whereby that portion of the reserve lying north of the Snake and Clearwater Rivers, the South Fork of the Clearwater, and the trail from said South Fork by the "Weipo root-ground" across the Bitter Root Mountains, was opened to the whites in common with the Indians for mining purposes. In defiance of law, and despite the protestations of the Indian agent, a town-site was laid off in October, 1861, on the reservation, and Lewiston, with a population of twelve hundred, sprung into existence. To this another grievance was added in the distribution of annuities, articles being supplied in inadequate quantities. In 1862, only 247 blankets were furnished the tribe, or one blanket to six Indians, and 4,393 yards of calico, which was less than two yards to each Indian. Giving a blanket to one Indian works no satisfaction to the other five, who receive none, and two yards of calico to each Indian affords but little help and no advancement; yet this was all that could be distributed owing to the meagre appropriations allowed.

By the spring of 1863 it was very evident that, from the change of circumstances and contact with whites, a new treaty was required to properly define and, if possible, curtail the limits of the reserve. Accordingly, on the 9th of June, 1863, Calvin H. Hale, Charles Hutchins, and S. D. Howe, commissioners on the part of the United States, and Chief Lawyer, whose opinion Governor Stevens held in higher esteem than that of any other Indian in the Territory, with fifty other chiefs and headmen, (twenty of whom were parties to the treaty of 1855,) on the part of the Nez Percés, made a new treaty, whereby the reserve was reduced to its present limits, excluding Wallowa, Salmon River, and Alpowai Valleys. After the conclusion of these negotiations, the Nez Percé tribe divided into two factions, viz, the treaty or peace party and the non-treaty or war party, the latter being led by Joseph, Looking Glass, Big Thunder, White Bird, and Eagle from the Light. Chief Joseph and his band, utterly ignoring the treaty of 1863, continued to claim the Wallowa Valley, where he was tacitly permitted to roam without restraint, until the encroachments of white settlers induced the government to take some definite action respecting this band of non-treaty Nez Percés.

A commission, consisting of Hon. J. P. C. Shanks, Hon. T. W. Bennett, and Agent H. W. Reed, was appointed March 26, 1873, to investigate and report upon Indian affairs in Idaho; and Superintendent T. Ödeneal and Agent J. B. Monteith were designated, February 7, and 25, 1873, respectively, as a special commission to make an investigation and hold a council with Chief Joseph and band, and other Indians occupying Wallowa Valley in Oregon, with a view to their removal, if practicable, to the Lapwai reserve. The first-named commission state the source of the then existing troubles with the Nez Percé Indians to have been the encroachment of whites upon their farming-lands and upon their fishery and hunting-grounds, as well as the actual settlement of four white men within the limits of the reduced reservation, in violation of treaty stipulations. The other commission held the removal of these roving Nez Percés to the Lapwai reservation to be impracticable. So long as the Wallowa Valley remained unsettled, Chief Joseph and his followers retained it in quiet possession, under the full sway and influence of Smohalla and other "dreamers" or medicine-men, who held that the earth was a part of themselves, and that Chief Joseph had a right to roam wherever impulse or inclination led him. As a removal had been declared to be impracticable, and his right as a non-treaty Indian to occupy the Wallowa Valley was still mooted, it was deemed to be good policy, in avoidance of a conflict liable to be the result of

additional settlement, to declare the valley an Indian reservation, and thereby check further encroachment of settlers until some decisive action could be taken by Congress to remove the whites from Lapwai reserve, and to settle the non-treaty Indians thereon. Accordingly, on the 16th of June, 1873, the President declared the Wallowa Valley a reservation for the roving Nez Percé Indians, so long as they remained peaceable and committed no depredations on the settlers or their improvements. There being a number of settlers within the reservation thus set apart by the President, an appraisal of their improvements was made and submitted to the department to be recommended for appropri ate legislation. Congress, however, failed to make any appropriation for the payment of the claims of these settlers, and Chief Joseph, after a lapse of two years, showed a disposition neither to settle upon the Wallowa reserve nor to respect the rights or property of the whites whom he encountered in his unrestricted roving. Having thus failed to secure the results contemplated by the issue of the order of June 16, 1873, the Indian Office then recommended a revocation of said order, which was signed by President Grant June 10, 1875.

Owing to the imminent danger of a conflict between the settlers and these roving Indians, growing out of the murder by the whites of one of Chief Joseph's band, and of the depredations upon the crops and stock of the whites by the Indians, a commission, consisting of D. H. Jerome, esq., Brig. Gen. O. O. Howard, Maj. H. Clay Wood, A. A. G., and William Stickney, esq. and A. C. Barstow, esq., of the board of Indian Commissioners, was appointed in October, 1876, by the Secretary of the Interior, Hon. Z. Chandler, to visit these Indians with a view to secure their permanent settlement upon the reservation, and their early entrance upon a civilized life, and to adjust the difficulties then existing between them and the settlers. The report of the commission, submitted December 1, 1876, (which accompanies this report, page, 183,) recommended, first, the return of the dreamers or medicine-men to the reserve, and, in case of refusal, their transportation to the Indian Territory; secondly, the speedy military occupation of the Wallowa Valley by a force adequate to suppress any outbreak, the agent in the mean time to continue his efforts in persuading them to settle upon the reserve; thirdly, failing to secure a quiet settlement upon the reserve, that forcible means be used to place them on it; and, fourthly, should depredations upon property or any overt act of hostility by the Indians be made, the employment of sufficient force to bring them into subjection and to place them on the reservation.

The department acted upon these recommendations, instructing the agent to hold interviews with these Indians, and also requesting the War Department to take military occupation of the valley in the interest of peace, and to co-operate with the agent in the effort to place Chief Joseph and his band in permanent homes upon the Lapwai reservation. General Howard, with agent Monteith, took charge of the proposed negotiations. Several interviews were held with Chief Joseph, but owing to the pernicious influence of the dreamers-Smohalla especially-no suggestion from the Indian agent seemed to Chief Joseph worthy of consideration; and it becoming evident to Agent Monteith that all negotiations for the peaceful removal of Joseph and his band, with other non-treaty Nez Percé Indians, to the Lapwai Indian reservation in Idaho must fail of a satisfactory adjustment, General Howard was placed in full control of all further attempts for their removal.

He held three councils with these Indians, on the 3d, 4th, and 7th of May last respectively, in which Joseph, Looking-Glass, and White Bird,

the three chief leaders of all the non-treaty Indians, agreed to go upon the reservation with their several bands. In accordance with this agreement, arrangements were made to visit the several localities on the reserve suitable for the settlement of their bands. The first visit was made on the 8th of May, to the valley of the Lapwai, for a location for Joseph and his band. The next day Looking Glass and White Bird visited the valley of the Clearwater, at the mouth of Kamiah Creek. Here, among the Kamiah Indians, Looking-Glass proposed to settle upon the spare lands of this valley. On the 10th of May they proceeded some sixteen or eighteen miles up the Clearwater, where they found a country abounding in wood, water, and grass, with plenty of arable land. Encouraged by Looking-Glass, White Bird settled upon this as his location. Having accomplished this part of their plans, the Indians met on the 15th of May, at Fort Lapwai, to hold a final council in regard to the removal of their bands to these localities, and agreed to remove their stock and settle thereon in thirty days. So confident were General Howard, Inspector Watkins, and Agent Monteith of the honesty of purpose of the Indians as displayed in their councils, and their definite selection of homes, that they felt justified in telegraphing the successful termination of any danger of an outbreak, and the approaching peaceable removal of all non-treaty Indians to suitable homes within the limits of the reservation.

One day, however, prior to the expiration of the time fixed for their removal (namely, June 14, 1877,) open hostilities by these Indians began by the murder of twenty-one white men and women on White Bird Creek, near Mount Idaho, in revenge for the murder of one of their tribe. The few troops under the command of General Howard were ordered out at once, and on the 17th of June Captain Perry made the first attack in a cañon of Hangman's Creek, near Spokane, 75 miles east of Lewiston, losing thirty-four men. On the 4th of July the attack was renewed by Colonels Berry and Whipple at Kamiah, near Cottonwood on Salmon River, with a loss of thirteen men. The next battle was under the immediate command of General Howard, which occurred on the 12th of July, on the South Fork of the Clearwater, near the mouth of Cottonwood Creek, the government sustaining a loss of eleven killed and twenty-six wounded. On the 19th of July the Indians were reported as having fled on the Lolo trail to the buffalo country east of the Bitter Root Mountains, having crossed the Clearwater 20 miles below Kamiah. At this juncture, Joseph showed a disposition to surrender, Red Heart and twenty-eight followers having voluntarily given themselves up; but the threatening attitude of White Bird compelled him to abandon this design and join the others in their flight to the Bitter Root Mountains. By this parley of Joseph, the Indians gained four days' advance of the troops which were sent in their pursuit. By forced marches, however, General Gibbon, on the 9th of August, came upon the Nez Percé camp, at Big Hole Pass, Montana Territory, 135 miles from Missoula, making an immediate attack. Both sides lost heavily. General Gibbon himself was wounded and sustained a loss of seven officers and fifty-three men. From this battle-field the Indians fled down the Bannack trail to the vicinity of Bannack City, where they turned southwesterly to Horse Prairie, and proceeded on to Old Fort Lemhi, on the Mormon Fork of Salmon River, south of Salmon City. After passing into Idaho, the hostiles again turned eastward and crossed into Montana, evidently making their way up Henry's Fork of Snake River, in the vicinity of Lake Henry, toward the Yellowstone Park, with General Howard in pursuit.

Instructions were issued to General Terry that if the hostiles should reach the park and cross into the Big Horn country, on the passes of the Stinkingwater, Colonel Miles should be ordered to attack them. The Indians made an attack upon General Howard at Camp Meadow, near Lake Henry, capturing some one hundred horses, one third of which were, however, retaken after the battle, in which General Howard lost one man killed and seven wounded. On the 27th of August, the Nez Percés crossed the Yellowstone above the falls, at the upper end of a cañon in the National Park, on their way to Wind River.

Colonel Sturgis was directed to leave the Crow agency for the Clark River Valley to capture the Nez Percés. On the 13th of September be had a battle with them on Cañon Creek, Clark's Fork, near the Yellowstone, in which but few men were killed and wounded, but the Indians lost heavily in men and ponies. The Indians were evidently making for the Judith Mountain, with Sturgis and Sanford in pursuit, followed by General Howard. They crossed the Missouri River at Cow Island on the 23d September, and entered the pass between Bear's Paw and the Little Rocky Mountains on the 28th, carrying many wounded, On the route from the Yellowstone to the Missouri River, the Nez Percés encountered the Crow scouts, who made a sudden charge upon them, capturing large numbers of their ponies and mules, as well as killing and wounding many of their men. General Miles, who had been ordered to intercept, did not strike their trail till they had crossed the Missouri. As the hostile Nez Percés were coming out of the Bear's Paw Mountains, on the 3d of October, General Miles moved his command rapidly to Snake Creek, met, and surprised their camp at eight o'clock in the morning, capturing about six hundred horses, mules, and ponies. This engagement was the severest blow the Indians had yet received. Besides the loss of their horses, they lost seventeen killed, including LookingGlass and Joseph's brother and three other chiefs, and forty wounded. After this day's battle Joseph resorted to diplomacy, and gave his solemn pledge that he would surrender, but did not do so, evidently waiting for aid from other Indians. This failing him, and General Miles renewing the attack the next day, he was compelled to end the long and severe struggle on the 5th of October by an unconditional surrender of all his forces.

Upon the capture of Joseph and his Indians, the first question that arises is, "What shall be done with them?” Humanity prompts us to send them back and place them on the Nez Percé reservation, as Joseph and his followers have shown themselves to be brave men and skillful soldiers, who, with one exception, have observed the rules of civilized warfare, and have not mutilated their dead enemies.

There is, however, an insuperable difficulty in the way, owing to the fact that at the beginning of the outbreak of the Nez Percé war, twentyone whites in the immediate vicinity of Joseph's home were murdered in cold blood by the Indians, and six white women were outraged. Because of these crimes, there would be no peace nor safety for Joseph and bis Indians on their old reservation, or in its vicinity, as the friends and relatives of the victims would wage an unrelenting war upon the offenders. But for these foul crimes these Indians would be sent back to the reservation in Idaho. Now, however, they will have to be sent to the Indian Territory; and this will be no hardship to them, as the difference in the temperature between that latitude and their old home is inconsiderable. The gallant achievement of General Miles in the capture of these Indians has had a decided and beneficial influence on other hostile tribes. It is mainly owing to this influence that the Sioux have quietly assented to the removal they before refused to make.

the three chief leaders of all the non-treaty Indians, agreed to go upon the reservation with their several bands. In accordance with this agreement, arrangements were made to visit the several localities on the reserve suitable for the settlement of their bands. The first visit was made on the 8th of May, to the valley of the Lapwai, for a location for Joseph and his band. The next day Looking-Glass and White Bird visited the valley of the Clearwater, at the mouth of Kamiah Creek. Here, among the Kamiah Indians, Looking-Glass proposed to settle upon the spare lands of this valley. On the 10th of May they proceeded some sixteen or eighteen miles up the Clearwater, where they found a country abounding in wood, water, and grass, with plenty of arable land. Encouraged by Looking-Glass, White Bird settled upon this as his location. Having accomplished this part of their plans, the Indians met on the 15th of May, at Fort Lapwai, to hold a final council in regard to the removal of their bands to these localities, and agreed to remove their stock and settle thereon in thirty days. So confident were General Howard, Inspector Watkins, and Agent Monteith of the honesty of purpose of the Indians as displayed in their councils, and their definite selection of homes, that they felt justified in telegraphing the successful termination of any danger of an outbreak, and the approaching peaceable removal of all non-treaty Indians to suitable homes within the limits of the reservation.

One day, however, prior to the expiration of the time fixed for their removal (namely, June 14, 1877,) open hostilities by these Indians began by the murder of twenty-one white men and women on White' Bird Creek, near Mount Idaho, in revenge for the murder of one of their tribe. The few troops under the command of General Howard were ordered out at once, and on the 17th of June Captain Perry made the first attack in a cañon of Hangman's Creek, near Spokane, 75 miles east of Lewiston, losing thirty-four men. On the 4th of July the attack · was renewed by Colonels Berry and Whipple at Kamiah, near Cottonwood on Salmon River, with a loss of thirteen men. The next battle was under the immediate command of General Howard, which occurred on the 12th of July, on the South Fork of the Clearwater, near the mouth of Cottonwood Creek, the government sustaining a loss of eleven killed and twenty-six wounded. On the 19th of July the Indians were reported as having fled on the Lolo trail to the buffalo country east of the Bitter Root Mountains, having crossed the Clearwater 20 miles below Kamiah. At this juncture, Joseph showed a disposition to surrender, Red Heart and twenty-eight followers having voluntarily given themselves up; but the threatening attitude of White Bird compelled him to abandon this design and join the others in their flight to the Bitter Root Mountains. By this parley of Joseph, the Indians gained four days' advance of the troops which were sent in their pursuit. By forced marches, however, General Gibbon, on the 9th of August, came upon the Nez Percé camp, at Big Hole Pass, Montana Territory, 135 miles from Missoula, making an immediate attack. Both sides lost heavily. General Gibbon himself was wounded and sustained a loss of seven officers and fifty-three men. From this battle-field the Indians fled down the Bannack trail to the vicinity of Bannack City, where they turned southwesterly to Horse Prairie, and proceeded on to Old Fort Lemhi, on the Mormon Fork of Salmon River, south of Salmon City. After passing into Idaho, the hostiles again turned eastward and crossed into Montana, evidently making their way up Henry's Fork of Snake River, in the vicinity of Lake Henry, toward the Yellowstone Park, with General Howard in pursuit.