In the area where white settlers and the Nez Perce tribe both lived, there were long expeditions involving brutal ambushes and vicious shootings over land and resources. On Indian lands, there were even millions of dollars of gold discovered and taken by trespassing white settlers. Because of this, the two groups had brutal rivalries. They got into violent fights and even started the Nez Perce war. The three main causes of the conflict and war were land seizing, animal theft, and the unlawful mining of gold.

The Nez Perce conflict involved the Nez Perce war, a series of four battles. It mainly involved Nez Perce tribe leaders Chief Joseph, military chief Looking Glass. They were fighting against white settlers and their main military officers, Oliver Otis Howard, Nelson A. Miles and the Nez Perce tribe. The …show more content…
Once, when two men, Findlay and McNall, lost their horses, they noticed footprints and later saw that “a Nez Perce approached from the woods.” Findlay told them that he “wanted them to go to the settlement until we had an understanding about the matter.” However, they did not listen, so the men pointed rifles, and a gun fight erupted (Nez Perce War History.com). Additionally, when the Nez Perce went from Canada back to the US, they were “.stealing horses and killing cattle to sustain them.Wallace's men supposedly killed six Nez Perces and wounded three.” Shortly after that event, even more white men came and attacked Indian women for the rest of the animals (Nez Perce Chapter 14: Consequences nps.gov). In an article titled “Ancient People of the Nez Perce National Forest,” it states, “As animals strayed, were stolen or lost in battle, native people soon acquired horses and enthusiastically assimilated them into their way of life.The Nez Perce became skilled horsemen” and breeders. United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service,