There is much I cannot make out from the recording. I hope someone can fill in place names and other blanks. Soar like the eagle, Dive like the hawk, Hear the drums of the Nez Perce People, Listen to the mountains talk. In the lush Wallawa Valley The Nez Perce people lived, ______________ of the Chinroot And they ____ with the seasons ___________________________ And they fought when they had to For they knew the ways of was. Then the white men came, Lewis and Clark And the missionaries too, Followed the hungry miners And the scoundrels selling booze. And the troubles they were bound to come As they had come before But the Nez Perce said they'd never shed The white men's blood in war. The settlere come from over the hills For a place to call their own ____ Joseph from the borders of his home And the treaty rights of the Nez Perce They simply did ignore ____ Young Joseph said We want peace not war. Soar like the eagle, Dive like the hawk, Hear the drums of the Nez Perce people, Listen to the mountains talk. For ten long years the settlers came, Despite the Nez Perce pleas. They came and went and they grazed their flocks Just where they pleased. Until a young warrior was shot down - They said he stole a horse. Young Joseph calmed his men - We don't want a war. Although the Nez Perce never signed that treaty That robbed them of their land The Army came and ordered them Their campsites(?) to disband And with _____ ___ and rivers They had thirty days, no more And Joseph said they would comply, They did not want a war. Soar like the eagle, Dive like the dove, Hear the drums of the Nez Perce people, Listen to the mountains talk. Young warriors rode in the night _____ at the white man's ____ In the Salmon River settlements They left the white's to bleed And now there was no turning back, They'd passed through a one way door And with the army in pursuit The Nez Perce geared for war. At White Bird and Clearwater They turned the cavalry back And other bands joined the fight, The rebellion did enlarge ____ and Lolo Pass To the Bitterroot Valley Floor With their women and their children The Nez Perce fought this was. In the early dawn at Big Hole Soldiers surprised them in their sleep They fought back in desperation But they had more cause to weep For many braves were lost that day And the Nez Perce ____ ___ For in their ___ they won the fight But they could not win the war. So on they fled to Yellowstone, The country of the Crow, A people who had once been friends But now scouted for the foe. Then north across Montana For Canada's peaceful shore For only in that northern land Could they escape this war. They were one day's ride from safety In that Great Queen Mother's land, At lonely Bear Claw Mountain They made their final stand. They were caught in a closing jaw Of armies of a hundred score. Joseph said, holding high his head "We will fight no more, forever". Soar like the eagle, Dive like the hawk, Hear the drums of the Nez Perce people, Listen to the mountains talk. Now promises were made that day A hundred years ago, That the Nez Perce could return again To their lands in Idaho But still ____ exiled ____ _______________________ Victims of our forefather's genocidal war. Song ends with drumming and chanting. Visiting websites Nez Perce Battles and Wars and of the National Park Service's Nez Perce Trail gets more of the history and maps of the campaign and Fred Small's "Heart of the Appaloosa" is a great supplement. There is also a documentary film on YouTube entitled "Horse People"
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