In his surrender speech, "I Will Fight No More Forever," Chief Joseph confesses his own exhaustion and offers a list of the hardships that have befallen his people while attempting to escape the U.S. army. They had traveled as many as seventeen hundred miles, hoping to find refuge with Sitting Bull, the Sioux chief, who brought his people to Canada to escape U.S. aggression. Chief Joseph gave the speech in early October after the Battle of the Bear Paw Mountains. Winter had come, and the Nez Perce were suffering from freezing weather, lack of food, and exhaustion from the prolonged travel and fighting.

Chief Joseph begins by telling the adjutant, Major H. Clay Wood, that he is surrendering with General Howard's promises at heart. As Colin Taylor explains in "Plateau and Basin," Howard had told Chief Joseph that the Nez Perce would be allowed...