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Joseph Peak

Chief Joseph

Peak in Yellowstone NP, Rocky Mountains near Mammoth, WY

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Yellowstone’s Joesph Peak is named for Chief Joseph. A leader of Nez Perce native americans who attempted to escape the U.S. Army and enter Canada in 1877.

During their infamous 126 day journey, which covered over 1,170 miles, there were multiple conflicts with the U.S. Army and settlers. Part of their journey to live a free life off the reservation, included 13 days crossing Yellowstone National Park where they encountered 25 tourists. Joseph’s journey ended forty miles from Canada in the 5 day Battle at Bear Paw with “From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.”

Additional information about the Nez Perce is available from the National Park Service at their Nez Perce National Historical Park website. From NPS site, the fate of captured Chief Joseph was:

Although he had negotiated a safe return home for his people, the Nez Perce instead were taken to eastern Kansas and then to a reservation in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). In 1879, Chief Joseph went to Washington, D.C., to meet with President Rutherford Hayes and plead the case of his people. Finally, in 1885, nineteen years before his death, Chief Joseph and his followers were allowed to return to a reservation in the Pacific Northwest – still far from their homeland in the Wallowa Valley.

— NPS

Sources

Chittenden, Hiram Martin. Yellowstone National Park. Cincinnati: The Robert Clarke Company, 1895. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/42112/42112-h/42112-h.htm.

NPS. “Nez Perce National Historical Park.” Accessed November 27, 2023. https://www.nps.gov/nepe/index.htm.