Promises were made to Chief Joseph, but they were never kept. Those who wanted Indian land told false stories. The Nez Perce were sent to an empty plain; most sickened and died. Chief Joseph pleaded for justice: "The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it," he said. "You might as well expect the rivers to run backward as that any man who was born a free man should be contented when penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases ."

The time would come, as Chief Joseph wished, when there was one government and equal rights for all men and women of every color and background. Chief Joseph's words would help bring that time. But it would be too late for most of the Nez Perce.

Once again, listen to Chief Joseph: "Let me be a free man—free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to think and talk and act for myself—and I will obey every law, or submit to the penalty."

In 1890 there was a final massacre of Indians at a place in the West called Wounded Knee . Under the authority of President Benjamin Harrison, thousands of troops were sent into South Dakota, where a large group of Sioux Indian men, women, and children were gathered for worship. On December 29 a confrontation erupted . The Sioux leader American Horse was an eyewitness . He later testified: "[The soldiers] turned their Hotchkiss guns upon the women who were in the lodges. Women fleeing with their babies were killed together, shot right through. Little boys [were] ... butchered ."

In the bitter cold of early January a local newspaperman arrived and photographed the aftermath of the massacre. His camera recorded the scene as a mass grave was filled with the bodies of more than 250 Native American men, women, and children . It was the end of the Indian wars.

The Indian story should have been different. There could have been respect and honesty between the peoples. There could have been strong laws to prevent unfairness and brutality. Even those, like the Christian missionaries, who meant to help the Native Americans, usually ended up destroying the tribes because they didn't respect the native cultures. They were sure their way of life was better than the Native American way. When Chief Joseph died on September 21, 1904, the doctor listed the cause of death as "a broken heart."