First some facts, then the song:

Joseph persuaded the other chiefs not to go to war, but after some of White Bird’s warriors attacked and killed some whites he joined them.  On June 17, 1877 the battle of White Bird Canyon took place.  There were 100 cavalrymen from Fort Lapwai facing 200 Nez Perce warriors.  One officer and thirty-three enlisted men were slain.  After that battle the chase began.

The Nez Perce led the U.S. Army on a 1,400-mile chase only to be caught 40 miles from the Canadian border.  General Sherman later was very impressed with the Nez Perce’s retreat.  General Howard mobilized 500 men after the Nez Perce.  On July 11, 1877 Howard met up with them near South Forkin, Idaho.  Howard charged the Nez Perce camp and would have ended the chase if he would of followed through with the victory.  The battle lasted two days.  It lasted this long because the Nez Perce fought with un-Indian like skills.  Later this battle was known as the Battle of Clearwater.  As the battles went on Joseph stayed behind at camp to guard the women and children while Ollokot led the warriors.  Eventually the Nez Perce proved to be the better fighters and the better marksman. 

On August 9, 1877 Colonel John Gibbon charged the camp killing women and children, but the Nez Perce fought back making the army retreat.  Later a council of chiefs made the decision to cross the Bitterroot Mountains to seek aid from the Crow or Sitting Bull and the Sioux in Canada.  However they never got that far.  General Howard sent orders to Colonel Nelson Miles to intercept the Nez Perce.  On October 5, 1877 Colonel Miles met them.

On that same day Chief Joseph surrendered.  For Chief Joseph’s surrender speech he said this, “I am tired of fighting.  Our chiefs are dead.  Looking Glass is dead.  Toohoolzote is dead.  The old men are dead.  It is young men who say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.  Ollokot is dead.   It is cold and we have no blankets.  The little children are freezing to death.  My people, some of them, 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 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.”  Chief Joseph said this on October 5, 1877 at Bear Paw Mountain.

After surrendering the army marched the Nez Perce to Indian Territory, which is present day Oklahoma.  Chief Joseph had many trips to Washington D.C. trying to get the president to allow them to return to their homeland.  The president did allow them to return to the Northwest, however 118 Nez Perce Indians were sent to the Lapwai Reservation.  The rest, along with Chief Joseph, were sent to the Collville Reservation.  Joseph died here on September 21, 1904 from a broken heart.

I have no ponies left to ride,

there are no visions in my mind -

The sky is broken, the moon is down,

there is darkness .

I will pray the morning star,

pay that I might carry on,

give me wisdom, give me life,

give me courage.

Once  this great land was my home,

where my people freely roamed.

Now the world is torn apart,

there is darkness.

My name is Joseph, this is my story:

I didn't want fame, I didn't seek glory.

My father's land, I will defend it,

with my life, with my hands.

We were on our way to the reservation,

forced to go, our home abandoned .

My people's hearts, they were breaking,

my young men killed, and a war was on...

The Army found us in White Bird Canyon,

we were camped on the Salmon River.

One hundred men, we did defeat them,

and away to death, to death we rode...

Day and night they pursued us,

along the rivers, up the Bitterroot.

For young and old, the rail was brutal,

but we were running for our lives...

Then one cold dawn in the Big Hole valley,

their bullets came, in deadly volley.

So many died, I can't remember,

we fought them off, and we rode on...

We crossed the Divide, and they came after,

through the valleys into Yellowstone.

Down the steps of Clark's Fork Canyon,

through the land of the Crow, and up the Musselshell.

We crossed the Missouri at Cow Island,

twelve hundred miles we'd run and fought.

We headed through the Bear Paw Mountains,

and it was there our luck ran out.

Five days and nights, we stood and fought them,

in the bitter wind, in the freezing snow.

We shot each other all to pieces,

'till the food ran out, the ammunition gone.

My heart was sick, sad and heavy,

children freezing, so many gone.

I will fight no more, no more forever,

where the sun now stands, I will fight no more.

I heard the thunder from the mountains,

I saw the bolld, there on the plain.

I feel a sorrow never ending,

among the tears, everlasting pain.

I have no ponies left to ride,

there are no visions in my mind -

The sky is broken, the moon is down,

there is darkness .

I will pray the morning star,

pay that I might carry on,

give me wisdom, give me life,

give me courage.

Once  this great land was my home,

where my people freely roamed.

Now the world is torn apart,

there is darkness.

I will fight no more

I will fight no more

No more forever.