5 interesting facts about chief joseph
Chief joseph days 2025!
The great Nez Perce leader Chief Joseph dies in Washington
On September 21, 1904, the Nez Perce leader Chief Joseph dies on the Colville reservation in northern Washington at the age of 64.
What is chief joseph famous for
White settlers had described him as superhuman and a military genius. But in truth, the Nez Perce Chief Him-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt (“Thunder Rolling Down from the Mountains”) was more of a diplomat than a warrior.
Chief Joseph—as non-Natives knew him—had been elected chief of the Wallowa band of Nez Perce Indians when he was only 31.
For six difficult years the young leader struggled peacefully against the whites who coveted the Wallowa’s fertile land in northeastern Oregon. In 1877, General Howard of the U.S. Army warned that if the Wallowa and other bands of the Nez Perce did not abandon their land and move to the Lapwai Reservation within 30 days, his troops would attack.
While some of the other Nez Perce chiefs argued they should resist, Chief Joseph convinced them to comply with the order
