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The American Yawp Reader
Chief Joseph on Indian Affairs (1877, 1879)
Chief Joseph on Indian Affairs (1877, 1879)
A branch of the Nez Percé tribe, from the Pacific Northwest, refused to be moved to a
reservation and attempted to flee to Canada but were pursued by the U.S. Cavalry,
attacked, and forced to return. The following is a transcript of Chief Joseph’s
surrender, as recorded by Lieutenant Wood, Twenty-first Infantry, acting aide-
decamp and acting adjutant-general to General Oliver O. Howard, in 1877.
I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Too-hul-hul-sote is
dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on
the young men is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are
freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no
blankets, no food; 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 am tired; my heart is sick and sad.
From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.
In 1879, Chief Joseph was invited to Washington D.C. He made the following report.
I am glad I came [to Washington D.C.]. I have shaken hands with a good many
friends, but there are some things I want to know which no one seems able to explain.
I cannot understand how the Government sends a man out to fight us, as it did General
Miles, and then breaks his word.Such a government has something wrong about it. I
cannot understand why so many chiefs are allowed to talk so many different ways,
and promise so many different things. I have seen the Great Father Chief [President
Hayes]; the Next Great Chief [Secretary of the Interior]; the Commissioner Chief
[Commissioner of Indian Affairs]; the Law Chief [General Butler]; and many other
law chiefs [Congressmen] and they all say they are my friends, and that I shall have
pg. 1
The American Yawp Reader
Chief Joseph on Indian Affairs (1877, 1879)
Chief Joseph on Indian Affairs (1877, 1879)
A branch of the Nez Percé tribe, from the Pacific Northwest, refused to be moved to a
reservation and attempted to flee to Canada but were pursued by the U.S. Cavalry,
attacked, and forced to return. The following is a transcript of Chief Joseph’s
surrender, as recorded by Lieutenant Wood, Twenty-first Infantry, acting aide-
decamp and acting adjutant-general to General Oliver O. Howard, in 1877.
I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Too-hul-hul-sote is
dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on
the young men is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are
freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no
blankets, no food; 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 am tired; my heart is sick and sad.
From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.
In 1879, Chief Joseph was invited to Washington D.C. He made the following report.
I am glad I came [to Washington D.C.]. I have shaken hands with a good many
friends, but there are some things I want to know which no one seems able to explain.
I cannot understand how the Government sends a man out to fight us, as it did General
Miles, and then breaks his word.Such a government has something wrong about it. I
cannot understand why so many chiefs are allowed to talk so many different ways,
and promise so many different things. I have seen the Great Father Chief [President
Hayes]; the Next Great Chief [Secretary of the Interior]; the Commissioner Chief
[Commissioner of Indian Affairs]; the Law Chief [General Butler]; and many other
law chiefs [Congressmen] and they all say they are my friends, and that I shall have
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