It happened.

And it matters.

The Diplomatic History Before The Gun

The 1877 conflict did not emerge from nowhere.

It was the culmination of more than two decades of treaty-making, treaty-breaking, land pressure, and diplomatic failure that had been building since the first large-scale American contact with the nimíipuu in the early nineteenth century.

The Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-1806 passed through nimíipuu territory in both directions and was received with remarkable generosity.

The Corps of Discovery was fed, housed, and given practical guidance by nimíipuu people who had no reason to expect anything hostile from these strangers.