The Nez Perces
worst possible place that could have been selected; and the sanitary condition of the Indians proved it." Here they were kept until well into the following summer: "One-half could be said to be sick, and all were affected by the poisonous malaria of the camp." In the middle of July they were removed to the scorching plains of the Indian Siberia. Here these mountain Indians went down like moths in a flame. Within three months the Commissioner who had recounted the disastrous effects of the climate on the Pawnees, the Cheyennes, and the Poncas made this report:
"After the arrival of Joseph and his band in the Indian Territory, the bad effect of their location at Fort Leavenworth manifested itself in the prostration by sickness at one time of 260 out of the 410, and within a few months they have lost by death more than one quarter of the entire number."
The death rate was so appalling that public attention was attracted; criticisms began to pour in upon the Indian service. Indignant people demanded that something be done, and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs made a personal visit to the tribe:
"Joseph had two causes of dissatisfaction, which he presented to notice in plain, unmistakable terms. He complained that his surrender to General Miles was a conditional surrender, with a distinct promise that he should go back to Idaho in the spring. The other complaint was that the land selected for him
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