THE NEZ PERCE WAR OF 1877

Elliott West, The Last Indian War: The Nez Perce Story (Oxford & New York: Oxford U. Press, 2009) (From "Editor's Note": "The great issues of 1877 remained unresolved. The United States demanded the full allegiance of African Americans in the South, Indians in the West, and the impoverished workers in the Northeast. But were they full citizens of the great republic? It is still an open question." Id. at xvi. From the book jacket: "The Nez Perce War of 1877 was the final Indian conflict in American history. . . To tell this tale--of courage, ingenuity, hope, and desperation--West begins with the early history of the Nez Perces and their years of friendly relations with white settlers, starting with the appearance of Lewis and Clark in 1805. The Nez Perce homeland was some of the  choicest in the American West, stretching from what is now Washington state to the continental divide. Coerced and fraudulent treaties shrank the Nez Perces' territory, and the discovery of gold brought a stampede of settlement. Provoked and hemmed in, defending the remaining fragments of their once-vast land, the Nez Perces turned at last from accommodation to violence.").