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We did not know there were other people besides the Indian until about one hundred winters ago, when some men with white faces came to our country.

Chief Joseph

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Chief Joseph
Age: 64 †
Born: 1840
Born: March 3
Died: 1904
Died: September 21
Tribal Chief
Wallowa Valley
Joseph Buruzagia
Hin-mut-too-uah-lat-kekht
Thunder Rolling in the Mountains
Heinmot Tooyalaket
Joseph the Younger
Came
Faces
White
Country
Winters
Men
Besides
People
Indian
Winter
Hundred

More quotes by Chief Joseph

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Lawyer acted without authority from our band. He had no right to sell the Wallowa country.
Chief Joseph
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My people were divided about surrendering.
Chief Joseph
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All people should be treated the same way on earth.
Chief Joseph
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I pressed my father's hand and told him I would protect his grave with my life. My father smiled and passed away to the spirit land.
Chief Joseph
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Good words will not give me back my children.
Chief Joseph
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We had a great many horses, of which we gave Lewis and Clark what they needed, and they gave us guns and tobacco in return.
Chief Joseph
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I labored hard to avoid trouble and bloodshed.
Chief Joseph
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My father... had sharper eyes than the rest of our people.
Chief Joseph
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The first white men of your people who came to our country were named Lewis and Clark.
Chief Joseph
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I have asked some of the great white chiefs where they get their authority to say to the Indian that he shall stay in one place, while he sees white men going where they please. They cannot tell me.
Chief Joseph
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From where the sun now stands I will fight no more.
Chief Joseph
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General Howard informed me, in a haughty spirit, that he would give my people 30 days to go back home, collect all their stock, and move onto the reservation.
Chief Joseph
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I only ask of the Government to be treated as all other men are treated. If I cannot go to my own home, let me have a home in a country where my people will not die so fast.
Chief Joseph
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It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and the broken promises.
Chief Joseph
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It does not require many words to speak the truth.
Chief Joseph
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Let me be a free man - free to travel, free to stop, free to work.
Chief Joseph
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If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian he can live in peace.
Chief Joseph
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Cursed be he that scalps the reputation of the dead.
Chief Joseph
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We damaged all the big guns we could, and carried away the powder and the lead.
Chief Joseph
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When the last deer disappears into the morning mist, When the last elk vanishes from the hills, When the last buffalo falls on the plains, I will hunt mice for I am a hunter and I must have my freedom.
Chief Joseph