Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, (March 3, 1840 - September 21, 1904) was the leader of the Wal-lam-wat-kain band of Nez Perce who were forcibly removed from their ancestral lands in the Wallowa Valley by the Federal government and forced to move, onto a much sm
Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, (March 3, 1840 - September 21, 1904) was the leader of the Wal-lam-wat-kain band of Nez Perce who were forcibly removed from their ancestral lands in the Wallowa Valley by the Federal government and forced to move, onto a much smaller reservation in Idaho Territory. The Nez Perce who resisted took flight to attempt to reach political asylum, ultimately with the Sioux chief Sitting Bull in Canada. They were pursued by the Army in a campaign led by General Oliver O. Howard. This 1,170 mile fighting retreat by the Nez Perce in 1877 became known as the Nez Perce War. The skill with which the Nez Perce fought and the manner in which they conducted themselves in the face of incredible adversity led to widespread admiration among their military adversaries and the American public. By the time Joseph surrendered, 150 of his followers had been killed or wounded. Although he had negotiated a safe return home for his people, General Sherman forced Joseph and 400 followers to be taken on unheated rail cars to Fort Leavenworth to be held in a prisoner of war campsite for eight months. The surviving Nez Perce were taken by rail to a reservation in the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) for seven years. Many of them died of epidemic diseases while there. In his last years Joseph spoke eloquently against the injustice of United States policy toward his people and held out the hope that America's promise of freedom and equality might one day be fulfilled for Native Americans as well. He died in September 1904, still in exile from his homeland, according to his doctor "of a broken heart."
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