Born in 1840, Joseph was present at the signing of the 1855 treaty, which allowed the tribe to hold on to a five thousand square mile region in Idaho and Oregon, including their beloved Wallowa Valley. By 1877, a year after the Battle of Little Bighorn, word came from Washington that they had to move to a small reservation instead.

Joseph, now chief, decided to take his people through Yellowstone and Montana, hoping to join Sitting Bull and his followers 300 miles north in Saskatchewan. They were caught by U.S. Army troops just 40 miles short of their goal, in the Battle of the Bear's Paw.