Chapter Summary:
Five bands of the Nez Perce Indians, being forced illegally by General Howard onto a reservation, in order to retain their freedom, were fleeing to Canada. They led Howard and his army on a 15 hundred mile wild goose chase towards the border, which led to the Bear Paw Mountains on September 30th, 1877 - the Nez Perce were two days from freedom in Canada, when they decided to stop and set up camp. General Miles and his troops, however, was attacking them from the east. The soldiers drove the horses away from the camp, trapping most of the men, women, and children in the valley with no way to escape. Chief Joseph, a leader of one of the tribes, sends his daughter away on horseback and stays behind to help the people he is responsible for. A standoff occurs between the sharpshooting Indians and the multitude of white soldiers - casualties occur on both sides, but the Nez Perce fight back with force. Miles knows that he cannot keep sacrificing his troops to try and take the camp. He wanted to be known as a hero, for defeating the Nez Perce as well as triumphing over his rival General Howard, and he knew that with a high death toll, his reputation would be ruined. He attempted to "coax the Indians into surrender," as the tribes dug shelters and rifle pits to protect them from the attacks. Chief Joseph, a relatively young chief, went to speak to General Miles under a flag of truce - it didn't go as well as Miles had hoped, and as Joseph tried to go back, Miles unfairly took him as prisoner, but had to relinquish his hostage in return for his second in command. More and more obstacles piled up against the Nez Perce, as supplies came for Miles' troops (specifically a dangerous cannon), elder chief Looking Glass was killed, and finally General Howard's army caught up and joined Miles'. Joseph, feeling hopeless, sent for a scout to inform the soldiers of his surrender - the scout translated the message back to a smug, impatient Miles, while an aspiring literary soldier "casually scribbled down some phrases that the interpreters used as the scouts spoke," which is the only record of Joseph's eloquent, passionate, iconic surrender speech. "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." General Howard reluctantly let the pompous Miles take the credit for the surrender, as General Miles received Chief Joseph's rifle as the final symbol.
Chapter Reflection:
This chapter was one of my favorite chapters because of the imagery and earthy, somewhat humorous (to me at least) descriptions of the subplots of the battles and the men involved. I loved the way the narrator explained General Howard and General Miles' strife - the snooty, I-told-you-so manner of Miles and the "oh God please let me watch this man "preen and strut" without killing him" way of General Howard. The way he seemed to get inside each of the character's heads really appealed to me. They seemed like real people. Something that surprised me that I would like to learn more about was the fact that the Cheyenne Indians were on Miles's side and that they were basically killing their own people? Some of my favorite quotes were the narrator's description of the Nez Perce story: it "powerfully evokes the slow suffocation and final, desperate thrashing of a dying society."
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