After the treaties made with Isaac Stevens, the Nez Perce retained a large part of their homeland, but with white settlers streaming in from all over, the U.S.A. tried to pry more land from them. With multiple murders of indians by white people, the Nez Perce leaders were called to a meeting with U.S. general Oliver Otis Howard. They jailed their leader, Toohoolhoolzote, humiliating the Nez Perce as well as giving them a 30 day period to move to the reservation. After the general gave them a deadline of thirty days to move the the new site for a reservation, the over 1,000 miles of a fighting retreat began. (Center for Columbia River History: Nez Perce Treaty, 1855; Nez Perce Joseph : an account of his ancestors, his lands, his confederates, …show more content…
at the conference that started the war, as well as white settlers mining on indian land and shooting indians on sight, the fuel for a war was there. The indians that murdered white settlers on the night of their departure may have gotten the U.S. suspicious of their antics. The one factor that tipped the leaders of the indians was the jailing of their faultless leader Toohoolhoolzote. It caused outrage among the tribes. Two tribes and it’s chieftains urged they go to war while the head chieftain said they should retreat to Canada. They decided to ask the people of the Crow for refuge over in Montana where one of the lesser chieftains made friends with them a while back. (The Washington Journey, Gibbs Smith …show more content…
would have stood by their original treaties and left the indians to their reservations. This could have left less casualties to both the indian population and the U.S. forces. If the original meeting of all the indian chiefs would have stipulated that the boundaries for the reservations could not have been breached and could not be moved by any power unless in absolute need, as in war, this could have been a much better era than it had been. With all of the deaths caused by the troops and indians, no women or children were harmed by the Nez Perce. With all that said, it was a war and if it weren’t for the arrogance of the U.S. generals the Nez Perce would have complied and had been on their