Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce Quotes

“the ultimate purpose of the treaties was not fairness and equity but control and containment that enabled white settlement to continue unrestricted and unabated, all legal and extralegal measures necessary to ensure this had to be taken. If bribes had to be offered, lies told, or conditions abrogated in order to meet changing circumstances or to overcome Indian obstinacy, so be it. If,”
― Kent Nerburn, Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy

“Following the Nez Perce Trail is”
― Kent Nerburn, Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy

“Following the Nez Perce Trail: A Guide to the Nee-Me-Poo National Historic Trail with Eyewitness Accounts.”
― Kent Nerburn, Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy

“History is but a tapestry of stories, imperfectly woven.”
― Kent Nerburn, Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy

“He closed with entreaties mixed with excoriations and visionary hopes for the brotherhood of all people, where “we shall all be alike—brothers of one father and one mother, with one sky above us and one government for all.”
― Kent Nerburn, Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy

“Joseph returned home to the Colville an even greater hero in the public mind but no closer to achieving success in his quest to get his people back to the Wallowa. The American people, like the American government, were happy to lionize him as a symbol of the nation’s exotic frontier past, but they had no interest in seeing him as a person with a legitimate legal dispute in the present.”
― Kent Nerburn, Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy

“Joseph’s personal eloquence and persona were giving a public face to the Nez Perce struggle, while Reuben’s Christian fervor was giving it a political base. Jones’s decision to bring the Presbyterian Nez Perce down to subvert the influence of Joseph and Chapman had produced the unintended consequence of bringing the formidable political influence of the Presbyterian Church into play. When Reuben spoke, the Presbyterian establishment was there to listen, just as the American press listened when Joseph spoke. Together, these two men—the obstinate, charismatic chief and the self-righteous, clean-cut Christian minister—were unwittingly creating a potent mix of political power and public opinion that had the potential to do what neither man was able to do alone. But this congealing of forces was the furthest thing from the minds of the Nez Perce themselves. They were engaged in a struggle that ran far deeper than any of the white observers understood. It was the same struggle that had taken place back in the Lapwai forty years earlier when Spalding preached the gospel and told the people to honor the old gods no more, the same struggle that had divided the tribe after the Treaty of 1855, the same struggle that had found part of the tribe assisting the whites after the outbreak and another part trying to escape over the mountains. It was the struggle over how to be a Nez Perce in the face of the new and overwhelming power of the intruding white nation and how to live in the manner that best reflected the wishes of the Creator. In short, it was a struggle for the Nez Perce soul.”
― Kent Nerburn, Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy

“Hardest of all was their uncertainty about their impending fate. Just a few weeks ago they had been free people, willingly though sorrowfully walking forth to meet with the soldiers in a common armistice. Now they were captives, divided and herded like white men’s cattle, being driven to a place they did not know in a country they did not understand. Their weapons had been taken from them, their horses and saddles had been claimed by the white soldiers and Cheyenne, and the man to whom they had entrusted their fate seemed to have no authority to keep his own promises. They were moving into a white man’s world where no man was master of his own word and no Indian seemed able to long survive.”
― Kent Nerburn, Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy

“One by one the men made their positions known, some speaking, some giving the blanket sign of covering their shoulders when their feelings had been well expressed by another.”
― Kent Nerburn, Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy

“Joseph too was now firmly established in the public mind as the leader of the Nez Perce, and in public depictions he became both fiercer and greater. To those in the West, who saw each confrontation and Indian escape as another bloody step toward their own extinction, he became the embodiment of all that was dark and cunning in the Indian character. For those in the East, who rankled at the cruelty and ineffectiveness of the government’s Indian policy and were not in harm’s way from Indian actions, he became a heroic symbol of noble resistance—the father figure of a beleaguered band of men, women, and children who were accomplishing a brilliant escape from the relentless pursuit of the bumbling U.S. military. The man who was spending his days trying to move lodges and herds of horses and his nights worrying over a newborn infant and a wounded wife was being elevated in the public imagination to the status of a red Napoleon or red fiend; and he was becoming the lightning rod for a national debate on the justice and sufficiency of the government’s Indian policy. On the trail, however, the issues were much less abstract and much more dire. The warriors had little fear of pursuing soldiers because they knew that most were on foot and had proven cowardly when forced to fight armed men rather than sleeping women and children. They shared mocking stories of how the soldiers in the grove of trees had cried like babies when they were trapped, and they formed teepee-shaped piles of horse dung on the trail behind as a signal of derision to any troops who might be following.”
― Kent Nerburn, Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy

“Howard knew that a strong enemy makes an opposing commander look good, and a great opposing general makes the victorious general look even better. Every time he had been called into the Plateau country, it had somehow involved an issue with Joseph. He had heard the man’s eloquence and seen the way that the other nontreaty chiefs had deferred to him on matters concerning the Wallowa. So he erroneously assumed that this imposing, charismatic, formidable chief was also the energetic, charismatic, formidable military leader of all the nontreaty bands. As a result, in his reports and in the dispatches from his friend, Sutherland, his military campaign was depicted as a struggle with the masterful war chief, Joseph, whose brilliant leadership and field strategies and tactics only served to make Howard’s victory seem even greater. Taking Howard’s lead, Sutherland referred to the Nez Perce as “Joseph’s people” and soon adopted the military shorthand of making observations such as “Joseph is in full retreat.” In the public’s mind, the Nez Perce were rapidly becoming “Joseph’s people,” and every military action was becoming an engagement between the Civil War general, Howard, and Joseph, the Nez Perce general and leader of the Nez Perce people. Meanwhile, the Nez Perce were anything but Joseph’s people. They were not even united among themselves. It had been all the chiefs could do to get everyone moving in a single direction. Even questions of allegiance still had not been sorted out. Many families included members who lived among the treaty factions as well as among the nontreaty bands. This had never presented a problem because all knew that a person or family could cross back and forth between sides if they decided that the Christian way or the traditional way was better. But now, with bullets flying, lines were hardening. In fact, in the Clearwater skirmish, one of the treaty Nez Perce fighting for the soldiers and even wearing a blue soldier’s jacket learned that his father had been killed while fighting on the nontreaty side, so he raced across the ground between the two factions, enduring fire from both camps, threw off his coat, and led a charge of the nontreaties against the soldiers he had just abandoned.”
― Kent Nerburn, Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy

“Joseph arrived with his brother, Ollokot, and forty of their people. If Howard’s representatives had expected belligerence, they were pleasantly surprised. Joseph proved from the outset to be both conciliatory and thoughtful. Wind Blowing was a quiet, peaceable man, he said, and the white men who had killed him were known to be quarrelsome troublemakers. There was no need for war, but there was a need for justice to be done. The government officials nodded in quiet agreement at the reasonable nature of this powerful chief. But then Joseph took his argument in an unexpected direction. The death of his friend, he explained, though unfortunate, was now a fact. But it was also a fact that his body had been buried in the Wallowa and his spilled blood had made the earth in that valley ever more sacred to the Nez Perce. Let the death of Wind Blowing hallow that land ever further in the minds of white men and cause them to commit themselves even more to preserving it for the Nez Perce for all time to come. Howard’s men were stunned. This was a serpent’s logic—clear, efficient, and deviously lethal. It took the high-minded position of calling for peace rather than punishment—exactly what the white officials wanted—but it made the price of that peace exactly what the white officials could not give up. No member of the ancient Roman senate could have been more eloquent, no highly skilled barrister more guileful and succinct. It was clear that Joseph was a formidable presence, both in the power of his character and the quality of his mind. As one of the government representatives in attendance put it, he displayed “an alertness and dexterity in intellectual fencing… that was quite remarkable.”
― Kent Nerburn, Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy

“Those in the tribe who now lived by the Soyapo ways spoke out against this, saying that Nez Perce who were afraid of the new law were like boys who were afraid to become men. They reminded them of the many gifts they had received from other strangers, like the horse, the ways of the buffalo, and the guns and tools and cooking pots. The new ways of the Spaldings were no different. And by doing violence to the Reverend and his family, they were betraying the promise of friendship their ancestors had made to Lewis and Clark. But the angry ones refused to listen. These men are not like Lewis and Clark, they responded. Lewis and Clark brought gifts, not laws. Lewis and Clark did not make the Nez Perce wear different clothes. Lewis and Clark did not make them cut their mother’s flesh to place seeds in the earth so lazy men could get food without going on the hunt. Lewis and Clark did not ask them to become a nation of old women who sat watching plants grow and slow cows walk while Soyapo told them where to live and how to dress and what to eat and how to worship the Creator. In exchange for a life of ease, they said, the Soyapo had given them a life of fear.”
― Kent Nerburn, Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy

“Suddenly, the whole picture began to fall into place. In the great shadow of the national orgy of self-congratulation over the journey of Lewis and Clark, the Nez Perce people had undertaken another journey, one far more difficult, far more taxing, far more tragic, and every bit as much a part of the American experience as that of the two celebrated explorers. But their journey was almost unknown, almost ignored. The only reason it was kept alive at all was because of a man who, until the last moments, had been a “bit player.”
― Kent Nerburn, Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy

“What people don’t realize,” he said, “is that in the flight—the only thing that any white person knows or cares about us—Joseph was a bit player. He just took charge at the end because the other chiefs were gone. He didn’t even want to go. But you look at the history books, it’s all ‘Joseph’s journey,’ ‘Joseph’s retreat.’ Many of our people even see him as a coward and a traitor for surrendering. But without him no one pays any attention to us.”
― Kent Nerburn, Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy

“Slowly, I began to understand the Nez Perce ambivalence toward Joseph and their reticence toward me when I asked about him. The man was a conundrum that they could not easily resolve. White culture had elevated him to heroic, even iconic, status—after all, why was I there if not to continue the cultural canonization of Joseph?—while effectively expunging the Nez Perce people themselves from the national historical consciousness. This sort of hero worship fit perfectly with the American penchant for glorifying the individual, but it stood in direct opposition to the fundamental native belief that the group is more important than any individual member. Yet it was only through Joseph that the Nez Perce retained any cultural status or visibility. Without him, they would slip into the same cultural invisibility as the Potawatomi or the Lemhi or the Gros Ventres.”
― Kent Nerburn, Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy

“who moved slowly and relied on the commands of leaders. But Miles insisted, and reluctantly they agreed. They were happiest when sent ahead to scout. They could read trails better than any white man and thrilled at the sensation of ranging free over open country in search of an enemy. While they were out on scouting missions they felt alive, like in the old days. But when they were forced to return to the camps and ride with the soldiers, they plodded along, sleepy-eyed and indifferent, staying near but keeping to themselves. Still, they always carried”
― Kent Nerburn, Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy

“trails and across rushing,”
― Kent Nerburn, Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy

“Europeans first”
― Kent Nerburn, Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy