uoonet] CHARACTER OF THE NEZ PERCES 71") 



(■ii the battlefield, ostensibly on account of the difficulty of getting supplies there 

 from Fort Buford, ordered the hoBtiles to Leavenworth, . . . but different treat- 

 ment was promised them when they held rifles in their hands, Sutherland, /.» 



Seven years passed before the promise was kept, and in the mean- 

 time the band had been reduced by disease and death in Indian Terri- 

 tory from about450 to about 280. 



This strong testimony to the high character of Joseph and his people 

 and the justice of their cause comes from the commissioner at the head 

 of Indian affairs during and immediately after the outbreak : 



I traveled with him in Kansas and the Indian Territory fornearlj a week and found 

 him to 1)C one of the most gentlemanly and well-behaved Indians that I ever met. He 

 is bright and intelligent, and is anxious for the welfare of his people. . . . The 

 Nez Perce's are very much superior to the Osages and Pawnees in the Indian Territory; 

 thej are even brighter than the Poncas, and rare should be taken to place them where 

 they will thrive. . . . It will be borne in mind that Joseph has never made a 

 treaty with the United States, and that he has never surrendered to the government 

 the lands he claimed to own in Idaho. ... I had occasion in my last annual 

 report to say that "Joseph ami his followers have shown themselves to be brave men 

 and skilled soldiers, who, with one exception, have observed the rules of civilized 

 warfare, and have not mutilated their dead enemies." These Indians were encroached 

 upon by white settlers on soil they believed to be their own. and when these encroach- 

 ments became intolerable they were compelled, in their own estimation, to take up 

 arms. (Comr., 87a. ) 



In till our sad Indian history there is nothing to exceed in pathetic 

 eloquence the surrender speech of the Xez Perce chief: 



I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Toohul- 

 hulsote is dead. The old nun air all dead. It is the yonngmen who say yes or no. 

 lie who led the young men is dead. It is eold and we have no blankets. The little 

 children tire freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills 



and have no blankets, no f 1. No one knows where they are — perhaps freezing to 



death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many of them I 

 can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs. I tun 

 tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no 

 more forever, i Sir. War, .,'.) 



