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 The 1877 flight of the Nez Perce from their homelands while pursued by U.S.
Army Generals Howard, Sturgis and Miles, is one of the most fascinating and
sorrowful events in Western U.S. History.
Chief Joseph, Chief
Looking Glass, Chief Whitebird, Chief Ollodot, Chief Lean Elk, and others
led nearly 750 Nez Perce men, women and children and twice that many horses
over 1,170 miles through the mountains, on a trip that lasted from June to
October 1877.
Congress passed the National Trails System Act in 1968, establishing a framework for a
nationwide system of scenic, recreational, and historic trails. The
Nez Perce (Nimiipu or Nee-Mee-Poo) Trail stretches from Wallowa Lake,
Oregon, to the Bear Paw Battlefield near Chinook, Montana. It was
added to this system by congress as a National Historic Trail in 1986.
 Forced to abandon hopes for a peaceful move to the Lapwai reservation, the Nez Perce chiefs
saw flight to Canada as their last promise for peace. The flight of
the Nez Perce began on June 15, 1877. Pursued by the Army, they
intended to seek safety with their Crow allies on the plains to the east.
Their desperate and circuitous route as they tried to escape the pursuing
white forces is what we now call the Nez Perce National Historic Trail.
This route was used in its entirety only once; however, component trails and roads that made up
the route bore generations of use prior to and after the 1877 flight of the
non-treaty Nez Perce.
| "Tell General Howard I know his heart. What
he told me before I have in my heart. I am tired of fighting.
Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead.
Toohoolhoolzote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is
the young men who say yes or no. He who led 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 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." Chief Joseph
October 5, 1877 |
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