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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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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
Spirit
Collect
Give
Informed
Home
Stock
Back
Onto
Giving
General
Reservation
Would
Move
Haughty
People
Days
Reservations
Moving
Howard

More quotes by Chief Joseph

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I did not want my people killed. I did not want bloodshed.
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We gathered all the stock we could find, and made an attempt to move. We left many of our horses and cattle in Wallowa. We lost several hundred in crossing the river.
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It does not require many words to speak the truth.
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It takes few words to tell the truth.
Chief Joseph
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Cursed be he that scalps the reputation of the dead.
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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I would have given my own life if I could have undone the killing of white men by my people.
Chief Joseph
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Good words will not give me back my children.
Chief Joseph
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I am tired of talk that comes to nothing It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and all the broken promises. There has been too much talking by men who had no right to talk. It does not require many words to speak the truth.
Chief Joseph
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My people were divided about surrendering.
Chief Joseph
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Whenever the white man treats the Indian as they treat each other, then we will have no more wars. We shall all be alike-brothers of one father and one another, with one sky above us and one country around us, and one government for all.
Chief Joseph
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My father... had sharper eyes than the rest of our people.
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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Lawyer acted without authority from our band. He had no right to sell the Wallowa country.
Chief Joseph
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We gave up some of our country to the white men, thinking that then we could have peace. We were mistaken. The white man would not let us alone.
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
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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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All men were made brothers. The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it. You might as well expect the rivers to run backward as that any man who was born free should be content when penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases.
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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Treat all men alike. Give them the same law. Give them an even chance to live and grow.
Chief Joseph