History That Doesn't Suck - 79: The Indian Wars (Part 3): Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce & Standing Bear’s Fight for Civil Rights

Episode Date: December 7, 2020

“Does this court think an Indian is a competent witness?” This is the story of the start of Indigenous civil rights. Since the arrival of Lewis and Clark, the Nez Perce have lived peacefully beside US citizens. The Pacific Northwest Indigenous group is proud of the fact that not one of them has ever killed a white person. But things are changing. New settlers are flocking, and the US government wants the Nez Perce to cede more land. In 1863, the Upper Nez Perce sign a treaty that cedes Lower Nez Perce lands without their consent. Meanwhile, settlers who wrong the Nez Perce (even murdering some), aren’t being charged with crimes. Amid these crimes and forced removal, peace can’t hold. Nez Perce leaders like Chief Joseph soon find themselves fighting a war they don’t want. But can the US government forcibly remove indigenous people to reservations, and further force them to stay there? Or do they have civil rights? Ponca Chief Standing Bear is raising that very question by suing for a writ of habeas corpus in Omaha, Nebraska. The legal precedent-setting decision rests with Judge Elmer Dundy. ____ Connect with us on HTDSpodcast.com and go deep into episode bibliographies and book recommendations join discussions in our Facebook community get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette  come see a live show get HTDS merch or become an HTDS premium member for bonus episodes and other perks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What did it take to survive an ancient siege? Why was the cult of Dionysus behind so many slave revolts in ancient Rome? What's the tragic history and mythology behind Japan's most haunted ancient forest? We're Jen and Jenny from Ancient History Fangirl. Join us to explore ancient history and mythology from a fun, sometimes tipsy, perspective. Find us at ancienthistoryfangirl.com or wherever you get your podcasts. From the creators of the popular science show with millions of YouTube subscribers comes the MinuteEarth podcast. Every episode of the show dives deep into a science question you

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We're at the four-story, stone-built U.S. Post Office and Custom House on the corner of 15th and Dodge in Omaha, Nebraska. But don't let that name fool you. We won't be sending any postcards today. We're in the building's packed-to-the-brim third-floor courtroom, about to witness a trial unlike any the United States has ever seen. This is the case of Standing Bear v. Crook. Okay, a little background.

Wanting to enter his deceased son in their ancestral lands, Chief Standing Bear and some of his fellow Ponca left their reservation in Indian Territory, that is, the future state of Oklahoma, and returned here to Nebraska. Under orders, Brigadier General George Crook then arrested them. But, George is sympathetic to Standing Bear. Rather than send them back to Indian territory,

he alerted the media to the chief's plight, and now two of the finest lawyers around, John Webster and A.J. Poppleton, have gone pro bono to help the Ponca chief sue for writ of habeas corpus. You know, to make the government prove it has the right to detain them. Of course, as the one doing the detaining on the

government's behalf, this technically makes General George Crook the defendant. But that's fine. George is pulling for Standing Bear anyway. Still, the general's sympathies won't decide the case. Judge Elmer Dundee will. The question before him isn't only if Standing Bear is a U.S. citizen, but if, in a legal sense, he is a person and therefore can sue the U.S. government. U.S. Attorney General G.M. Lambertson says no. Pointing to the decade-old, citizenship-granting 14th Amendment, Standing Bear's attorneys say yes. Well, enough background.

Like I said, interested citizens and reporters are crammed into the gallery The lawyers examine the first witness Our judge listens intently Playing the role of defendant, General George Crook and his staff are decked out in their military blues And finally, we have our plaintiff Wearing a bear claw necklace and a red blanket draped over his shoulders, Standing Bear looks every bit the leader that he is. And at 2 p.m., the Ponca Chief's lawyer, John Webster, calls him to the stand.

U.S. Attorney Mr. Lambertson is taken aback. Does this court think an Indian is a competent witness? He protests. They are competent, Judge Elmer Dundee answers. The law makes no distinction on account of race, color, or previous condition. With that clarification, John Webster addresses his non-English-speaking client's interpreter, Willie Hamilton. Ask him how he and his people lived in the Indian Territory after they got down there.

Ask him further what they did still after they arrived there to become like civilized white men, and then let him tell the story. Mr. Lamberton interjects, I want questions put to him and let him answer the questions. Standing Bear recounts their two years in Indian Territory, as Willie translates. I saw the land, and the land was not good to my eye.

I couldn't plow, and we all got sick. From the time I went down there until I left, 158 of us died. John Webster's questions continue as Mr. Lambertson keeps him on his toes. Ask him when they came north, how they meant to earn a living. Objection, immaterial, overruled.

And so the examination and the cross-examination continues. The next day, the lawyers in this trial pontificate for a staggering combined 12 hours. But as the night of May 2nd drags on, one speech remains to be given. Standing Bear's. Not being a lawyer, Standing Bear can't speak to the court during session unless he's answering questions as a witness. Ah, but what if the court adjourns and most here just don't realize it? Well, that's different, and that's exactly how Judge Elmer Dundee is going to play it. Court is adjourned, he says in a near whisper to the U.S. Marshal.

And on the trick, the Marshal answers just as softly. Hear ye, hear ye, the Honorable District Court of the United States is now adjourned. Only those closest to the bench hear either of them. The judge now invites Standing Bear to speak. Accompanied by the gifted polyglot, Suzette Bright Eyes LaFleche, who will serve as his translator, the chief walks forward. He then extends his hand and stands in silence for a solid minute as the packed courthouse looks on. Finally, pausing between each sentence to let bright eyes translate, he speaks.

That hand is not the color of yours, but if I pierce it, I shall feel pain. If you pierce your hand, you also feel pain. The blood that will flow from mine will be of the same color as yours. I am a man. The same God made us both. Standing Bear now tenses up. He looks out toward a courtroom window

and continues. I seem to stand on the bank of a river. My wife and little girl are beside me. In front, the river is wide and impassable, and behind there are perpendicular cliffs. No man of my race ever stood there before. There is no tradition to guide me. A flood has begun to rise around us. I look despairingly at the great cliffs. I see a steep, stony way leading upward. I grasp the hand of my child.

My wife follows. I lead the way up the sharp rocks while the water still rises behind us. Finally, I see a rift in the rocks. I feel the prairie breeze strike my cheek. I turn to my wife and child with a shout that we are saved. We will return to the swift running water that pours down between the green islands. There are the graves of my fathers. There again we will pitch our teepee and build our fires.

But a man bars the passage. He is a thousand times more powerful than I. Behind him, I see soldiers as numerous as leaves on the trees. They will obey that man's orders. I too must obey his orders. If he says that I cannot pass, I cannot. The long struggle will have been in vain. My wife and child and I must return and sink beneath the flood. We are weak and faint and sick. I cannot fight. Standing Bear now turns to the judge, calmly, quietly. He says to him,

you are that man. A perfect silence envelops the room. It's soon broken by the sobbed spectators. Even the general and the judge are visibly moved. Then cheers erupt and applause thunders. Order! Order! A bailiff hollers. Standing Bear

is given a moving speech. Are his words enough to tip the scales? Has the Ponca chief and his lawyers proven that the Ponca, and by extension, all Native Americans, are legally people to whom civil rights are due? The decision now rests with Judge Elmer Dundee. Welcome to History That Doesn't Suck. I'm your professor, Greg Jackson, and I'd like to tell you a story. Today, we close out the Indian Wars. To that end, I'll tell you two stories in this episode. First, we'll head to the Pacific Northwest and meet Chief Joseph

and follow him and his people, the Nez Perce, on an epic race for the Canadian border. Then we'll return to Nebraska, get more background on Standing Bear, and see how the trial ends. Will Judge Elmer Dundee rule that the Ponca and thus indigenous Americans are people in a legal sense or not? And what might that mean?

It's a lot to do in an hour, so let's get to it. We're off to Oregon of yesteryear to hear the tale of Chief Joseph and his people, the Nez Perce. You know how that's done. Rewind. By the mid-19th century, the Nez Perce have a well-established history of living peacefully beside explorers and settlers of the United States.

This goes all the way back to Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's Corps of Discovery. Indeed, when the Corps made it to the Pacific Northwest in 1805, they had nothing but good things to say about the Nez Perce, or the real people, as they called themselves. Nez Perce is a mispronunciation of the French term for them, nez percé, meaning pierced nose. William wrote that the Nez Perce showed them, quote, great acts of hospitality, close quote,

which, as historian Peter Cousins points out, may or may not have included the explorer fathering a child with a Nez Perce woman. But we won't dwell on the degree to which William may have enjoyed making contact with the Nez Perce. Point is, peace and tranquility has existed between U.S. citizens and this decentralized indigenous group whose territory spans the future states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho for roughly half a century. Things are changing in the 1850s, though. It's been a while since we traveled the Oregon Trail

back in episode 30. I trust you've recovered from that bout of dysentery. But I'm sure you remember that, by the 1850s, settlers are flooding into the Northwest. Reacting to that, Governor Isaac Stevens of the newly organized Washington Territory, which is far bigger than the future state, suggests a treaty that draws clear boundaries. You might say we see a clash of views and cultures right from the start of this proposal. To Isaac, a treaty sets clear boundaries and expectations. But to the Nez Pierce, who've inhabited these lands for several centuries, the idea of parceling and owning land,

the earth itself, is ridiculous. Old Joseph, a leader of a lower or more southern Nez Perce band called the Wallowa, flat out refuses. Take away your paper. I will not touch it with my hand, he tells the governor. But other leaders of the decentralized Nez Perce do sign this 1855 treaty, and as far as the U.S. government is concerned, that makes it valid. The U.S. now defines the Nez Perce's land as being smaller. Basically, it trims in their natural borders on its northwest corner and eastern and southern sides and calls this a reservation. The treaty will only hold for five years. It's now 1860. Prospectors are panning in Idaho Territory's Clearwater River. And wouldn't you know it,

looks like there's gold. Within the next year or two, 15,000 hopeful miners flood into the area, and they're soon followed by settlers and forts. The U.S. presence quickly grows to outnumber the indigenous Nez Perce on their treaty-protected land by about five to one. The Nez Perce complained to the U.S. government. Its officials respond not by enforcing the treaty, but by offering the indigenous group

a new set of terms that would cede another 5 million acres. To put that another way, that's 90% of their current reservation. This agreement would leave the Nez Perce with an elongated, pentagon-shaped strip of land along the Clearwater River, to be called the Lapway Reservation. Now, remember what I said about the Nez Pierce being decentralized? Autonomous might even be better. Well, that factors in here. Leaders from lands that would be ceded won't even entertain this. This includes Old Joseph, who, I trust you'll recall, was the Wallowa Nezez-Pierce leader that also refused the 1855 treaty. But 51 Nez-Pierce leaders whose bands have taken well to farming, Christianity, and already live within the proposed reservations area, do sign. This is called the Treaty of 1863.

Leaders of the essentially autonomous Lower Nez-Pierce, that is, the bands that will be impacted, have a different name for it, though. The Thief Treaty. Old Joseph's Wallowa band ignores the agreement. They don't sign it. They give it no validity. They are now non-treaty Indians, and for the next few years, this works.

But settlers are moving into the Wallowa Valley by the time Old Joseph passes away in 1871. moving into the Wallowa Valley by the time old Joseph passes away in 1871. Leadership of the Wallowa Nez Perce will now fall to his 30-year-old son, young Joseph, or Chief Joseph, as he's often known. Intelligent and diplomatic, physically impressive as a strong, six-foot-tall, handsome man with a sharp jaw and a broad forehead, Chief Joseph is a capable leader. It's a good thing. He's facing down the greatest moment of peril his people have ever seen. Chief Joseph gets a bit of good news in 1873. On June 16th of that year, U.S. President Ulysses S.

Grant issues an executive order stating that roughly half of the still relatively new state of Oregon's Wallowa Valley shall, quote, be withheld from entry and settlement and set apart as a reservation for the roaming Nez Perce Indians, close quote. But the order doesn't result in those settlers already there leaving, nor does it last long. Political pressure to open the valley for settlement builds and builds until, after two years, our old pal Ulysses caves and rescinds the order. Meanwhile, an Indian agency is established. Commissioners want to set up schools and churches among Chief Joseph's people.

The U.S. is convinced that it needs to assimilate American Indians, and education and religion are key to that. But Chief Joseph isn't on board, and he tells them that he has no interest in his band's children attending U.S. schools. Here's how that conversation goes from there. Why do you not want schools?

The commissioner asks. They will teach us to have churches, Chief Joseph answers. Do you not want churches? No, we do not want churches.. Do you not want churches? No, we do not want churches. Why do you not want churches? They will teach us to quarrel about God. We do not want to learn that. We may quarrel with men sometimes about things on this earth,

but we never quarrel about God. We do not want to learn that. More settlers arrive in the meanwhile, and with them, conflict. Chief Joseph is a diplomat by nature and sees that the power balance is out of favor. We were like deer. They were like grizzly bears, he'll later say. But some settlers take advantage of this, stealing cattle, raping Nez Perce women, or even killing Nez Perce men. These crimes rarely see legal consequences. For instance, after shooting and killing Eagle Robe in 1874, settler Lawrence Ott surrenders himself to authorities, yet even with a confession, he receives no punishment. Two years later, in 1876, two farmers kill a Nez

Perce man whom they incorrectly believe stole a horse. Indian agents swear the man will be taken to task by the law. It never happens. These acts bring the Wallaue-Nez-Pierce and settlers to the brink of war. In September, Chief Joseph and his younger brother, the respected warrior Alucot, lead warriors out to threaten settler farmers. They still don't attack, but they only leave after U.S. troops from Fort Walla Walla show up and promise the chief there will finally be an actual investigation and justice for the murder of Nez Perce people. Crisis avoided, but how long can this hold up? Chief Joseph's people see the imminent threat before them. Meanwhile, the U.S. military is

becoming increasingly convinced that the Wallowa Nez Pierce are going to get violent. Behind this small flex from Chief Joseph, a new dreamer religion focused on ancestral lands is growing among the Lower Nez Pierce. Now, the military's fear of this religion is a tad ironic. The faith is pacifist. but there you go. So the military is convinced there is but one thing to do to avoid violence. Remove Chief Joseph's people to the reservation. By persuasion, if possible. By force, if necessary. Want to learn how you can make smarter decisions with your money?

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one-armed general did in this position, probably as much as President Andrew Johnson hated it. But like so many other Civil War heroes, the 1870s find him out west. A devout Christian known for his good heart and charity, Oliver has great sympathy for the non-treaty Wallowa Nez Perce. Among his friends, he says that, But the Christian general, and yes, that is his actual nickname, has already taken quite a bit of crap for his kinder, quote-unquote, Indian lover ways, so he comes into the situation feeling a need to regain some military cred. Furthermore, Oliver is a military man.

Orders are orders. He'll start with persuasion, but one way or the other, Oliver will make the non-treaty Nez Perce move to the Lapway Reservation. The Christian general tries persuasion through the early months of 1877. But things sour during a multi-day council meeting with the non-treaty Nez Perce at Fort Lapway in early May, when the devout dreamer prophet to Hulhulzut and Oliver, or one-armed soldier chief as the

Nez Perce call him, get into quite the argument. Part of the Nez Perce gave up their land. We never did. The earth is part of our body and we never gave up the earth, Tuhuhulzut says. You know very well that the government has set apart a reservation and that the Indians must go to it. Oliver responds, what person pretends to divide the land and put us on it? I am that man. I stand here for the president. My orders are plain and will be executed. We came from the earth and our bodies must go back to the earth. Our mother, I don't want to offend your religion, but you must talk about practical things. Twenty times over I hear that the earth is your mother and about chieftainship from the earth. I want to hear it no more, but come to business at once.

Oliver and the Nez Perce prophet keep arguing. Finally, Tuhuhulzut plays his proverbial man card. The Indians may do what they want, but I have a prick, that which belongs to a man, and I will not go to the reservation. That's it. That's the point when Oliver realizes he can't talk the dreamer prophet out of his land. So one-armed soldier chief arrests and detains him for a few days.

As the council comes to an end on May 15th, Oliver also turns up the heat on the non-treaty Nez Perce leaders with an ultimatum. They must move to the Lapwe Rez in the next 30 days. If not, he says, I shall consider that you want to fight, and I will send my soldiers to drive you on." Chief Joseph can see the writing on the wall, but he asks for more time. My people have always been the friends of white men. Why are you in such a hurry? I cannot get ready to move in 30 days.

Our stock is scattered. The Snake River is very high. Let us wait until fall, then the river will be low. No dice. He and the other Nez Perce leaders prepare their people to move to the reservation. It's May 31st, 1877. Two weeks have passed since Oliver Howard's ultimatum and the Nez Perce are now crossing from Oregon into Idaho territory as they ford the Snake River. Chief Joseph was right. It's high and cold. Still melting mountain snow feeds into the flowing river, so the Nez Perce men carefully help their wives,

children, and the elderly onto hide-covered rafts. Swimming horses then pull them across while the band's thousands of heads of cattle wait to do so as well. But in this moment of vulnerability, settlers show up. They quickly steal as many cattle as they can. Ms. Pierceman dive into the frigid waters

and swim with all their might, but it's hopeless. The settlers have made off with countless cattle. Many of the remaining cattle and horses also get spooked, dash into the river, and are now drowning. These losses will significantly hurt the non-treating Nez Pierces economic well-being. Making camp just south of the reservation at Tolo Lake, the non-treaty Nez Perce chiefs counsel with each other in early June. Is this their breaking point?

Should they go to war? It's a heated discussion, but in the end, they decided to no. Their group only numbers 600, and of that, perhaps 100 are actual warriors. They know they can't win. But their cool-headed logic won't stop some frustrated young men from acting. Filled with anger and alcohol,

Shore Crossing and two of his cousins take matters into their own hands on June 13th. See, Shore Crossing's father was Eagle Robe. You might recall that I mentioned him a little earlier. Eagle Robe is the man whose murder at the hands of Souther Lawrence Ott went unpunished. And tonight, the dead Nez Pierce man's son and nephews take their revenge. They kill four white men. This only fuels the rage in other Nez Pierce. Between June 14th and 15th, right when General Oliver Howard expects them to arrive at the

Lapway Reservation, warriors move against nearby settlements. They burn farms, kill upwards of 18 men, steal livestock, and injure a few women. One blood-soaked, yet living woman is later found with both legs broken. Still another is found in a state of total shock. An arrow has ripped a hole in her, and she's been raped. Her three-year-old daughter is found bleeding at the neck and hiding under her father's dead body. I would have given my own life

if I could have undone the killing of white men by my people, Chief Joseph says. Nonetheless, this man of peace also gets why these men snapped and became the first Nez Perce to kill U.S. citizens since William Clark and Meriwether Lewis first came to the Pacific Northwest more than 70 years ago. To quote the chief again, I know that the young men did a great wrong, but I ask who was first to blame. They had been insulted a thousand times. Their fathers and brothers had been killed. Their mothers and wives had been disgraced. They had been driven to madness by the whiskey sold

to them by the white men, and add to all this, they were homeless and desperate. But of course, there's no undoing anything. Like Little Crow of the Dakota in episode 77, Chief Joseph is sure the sins of the few will land on the many. Not all his fellow non-treaty leaders agree, but Chief Joseph and his brother see little choice apart from throwing in with the likely doomed bands. They head 15 miles or so south and make camp in Whitebird Canyon. Meanwhile, General Oliver Howard sends two cavalry companies in pursuit. It takes only two days for the troops to catch up with Chief Joseph's new camp. Not to say the non-treaty Nez Perce don't see them coming.

Their scouts certainly do, and six warriors come out to greet them with a white flag. Despite recent tensions, it's the settlers, not the military, that these bands have generally struggled with. Overall, they've found the military officers rather reasonable. So maybe they can have a parlay and still work this out. Those hopes are dashed as an inexperienced volunteer named Arthur Chapman takes it upon himself to fire at this peace delegation. Luckily for these six Nez Pierce men, Arthur is a terrible shot.

They fall back unscathed as trumpets sound the cavalry attack. Okay then, guess it's war after all. Between trained troops and volunteers, US forces are just over 100 strong. The non-treating Nez Perce have just over 60 fighting them. It should be an easy victory for U.S. forces. It isn't.

Though advanced in years, Firebody is an incredible shot. He picks off one of the buglers. Meanwhile, the other bugler on the field has dropped his instrument. And this is damning. Captain David Perry screams orders, but without a bugle that can cut through the noise of rifles and pistols cracking, horses galloping, and men screaming, his troops can't hear him. Bullets and arrows mow down his forces until they retreat in sheer panic.

Thirty-four cavalrymen die at the Battle of Whitebird Canyon. The outnumbered two-to-one Nez Perce suffer a total of two to three injuries. They don't lose a single man. The loss is quite embarrassing for General Oliver Howard. Then again, so are the next several days. For one thing, he can't keep up with Chief Joseph, who, despite the tough terrain of forested ravines, successfully moves his people northeast to the Clearwater River. The Nez Peres are so taken aback at the U.S. military's slow pace and inept movements, they give Oliver a new nickname reflecting that. Day After Tomorrow Howard. At the same time, Oliver unintentionally provides

Chief Joseph with a new ally. Based on bad intel, Day After Tomorrow Howard thought Nez Perce Chief Lookingglass was going to throw in with Chief Joseph. Well, Lookingglass wasn't. Until July 1st, when the U.S. military tries to arrest him and yet another trigger-happy, ill-disciplined troop turns the parlay into a battle. Lookingglass and his village elude the military and go to the Clearwater River, where his people wait for Chief Joseph's. When he arrives, the two combine forces. This brings the fleeing Nez Perce camp to roughly 450 civilians, 250 warriors, and 2,000 horses. But now what?

The leaders hold a council and discuss their options. They're sure they can't go back. Things have escalated far too high to talk this out with General Oliver Howard. Lookingglass suggests heading east to seek refuge with the Crow. The Nez Perce and Crow have allied many times in the past to fight against their common enemy, the Lakota. Further, this means leaving Idaho and passing through the Bitterroot Mountains,

and Lookingglass has always found the white settlers there to be kind. He imagines they'll be able to pass through Montana territory easily enough. Then they can stay with their friends the Crow until things cool down in Idaho. Sounds reasonable enough. This is their next step. But U.S. troops catch them before they set out. This is the July 11th to 12th Battle of the Clearwater. I won't detail this engagement, but it's worth noting that, once again, the grossly outnumbered and outgunned Nez Pierce get the better of the U.S. military. The combined bands only lose three or four warriors while taking out 16 U.S. soldiers and injuring nearly 30 more. They then slip away, avoid more soldiers at the Lolo Pass, and enter the Bitterroot Mountains.

For days, the primarily civilian band of 700 continue on. Their superior knowledge of the terrain helps them stay ahead. But as they travel through the Bitterroot Mountains, Montana Territory's Colonel John Gibbing comes at them from the east. He catches up with them on August 8th, about 160 miles west of Bozeman, Montana, along the Big Hole River. Late that night, he and his 180 men move into position to carry out a surprise attack.

And in the dark, they wait for hours. You might remember John. We met the Colonel in the last episode, and I shared an excerpt of some of his writing with you that showed how he, like Generals Oliver Howard and George Crook, feel conflicted about their orders and the treatment of indigenous Americans. Tonight is one of those moments. John will later relate the following to a bishop.

Knowing our peaceful disposition as you do, can you fancy us seated for two hours in the darkness of night within plain hearing of a parcel of crying babies and the talk of their fathers and mothers waiting for light enough to commence a slaughter? We had ample time for reflection, and I, for one, could not help thinking that this inhumane task was forced upon us by a system of fraud and

injustice, which had compelled these poor wretches to assume a hostile attitude toward the whites. It's now August 9th, 4 a.m. An elderly Nez Pierce man walks out of camp to check on his ponies. A soldier or volunteer shoots him dead. Once that happens, the whole line unloads on the village. The Nez Perce are taken completely by surprise. Bullets rip through their teepees. Women and children run for safety. Hand in hand, a 10-year-old young white bird

and his mother dash toward the river. A shot tears through their grasping hands, severing fingers from both of them. A woman is shot dead nearby as they plunge into the river. Then the soldiers see them. Young Whitebird's mother shoves him under the water. "'Women, only women!' she yells. The officers acknowledge her.

They order their men to lower their guns and move on. I wish I could say all the soldiers and volunteers here did similarly. Women, children, and the elderly are driving dead and injured all around the village. I saw little children killed and men fall before bullets coming like rain. 15-year-old Kautelix will later recount. Other survivors will later describe seeing a young mother laying dead with her infant, now missing an arm, on top of her. And at least one teepee in which a midwife and a young mother,

her newborn, and two other young children all lay dead, execution style. In other words, some of these soldiers or volunteers are purposely targeting civilians. The military begins burning teepees, but as they do, the Nez Perce warriors rally. Chief Whitebird calls out, since the world was made, brave men fight for their women and children. These soldiers cannot fight harder than the ones we defeated in Whitebird Canyon. Fight! Shoot them down! They take guns from the dead U.S. soldiers and fight back, even seizing a howitzer. By the end of the day, they send an injured John Gibbon and his men running. The Battle of the Big Hole results in a lot of casualties. About 30 U.S. troops are dead. Another 40 are injured. Roughly 70 Nez Perce are dead.

Most of them are women and children. It's hard to overstate the survivors' pain, especially since the Nez Perce men knew some of the volunteer soldiers that inflicted it. They had traded with these guys and recognized them on the battlefield. These were the Montanans' looking glass called kind. The betrayal stings. The Nez Perce group continues on. Exiting the Bitterroot Mountains, they head east and are soon in Wyoming territory. On August 22nd, they enter the United States' first and newly designated national park, Yellowstone.

Of course, they aren't here to admire Yellowstone's natural beauty. But you know who coincidentally is? The commanding general of the U.S. Army, William Tecumseh Sherman. Kump isn't here in a military role. He's camping. Eh, let's be real, glamping. But he does exchange messages with General Oliver Howard. Now, by this point, Colonel John Gibbons' beaten forces are out of the pursuit, but Oliver Howard's are still in. That said, they are exhausted and far beyond their assigned geographical area.

One armed soldier chief wonders then, should they leave the chase to another army? If they should continue, what should they do about supplies? He telegraphs the U.S. Army's highest-ranking general for direction. Kump replies, It's worth noting that the Nez Perce group has embarrassed Kump by this point. Frankly, they've embarrassed the whole military. I mean, what do you make of an indigenous group

known for being friendly to the U.S., being pushed from their lands, then outrunning and outfighting the army multiple times with inferior arms while caring for their wives and kids to boot? Oh, the press is having a field day. I doubt Chief Joseph knows it, but he's got the sympathy of many American

citizens, and he's made the cover of Harper's Weekly. It's not a good look for the military. Oliver continues to follow the Nez Perce. As he passes through Yellowstone, the U.S. 7th Cavalry joins him. Yes, this is the force Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer commanded until his death last year. It's now commanded by Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis. The 7th gives chase, but like all the other units to date, the Nez Perce elude them. On September 10th, the weary band reaches their goal. They enter Crow country. But the Nez Perce don't get the welcome they hoped for.

The Crow have zero interest in upsetting the U.S. But the Nez Perce don't get the welcome they hoped for. The Crow have zero interest in upsetting the U.S. Not only do they refuse their old allies, the Crow send their best warriors to help the 7th Cavalry. Good grief. The Nez Perce see only one play left. They'll head to the Great White North, Canada. Sitting Bull recently led his Lakota band there to avoid fallout after the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

If their former ally won't accept them, maybe their foe will? They have no better options. They'll press on for Canada. It's the morning of September 30th. The Nez Perce are now a mere 40 miles south as the crow flies at the Canadian border. They know Oliver Howard is far behind. Lookingglass argues the elderly and young are too exhausted. They need to rest.

And so they're camping here in the Bear Paw Mountains to regain some strength before making the last push. People are having breakfast and kids are throwing snowballs. Soldiers! Soldiers! Two Nez Perce scouts scream as they ride hard back into camp. It isn't General Oliver Howard. It isn't the 7th Cavalry. It's Colonel Nelson Miles from Montana Territory's Fort Keogh. His more than 500 cavalry are now charging toward the camp. But it's other American Indians working as scouts for the U.S. who arrive first. They scare and scatter the Nez Perce horses, severely crippling the band's ability to fight. Yes, they have been traditional enemies,

but given the present reality, Yellow Wolf could hardly believe what he is seeing. Another Nez Perce speaks in sign to the Sioux and Cheyenne scouts. You have red skin, red blood. You are fighting your friends. We are Indians. We are humans. Do not help the whites. His signs are no use. The defenders will have to make do with few horses. The Nez Perce form lines to receive their enemy. Warriors in blue coats exchange hot fire all day long, sometimes at a distance of no more than 20 steps apart. At the end of the day, the Nez Perce find they've lost two dozen people.

They collect the dead soldiers' guns and ammo and prepare to fight again tomorrow. The battle continues through the next day. There's little else the Nez Perce can do. Their camp is surrounded. Given this reality, Chief Joseph accepts an invitation from the colonel to parley. Joseph enters the U.S. military's camp. Colonel Nelson Miles, or Bearcoat, as many indigenous Americans call the large, mustachioed, fur coat-wearing commander, is pleased. He mistakes Joseph as speaking for the whole band. It's just as well. Many of the other chiefs have died during the last two days of battle. The two leaders sit by a fire. Bearcoat says there's no need to continue fighting.

He's calling for the Nez Perce to surrender. Chief Joseph is open to it, but as they talk terms, the colonel asks that they surrender their guns. This is a deal breaker. Joseph, who came here under a flag of truce, gets up to leave. But Nelson has him arrested. With an inflated sense of Chief Joseph's importance, the military commander thinks detaining him will demoralize the Nez Pierce and get them to give up. But oh, is he wrong. The Nez Pierce fight on. Two days later,

they exchange a lieutenant they've taken captive to get Joseph back. It's now the fifth day of fighting. The Nez peers are starving. Their children are freezing. Many of the chiefs, including Joseph's brother, are dead. And day after tomorrow, Howard has shown up to reinforce Bearcoat. Chief Joseph decides this is it. For the sake of the women and children, he accepts the terms offered by Colonel Nelson Miles. They'll give up their guns and go to the reservation. Announcing this, Joseph gives a heartfelt speech. Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before I have in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. The little children are freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many of them I can find.

Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. In the last five months, this Nez Perce band has traversed some 1,400 miles of rough terrain and fought off, with inferior arms and numbers, U.S. forces in several engagements

under five separate commanders. It's only the sixth that's managed to stop them 40 miles shy of the border. Well, almost all of them. Whitebird doesn't trust that these terms will be honored. He and a few others slip out in the night and make a mad dash for Canada. A few days later, they see other indigenous people. What Indians are you? These strangers sign to them. Nez Pierce, who are you? Whitebird's group signs back. Sue, comes the reply.

Yes, these are Sitting Bull's people. They're enemies. Or so they were. Those quarrels are gone now. Sitting Bull's people welcome Whitebird's into their village. Whitebird was right. The rest of the Nez Perce group is not sent back to the Lapway Reservation in Idaho. They're sent to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. Almost 100 die during their sojourn here as POWs before they're sent to Indian Territory, that is, future Oklahoma. Chief Joseph travels to D.C. to speak for his people. Bureaucrats say all the right things, but nothing changes. He says, they all say they are my friends and that I shall have justice, but while their mouths all talk right, I do not understand why nothing is done for my people.

General Miles promised that we might return to our own country. I believed General Miles, or I never would have surrendered. By 1885, 287 of this Nez Perce group are still alive. About half are permitted that year to rejoin their people at the Lapway Reservation, but the rest never will. Forever considered too dangerous, they're sent to the Colville Reservation in the northeast of Washington State. Chief Joseph is among them, and he lives here until his dying day in 1904. There's plenty to say about the ramifications of the Nez Perce War. I'll still do that, but hang tight.

We have to find out how things go for Standing Bear and his Ponca band. So let's head back a few decades for some brief background, then learn how the Ponca Chief's 1877 trial turns out. Rewind. It's the mid-19th century, and the Ponca live along the Niobrara River in Nebraska. They farm, raise horses, and trade with white settlers and explorers. This is the world of Standing Bear's youth.

Then come some treaty complications. The U.S. government presents the Ponca with a treaty in 1858. It will cede some of their land, but it also guarantees they will stay on the Niobrara River. Okay then, they're game. They sign. Ah, but the U.S. government signs the Fort Laramie Treaty with the Sioux 10 years later in 1868. And that's a problem. Now, we already know this latter treaty from the last episode. It ends Red Hawk's War, kills off the Bozeman Trail, and guarantees the Lakota their Black Hills. But that's not all it does. Thanks to some bureaucratic incompetence, it also promises land around Nebraska's Niobrara River, the same land occupied by and promised to the Ponca in 1858, to the Sioux. Oops. And the Sioux are happy to

take advantage of this. Ponca Peter Leclerc says, quote, the seven years that followed this treaty were years when the Poncas were obliged to work their garden and cornfields as did the pilgrims in New England, with hoe in one hand and a rifle in the other. Close quote. As the years pass, the government decides the answer to this overlap is to have the Ponca move to Indian territory. Again, that's future Oklahoma. Indian agent Edward Kimball drops in on the Ponca

to deliver this news in January 1877. The great father of Washington says you are to move, and for that reason, I have come. Chief White Eagle responds, My friend, you have caused us to hear these things very suddenly. When the great father has any business to transact with us, he generally sends word to all the people, but you have come very suddenly. No, the great father says you have to go. You are to come with 10 of your chiefs. You are to look at the warm land, Indian territory. And if you see any land that is good there, you are to tell him about it. So per this conversation, the 10 Ponca chiefs, which includes Standing Bear, go check out Indian territory.

But nothing looks good to them. They say as much to Edward Kimball, but the Indian agent doesn't really care. He doesn't help them get home either. They have to walk and rely on the help of the Omaha to make the 500-mile trek back to their people in Nebraska. Standing Bear and some of the other chiefs continue to insist to the agents that they have no right to remove the 500 mile trek back to their people in Nebraska. Standing Bear and some of the other chiefs continue to insist to the agents that they have no right to remove the Ponca. They have a treaty with the United States after all.

But in a meeting that April, Agent E.A. Howard cuts to the chase. "'Will you go peaceably or by force?' Then troops arrive. Standing Bear later recalls, "'They aimed their guns at us and our people and our children were crying. Okay, the Ponca get it. This isn't a request.

They are moving to Indian Territory. The next 18 months, spring 1877 to late 1878, are full of death. As the Ponca start their thunderstorm-ridden journey in May 1877, they become sick. Children die. Standing Bear's daughter, Prairie Flower, passes on June 6th and is interred in or near Milford, Nebraska. And once they get to Indian Territory, their personal property, farm supplies, and money aren't delivered as promised. Pankara then moved 150 miles to a new spot, but again, no farming tools come. Malaria ravages them.

Death spreads through the group. By the end of 1878, Standing Bear finds himself tending to his teenage son, Bear Shield. The youth is bright. He can read and write in English. He's always a huge help in communicating with Indian agents. But above all, Standing Bear hates the thought of burying yet another member of his family.

Now, Standing Bear and his son are both Christian, but that doesn't mean they've partied with Ponca traditions. And for the Ponca, being laid to rest in their ancestral soil is important. It's how they return to the land, and in turn, this makes the land all the more significant and spiritual for them. With the life draining from his sick body, Bear Shield begs his father to bury him in their lands by the Niobrara. That might mean arrest, but the broken-hearted father promises to do so.

The next month, January 1879, That might mean arrest, but the broken-hearted father promises to do so. The next month, January 1879, he and his burial party take Bear Shield's body and head north for their Nebraska homeland. Standing Bear's party reaches the reservation of their Omaha friends in February. The Omaha welcome their guests and let them stay for several weeks. But as far as Indian agents are concerned, the Ponca are fugitives. And so, General George Crook, who's stationed in Omaha, Nebraska, receives orders to arrest them. His troops arrive at the reservation on March 23rd and take Standing Bear's party to Fort Omaha. You might remember General George Crook. Known as Three Stars to the Sioux, you met him in the last episode

as he led a column from Wyoming north in what was supposed to be a pincer movement on the non-treaty Lakota and Cheyenne. The heavily bearded Civil War vet has spent years fighting in the Indian Wars, and it's been his observation that treating indigenous peoples as, and I quote,

intellectual peers, close quote, seeking peace first, and being honest works quite well. George's thinking is not in line with most of the military, but he's so damn effective at what he does, officers put up with his softer approach. Now, as Standing Bear and his people are being taken to prison, Omaha Chief Iron Eye and his daughter, Bright Eyes, rush off to seek the general's help. The half-French, half-Indigenous chief gets along well with George, but his daughter's perfect fluency in English and Omaha is crucial at a moment like this. The biracial family tells George what the Ponca have gone through, how Standing Bear promised his dying son to bury him in their homeland. And finally, Bright Eyes implores Three Stars not to force the Ponca back to Indian territory.

And he won't. It's March 30th, 1879. General George Crook, Bright Eyes, and Iron Eye slip into the office of the 39-year-old Omaha Daily Herald's deputy editor, Thomas Henry Tibbles. This meeting is off the books. Tibbles, George begins. I've been forced many times by orders from Washington to do most inhumane things in dealing with the Indians,

but now I'm ordered to do a more cruel thing than ever before. The trio recount the plight of the Ponca. The general then asks Henry Tibbles, yeah, this editor goes by his middle name, to use the press to bring America's attention to the situation. See, technically, George was only ordered to arrest,

not return the Ponca to Indian territory. So Three Star's plan is for Henry to create the buzz needed to help the Ponca before the War Department realizes the general has taken advantage of a loophole in his orders. But Henry's scared. He knows this can make some powerful enemies. You're asking a great deal of me, the editor says. I know I am, George replies.

But no matter what we do, if we can do something for which good men will remember us when we're gone, that's the best legacy we can leave. I promise you that if you'll take up this work, I'll stand by you. Henry does take up the work. Lawyers A.J. Poppleton and John Webster then volunteer to help Standing Bear. They sue for a writ of habeas corpus, which blocks any military orders

that could have forced General George Crook to send the Poncas back to Indian territory. The government's lawyer, G.M. Lambertson, tries to fight it by arguing American Indians are not citizens or people in a legal sense. Therefore, they cannot sue for a writ of habeas corpus. And that's how we end up in a courtroom on the corner of 15th and Dodge in Omaha, Nebraska,

listening to Bright Eyes translate Standing Bear's soul-touching speech on the night of May 2nd, 1879. 10 days later, on May 12th, Judge Elmer Dundee delivers his ruling. In part, it reads, During the fifteen years in which I have been engaged in administering the laws of my country, I have never been called upon to hear or decide a case that appealed so strongly to my sympathy.

But in a country where liberty is regulated by law, something more satisfactory and enduring than mere sympathy must furnish and constitute the rule and basis of judicial action. I have searched in vain for the semblance of any authority justifying the commissioner in attempting to remove by force any Indians. Certainly, without some specific authority found in an act of Congress, he could not lawfully force the relators back to the Indian territory. The reasoning advanced in support of my views lead me to conclude that an Indian is a person within the meaning of the laws of the United States and has, therefore, the right to sue out

a writ of habeas corpus in a federal court, that no rightful authority exists for removing by force any of the relators to the Indian territory, that the Indians possess the inherent right of expatriation as well as the more fortunate white race and have the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The relators must be discharged from custody, and it is so ordered.

There is no appeal. Judge Elmer Dundee's ruling stands. Chief Standing Bear goes on a speaking tour to fight for indigenous civil rights, and eventually, his small band returns to the Niobrara River. A little over a century after Thomas Jefferson penned those immortal words, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,

the U.S. court has ruled that they apply to the nation's original inhabitants. Well, I think it's time for that promised analysis, isn't it? Here we go. On the surface, the story of Nez Perce chief Joseph and Ponca chief Standy Bear feel different. The first, a tragedy. The latter, a triumph. But the deeper we dig, the more similarities come to the fore.

Both initially coexist peacefully with white explorers, traders, and settlers. As more settlers arrive, the indigenous peoples are offered treaties. Those treaties, however, fall short of bridging different cultures, economic systems, or leadership and governance styles. As a result, they fall apart as intertribal conflict rises over treaty terms and create groups of non-treaty Indians. But even when a treaty survives those struggles, its enforcement crumbles in the face of a deluge of settlers and bureaucratic incompetence back in D.C. And as this process plays out, the U.S. military is ordered in At first, they negotiate the relocation of indigenous groups to reservations

That's what happened with most of the Nez Perce and many of the Sioux in the last episode If negotiations fail, however, that's when force removal comes in And this, in turn, often means war And we see various views among the officers and soldiers alike Some sadistically enjoy the violence. Others, like General George Crook, the Christian General Oliver Howard, or last episode's Captain Silas Sewell, try to carry out their orders humanely and are clearly disturbed by some of the orders given to them. But to come back to the outcome of today's two tales,

I don't know that I would say Standing Bear's story has a happy ending. So much of his family is dead, and while he wins a great victory, Indian agents move quickly to ensure the judge's ruling doesn't have too far of a reach. His fellow Ponca in Indian Territory are prevented from joining his small band back in Nebraska. And as you might already guess, that ruling is not going to let other indigenous peoples move freely. Chief Joseph wouldn't die far from his own people if it did. And of course, this being a survey of U.S. history, I can only tell so many stories from the Indian Wars. But if I were to detail others, such as the Modoc, the Utes, Paiutes, the Comanche,

the Navajo, or others, you might notice similar patterns. That said, let's not overlook the great accomplishments of Standing Bear's trial either. Even though Indian agents prevented Standing Bear's victory from truly kicking open the door of indigenous civil rights, it certainly cracked it open. And in the 21st century, 2019 to be exact, indigenous peoples and all Americans alike will celebrate Standing Bear's contribution to civil rights as Nebraska honors him with a statue in the U.S. Capitol Statuary Hall.

And on the statue's plinth, you'll find Standing Bear's simple yet profound words highlighting our common humanity. My hand is not the color of yours, but if I pierce it, I shall feel pain. If you pierce your hand, you also feel pain. HTDS is supported by premium membership fans. You can join by clicking the link in the episode description. I gratitude you kind souls providing additional funding to help us keep going.

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