Lewis & Clark Meet the Nez Perce - Photo Source: www.waterplanet.ws
William
Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition first encountered the Nez Perce. Lewis
and Clark were crossing the Bitterroot Mountains and running low on food. Clark
took six hunters and went ahead of the expedition to hunt. While he was out
hunting in September of 1805, Clark came across a small camp, which was
inhabited by helpful, strong, and resourceful people. This camp is located in
what is now called Weippe Prairie. Lewis and Clark found the Nez Perce to be so
impressive that they left their horses with the tribe while they continued
their expedition west by boat. Upon returning to Weippe Prairie, Lewis and
Clark recovered their well-kept horses without any incident. Lewis and Clark
wrote about these trustworthy and profound people in their journal. Although
Lewis and Clark first described the Nez Perce as resourceful, trustworthy, and
hospitable, the Nez Perce are also well known as strong warriors and brilliant
battle strategists.
Their battle savvy and will to
survive was put to the test in the late 19th century. It was in the
late 19th century, after a few decades of living peacefully with new
white inhabitants, that the United States tried to push the Nez Perce off of
their ancestral land and into waiting reservations in Idaho. The reason for
this was that gold was discovered north of Weippe Prairie and brought in
several thousand potential white prospectors who settled on the Nez Perce’s
land. Instead of the Nez Perce complaining about this invasion, the prospectors
did. They complained to the United States government and asked them to push the
Nez Perce off of this land so they could mine for gold without distraction. The
government obliged and began a campaign to forcefully move the Nez Perce off
their ancestral land and into a reservation. This campaign caused a rift
between the tribe. Some Nez Perce agreed and followed the orders of the United
States by giving up their land and moving into reservations. These members of
the Nez Perce avoided war with the United States by signing a treaty in 1877.
However, the rest of the Nez Perce refused to give up their land for many
reasons including the fertility of the land, the sentimentality and history of
this ancestral land and, of course, the Treaty of Walla Walla of 1855. Pushing
the Nez Perce off of their land was in direct violation of the Treaty of Walla
Walla, but the United States did not seem to care.
The remaining Nez Perce, known as
“non-treaty Indians,” planned to defend their land from the United States,
which led to a few armed and violent battles in June 1877. After these battles,
approximately 2,900 Nez Perce fled north in search of protection and safety.
They first sought safety with their allies, the Crow tribe, but the Crow tribe
refused to take them in and offer them aid. After being turned away by the
Crow, the Nez Perce attempted to flee to the sanctuary of the Lakota camp in
Canada. The Canadian camp was that of Lakota Chief Sitting Bull, who escaped
there from the military after defeating the United States at the Battle of the
Little Bighorn. Unfortunately, as the Nez Perce were attempting to flee to the
safety of Canada, over 2,000 United States soldiers were in close pursuit.
The Nez Perce covered about 1,200
miles and several mountains through four different states on their way to the
Lakota camp in Canada. Along the way, 18 battles were fought between the
pursuing U.S. soldiers and about 800 Nez Perce warriors, which exemplifies
their ferocity, strategy and will to survive. Over 300 soldiers were killed in
these battles. Unfortunately, about 1,000 non-treaty Nez Perce Indians, sadly
including women and children, were also killed. In October 1877 the Nez Perce
finally surrendered to the United States military near the border of Montana
and Canada. The route the Nez Perce took to find peace in Canada is now known
as the Nez Perce National Historic Trail.
