Chief Joseph
Chief Joseph
Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, Hinmatóowyalahtq̓it in Americanist orthography, popularly known as Chief Joseph or Young Joseph, succeeded his father Tuekakasas the leader of the Wal-lam-wat-kainband of Nez Perce, a Native American tribe indigenous to the Wallowa Valley in northeastern Oregon, in the interior Pacific Northwest region of the United States...
ProfessionWar Hero
Date of Birth3 March 1840
CityWallowa River, OR
children giving give-me
Good words will not give me back my children.
mother children father
I am ready to talk today. I have been in a great many councils, but I am no wiser. We are all sprung from a woman, although we are unlike in many things. We can not be made over again. You are as you were made, and as you were made you can remain. We are just as we were made by the Great Spirit, and you can not change us ; then why should children of one mother and one father quarrel ? — why should one try to cheat the other ? I do not believe that the Great Spirit Chief gave one kind of men the right to tell another kind of men what they must do.
people divided
My people were divided about surrendering.
war men buying
I saw clearly that war was upon us when I learned that my young men had been secretly buying ammunition.
country band lawyer
Lawyer acted without authority from our band. He had no right to sell the Wallowa country.
fighting indian
When an Indian fights, he only shoots to kill.
may meat fur
Finest fur may cover toughest meat.
men vaccines white
We soon found that the white men were growing rich very fast, and were greedy.
truth few-words telling-the-truth
It takes few words to tell the truth.
done heard
I have heard talk and talk, but nothing is done.
mother native-american rights
The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.
native-american fighting sun
From where the sun now stands I will fight no more.
fathers-day father eye
My father... had sharper eyes than the rest of our people.
native-american fighting great-american
We are going by you without fighting if you will let us, but we are going by you anyhow!