I Will Fight No More Forever

“Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before, I have in my heart.”

Chief Joseph alludes to an earlier promise made before the Nez Perce War that the Wallowa band would be allowed to join the Nimíipuu living on the reservation near Fort Lapwai in Idaho. In alluding to shared knowledge and a past relationship, Chief Joseph appeals to the general’s conscience, as symbolized by the heart, and to the larger sense of justice and morality. If their hearts are aligned and if the general fulfills his promise, then surrender is acceptable to Chief Joseph.

“I am tired of fighting.”

The verb “tired” conveys the weary, heartsick tone Joseph uses in recounting the dire situation that has led him to surrender. He is both literally tired as one might expect of a leader who has traveled over 1000 miles from his homeland with the threat of war all around, and weary in his soul, as one who has tried to remain true to his sense of justice and the responsibilities put on him by his elders in the face of great adversity and injustice.

“Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead, Ta-hool-hool-shute is dead. The old men all are dead.”

Chief Joseph’s use of repetition and parallelism in these lines underscores the importance of elders as leaders and council givers.