98 THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 



SAHAPTINS— NEZ PERCYS. 



The Nez Percys, or the Sahaptin proper, inhabit Idaho and portions of Oregon and' 

 Washington. They style themselves Numepo, but Lewis and Clarke called them the- 

 Chopuunish, The origin of their present name is buried in obscurity. Early in the 

 present century they were estimated to number 8,000 ; and in 1836, when a mission 

 was established among them, about 4,000. In the Oregon Indian war most of the trib© 

 remained friendly and did effective service for the whites on a number of occasions. 

 In 1854 a treaty was made ceding part of their lands, but only a portion of the tribe- 

 recognizing it, led to a separation, one party becoming wandering hunters, while the 

 other remained on the reservations.* 



" Of the 2,800 Nez Percys now living, nearly half located on the Kamiah and Lapwai 

 reservations in Northern Idaho, and a few others settled on lands outside the reserve, 

 are prosperous farmers and stock-growers. The rest are 'non-treaties,' who, with- 

 other non- treaty Indians in that region, make every exertion to induce the reserva- 

 tion Indians to lease their farms and join them in their annual hunting and root-- 

 gathering expeditions." 



Early in the summer of the present year troubles arose in regard to the occupancy 

 of the Wallowa Valley by white settlers, it having been withdrawn in 1875 from the 

 reservation assigned them by treaty in 1873, from a failure on their pai-t to perma- 

 nently occupy it. An Indian, belonging to a band of malcontents or nou-treatiea ■ 

 under the Chief Joseph, was killed by some settlers, when they insisted upon the 

 removal of all the whites and the restitution of the valley to them. Upon the refusal 

 of the Government to this demand, and further attempts to compel all the non-treaty 

 Indians to come into the reservation at Lapwai, an outbreak occurred under the 

 leadership of Joseph, which, resulted in a number of pitched battles, with great loss- 

 of life, they were compe.lledto retreat, the forces under General Howard pursuing them 

 eastwardly across the headwaters of the Snake River and through the Yellowstone 

 National Park, where the pursuit wa# taken up by the forces under General Teriy,, 

 resulting finally in the capture of Joseph and the remainder of his force by General 

 Miles.— W. H. Jackson, 1877. 



On the morning of September 30, 1877, Chief Joseph and his UTez- 

 Percys were met and surrounded by Col. Nelson A. Miles and his com- 

 mand in the valley of Snake Creek, !N"orthern Montana. On the 4th of 

 October, 1877, they surrendered. The length of this raid, the march 

 of the troops, and the tact displayed by Joseph form one of the most 

 extraordinary chapters in the long history of Indian outbreaks. 



Eighty-seven warriors, 184 squaws, and 147 children were sur- 

 rendered. They were sent under guard to Fort Abraham Lincoln, Da- 

 kota, thence to Fort Leavenworth, and were finally located in the Indian 

 Territory, and eventually on the Ponca Eeservation, and in 1885 re- 

 turned to Idaho. 



PRESENT LOCATION AND CONDITION. 



On June 30, 1884, the Nez Perc6s at Nez Perc6 Agency, Lapwai,. 

 Northern Idaho, numbered 1,310. By occupation they are farmers and 

 herders, and hold their lands in severalty. 



The Nez Percys at Ponca, Pawnee, and Otoe Agency, Indian Terri- 

 tory, numbered 287 in June, 1884. 



* All now (1885) on reservations, except "White Bird's band of hostiles" in Northern Idaho and in." 

 British America. — T. D. 



