Chief Joseph was the leader of the Nez Perce tribe, whose lands were in what is now Oregon and Washington in the western United States. Chief Joseph was born a member of the Nez Perce tribe of Wallowa Valley, Oregon in 1840. (March 3, 1840 – September 21, 1904) His Nez Perce name was Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt which means Thunder Rolling down the Mountain.
Before his father died, Joseph promised his father that he would not sell the land of the Wallowa Valley. Joseph did everything he could to keep the peace with the settlers. However, in 1877 one of the other Nez Perce bands got into a fight and killed several white settlers. He knew the peace had come to an end.
The retreat of Chief Joseph is called the Nez Perce War. It is often considered one of the most masterful retreats in military history. With just 200 warriors, Chief Joseph managed to take his people 1,400 miles while fighting fourteen battles against the much larger and better equipped U.S. army. However, eventually he ran out of food, blankets, and many of his warriors had been killed. He was nearly to the Canadian border when he was forced to surrender on October 5, 1877. After surrendering, the Nez Perce were forced to go to a reservation in Oklahoma. Eventually they were allowed to move back to Idaho in 1885, but this was still far away from their home in Wallowa Valley.