The Nez Perces have always been a powerful Native American nation. Readers explore their history, including their interactions with the explorers Lewis and Clark as well as their fierce battles with American troops. Readers also discover the rich culture of these people including folklore and important religious beliefs. This book chronicles the story of these resilient people using firsthand accounts of historical events, traditional Nez Perce folktales, and captivating photographs to supplement fascinating facts.

An introduction to the locale, history, way of life, and culture of the Cherokee Indians.

*Includes pictures of important people and places. *Explains the origins, history, religion, and social structure of the tribe. *Discusses the tribe's involvement in the Lewis & Clark expedition. *Includes a Bibliography for further reading. From the "Trail of Tears" to Wounded Knee and Little Bighorn, the narrative of American history is incomplete without the inclusion of the Native Americans that lived on the continent before European settlers arrived in the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the first contact between natives and settlers, tribes like the Sioux, Cherokee, and Navajo have both fascinated and perplexed outsiders with their history, language, and culture. In Charles River Editors' Native American Tribes series, readers can get caught up to speed on the history and culture of North America's most famous native tribes in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known. Many Native American tribes went out of their way to steer clear of white settlers during the 19th century, but the Nez Percé people might have remained confined to historical obscurity if not for their willingness to establish ties with European adventurers, explorers, clergy, and settlers. By doing so, most notably assisting the Lewis & Clark Expedition in 1805, the Nez Percé succeeded in not only bringing to light their ancient heritage but staking their claim to their place in modernity. From their role in helping Lewis and Clark blaze a trail to the Northwest Pacific coast in the early 19th century to their modern-day roles in the fields of academics, politics, the arts and sciences, the Nez Percé people stand among America's most influential. Nez Percé literally means "pierced nose" in French, but it is unclear whether the tribe ever used nose piercing as a form of ornament. Today, the tribe is best known for being led by Chief Joseph in the late 19th century. When he died in 1904, most Americans who knew his people's story considered Chief Joseph, whose Nez Percé name is Himahtooyahlatkekt ("Thunder Rolling Down from the Mountains"), a military genius and an "Indian Napoleon." 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 Percé intended to join Sitting Bull and his Hunkpapa Sioux band. Perhaps it's not surprising that Chief Joseph (who was far more of a diplomat than military tactician) was misunderstood and misrepresented by Americans, because his people were misunderstood as well. By the middle of the 19th century, the Nez Percé was one of the strongest Native American groups in the Pacific Northwest, and they had maintained friendly relations with American settlers for several decades. Lewis and Clark had considered them so friendly and reliable that they left their horses with the Nez Percé as they loaded onto canoes and journeyed to the Pacific Coast. But the Nez Percé's attitudes would soon change as the United States government began to coerce them to cede their traditional homeland to newly arriving white settlers, and the Nez Percé began suffering a fate very similar to that of other Native American tribes to the east. Like the Sioux, the Cherokee, the Seminole, and other tribes, the Nez Percé became notorious among contemporary Americans for resisting their displacement and fighting the U.S. Army in the 1870s. Native American Tribes: The History and Culture of the Nez Percé comprehensively covers the history, culture, and legacy of the Pacific Northwest's most famous tribe. Along with pictures and a bibliography, you will learn about the Nez Percé like you never have before, in no time at all.

This is the story of the so-called Inland Empire of teh Northwest, that rugged and majestic region bounded east and west by the Cascades and the Rockies, from the time of the great exploration of Lewis and Clark to the tragic defeat of Chief Joseph in 1877. Explorers, fur traders, miner, settlers, missionaries, ranchers and above all a unique succession of Indian chiefs and their tribespeople bring into focus one of the permanently instructive chapters in the history of the American West.

The Nez Perces have always been a powerful Native American nation. Readers explore their history, including their interactions with the explorers Lewis and Clark as well as their fierce battles with American troops. Readers also discover the rich culture of these people including folklore and important religious beliefs. This book chronicles the story of these resilient people using firsthand accounts of historical events, traditional Nez Perce folktales, and captivating photographs to supplement fascinating facts.

This newest volume in Oxford's acclaimed Pivotal Moments series offers an unforgettable portrait of the Nez Perce War of 1877, the last great Indian conflict in American history. It was, as Elliott West shows, a tale of courage and ingenuity, of desperate struggle and shattered hope, of short-sighted government action and a doomed flight to freedom. To tell the story, West begins with the early history of the Nez Perce and their years of friendly relations with white settlers. In an initial treaty, the Nez Perce were promised a large part of their ancestral homeland, but the discovery of gold led to a stampede of settlement within the Nez Perce land. Numerous injustices at the hands of the US government combined with the settlers' invasion to provoke this most accomodating of tribes to war. West offers a riveting account of what came next: the harrowing flight of 800 Nez Perce, including many women, children and elderly, across 1500 miles of mountainous and difficult terrain. He gives a full reckoning of the campaigns and battles--and the unexpected turns, brilliant stratagems, and grand heroism that occurred along the way. And he brings to life the complex characters from both sides of the conflict, including cavalrymen, officers, politicians, and--at the center of it all--the Nez Perce themselves (the Nimiipuu, "true people"). The book sheds light on the war's legacy, including the near sainthood that was bestowed upon Chief Joseph, whose speech of surrender, "I will fight no more forever," became as celebrated as the Gettysburg Address. Based on a rich cache of historical documents, from government and military records to contemporary interviews and newspaper reports, The Last Indian War offers a searing portrait of a moment when the American identity--who was and who was not a citizen--was being forged.