Chief Joseph’s Speech

Here is the text of Chief Joseph’s surrender speech at the Bear Paw Mountains battleground in Montana on Oct. 5, 1877:

“Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before I have in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Toohoolhoolzote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ He who led the young men [Olikut] is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are; perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. 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.”

Source: Nez Perce Tribe web page, https://www.nezperce.org/