Chief Joseph’s Hunting Rifle c 1860

After Chief Joseph and the US Army agreed to stop hostilities at Bear Paw in October, 1877, Joseph’s people were taken into exile. From the summer of 1878 until 1885, many of the Wallowa Band remained in Oklahoma. This .45 caliber rifle was used by Joseph for subsistence hunting. Prior to leaving Oklahoma for their new home on the Colville Reservation in Washington, Joseph gave the rifle to the Chilocco Indian School, near the border with Kansas. When the school was closed in 1980, the rifle was given to the Nez Perce Tribe.

Metal, wood. L 59.8 (Barrel), L 98.4 cm

Copy and image from Nez Perce National Historical Park.