Distinctly Montana Magazine

DISTINCTLY MONTANA MAGAZINE • WINTER 2022-23 64 A group of Nez Perce, mainly women and children, escaped that night to continue to Canada. The rest regrouped and a siege be- tween the two sides set in. It was getting cold- er and snowier—typical for that time of year in northern Montana. They were freezing and hungry, hunkered down in hastily dug rifle pits. Both sides wondered what Sitting Bull would do. Was a rescue coming? By the night of October 4th, chiefs Ollokot, Looking Glass and Toohoolhoolzoote had been killed, leaving only Joseph and White Bird. Joseph realized help wasn't coming from Sitting Bull and it was in the best interest of his people to surrender, while White Bird wanted to break through the army's lines and still try for Canada. White Bird and about 50 followers slipped out of the encampment under the cover of darkness and, meeting up with those who left earlier, made their way to Sitting Bull's camp. After traveling so far and enduring so much, it must have been truly heartbreaking to come so close and now have to surrender. On October 5th at about 11 a.m., Joseph, the sole remaining chief, walked out of the encampment and formally surrendered to Miles and Howard, who had finally arrived. He turned over his rifle and made his now-famous speech, poetically translated as, "From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forev- er." Four hundred and thirty-one people, mainly wom- en, children and wounded, surrendered that day, and just under 300 Nez Perce made it into Canada. Joseph later said, "We could have escaped from Bear Paw Mountains if we had left our wounded, old women, and children behind. We were unwill- ing to do this. We had never heard of a wound- ed Indian recovering while in the hands of white men." Miles and Howard had promised Joseph that they would be returned to Idaho. However, General Sherman of Civil War fame, who was by now the commanding general of the Army, vowed over protests from Miles and Howard that Joseph would never be allowed to go back home. The captives were first taken to Bis- mark, North Dakota, then to Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, before being relocated to "Indian Country" in Oklahoma. During that time, Joseph was a constant advocate for their freedom. He was allowed to travel back to Washington D.C. to press his case. He even had an audience with Congress and President Hayes. While there, he gave an interview with the editor of the North American Review, explaining the plight of his people. "We should have one law to govern us all… All should be citizens of the U.S. Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to talk, think and act for myself— and I will obey every law or submit to the penalty." Why did the government, that preached freedom to all Americans hold his Looking Glass Rifle Pit Bear Paw National Battlefield Col. Nelson Miles

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