While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
The Epic of the Nez Percé: Refusing life on a
government-selected reservation, Chief Joseph, Chief Looking Glass, Chief
White Bird, Chief Ollokot, Chief Lean Elk, and others led nearly 750 Nez
Perce men, women, and children and twice that many horses over 1,170 miles
through Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana mountains, on a trip that lasted from
June to October of 1877, until checked by Miles just short of the Canadian
border at Bear Paw Mountain (1877). This manuscript depicts their story.
The Nez Percés were a loosely associated
group of local bands, each possessing its own
territory and own chief. It is true that they
had a collective name for these bands, and
that there were occasions when perhaps the
greater part were in one camp, as at the camps
meadows or during fall fishing in the Wallowa
and the Salmon. Nevertheless there was in
reality no tribal organization. The bands were
kindred, spoke the same language, and
associated for mutual defense; but they
remained distinct.
The history of the Nez Percés, when studied
as a part of the North American Indian's
conflict with civilization, is convincing that
there was absolutely no course, policy, or
conduct open to him which insured fair
treatment, nor was there any road open to him
which seemed materially to alleviate the
situation or to stay the grasping
encroachment. The inert, unorganized Indians
of southern California were literally crowded
from the earth. The fact that they, with their
pacific disposition, made no resistance, has
no effect on the covetous settler, nor did it
cause the Government to reach to them a
helping hand in appreciation of their good
behavior. They suffered through good conduct.
The warlike, haughty tribes of the plains
stood the imposition as long as they could,
and then their long-smoldering resentment
broke into flame and they struck back as only
Indians can, and they suffered through their
hostility. The Nez Percés, a mentally superior
people, were friendly from their first contact
with white men, and as a tribe they always
desired to be so. Their history since 1855,
and particularly the war of 1877, tells how
they were repaid for their loyalty to the
white brother.
This site
includes some historical materials that may imply negative stereotypes
reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place. These
items are presented as part of the historical record and should not be
interpreted to mean that the WebMasters in any way endorse the stereotypes
implied .
