26 pages • 52 minutes read
Chief JosephI Will Fight No More Forever
Nonfiction | Essay / Speech | Adult | Published in 1877A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Key FiguresCharacter Analysis
Hinmatóowyalahtq̓it / Chief Joseph
Born March 3, 1840, Hinmatóowyalahtq̓it, often translated as “Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain,” was the son of the Wal-am-wat-kain/Wallowa leader Tuekakas, also known as Old Joseph. Both were baptized with the Christian name Joseph. Though his father supported the 1855 treaty and initially welcomed relations with the United States, settlers soon encroached, often violently, and the United States failed to enforce its own treaty. Old Joseph advised his son to protect the lands of their ancestors and not give it to anyone. In 1871, after his father’s passing, Chief Joseph took up his father’s role as leader. Though he promised to follow his father’s words, violence toward his people and a lack of legal recourse made it difficult to protect the people and remain on the land. In 1873, he negotiated an agreement with the federal government to allow his people to remain in the Wallowa Valley, but by 1877, the government reversed this policy, sending General Howard with an eviction notice.
Chief Joseph met with Howard in May 1877 and refused to agree. When Howard told him that staying beyond his 30-day notice would be considered an act of war, Chief Joseph prepared his people to leave the Wallowa Valley. He was not a war leader, and he did not speak for all the Nimíipuu people, but after the 1877 surrender he was often mislabeled as head chief and war leader. His surrender speech earned him much respect as an orator, and though he vowed to fight no more, Chief Joseph traveled as a public speaker. He addressed Congress and spoke with Presidents Hayes and Roosevelt in attempts to secure the Wallowa Valley for his people. He fought with his words, speaking out candidly against the injustices done to his people and pointing out the emptiness of US leaders’ words and promises. Though he traveled and spoke and was well received by members of Congress and heads of state, his request to return to his homeland with his people was never granted.
Allalimya Takanin / Looking Glass
Allalimya Takanin, called Looking Glass by the US Army, was a leader of the Alpowai band and major leader of the 1877 retreat with Chief Joseph and the Wallowa band of civilians. Born in 1832, he was older than Chief Joseph, and his expertise as a war leader allowed the Nimíipuu to evade Howard and the US Army as the 800 Nimíipuu fled first for sanctuary among the Crow and later to seek asylum with Sitting Bull in Canada. Looking Glass had once fought with the Crow as allies, but the Crow wished to avoid conflict with the US and rejected Looking Glass’s request for aid. Though his abilities were called into question after the surprise attack at the Battle of Big Hole, Looking Glass’s leadership was instrumental in the tribe’s many military successes on the retreat. Army officials admired the tactics and resolve of the Nimíipuu under Looking Glass. General William Tecumseh Sherman publicly praised the prowess of the Nimíipuu warriors following the conflict and surrender in October 1877. In council with Chief Joseph, Looking Glass disagreed with the plan to surrender at Bear Paw, and instead, with White Bird, he and his bands attempted to break the lines and flee to Canada. White Bird and the others successfully escaped the siege, but Looking Glass was killed crossing the lines. His death and loss of leadership are noted in Chief Joseph’s speech.
General Oliver O. Howard
Born in 1830, General Oliver O. Howard of Leeds, Maine, was a career officer and a commander of Union troops during the Civil War. Chief Joseph addresses him directly in his speech, appealing to his sense of justice and morality. Howard graduated from the United States Military Academy fourth in his class in 1854 and was appointed as Colonel in the 3rd Maine Infantry regiment. After the First Battle of Bull Run in the Civil War, he was promoted to brigadier general and earned a medal of honor in 1862 following the Battle of Faire Oaks/Seven Pines, in which he lost an arm. However, he suffered losses at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg and was moved to the Western Theater where he successfully led the right wing for General Sherman during his march through the Carolinas and Georgia to the sea.
After a period running the Freedman’s Bureau that sought to help integrate the formerly enslaved into American society during Reconstruction, he was given command of the army’s Department of the Columbias in 1874. He facilitated US policies of forced relocation of Indigenous people in the Pacific Northwest, including serving the eviction notice to Chief Joseph and jailing Toohulhulzote, the event that sparked the 1877 conflict. Though he is directly referred to in Chief Joseph’s speech, it was not Howard but General Miles whose siege on the civilian camp near the Bear Paw Mountains led to Chief Joseph’s surrender and end of the conflict. Howard pursued the Nimíipuu out of Idaho but lost sight of the band. Being closer, Miles was ordered to intercept and outmaneuver the Nimíipuu before they reached the Canadian border. Though Howard arrived in October to aide Nelson, by then the conflict was essentially over. Howard allowed Miles to officially accept Joseph’s surrender and any accolades that might accompany that responsibility. Chief Joseph speaks to General Howard rather than General Miles out of familiarity and because of his interest in resecuring an earlier promise to return to Idaho following his surrender. Howard went on to serve as superintendent at West Point and to help found Howard University, one of the first US colleges to admit men and women regardless of race. He died in Vermont in 1909.
