Refusing to sign a treaty ceding their lands to the United States and move onto a reservation, in June 1877 more than 750 Nez Percé men, women, and children, with 2,000 horses led the U.S. Army on a 1,200-mile chase across the Pacific Northwest and the plains. The Army hoped to trap the Nez Percé as they left the Yellowstone Plateau near the impenetrable Clarks Fork Canyon. The Nez Percé executed a feinting maneuver and escaped north. They made it 40 miles from the Canadian border before surrendering. Chief Joseph said, “I will fight no more, forever.”
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