For 14 years, the Nez Perce have gathered on the green fields at the Fort Vancouver National Site to mark, and to heal from, a wrong done to their tribe more than 130 years ago.
And with each song and drumbeat at the Chief Redheart reconciliation ceremony Saturday, it was clear that both the tribe and locals are committed to returning for decades to come.
Gifts were passed from the youngest attendees to the eldest. Stories of ancestors were shared.
The three-hour event was the first since the death of Jesse Redheart, a direct descendant of Chief Redheart and a fixture at the ceremony, who died in October at the age of 83. As tribe members marked his passing, they also spoke about carrying their stories on into the future.
“It’s just thrilling to watch the younger ones come and take up our traditions, and pass them on,” said Vesta Moe, a member of the Nez Perce Nation who came from the tribe’s reservation in Lapwai, Idaho, to attend.
The memorial ceremony recalls a dark day the Nez Perce: As the U.S. Army attempted to remove tribal members from ancestral lands, 33 members of Chief Redheart’s band were captured under the direction of Gen. O.O. Howard. Even though the band neither fought in the Indian Wars nor committed any crimes, the Nez Perce were held prisoner at Fort Vancouver through the winter of 1877-78. During the imprisonment, a 2-year-old boy died.
But more than anything, the reconciliation ceremony is a day of solemn celebration. Of carrying on.
Among those in attendance was Mary Wood, of Eugene, Ore., the great-granddaughter of Lt. Charles Erskine Scott Wood, an aide to Gen. Howard who witnessed Chief Joseph’s surrender after a grueling 1,400-mile pursuit by the Army. Years later, her great-grandfather became friends with the Indian chief and sent his son, Erskine, to live with the Nez Perce for two summers.
At the first memorial ceremony in Vancouver in 1998, Wood carried her 6-week-old son to receive a blanket dedicated to the memory of the 2-year-old boy who died at that same place more than 120 years before. Wood and her son, Ces Wood Fox, now 13, returned this year, as they have for many.
“I promised the Redheart people that Sage (Ces’ nickname) would always keep the memory of what happened here alive,” Wood said. “It’s our obligation and his obligation to keep the story alive. It must become more and more, greater and greater, each year.”
Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt also spoke about the need to keep tradition alive, saying he was encouraged by the dozens of children who ran and weaved around the circle of elders.
“I’m going to issue a challenge right here: I want each and every one of you to commit to bringing youngsters here next year,” Leavitt said.
Jessica Redheart, Jesse Redheart’s daughter, travelled from Lapwai with her aunt, Katherine Redheart, and brother, James Redheart, to remember her father. For Jessica Redheart, who is battling cancer, it was almost too painful for her to come, having lost her father and a nephew in the same week last year.
But her brother insisted. Her aunt, Jesse’s sister, was determined.
“(Katherine) kept saying, ‘I don’t want them to forget my brother,’” she said through tears. “I told her, ‘I don’t think that’s going to happen.’”
Andrea Damewood: 360-735-4542, Twitter at http://twitter.com/col_cityhall, email at andrea.damewood@columbian.com
