The Backstory: From freedom fighter to tribal genocide

We’re all a contradiction at times, but nothing like Civil War general Oliver Howard. He was a medal of honor winner, he worked to get freed black men the right to vote, and was the founder of historically black Howard University. But after the war he chased down and killed or captured hundreds of Native Americans in the Nez Perce War with the U.S.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Have you ever known somebody who was a complete contradiction. Now,
on the one hand, General Oliver Howard, the white Civil
War general who founded the historically black Howard University, was
a dedicated freedom fighter for one group of people, but
later he murderously chased down another group. I'm Patty Steele.
Compassion in the East, slaughter in the Old West. Next

(00:23):
on the backstory. We're back with the backstory. The hit
Martin Scorsese movie Killers of the Flower Moon has recently
given us kind of a peek into what Native Americans
have had to deal with here in America. But there
are a ton of other stories we haven't heard so
much about, including that of the Nez Perce tribe. Okay,

(00:46):
let's go back. It's before the Civil War. General Oliver
Howard was born in Maine. His family was devoutly Christian
and hugely anti slavery. Howard maintained that the black community's
desire to sort of immolate into American culture and their
devotion to Christian ideals proved they deserved freedom, and that's

(01:06):
what he fought for in the Civil War, even losing
an arm in battle and ultimately winning the Medal of Honor.
His devotion to black people was noticed in Washington, so
in the aftermath of the war, Howard was appointed to
run the Freedmen's Bureau, which was there to watch over
the rights of newly freed slaves and help them get
on their feet as independent citizens. He was so intent

(01:30):
on helping them fully achieve that independence that he worked
with the Republican Party to grant freed male slaves the
right to vote. His bureau also helped blacks organize themselves
politically and set up programs to give them access to
social welfare, including food, education, legal assistance, and medical care.
Really importantly, Howard also began the push to offer all

(01:53):
black people the chance to get a good education. Thus
Howard University the school we still know as one of
the first and foremost historically black universities. He was the
driving force and the main founder of the school, which
is why it was named after him. He also served
as its president from eighteen sixty nine to eighteen seventy four.

(02:15):
But Howard also caught the attention of some haters in
Washington who felt he had too much power and he
was giving too many rights to blacks. They called him
a fanatic. Next thing, you know, he's appointed to the
command of a major department of the U. S Army,
and that sends him far away from Washington to the
remote west and northwest. Now, imagine it's eighteen seventy seven.

(02:39):
You're a member of the Nez Perce tribe. You live
way out in the northwest, beyond all the development and
the turmoil of the pre and post Civil War years
in the east. You've been following a way of life
your tribe and your ancestors have followed in that region
for almost twelve thousand years. Suddenly, your tribe, led by

(03:00):
Chief Joseph, becomes the target of the US government's rigid expectations.
Why well, it seems your people have a desire to
hang on to their ancestral lands, which had already been
guaranteed them in a treaty just twenty years earlier. They
also want to follow their own religion and their culture.
The government in Washington, DC not a fan of the

(03:22):
tribe's traditional thinking, so they send General Howard and a
boatload of soldiers to the northwest to hunt down the
Nez Perce tribe and force them onto a reservation in Idaho.
So here's the question, how did Howard get to a
place where post war he was chasing down and even
killing these Native Americans. Well, it seems the same standards

(03:44):
by which he favorably judged black people, their desire to
assimilate into American culture and uphold Christian values are what
caused trouble for the Nez Purse. Because of their desire
to stay true to their heritage, Howard, who was noted
as a fierce to offender of oppressed blacks, becomes the oppressor.
He and his troops forced the Nez perse from their

(04:05):
homes and in their drive toward what they believed was
their manifest destiny, the right of the US government to
completely control North America. Now picture this, The Nez Purse,
including men, women, and children, no matter how young, how old,

(04:27):
how sick, are literally running for their lives across what
used to be their land. General Howard has the might
of the U. S. Army, and he's right on their heels.
No matter how little food or weaponry they have, the
Nez Purse won't be broken. Their refusal to give up
their ancestral land and get on board with American culture

(04:48):
and Christianity put them in direct conflict with the government,
and so Chief Joseph leads them on a grueling, heartbreaking
chase that stretched almost twelve hundred miles through Oregon, Washington, Idaho,
and Montana. They crossed rivers and mountains, still remaining dedicated
to their right to live on their land. Ultimately, hundreds

(05:12):
of Nez Purse are killed and wounded, with women and
children even targeted. Several hundred managed to escape to Canada,
and hundreds more finally surrender. Now at the time, the
New York Times called what the government had done nothing
short of a gigantic blunder and a crime. And civil
war hero General William de Cumps of Sherman said the

(05:33):
Nez Purse showed a courage and skill, as well as
a humanity beyond any Native American war on record. Afterwards, though,
it was Sherman's decision not to allow the Nez Perce
to head to their reservation in Idaho, as promised by Howard,
but instead to send them en mass, first to Kansas,
where they lived on a swampy reservation for a few years,

(05:55):
and then to hot Dusty, Oklahoma. So did General Howard
his back on the principles he clearly upheld. In the
aftermath of the Civil War for black people. How did
he become someone willing to enforce displacement and suffering on
people who were merely fighting for their own way of life.
It's hard to say. In his memoirs he called the

(06:16):
Nez Perce War one of the toughest of his career,
but it didn't really cost him his reputation. He went
on to become the superintendent of the Military Academy at
West Point, then the commander of two military divisions in
the West, and finally the commander of the Department of
the East before he retired as a major general. His
legacy regarding education is clear. General Oliver Howard founded Lincoln

(06:41):
Memorial College in Tennessee to educate poor Mountain folks there,
and of course, Howard University, named in honor of its
white founder, thrives as a powerful, historically black university. Coupled
with his treatment of the Nez Perce, though, it's a
confusing kind of dark legacy at best. If you have

(07:09):
any stories you would like me to take a deep
dive into and to share, please reach out to me.
You can direct message me on Facebook at Patty Steele
or on Instagram at real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele.
The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis
Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser.

(07:32):
Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday
and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with
comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at Reel Patty
Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening
to the Backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of history
you didn't know you needed to know.