OCR Text |
Show Death of 91 -Year-Old California Author Recalls How He, as Young Army Lieutenant Recorded for Posterity Famous Speech of a Great Indian Chief By ELMO SCOTT WATSON Released by Western Newspaper Union. THE recent death of Col. Charles Erskine Scott Wood in California recalls one of the most dramatic incidents in-cidents in American military history, for he was one of the chief actors in that drama. It was the surrender of Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Indians In-dians in the Bear Paw mountains moun-tains of Montana on October 5, 1877, after his epic retreat of more than 1,000 miles which won for him a place among the great captains of all time. Colonel Wood, then a young lieutenant on the staff of Gen. O. O. Howard, was present at - - r- J it i - -; - f l"' THE SURRENDER OF CHIEF JOSEPH As depicted by Frederic Remington In General Miles' ''Personal Recollections.'' the surrender, took down the Indian leader's "surrender speech" and it is to him that we are indebted for a complete com-plete and accurate text of what has become a classic of American oratory. The story of the Nez Perce war ot 1877 and of Chief Joseph's retreat Is too familiar a tale to need repetition repeti-tion in all its details here. Its origin was the old, old story of a broken treaty, of white men covetous for Indian lands, of white aggression that brought about retaliation by the red man and then a call for troops to "put down an Indian uprising." In this case, however, the leader of the Nez Perces did not decide to try to defend his native soil by fighting the soldiers. Instead, he conceived the bold plan of fleeing with his people to Canada, fighting only if the troops barred his road. Gen. O. O. Howard, commander of the Military Department of the Columbia, Co-lumbia, acted promptly when news of the killing of four settlers by a down. I was not told. The speeches of Indians were not considered important. im-portant. I took it for my own benefit as a literary item." And thus it was that the young lieutenant who took down this speech as a "literary item" preserved pre-served for posterity this pathetic utterance ut-terance of a heartbroken Indian patriot. It has often been compared with the historic speech of Chief Logan of the Cayugas, which became be-came widely known through being printed in the McGuffey Readers and which was a favorite "piece to be spoken" by several generations of American schoolboys. Wood was born in Erie, Pa., February 20, 1852, the son of William Wil-liam Maxwell Scott, who was the first surgeon-general of the United States navy. Educated at Erie academy and Baltimore city college he was appoin'ted to the United States Military academy at West Point at the age of 18 by President Grant. He was graduated in 1874 and soon after receiving his commission com-mission as a second lieutenant was assigned to duty at Fort Bidwell in northeastern California. By 1877 he was a first lieutenant and on the staff of General Howard. Detailed to act as military escort to a civilian explorer in Alaska, he was in that country when ..word came of the outbreak of the Nez Perce war. The same mail that, brought him word that his regiment was ordered into the ' field also brought him permission to stay on for the exploration of Alaska but he elected to join his regiment. Thus, as aide to General Howard, he participated par-ticipated in the long, stern chase after the fleeing Nez Perces. The Nez Perce campaign, however, howev-er, was not his only Indian war service. The next year he served on Howards staff in the Bannock and Piute campaign in Idaho which was nearly as strenuous and dangerous dan-gerous as that of 1877. For a year or so he was stationed at Fort Vancouver Van-couver across the river from Portland, Port-land, Ore., and while there he resolved re-solved to quit the army and study law. Before resigning from the army he was made adjutant at the military academy at West Point and while there began studying law, re- -V - 4 On October 4, General Howard with his two aides, Lieut. Guy Howard, How-ard, his son, and Lieutenant Wood, accompanied by two friendly Nez Perces (both of whom had daughters daugh-ters in the hostile camp) and an interpreter, in-terpreter, arrived in Miles' camp. The next day, these two Nez Perces, George and Captain John, entered the camp of the beleaguered Indians. Indi-ans. They told the chief that General Gen-eral Howard was there with promises prom-ises of good treatment and that his whole command was only two or three days' behind him. With tears in their eyes they begged him to surrender because his was a- lost cause and Joseph agreed. The scene which followed is described de-scribed by Wood in a letter which has never before been published. It follows: "The surrender was October 5, 1877. Joseph rode up the hill near to sunset to where we were Howard, How-ard, Miles, Chapman, the interpreter; interpre-ter; Oscar Long, adjutant to Miles, Guy Howard, the general's son and aide de camp, and myself. I was aide de camp, also adjutant general in the field in charge of records, etc. "Three or four men on foot hung around Joseph, clinging to his knees and saddle blanket. All were bareheaded. bare-headed. Joseph's hair hung in two braids on each side of his face. He wore a blanket I do not remember remem-ber the color, but I would say gray with a black stripe and I would say it was girdled about his waist but carried up and around his shoulders. Under his blanket he wore a woolen shirt open at the throat, a dark color I am inclined to think -it was army blue. He wore moccasins and leggings. His rifle was across the pommel in front of him. When he dismounted he picked up his rifle, pulled his blanket closer around him and walked toward General Howard and offered him the rifle. Howard waved him toward Miles. He then walked to Miles and began his speech." The text of that historic speech as given by Colonel Wood follows: Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before be-fore I have it in my heart. ' I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Too-hul-hul-suit is dead. It is the young men now who say "yes" and "no" (vote In the council). He who led on the young men (Ollicut, his brother) is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people peo-ple some of them have run away to the hills and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are perhaps freezing freez-ing 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 ciiiefs, my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever! The above version of the "surrender "surren-der speech" is the one given in an article "Chief Joseph, the Nez Perce" by Colonel Wood which appeared ap-peared in the Century magazine for May, 1884. It has often been reprinted re-printed with considerable variation in the text but we have Colonel Wood's assertion (in Chester A. Fee's "Chief Joseph The Biography Biogra-phy of a Great Indian") that this is the correct one. In the letter, previously previ-ously quoted, he says: "NeitherGen-eral "NeitherGen-eral Miles nor anyone else knows Joseph's Jo-seph's long surrender speech accurately accu-rately except myself. No one was interested to take it down. Oscar Long. Miles regimental adjutant, was there to take it down but did not. No one was told to take it 1 f,, j r v , '' n I A " ' - I 5 , V? s j I I V - I C. E. S. WOOD young Nez Perce warrior marked the opening of the "war." He began be-gan concentrating troops at all strategic stra-tegic points to surround the Nez Perce. The first engagement took place on June 17 when Captain Perry and a small body of troops attacked Joseph's camp in White Bird canyon. Displaying unexpected unexpect-ed military skill, Joseph laid a trap for Perry and all but annihilated his command. After this defeat General Howard took the field himself and the chase was on. Before it was ended the Nez Perce leader outwitted, outfought out-fought and outmarched the troops of Howard, Colonel Sturgis of the Seventh Sev-enth cavalry and several other de- , tachments sent to intercept him. To realize the greatness of his achieve- L ment one has but to read this brief f summary: The Nez Perce leader was encumbered encum-bered with women and children whom he refused to desert and allow them to fall into the hands of the toldiers. as he might have done several sev-eral times to facilitate his flight. His fighting force never at any time exceeded ex-ceeded 300 warriors. Yet with these handicaps he fought 11 engagements, engage-ments, five of them pitched battles, and he lost only one. In the other six skirmishes he killed 126 and wounded 140 of the 2,000 soldiers who Were on his trail at one time or another with a loss of 151 killed and B8 wounded of his own people. Then, having left his pursuers far behind, he stopped 50 miles short of his goal the Canadian line in order to give his weary people a chance to rest. He did not know of the approach of Col. Nelson A. Miles and the Fifth Infantry until his camp in the Bear Paw mountains in Montana was attacked on the morning of September 30. For five days the Nez Perce leader and his little band, greatly outnumbered, withstood the soldiers' attacks. CHIEF JOSEPH ceiving his law degree from Columbia Colum-bia university and being admitted to the bar in 1884. Returning to Portland, he soon became be-came the outstanding admiralty lawyer of the Pacific coast and continued con-tinued its practice until 1889 when he retired to devote himself to a career as a writer and painter, winning success and fame in both fields before his death at the age of 91. |