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Chief Joseph
Digital History ID 707

Author:   Chief Joseph
Date:1877

Annotation: According to General O.O. Howard, Chief Joseph announced his surrender with the following poignant words.


Document: I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed....The old men are all dead....It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of whom have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food; no one knows where they are--perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.

Source: Annual Report of the Secretary of War...for the Fiscal year Ending June 30, 1877, 630-1.

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