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Chief Joseph’s Gravestone

within 40 miles of the Canadian border. On October 5 Joseph surrendered to General Nelson A. Miles and delivered an eloquent speech: "Hear me, my chiefs; my heart is sick and sad. From where the Sun now stands, I will fight no more On October 5 Joseph surrendered to General Nelson A. Miles and delivered an eloquent speech: "Hear me, my chiefs; my heart is sick and sad. From where the Sun now stands, I will fight no more forever."

He and his band were sent to a barren reservation in Indian Territory (later Oklahoma) where many became sick and died. In 1885 Joseph and the remnants of his tribe were allowed to move to a reservation in Washington State.   Meanwhile, he had made two trips to Washington, D.C. where he pleaded with President Theodore Roosevelt for the return of his people to their ancestral home.

In his last years, Joseph spoke eloquently against the injustice of United States policy toward his people and held out the hope that America's promise of freedom and equality might one day be fulfilled for Native Americans as well. A powerful voice of conscience for the West, he died in 1904 of a broken heart, still in exile from his homeland.