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It was yellow-colored, and gave me the power of the wolf." But even though he went by the name, he said that Yellow Wolf was not what he was normally called among his people. He was known more for that among whites. "The whites call me Yellow Wolf, but I take that as a nick-name. My true name is different, and is after the Spirit which gave me promise of its power as a warrior. I am
Heinmot Hihhih, which means White Thunder (or White Lightning). Yellow Wolf is not my own chosen name."
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tribe held to these beliefs, and violence erupted, leading to the Nez Perce War of 1877. Their non-violent struggle ultimately became a flight from the US Army, and then a war; as McWhorter said in Yellow Wolf's book, "Every warrior interviewed on the subject testified to his advocacy for peace; but after the irretrievable step had been taken, he promptly took up the rifle."
216:, especially after the beginning of a gold rush. During that time, Native Americans were being killed by incoming white people, without consequence. They were being hanged and threatened with violence if they didn't give in to settlers' demands for land. The elders in the tribe were trying to take a non-violent route, attempting to keep their people from retaliating.
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want. War is made to take something that is not your own." He was concerned that the next generation of Native
Americans would continue to suffer under white oppression, and wrote to help them. He said, "the young generation behind me, for them I tell the story. It is for them! I want the next generation of whites to know and treat the Indian as themselves."
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his adult life. But in talking about them, he revealed that switching names was something one did, one found a name that fit. Some names were given to you, some were inherited. He had an inherited name, Inneecheekoostin (no translation). Another of Yellow Wolf's warrior names was Pahkar
Tamkikeechet (Five Times Looking Through, or Fifteen Lightnings).
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father's last wishes. But after the insult by
General Howard, he got two cousins, Sarpsis Ilppilp (Red Moccasin Tops) and Wetyetmas Wahyakt (Swan Necklace) to help him kill that man. Unable to find him, they killed another instead. This was the last straw between the two sides, and led to the Nez Perce fleeing their home and the army.
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Federal and Indian
Affairs census records have recorded the story of Yellow Wolf's family on the Colville Reservation. In 1910, the U.S. Federal Census asked Yellow Wolf to tell about his family, and he said he had married twice (the second for 17 years by that date) and had 9 children (of whom only
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Yellow Wolf's people considered the war on them to be unjust. In his book, Yellow Wolf makes it clear that his group did not agree to the treaty that was put upon them by "armed enforcement." The Nez Perce tribes were not unified, and that just because some of them had signed the "thief treaty" did
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By the time of his 1935 death, Yellow Wolf had come to be known among some members of white society as a peacemaker. His obituary in the
Spokane Daily Chronicle said he had been friendly to his white neighbors, and that he was "not an enemy of the white man". He told McWhorter that he looked at how
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In 1877, there was a religious rift within the Nez Perce community. Parts of the people had converted to
Christianity – these were settled onto the Lapwai Reservation. Others including Yellow Wolf, who settled on the Colville Reservation, followed their native religion, which McWhorter called
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methods to dealing with force. Yellow Wolf speaks of the tribal leaders refusal to use violence to deal with the white soldiers. Even using threats of force was taboo with them, and it led to
Toohoolhoolzote being locked up for passive resistance during a counsel with General Howard. Not all of the
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as a boy of 13. In it, he saw a vision of a yellow wolf. "It was a Spirit of a wolf that appeared to me. Yellow like in color, it sort of floated in the air. Like a human being it talked to me, and gave me its power...That was how I got named Yellow Wolf. Named for that vision-wolf appearing to me.
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In addition to that, the representatives of the U.S. government who came to talk to them seemed to be going out of their way to be insulting, or at least took no effort to understand cultural sensitivities. It was against native tradition to use threats or force (called "showing the rifle") during
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Nez Perce warriors were not limited to one name. The warriors in his tribe all had at least two names, some more. Some were serious names, some nicknames. Their names changed throughout their lives. Yellow Wolf did not want to talk about the names of his childhood, because he was limiting focus to
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Yellow Wolf had another wife by 1905, I-O-To-ton-My (Little
Mountain Woman), and they had a son together who would have been born in 1901. She was eight years younger than Yellow Wolf. They lived with the two sons in the 1906, 1906 and 1910 censuses. The census lists a 1-year-old daughter in 1905,
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He was married to a Nez Perce woman named Pe-Tol-Von-nan-Ick, who was known in
English as Helen. They were listed together in the 1890, 1892 and 1893 censuses, and she was gone by the 1905 census. It is not recorded whether she died or they left each other. They had a son, Te-Yoh-Yoh-Shin (Billy
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Others of his tribe said he was making a fool of himself for talking to a white man, saying that the children of the tribe would tell the story. In spite of that, he continued to work with McWhorter. In telling the native's side he said, "I am telling my story that all may know the war we did not
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In spite of this the rest of the Nez Perce leaders at the council still tried to hold the peace, but some of the younger generation took matters into their own hands. A young man, Wahlitits had earlier lost his father to a white man who coveted his land. He had held off revenge because of his
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His other prominent name, Heinmot Hihhih, was also connected to his spirituality. Thunder is made to kill as it strikes and rolls along. "My kopluts I made when a boy, by directions of the Spirit that gave me promise of warrior power. It has the same killing strength as thunder."
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was not a written language, and attempts to write it down produced a variety of spellings. Spellings are an attempt to use the English alphabet to spell native words. The problem with this is that native words use consonant sounds that English does not have.
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not mean they spoke for everyone. There were also rifts in the tribe, Christian versus non-Christian. The government was talking to those that they found cooperative, and acting as if these natives spoke for all. And they
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His son Billy lived with the family off-and-on over the years. He was widowed at age of 21, with a son, and married at least two more times by 1916. Billy's child did not survive; neither did his next son.
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Picture of Yellow Wolf's wife Ayatootonmi and son Jasper, taken about 1908 on McWhorter's ranch. Photo stored in Washington State University's Digital Collections. Picture clearer than one at Library of
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The native faith included a perception that the things around them (animals, trees, rocks, wind, sky) had spirits. They didn't worship the spirits, but developed relationships with them, called
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Yellow Wolf admitted to going by two names, of which Yellow Wolf was not the one he preferred. The name came out of a vision, but it was also one that white men called him. The Yellow Wolf was a
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When Yellow Wolf died in 1935, his son Billy Yellow Wolf was his last living child. Yellow Wolf's younger son, Jasper, died in 1921, and all his daughters died before he did.
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Photo "Annie Yellow Wolf", with a daughter, infant and younger sister, taken on the Colville Reservation. Annie was either another wife for Yellow Wolf, or his son's wife.
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In his interviews with McWhorter, Yellow Wolf makes it clear that there was increasing pressure placed upon the Native Americans as thousands of white men invaded the
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of 1877. In his old age, he decided to give the war a Native American perspective. From their meeting in 1907 till his death in 1935, Yellow Wolf talked annually to
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Yellow Wolf was in his early 20s when he joined the band in its 1877 flight for Canada. Written records don't indicate he was married or had children before then.
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Both names went into who he was. As a warrior, he was irresistible like thunder, but also had the incredible fighting qualities of a wolf.
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two were living at that date). By the time of his death in 1935, he told McWhorter that only one of his children was alive, his son Billy.
400:". In Yellow Wolf's words, "We believed in our own Hunyewat , We had our own Ahkunkenekoo . Huyewat gives us food, clothing, everything.
228:, locked up because he would not obey. Yellow Wolf said, "That was what brought war, the arrest of this chief and showing us the rifle!"
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people treated him: "I am glad we get along so well. It is the way I have been with everyone who treats me right. I like good people."
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195:. He is notable as one of the few members of the defeated Nez Perce to talk openly to strangers and tell their story to the world.
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Yellow Wolf) who was born in 1888. A woman, Chick-A-Moh-Peo (Jean), listed as mother lived with them, in her 80s.
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739:"National Archives and Records Administration U.S., Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 Record for Jasper Yellow Wolf"
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592:"I-ah-to-tonah, or Little Woman Mountain, and son A-last-Sauked, or Looking-away-off"
363:. Elsewhere it has been He-men Moxmox. His other name (White Lightning) was rendered
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Seekumses Kunnin (Horse Blanket) (father) Yiyik Wasumwah (Swan Woman) (mother)
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One of the effects of the Dreamer Faith on Yellow Wolf's tribe was to adopt
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This article is about the Nez Perce warrior. For the Cheyenne warrior, see
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Yellow Wolf's second wife Ayatootonmi and their son Jasper, taken on
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Heinmot Hihhih (White Thunder or White Lightning) (his "war name")
784:"American Indian Heritage Month: Commemoration vs. Exploitation"
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or He–Mene Mox Mox (born c. 1855, died August 1935) was a
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Yellow Wolf's perspective on how the Nez Perce War began
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On the reservation, child mortality, death and divorce
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did. He went beyond threats and had another leader,
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Photo of Yellow Wolf in his fifties, taken by or for
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that Yellow Wolf and some other Nez Perce followed.
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Site with many pages touching on the Nez Perce War.
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379:. Their son Jasper's native name has been spelled
359:in the census records. In McWhorter's book it was
816:. Caldwell, ID: Caxton Printers, Ltd. pp.
767:. Caldwell, ID: Caxton Printers, Ltd. pp.
722:. Caldwell, ID: Caxton Printers, Ltd. pp.
701:. Caldwell, ID: Caxton Printers, Ltd. pp.
575:. Caldwell, ID: Caxton Printers, Ltd. pp.
269:ranch in Yakima, Washington, in October 1908.
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140:A-last-Sauked (Looking-away-off), aka Jasper
323:for him. He talked to McWhorter, about his
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220:peace talks, which is exactly what
120:Ayatootonmi (Little Mountain Woman)
944:Native American people from Oregon
939:People from Wallowa County, Oregon
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914:Native American history of Oregon
110:, near the grave of Chief Joseph
36:Himiin Maaqs maqs (Yellow Wolf)
835:The biography of Yellow Wolf,
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904:20th-century Native Americans
899:19th-century Native Americans
191:, who wrote a book for him,
590:Lucullus Virgil McWhorter.
267:Lucullus Virgil McWhorter's
97:Colville Indian Reservation
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813:Yellow Wolf: His Own Story
764:Yellow Wolf: His Own Story
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183:warrior who fought in the
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837:Yellow Wolf:His Own Story
627:"Spokane Daily Chronicle"
189:Lucullus Virgil McWhorter
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222:General Oliver O. Howard
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21:Yellow Wolf (Cheyenne)
839:digitized and online.
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64:, Wallowa band leader
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108:Nespelem, Washington
597:Library of Congress
503:Dr. Richard Luppi.
782:Andrew H. Fisher.
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177:Yellow Wolf
30:Yellow Wolf
883:Categories
789:2012-01-04
771:–300, 521.
744:2012-01-04
603:2011-12-29
510:2011-12-29
428:References
290:Last child
845:Congress.
181:Nez Perce
153:Known for
125:Relations
115:Spouse(s)
62:Nez Perce
412:pacifist
339:Spelling
163:Nickname
135:Children
86:, Oregon
81:c. 1855
633:. 1935
405:Wyakin
321:wyakin
244:Family
145:Parent
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396:the "
311:Names
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639:2011
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383:and
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