Nez Perces

na per-saz', pierced noses, a tribe of Indians originally located in Idaho and eastern Oregon. The tribe welcomed and aided Lewis and Clark in their famous expedition in 1804. They requested the whites to send them the white man's book. It is recorded that for seventy years not a white man lost his life at the hands of a Nez Perce warrior; but, when the whites began to settle up their country, ruin their hunting grounds, and take possession of their fairest lands, the Nez Perces went on the war path under their famous chief Joseph. He and his few hundred followers caused General Miles one of the hardest campaigns he ever undertook; but, of course, the result was inevitable. After a short residence in Indian Territory the old chief and his band were placed upon a reservation near Spokane. Chief Joseph died in 1904, much regretted by the white man as well as red. General Miles called him the "Napoleon of Indians." See Indian