In "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee", the author informed its readers of the history of settlement of the United States. This story is told from the point of view/perspective of the Indians. The settling was at the expense of a group of Indians that went by the name of the Nez Perces. It began around 1805 when Lewis and Clark stumbled upon Nes Perces country (Wallowa Valley). At that time they were weak and hungry, and ill with a disease called dysentery. Instead of the Indians running the whites out of their little country, the Nez Perces welcomed them with open arms. They fed them and gave them a supply of food as well as looked after their horses for many months while the expedition continued via canoe to the Pacific coast. This union led to a friendship that lasted for many years to come. .
In 1855 the Nez Perces were invited to a "peace" council. Here, Governor Isaac Stevens of the Washington Territory demanded the Indians give up their home, the Wallowa Valley. The chief of the Indians refused to give up the only home that they have ever known and the land of their ancestors. This eventually led to fighting between the 2 groups. The Indians fought to keep their land and whites were fighting for the land that had an abundance of resources to offer, including gold. They wanted the Indians to move onto a much smaller plot of land that they had set aside for them. Land that they wouldn't have been able to sustain on for it was infertile and barren. .
The Nez Perces Chief went to the President and requested that they be allowed to keep their land. President Ulysses Grant agreed closing this land off to white settlement. This promise was rescinded 2 years later. General Howard was sent to make the Indians leave, giving them 30 days to evacuate. The chief asked if they could have until the fall season due to their livestock being scattered all over the Wallowa Valley and the river being too high to cross.
