Timeline

1805-1905

1.       Old Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce had their very first encounter with Lewis and Clark in 1805.

2.      Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, which translates into “Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain” was born in 1840 and baptized at the Lapwai Mission in Idaho. He was given his Christian name “Joseph”.

3.      Old Chief Joseph helped establish a large Nez Perce reservation by treaty in 1855.

4.      A gold rush in 1863 caused the U.S. government to reduce the reservation to a small area in Idaho.

5.      Before dying in 1871, Old Chief Joseph told his son, “This country holds your father’s body. Never sell the bones of your father and your mother.”

6.      In 1873 President Ulysses S. Grant issued an Executive Order that cut the valley between homestead sites and a Native American reservation.

7.      At first refusing to leave the Wallowa Valley, the three leaders agreed to the resettlement plan when violence and conflict became looming in 1877.

   

8.      To avoid defeat by the U.S. Army, in 1877 Chief Joseph helped lead 600 Nez Perce toward the Canadian border in a famed 1,400 mile, four-month tactical retreat.

9.      Chief Joseph gave his speech when they finally surrendered on October 5th, 1877.

10.   In 1885, the Nez Perce reclaimed their remains and moved them to a northern Washington reservation

11.    Chief Joseph passed away in 1904