The Nez Perce War
From across a freezing Montana battlefield on October 5, 1877, Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce rode into the camp of U.S. Army Colonel Nelson Miles and surrendered his rifle. ‘I am tired,’ he said. ‘My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.’ With those words he ended the war between 750 Nez Perce–500 of them women, children, and elderly–and 2,000 soldiers.” The US government started this war. No the US was not justified in their actions leading up to and during the nez perce war because they forced the nez perce onto a reservation, The nez perce were originally known to be a kind tribe, and the US government didn’t tell the nez perce that the treaty was never ratified.
The US government forced the nez perce onto a reservation according to the treaty trail “The Us-Indian treaties...left tribes with only a small part of their former homelands. Tribes gave up millions of acres in washington territory alone.” The tribes were forced by the US government to surrender their land to the US without getting a choice of keeping their land or knowing how much they had to give up. Some people might say, That it says in the Nez Perce treaty “The said Nez Perce tribe of Indians hereby cede, relinquish and convey to the United States all their right,…show more content… According to the Prospector newsletter, “In the mid 1800’s the Nez Perce tribe was known for its friendliness.” This shows that if the tribe was kind they wouldn’t just start a war they would be retaliating to something. Granted, as Prospector newsletter also stated, “ Unfortunately though, like many other western tribes, this original good will would change.” They are saying that the tribes would eventually come to the conclusion that they had to fight, and they will. But i still think that they are considered a nice tribe because they probably started fighting as a retaliation to the US
