Aftermath of the Flight of 1877
The surrender at Bear Paw did not bring the peace Joseph had hoped for. The nimíipuu were split apart — some sent into exile in Indian Territory, others escaping to Canada. For eight long years, Joseph fought with words and presence to bring his people home. The scattering of families across two countries and multiple reservations is a wound that still marks nimíipuu people today.
Exile to Indian Territory
About 432 nimíipuu surrendered at Bear Paw, including Chief Joseph. Instead of returning home as promised, they were taken to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas for the winter, then forced south in 1878 to Indian Territory (Oklahoma). The heat, the unfamiliar landscape, and the sickness came swiftly.
Yellow Wolf remembered: "All the newborn babies died, and many of the old people too. Everything so different from our old homes. No mountains, no springs, no clear running rivers. All the time, night and day, we suffered from the climate. For the first year, they kept us all where many got shaking sickness, chills, hot fever."
Matthew Whitfield spoke of that time with anguish: "I always think of our slavery in Indian Territory. I cannot forget it. Held in bondage till half our band died in that hot, flat country. Babies and children dying. I can never put its memory from my mind." The death toll was devastating. Hundreds perished in those first years.
Joseph's Eight-Year Fight
For eight years, Chief Joseph traveled to Washington D.C., spoke to government officials, and wrote letters — all to convince them to let his people go home. He became one of the most respected Native American voices of his time. His dignity, intelligence, and advocacy eventually made a difference. In 1885, the government finally agreed to release the surviving nimíipuu.
But the return was bittersweet. Some were sent to the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho. Joseph and his band — about 270 people — were told they could not return to their beloved Wallowa Valley. Instead, they were sent to the Colville Reservation in Washington State. Yellow Wolf explained: "The interpreter asked us, 'Where you want to go? Lapwai and be Christian, or Colville and just be yourself?' No other question was asked us. Chief Joseph was not given choice where to go. But he had promise he could go to his homeland in Oregon. That was never to be."
Escape to Canada
When surrender came at Bear Paw, Chief White Bird refused to give up. That night, he led about 300 warriors and non-combatants north into Canada. Twelve-year-old Kulkulsta (Mark Arthur) was among them. He later recalled: "I ran with our horses. The bullets are everywhere; I cried to go to my mother in camp, but our people held me tight and wouldn't let me go. I went through bushes a long way; then I found some people and we went on together. Chief Joseph, our big men and my mother are not with us; we do not know if they are killed or prisoners; it was seven years before I saw my mother again."
The refugees reached Sitting Bull's camp near Fort Walsh, Canada. The Sioux gave them shelter, though food was scarce. Some tried to stay in Canada; others risked everything to rejoin captured family members. Peo Peo Tholekt remembered wandering in search of help: "I felt very down-hearted as I drifted. The memory was strong. Wallowa. The home of my father. I shall now drift alone. Unfriended and without a home. No where to sleep in comfort, hungry every day, wandering as a chased coyote. Seeking for shelter and not found."
The Scattered People
Today, nimíipuu descendants live on the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho, the Umatilla Reservation in Oregon, the Colville Reservation in Washington, and in Canada. The unity the bands once held was fractured. Sharon Redthunder says: "It's something that just breaks my heart when I think of everything our people went through, and how we're so scattered. We're still scattered, all the way to Oklahoma, Kansas, Canada, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Montana. We're all bonded together because of our encounter we went through in 1877."
Hope and Healing
Despite the tragedy and loss, nimíipuu people speak of resilience and hope. Rebecca Miles says: "There's no future without forgiveness. If we can forgive, there's nothing this tribe can't do." Frank Andrews offers perspective: "Our victory is that we are still here. We are still surviving, we are going on. We still have our culture, traditions, customs, united together."
Albert Andrews Redstar reminds young people: "Don't forget who you are. Learn how to pick up those drums and sing the songs that we sing, learn how to speak in the fashion of our old people. Because it's in those songs and in the speech of our people that we learn the lessons to carry our lives."
White Hawk says: "Now, all this trouble is past. It is like two different trees, young trees. Planted, they grow together their branches intertwining. Hereafter, both races, red and white are friendly always."