Chief Joseph - Retreat From Grande Ronde

Chief Joseph (1840-1904) was a leader of the Wallowa band of the Nez Perce Tribe, who became famous in 1877 for leading his people on an epic flight across the Rocky Mountains. When Joseph grew up and assumed the chieftanship, he was under increasing governmental pressure to abandon his Wallowa land. Joseph refused, saying that he had promised his father he would never leave. In 1877, these disputes erupted into violence and Joseph's Nez Perce band fled across the Bitterroot Mountains into Montana, with federal troops in pursuit. Thus was the end of their living in the beautiful and peaceful Grande Ronde Valley.