took a stagecoach from Bozeman to Lewiston, Idaho - crossing over the dangerous Lolo Pass at the summit of the continental divide. I arranged for a horse and headed toward Grangeville. A detachment of U.S. Cavalry was preparing to meet with Chief Joseph's band and talk about their surrender. I was allowed to follow them to cover the story. Along with the soldiers I noticed four local volunteers that wanted to accompany them.
The officer in command and another soldier approached the Indians and they met with two of Joseph's braves, one carried a spear with a white cloth of truce. The place was later called White Bird Hill. One of the volunteers fired on the truce party and a battle erupted. I was stationed safely behind some rocks. Apparently Joseph's braves were prepared for this and had many braves hiding behind another group of rocks and quickly had the soldiers in a crossfire of bullets, arrows, and spears.
The cavalry was thrown into chaos and tried to retreat. The Nez Perce followed up the attack for miles, killing 33 and wounding others. It was a complete victory for the Indians - not a single casualty. I could not believe the superior marksmanship and battle tactics of the Nez Perce braves. I had never witnessed such courage in the face of such danger!
What I witnessed happening over the next months was incredible. The Nez Perce band of a few hundred men, along with their women and children outran the cavalry regiment through the rugged terrain and forests of Idaho, as they headed for the Canadian border. Following along with the soldiers, I had a hard time keeping up with them. As they crossed the mountains into Montana they camped at a place called The Big Hole. They were exhausted, and had to rest the women and children for a few days. They knew they were several days ahead of the soldiers.
But what they did not know - was that General Howard had telegraphed another cavalry command in Montana with orders to head them off. So the next morning at daybreak , while the Nez Perce were just awakening, rounds of bullets and cannon balls were coming at them and ripping through their tipis. Joseph and the men were able to mount a defense, but they suffered the loss of several warriors and a chief, before the women and children could make their escape. The cavalry also suffered many casualties.
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I was traveling with the soldiers and we followed Joseph's band along the Montana border to Yellowstone Park. This was unfamiliar territory to them now, but Joseph's braves captured a stagecoach in the park. A miner was aboard and he explained the two possible routes north to Canada from there. Joseph chose the hardest of the two, in hopes of confusing General Howard and his soldiers.
They traveled north and were only 40 miles from the Canadian border when they were again blocked by a third cavalry regiment from the east. They battled for several days in cold winter weather with snow on the ground. Some of the band were able to break through the enemy lines and reach the border, but Chief Joseph stayed to protect the wounded, and the women and children.
After another freezing night in the cold, Joseph came toward General Howard with his rifle held high in his hand. Then he dropped the rifle to the ground.
He called out in a loud, but defeated voice and said he was tired of fighting, and that Chief Looking Glass was dead. He was emotional as he said the children were cold and freezing and had no blankets and no food.
I will never forget the last words he spoke as he surrendered: "Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever." He slowly lowered his head and started to weep.
I continued to follow up on Joseph's life after that. He desired to go back to his homeland in the Wallowa Valley in Oregon, but he was considered a prisoner of war, and he was sent to the reservation in the Oklahoma Territory. Later in his life, he and more than 100 Nez Perce were transferred to the Colville Reservation in Washington State. Chief Joseph died there on September 21. 1904.
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I continued to work as a reporter for many years in the West, but never again would I have the experience that I observed with Chief Joseph and his courageous band of Nez Perce. Even General Howard told me: "Of all of the commanders I faced in the Civil War, none could compare with Chief Joseph. He outfoxed me and outran me for more than 1,000 miles through the most rugged and mountainous wilderness I have ever seen."
