Chief Joseph
Surrendering tribal leader
Chief Joseph (c. 1840–1904) was a leader of the Nez Perce tribe, famous for leading his people on a desperate 1,170-mile flight toward Canada in 1877 while pursued by U.S.
Army forces.
His eloquent surrender speech—I will fight no more forever—became one of the most quoted statements in American history.
He spent his remaining years advocating unsuccessfully for his people's return to their homeland in Oregon's Wallowa Valley.
- Nez PercePacific Northwest indigenous nation
- Native AmericanOriginal inhabitants of America
- surrenderCease resistance, yield
- warriorOne skilled in combat
- freedomAbsence of constraint
great spirit · flight · Montana · Idaho · treaty · resistance · dignity · leader · last stand · cavalry · homeland · stolen land · white settlers · westward expansion · exile · Old West · eloquence · defeat
- damsdam wall, barrage, concrete dams, spillway, cofferdam
- Indigenous LeadersCrazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Red Cloud, Tecumseh, Cochise
- Montana HistoryHelena, Virginia City, statehood, copper mining, mining camps
- Native ChiefsPontiac, Tecumseh, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Powhatan
- Indian WarsIndian Wars, King Philip's War, frontier wars, Little Bighorn, Wounded Knee
- Nez PerceNez Perce, Appaloosa, Clearwater, flight, horse culture
Chief JosephAndrew Jackson
Seventh U.S. president
warmonger · aggressor · conqueror · invader · William Tecumseh Sherman
Chief JosephHernán Cortés
Julius Caesar · conquistador · Alexander the Great · Napoleon Bonaparte · empire builder