American Legends: The Life of Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce

American Legends: The Life of Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce

*Includes pictures of Chief Joseph and other important people and places in his life.
*Explains the events that led up to the Nez Perce War and comprehensively covers the tribe's legendary retreat
*Discusses Chief Joseph's legacy and controversies surrounding his life.
*Includes a Table of Contents.

â€œOur fathers gave us many laws, which they had learned from their fathers. These laws were good. They told us to treat all people as they treated us; that we should never be the first to break a bargain; that is was a disgrace to tell a lie; that we should speak only the truth; that it was a shame for one man to take another's wife or his property without paying for it.â€ â€“ Chief Joseph

A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of historyâ€™s most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editorsâ€™ American Legends series, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of Americaâ€™s most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.

When he died in 1904, most Americans who knew his peopleâ€™s story considered Chief Joseph, whose Nez PercÃ© name is Himahtooyahlatkekt (â€œThunder Rolling Down from the Mountainsâ€), a military genius and an â€œIndian Napoleon.â€ This assessment of the Native American leader was based on a 1,500-mile odyssey during which he and his people left their reservation in the hopes of escaping to Canada, where the Nez PercÃ© intended to join Sitting Bull and his Hunkpapa Sioux band. The real Chief Joseph was a gifted speaker and more diplomat than war leader. Itâ€™s not surprising that Chief Joseph was misunderstood and misrepresented by Americans because his peopleâ€™s name was as well; Nez PercÃ© literally means â€œpierced noseâ€ in French, but it is unclear whether the tribe ever used nose piercing as a form of ornament.

At the time of Josephâ€™s birth, the Nez PercÃ© were rapidly becoming the most influential and wealthy tribe in the region, and their prospects seemed bright. Lewis and Clark had considered his ancestors sufficiently friendly and reliable that they left their horses with them as they loaded onto canoes and journeyed to the Pacific Coast. By the time of Josephâ€™s birth in 1840, the Nez PercÃ© had maintained friendly relations with American settlers for several decades. But their attitudes would soon change as the United States government began to coerce them to cede their traditional homeland to newly arrived white settlers, and the Nez PercÃ© began suffering a fate very similar to that of other Native American tribes to the east. Joseph had inherited tribal leadership from his father in 1871, and for six tumultuous years he attempted to peacefully resist settlers who desired the tribeâ€™s fertile potential farmland in the Wallowa Valley of present-day northeastern Oregon. Thus it was Chief Joseph who fought the Nez Perce War against the U.S. Army in 1877, earning grudging respect from the people who sought to defeat them.

American Legends: The Life of Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce profiles the amazing life and leadership of the famous Native American Chief, examining the results of the war and analyzing his lasting legacy. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Chief Joseph like you never have before, in no time at all.
Country USA
Manufacturer Charles River Editors
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2012-11-20
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Charles River Editors
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2012-11-20
Format	Kindle eBook

American Legends: The Life of Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce

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