The Nez Perce (Nimiipuu) lived for centuries in the prairies and river valleys of what today is northern Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. They fished the streams, hunted the woodlands and dug bulbs in the high plateaus. In the early 1700's they acquired horses which increased their mobility and added new trade and hunting opportunities. The Nez Perce learned that through selective breeding they could cultivate a horse uniquely suited to the country in which they lived. Sure-footed, hard-hoofed, strong winded and powerful, Nez Perce ponies became prized among both whites and Indians alike. They raised all types and colors of horses but are best know for one bred they developed - the Appaloosa.

In 1805 the Nez Perce met the first white men to cross their territory. Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark along with the Corps of Discovery stumbled out of the frozen snow covered Bitterroot Mountains onto a Nez Perce village at Weippe Prairie. The men were starving and ill from their journey and some were near death. The Nez Perce fed the men and nursed them back to life. The Corps voyage westward required large canoes which the Indians helped them construct at Camp Canoe on the Clearwater River. Before departing Lewis and Clark asked the Nez Perce to keep their horses and they would pick them up on their return trip the next year.

That says a lot about what Lewis and Clark thought about their new friends. They trusted the Nez Perce would keep their horses by the river over winter and the horses would be waiting when they returned. These were horses they HAD to have for their return trip over the mountains. In 1806 Lewis and Clark found the Nez Perce not only kept their word - they had nursed the horses to better health. With the mountains still snow covered the Corps lived with the Indians at Long Camp waiting for the snow to melt. During those weeks the Indians furnished the men with food while Capt. Clark prescribed medicine to sick Indians. When the time came to leave the Nez Perce led the Corps over a easier route than they had taken the previous year. The generosity of the Nez Perce made a deep impression on Lewis and Clark, establishing a friendship and peace between the two nations, the United States and Nez Perce. Unfortunately the bonds of friendship that were established did not last.

In the mid-1800's settlers and stockmen began moving onto Nez Perce lands. Desiring peace the tribe agreed to a treaty in 1855 that confined them to a spacious reservation, 7.5 million acres, that included much of their ancestral land. The treaty promised that non-Indians could live on the reservation only with the Nez Perce's consent. In 1860 gold was discovered near Pierce, Idaho that led to thousands of miners over running Nez Perce land. The U.S. army's job was to protect the Indians from invading white men but the government and army turned their backs.

As a result, tension and anger between the Nez Perce and the newcomers grew. In 1863 the U.S. Government forced a new treaty on the Indians that reduced Nez Perce lands to a reservation one tenth the size of the 1855 boundary and ordered all Nez Perce to live there. Five separate bands led by Chiefs Joseph, White Bird, Looking Glass, Too-hool-hool-zote and Hahtalekin refused to sign the treaty. Those who signed became known as the Treaty Indians and those who did not sign as the Non-Treaty Indians.

The non-treaty bands lived on their original lands outside of the reservation, but by 1877, increasing pressure from miners, ranchers and settlers forced the Indian Bureau to order all Nez Perce bands to move onto the smaller reservation at Lapwai, Idaho. Young Chief Joseph hoped that a peaceful solution could be found for he did not wish to go to war or leave his home. He asked for thirty days to collect their horses and gather possessions for the move. General Howard refused the request and threatened force.

During their journey to Lapwai, fighting broke out when several young warriors, avenging the death of one of their fathers, attacked and killed some settlers along the Salmon River. On June 27, 1877, the first major military battle of the Nez Perce campaign occurred at White Bird Canyon, Idaho. With the military in pursuit the Indians crossed into Montana and set up camp at Big Hole River. Colonel John Gibbon and the 7th Infantry reached the camp and at first daylight began firing into the camp killing between 60 and 90 warriors, old people, women and children. The Nez Perce fought back killing 20 and wounding 40 soldiers and civilian volunteers.

The Nez Perce decided they must flee for their lives and go to Canada for safety. Carrying their food, clothing and shelters and herding their horses they had several battles with the military, but were able to keep ahead of them. Finally, on September 30, 1877, near the Paw Bear Mountains of Montana, just 40 miles south of the Canadian border, the Nez Perce were surprised by army troops under the command of Colonels Miles and Nelson. After five days of fighting, four of the chiefs had been killed and Chief Joseph surrendered to Col. Miles. They had traveled 1,300 miles and were only 40 miles from safety. Chief White Bird and a group escaped and made it to Canada, but the following year when they attempted to return to the United States many were killed, chased back to Canada or captured and exiled in Kansas.

The Nez Perce faced sickness, starvation and death during eight years of exile in Oklahoma. During that time Chief Joseph pleaded to be returned to their homelands. In 1885, some were sent to the Lapwai Reservation but the chief and most followers were sent to Colville Reservation in Washington where Chief Joseph died.

The General Allotment Act of 1887 gave individual Indians title to anywhere between 40 and 160 acres of land in the belief that ownership of land would more swiftly assimilate them into the mainstream of American life. In 1893 the federal government negotiated further sales of tribal lands to non-Indian farmers and cattlemen. The tribe's original land base of 7.5 million acres (Treaty of 1855), was reduced to 750,000 acres in the Treaty of 1863. In 1893 the Dawes Act reduced the 1863 Treaty reservation to one-tenth of that and made the present reservation resemble a checker-board.

The Nez Perce people were always a peace loving tribe that helped their neighbors, both Indians and white men. They were horse breeders and lived off the land causing harm to no one. The U.S. Government stole their land and sold it for profit and political gain. When the Nez Perce protested they were hunted down and killed or placed in exile.