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R1-19-11 Revised March 2019 Nez Perce (NEE-ME-POO) National Historic Trail

ince aiding the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1805, The 1863 Treaty divided the tribe and foreshadowed a days – or the army would involvement in it whatsoever. In July of 1877, Tim’íne only 40 miles from Canada. Swhites knew the Nez Perce Indians as friends. The war whose repercussions are still felt. make them comply, by force. ’ilp’ílpnim (Chief Redheart’s) band and other Nez Piyóop’yoo ay áy (Chief Nez Perce (in their language, Niimíipuu, meaning The chiefs argued the time Perce returned from a buffalo hunt in Montana to White Bird) led a group “the people”) lived in bands, welcoming traders and For some years non-treaty Nez was inadequate to gather discover their homeland embroiled in conflict. All 33 of nearly 300 Nez Perce to missionaries to a land framed by the rivers, mountains, Perce continued to live in the the people and their horses men, women and children were transported to Fort safety in Canada, where they prairies, and valleys of present day southeastern Wallowas and other locations and cattle, and asked for an Vancouver, WA, where they were held at the military joined Chief Sitting Bull. Washington, northeastern Oregon, and north central within traditional homelands. extension, which Howard stockade until April 1878, when they were finally Idaho. They moved throughout the region including But conflict with newcomers brusquely refused. returned to Idaho. General William Tecumseh parts of what are now Montana, and Wyoming to fish, increased, particularly in Sherman called the Nez Perce hunt, and trade. the Wallowa region, home Years of high-handedness Swept into a fight they did not seek, nearly 750 Nez saga “the most extraordinary of Hinmatóowyalahtq’itnim and mistreatment, and the Perce, including allies from Upper Palouse bands, of Indian wars.” Today, their route is designated the Fifty years after the Corps of Discovery, Washington (Thunder Rolling over the prospect of losing their desperately fled for their lives. Only 250 were warriors: Nez Perce (Nee-Me-Poo) National Historic Trail by act Territorial Governor Isaac Ingalls Stevens met Mountains - Chief Joseph) and homelands, provoked several young warriors to the rest were women, children, elderly, and sick. of Congress. in council with Nez Perce leaders. The resulting his band. Settlers petitioned vengeance. Riding from camp at Tolo Lake, Idaho Leading a herd of 2,000 horses, they fought masterfully 1855 Treaty with the U.S. Government guaranteed the government to relocate the they avenged past murders of relatives by killing some in some 20 battles and skirmishes with the U.S. Army, This historic route was used in its entirety only once; the tribes rights to their ancestral homeland in Nez Perce to the reduced 1863 white settlers. and repelled a devastating army attack on their sleeping however, component trails and roads making up the perpetuity, and set aside a Nez Perce reservation of Treaty reservation in Idaho, and in 1877, the U.S. Army was village at the Big Hole on August 9. Trail saw generations of travel prior to and after the some 5,000 square miles. commanded to do so. The Nez Perce flight began June 15, 1877 and intensified 1877 conflict. Some became linked to modern road on June 17 after they defeated a cavalry force at the systems, while other stretches were abandoned for In 1860, encroaching prospectors struck gold in Idaho. In May 1877, General Oliver Otis Howard and the non- Battle of White Bird Canyon. Two weeks later, an more direct routes better suited to automobiles. In Thousands of miners, merchants and settlers overran treaty Nez Perce chiefs held a council at Fort Lapwai, unprovoked army attack brought ’Elelímyete’qenin’m places the original Nez Perce Trail can be experienced Nez Perce land, seized resources and committed in Lapwai, Idaho. Howard summarily ordered them (Wrapped in the Wind - Chief Looking Glass) and his on the landscape today. depredations against tribal members. In 1863 the to bring their families and livestock to Lapwai in 30 band into conflict; the village had sought to avoid any federal government responded with new treaty talks. This time, the U.S. wanted most of the Nez Perce reservation – including their treasured Wallowa region of northeastern Oregon and the Payette Lake region.

Many chiefs refused and angrily departed. Amid The Nez Perce eluded more than 2,000 soldiers, civilian uncertainty, pressure, and promises, the remaining volunteers, and scouts from other Indian tribes, on chiefs reluctantly agreed to a reservation 90 percent a circuitous route through four states. They sought smaller than that of 1855. Without authority they ceded safety among Crow allies on the eastern Montana lands of Nez Perce who left the council, in a document plains; when this failed, their last hope was sanctuary thereafter called “the Thief Treaty.” in Canada. After fleeing more than 1,100 miles they were trapped at Snake Creek at the base of the Bears Non-Indians distinguished those who signed as “treaty” Paw Mountains in Montana, and forced to submit to Nez Perce; those who had not were the “non-treaty.” Colonel Nelson Appleton Miles on October 5, 1877 –

Nez Perce Nez Perce Nez Perce Tribe The Confederated Confederated Tribes (Nee-Me-Poo) National National Historical Park Lapwai, ID 83540 Tribes of the Colville of the Umatilla Historic Trail 39063 US Hwy 95 (208) 843-2253 Reservation Indian Reservation Administrator’s Office Lapwai, ID 83540-9715 www.nezperce.org (509) 634-2200 (541) 276-3165 12740 Highway 12 (208) 843-7001 www.colvilletribes.com www.ctuir.org Orofino, ID 83544 www.nps.gov/nepe (208) 476-8234 On Twitter Yellowstone National Park @ npnht www.fs.usda.gov/npnht/ PO Box 168 Nez Perce Yellowstone NP, WY 82190 Trail Foundation (307)344-7381 www.nezpercetrail.net www.nps.gov/yell