Nez Perce Trail of Tears
By: Ariane Rice and Jamison Hermanson
The Nez Perce Trail of Tears was a route taken by the Nez Perce Indian tribe in 1877 in their attempt to escape the U.S. calvary and flee to Canada.
History
Approximately 2900 tribal members (from the start) suffered the long journey towards their attempt to escaping to Canada. Of these numbers, only 790 were tribal warriors. They were not under any treaty with the United States, and did not want to be forced onto an Indian reservation.
Battles
On their long journey to Canada, the Indians fought many battles with the U.S. 7th Calvary. While crossing the Lolo Pass into Montana, they fought a major battle known as the Big Hole Battle. (Big Hole National Battlefield) After that, the Nez Perce continued traveling south and east, back into Idaho and then into Wyoming entering Yellow Stone National Park. The tribe left the park crossing Sylvan Pass and followed the Clarks Fork River back into Montana. From there the Nez Perce headed almost straight north for Canada and almost made it to their destination. The Nez Perce were starving and exhausted after fighting their last battle north of the Bear Paw Mountains, less than 40 miles from the Canadian border, when they surrendered to U.S. authorities.
Chief Joseph
Chief Joseph is credited with leading the Nez Perce on this journey. He served as a camp supervisor and guardian who navigated travel and supervised the camp and its conditions. At the time of the surrender, Chief Joseph was the surviving leader among the group and upon his word, he decided it was time to surrender. A few members of the tribe did reach Canada, but the majority were relocated to Kansas and Oklahoma for eight years before being allowed to move to the reservation in Idaho, near their ancestral home.
Trail description
The trail passes through numerous National Park Service managed areas, National Forests, and Bureau of Land Management Public Lands. None of the forest lands were managed by the federal government, but Yellowstone National Park was created 5 years before the Nez Perce journey. The trail also passes through privately owned property, in which special permission is needed to pass through. Little of the trail can actually be traveled by foot however, the majority of the journey can be closely followed by roads.
Moreover
The trail of tears was named for what happened on the journey of the Nez Perce Indians to get to Canada. When miners struck gold on the Nez Perce land, thousands of other people decided to come and mine and trade with each other. The government idealized that they would move them and make a new treaty with them. Most of the Nez Perce people did not want to relocate to the new reservation. Because of this, they chose to travel to Canada. The trail is 1,170 miles long. The Nez Perce that did not sign the treaty became known as the “Non-Treaty” Nez Perce. The trip started on June 15, 1877. As they were trekking on their journey, they became aware of the encountering pursuance by the American Army. The Trail of Tears was used in its entirety once. General William Tecumseh Sherman said that the journey and the battle was, “The most extraordinary of Indian wars". Young men, some 750 non-treaty Nez Perce’s only 250 of them warriors, the rest women, children, and old or sick people, together with their 2,000 horses - fought defensively for their lives in some 20 battles against a total of more than 2,000 soldiers aided by many civilian volunteers and Indians of other tribes. Their route through four states with their own skillful strategy, covered over 1,100 miles before they were trapped and surrendered at Montana's Bears Paw Mountains just short of the Canadian border and safety on October 5, 1877. There is irony in the tragic fate of the Nez Perce’s. In addition to having been loyal friends and allies of the whites for almost three quarters of a century, their conduct during the war was free of traits which whites usually associated with Indian warfare. Following what the whites regarded as a code of conduct, the Nez Perce’s refrained themselves from scalping, mutilating bodies, or torturing prisoners, and generally avoided attacks on citizens. At the same time, defeated Indians, the surviving Nez Perce’s were sent to several years of exile in present-day Oklahoma before they were allowed to return to reservations in the Northwest.