t once withdraw from his country. Some acts of violence
were committed, and at the request of the settlers a company of United
States cavalry was sent to the scene of the disturbance. The Indians
were temporarily quieted, but the feeling of discontent and hatred
against the whites was growing.

General Howard, then commanding the Department of the Columbia,
repaired to the scene of the disturbance, and, with J. B. Monteith,
agent of the Nez Perces, held several councils with the malcontents,
and argued patiently and persistently to convince them that the treaty,
whereby the Wallowa Valley had been ceded to the Government, was duly
signed and ratified by the properly constituted chiefs of the tribe;
that it was valid, and that every member of the tribe was bound by it;
that the white men were only exercising their legal rights in settling
on the land; and the Indians were assured that the whites would be
protected in these rights by the white soldiers if necessary.

They were told in mild but positive terms that they must go on the
reservation set apart for them by their chiefs and the agents of the
white father at Washington; and warned that, in the event of their
persistent refusal, soldiers would place them there by force, or so
many of them as should survive in case they resisted. The three
chiefs--Joseph, White Bird, and Looking Glass--finally agreed to go on
the reservation, and asked for thirty days' time in which to collect
their people and their horses and place them on the reservation. This
was granted, and the council dispersed.

General Howard did not, however, place implicit faith in the promises
of the wily chiefs. He suspected that this was merely a ruse of the
Indians to gain more time for manufacturing sympathy among other
members of the tribe, for gaining accessions to their own ranks, for
procuring additional arms and ammunition, and, in short, for making all
necessary preparations for active hostilities. He therefore proceeded
at once to concentrate all available troops in his department within
easy striking distance of the malcontents, in order to be prepared for
any emergency.

Before the thirty days asked for had expired, some of White Bird's band
appeared in the Wallowa Valley and murdered a number of defenseless
white men and women. All the Indians in the neighborhood became
extremely belligerent and insolent. White Bird rode through the valley
and proclaimed to the whites that the Indians wo