Page:The Indian Dispossessed.pdf/114

 as public lands, and that the same be set apart as a reservation for the roaming Nez Perce Indians, as recommended by the Secretary of the Interior and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. "."

This executive order not only confirmed to Joseph and his band the Wallowa Valley as their reservation; it implied the endorsement by the highest authority of their contention that the valley had not been ceded under the treaty of 1863, and definitely settled the question of their title to the country that was theirs before the advent of white men. But the order aroused the land-seizing population to a pitch of wild indignation; that the President should affirm the Indian right to Indian land so nearly wrested from him by encroachment and trespass was deemed an outrage without precedent. Meetings were held, representatives in Congress were appealed to, and by every possible means they gave vent to their displeasure. Despite the protests of the Indians and in direct violation of the President's order, the settlers remained in the valley, while Joseph and his people struggled to hold their ground with their herds of cattle and horses. Those were troublous days for Joseph, but knowing full well that any retaliation for outrages committed upon the Indians would be hailed by the settlers as a welcome opportunity to annihilate his people, he