Lewis and Clark Among the Nez Perce: Strangers in the Land of the Nimiipuu

by Allen V. Pinkham, Steven R. Evans, Frederick E. Hoxie (Foreword)

This extraordinary new look at Lewis and Clark among the Nez Perce represents a breakthrough in Lewis and Clark studies. Lewis and Clark Among the Nez Perce is the first richly detailed exploration of the relationship between Mr. Jefferson’s Corps of Discovery and a single tribe.

James Ronda’s groundbreaking Lewis and Clark Among the Indians (1984) reversed the lens for the first time, to look broadly at the Lewis and Clark expedition through the Native American point of view.

Nearly three decades later, Nez Perce historians Allen V. Pinkham and Steven Ross Evans have examined the journals of Lewis and Clark with painstaking care to tease out new insights from what Lewis and Clark wrote about their Nez Perce hosts. Pinkham and Evans evaluate both what Lewis and Clark understood and what they misunderstood in the Nez Perce (Nimiipuu) lifeway and political structure. More particularly they have re-examined the journals for clues about how the Nez Perce reacted to the bearded strangers. They have also gathered together and put into print for the first time the stands of a surprisingly rich Nez Perce oral tradition.

Lewis and Clark Among the Nez Perce is a generous and careful re-evaluation of what we all thought we knew about Lewis and Clark west of the Bitterroot Mountains. It is also a template for a series of tribal histories of the Lewis and Clark expedition that will be inspired by this book. Incidents we thought we knew backward and forward suddenly take on a new light when the historical lens is reversed.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Native American

332 pages, Hardcover

First published August 12, 2013

Reviews

[James Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

I live in Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) country. The land around here hasn’t changed much since the 1805-6 Lewis and Clark “Corps of Discovery Expedition”. Many of the forests have been logged into near monocultures, the White Pine is largely gone, and the rivers have lost some of their aggressiveness due to dams and dynamiting to make way for steamboats. The grizzly bear is largely gone and the Elk are much easier to kill since the wolves have nearly been wiped out (despite complaints from hunters). The winters can still produce lots of snow, though less than back then. The summers are still blisteringly hot, though now we have massive forest fires and smoke. But the mountains are the same, as are the contours of the waterways. And the Nimiipuu, the native Nez Perce people, are still here.

Since I live and play here, I know many of the places the book mentions first hand. I fish and camp in these forests and rivers. I have been to native celebrations on Nez Perce land. I have Nez Perce friends. I remember fishing for salmon with a tribal elder below Selway Falls, when he told me “my family have been fishing from this very rock for over a thousand years.” So, for me, the history was about as visceral as it could be.

This is a well-documented, scholarly history, with footnotes galore. This is also the most extensive use of oral histories I have seen. In some cases, the authors re-traced the steps of the explorers, with input from locals, to resolve some ambiguities in the records. Most histories of the Lewis and Clark expedition tell how the explorers met and interacted with the natives. This book describes instead how the local people interacted with their guests from the United States.

It was refreshing to hear just how much the Corps of Discovery relied on the people they found here. When Lewis and Clark ignored their local hosts, things invariably went very wrong. Easterners can easily underestimate the strength and unpredictability of our local rivers and creeks. The expedition lost canoes and time, but amazingly no lives, when they ignored the people who had literally swum these waters from top to bottom, side to side, all year around, from childhood. The only time the expedition had to turn back was when they assumed that there couldn’t possibly be as much snow in the mountains as the Indians described.

There were cultural clashes, of course. The Nez Perce thought their guests were smelly and impatient (they were), they could not understand how they could eat horses and dogs. Most significantly, to the Nez Perce ambassadorial relations were familial, whereas to the explorers they were legal. The Americans could not understand why it was rude to enter a lodge uninvited, or the extent to which their guides were relations, not mere representatives of “chiefs”. It is easier to break a treaty than disown a family. This could explain some later history.

Misunderstandings aside, the Corps of Discovery and the Nez Perce (the Nimiipuu) built a relationship of mutual trust and respect. The last chapter of the book describes how this fell apart in the next hundred years. This book reports, for the first time, that the Nez Perce considered killing the expedition before their first encounter. There were prophesies, which turned out to be correct, that the white men would bring great suffering. But tribal leaders were persuaded by realpolitik (they needed American rifles for their wars with adjacent tribes that used older British guns), and by the generosity some of them had experienced first hand living with Americans in the East.

The book is not bitter. It could easily have been a catalogue of wrongs, a threnody of historical grievance. Instead, it simply told the story, with full sensitivity to the humanity of people involved. The pain that was largely repressed in the earlier chapters burst forth in the last. This was not political correctness, or a Hollywood hissy fit. It was a heartfelt cry.

If you are interested in the history of the American west, this is a must-read—even more so if you live here.

[Kurt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The history of the Nimíipuu (commonly referred to as the Nez Perce people) fascinates me for several reasons.

1. Their homeland, mostly in the state of Idaho but including portions of Oregon and Washington, is very near my homeland and consists of some of the most interesting terrain to be found anywhere. It includes beautiful and rugged wilderness, mountains, canyons, valleys, forests, prairies, rivers, and lakes -- most of which remains in a relatively pristine state today.

2. Their culture, lifestyle, and traditions make me wish I had been born one of them in the mid to late 1700's -- after they had acquired horses and firearms, but before the inevitable theft of 95% of their land and well before the human-caused collapse of the life-sustaining salmon runs.

3. The 1877 war that the United States ruthlessly waged against a few small groups of the larger Nimíipuu nation is the most interesting story in all of U.S. history, and one of the most important, even though few Americans know anything at all about it. These groups steadfastly adhered to the original 1855 Treaty, which their leaders signed, but refused to capitulate to the 1863 "steal treaty", which none of them signed.

4. Their intertwined history with the almost-as-fascinating story of the Lewis and Clark adventure of 1805-1806 spices up the whole Nimíipuu history just that much more.

The Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery spent more time with the Nimíipuu than with any other group except for those with whom they wintered (the Mandans in 1804-1805 and the Clatsops in 1805-1806). They spent several weeks with them on two different occasions (in the early fall of 1805 and the spring of 1806). The assistance and friendship that the Nimíipuu extended toward these strange people, who entered their homeland uninvited, was pivotal and essential for the success of the entire expedition.

I have studied the history of the Nimíipuu very extensively and I have studied the history of the Lewis and Clark expedition a bit also, so this book was really quite interesting to me as it gave many details that I had not read about before along with the authors' analyses and views on various aspects of the subject. I very much enjoyed and appreciated this book, but I would recommend it only for people who already have a basic education about the Nimíipuu and the Lewis and Clark expedition.

[Leslie Patten · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Although factual non-fiction, it is easy to read and doesn't bog down in minutia. Take the book a few chapters (they are short) a night. What you are reading is the point of view of the Nez Perce who were instrumental in Lewis and Clark's journey. The Corps stayed with the Nez Perce on the way to and from the coast, guided them down the river and back upstream to their campsite after their winter in Washington's coast. Some things really stood out in the telling of the tribe's point of view: First, because of their male dominated culture, Lewis and Clark failed to notice the status of women among the Nez Perce. Woman were shamans, warriors, chiefs, and were held in high regard, yet the Corps thought women only gathered roots and wood!

Second, the Corps narrowly escaped being killed by the Indians. A prophecy told of whites coming and the Indian way of life changing, for the worse. Because of this, it was hotly debated that these strangers be killed, but a woman in the tribe convinced the men to spare their lives. Lewis and Clark may or may not have even been aware of what was going on when they first arrived.

If not for the Nez Perce, Lewis and Clark would not have come back to tell their tale. And yet we treated them terribly and later stole their lands. This book contributes a lot to the body of knowledge about those days.

[John Roskelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read James Ronda’s "Lewis and Clark Among the Indians" before reading this. I was fascinated by Ronda's descriptions of encounters with the many Indian tribes along the explorer's journey both to and back from the Pacific coast. The Pinkham & Evans book is more interesting to me because I lived my formative years in southern Idaho, studied the Nez Perce in Idaho history classes, & worked some summers in Southeastern Washington very near their tribal lands from Lewiston, ID to the Montana border. The reading of this book was made much more meaningful by my earlier reading of Ronda's book.

[Joyce Reynolds-Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, excellent look at the Lewis and Clark expedition from the point of view of the Nimiipuu, written from tribal resources and ethnohistory. I loved this perspective because it showed a.) the degree of tolerance exhibited by the Nimiipuu about the explorers' ignorance and rude behavior according to Nimiipuu standards, and b.) gave a very good look at what Nimiipuu life was during that era.

[Laura Schmidt-Dockter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story from the Nez Perce/Nimiipuu point of view. Many stories within this book challenge the folk lore that clings to the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an interesting and successful attempt to integrate oral histories by the Nez Perces and the diaries of Lewis and Clark and other members of the expedition into the history of this troupe. A narrative style written in direct prose made the book quite reader friendly. There was some unnecessary repetition of facts/translation of Nez Perces names. But the authors took care to provide English translations in parentheses almost all of the time. This made these unwieldy names much easier to grasp.

Discrepancies between NP oral histories and diaries of L/C or others were noted and nicely explained by the authors. NP culture/spiritual beliefs were pointed out at various times.. Eg, L/C complained about NP tendency to ‘steal’ whereas the authors explained that NP did not have same notions of private property as Anglo Europeans did. For a NP if one is a friend, someone can ‘take’ their goods without asking to because things are shared readily. Or L/C did not know of the significance/power which women had in tribal decision making, activities, etc. For example, the authors made it clear that the NP did not kill the members of the expedition when they first arrived in their territory largely because of the influence of one woman in the tribe. As she had had positive experiences with Whites some years before in the mid west she convinced the men of the tribe that L/C probably meant them no harm.

There were numerous photos, a few paintings, and a few maps in the book. There were also photos at the end of the book of many of the NP informants on whom the authors relied for the oral histories. These helped make it both more informative and engaging.

The last chapter provided a brief summary of how the tribe tried to cope with the increasingly problematic impact that the incursion of settlers had on their lives. The extent to which the promises of Lewis/Clark for peace and friendship were disregarded by subsequent generations of White Americans was clearly and poignantly depicted.

Overall, this is a very worthwhile, relatively brief read for anyone interested in a piece of history which receives little attention in mainstream American history telling. If it weren’t for the NP helping L/C and their men, the Americans would never have probably made it back from their journey. The overall genocidal thrust of NA history in the USA would not have changed. But the way in which it played out in the Northwest probably would have been different had the NPnot been so helpful to L/C, et al.

[Peter Hendrycks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently returned from a weeklong backpacking trip in the Wallowas, and spent time in Joseph, the town where I purchased this book, and where lies a nicely done bronze statue of Chief Joseph. I was intrigued by his story, and soon after returning home, began reading this book. I have read a few books about the Lewis and Clark expedition. This book, while being very factual and well researched, is different in that it is being told by Nez Perce descendents, and that it tells the story from their perspective. I found that refreshing! I do not doubt that Jefferson, Lewis, and Clark had good intentions. Promoting friendship and trade with the future westward expansion with native indians was one of their main objectives. It is sad that the next generation(s) of whites had different objectives, constantly taking away native lands, breaking treaties, and being greedy and decietful. I felt bad for the Nez Perce, who despite their loyalty to their agreement with Lewis and Clark, kept getting screwed. Even Chief Joseph finally had had enough! One thing is clear from reding this book. Lewis and Clarks expedition owes its successful return primarily to the Nez Perce. They provided them with food, horses, and guided them for hundreds of miles, both directions. Without their Nez Pece guides leading the way, and taking them away from dangerous trails, falls, and currents, it is probable their expedition would not have been successful. History may have changed. I am glad I read this book, as it gave me a better perspective on the Native Americans who once lived and thrived in the Wallowas. What a beautiful place!

[Julia Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found the authors' treatment of the Corps of Discovery’s original encounters with the Nez Perce not only fascinating, but also illustrative of the peaceful disposition of the Nez Perce people and leadership, making all the more tragic the subsequent war.

[Bruce Mendelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very well written and very well researched book that describes the relationships between Lewis and Clark and the Nez Perce (Nimiipuu). It is told from the Native point of view and incorporates a lot of Native history and tradition. When the groups first encountered each other, both groups looked down at the other. The Nimiipuu thought that the "Corp of Discovery" was made up of dirty, smelly men who were ill prepared for the journey that they were attempting. Lewis and Clark's group thought the Nimiipuu were savages and treated them as children. With time, both groups grew to respect each other. The "Corp of Discovery", who discovered nothing that wasn't already familiar to the Nez Perces, would never have completed their journey without the help of the Nez Perces. In turn, the Nimiipuu were impressed by the medical skills and the weaponry that the whites possessed. There was a symbiotic relationship during the initial expedition of Lewis and Clark. The book ends seven decades after the initial meeting with the shameful war the decimated the Nimipuu. Overall, I felt it was very informative and was written in a style that kept the pages turning.