Chief Joseph
Native American Leader
Native Name: In-mut-too-yah-lat-lat ('Thunder coming up over the land from the water')
Chief Joseph was the leader of the Nez Perce tribe, whose lands were in what is now Oregon and Washington in the western United States. In 1877 he led his tribe in a 1400-mile retreat from U.S. troops in 1877, which ended in the Battle of Bear Paw Mountains in Montana. Joseph is now especially remembered for the statement he made then: "From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever."
Extra credit: Chief Joseph is often said to have died of a broken heart after spending the last two decades of his life on reservations.
Four Good Links
Chief Joseph Speaks
Selected parts of some of his speeches and writings
The West: Chief Joseph
Online companion to PBS, including select speeches
Nez Perce Trail Foundation
The story of the tribe's last trail; broad and deep
The Nez Perce Tribal Page
Now Joseph's tribe has a Web site
Vital Stats
Birth
Birthplace
Wallowa Valley, Oregon Territory
Death
21 September 1904
(heart failure, age 64)
Best Known As
Chief of the Nez Perce tribe
