Renegade Tribe: The Palouse Indians and the Invasion of the Inland Pacific Northwest

by Clifford E. Trafzer

Book by Trafzer, Clifford E., Scheuerman, Richard D.

Genres: History

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1986

About the author

Cliffor Trafzer is Director of American Indian Studies at University of California, Riverside. Raised in Arizona, Clifford Trafzer was born to parents of Wyandot Indian and German-English blood. He earned a B.A. and M.A. in history at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, where he also worked as an archivist for Special Collections. He earned a Ph.D. in American History in 1973 with a specialty in American Indian History and the same year became a museum curator for the Arizona Historical Society. Before joining the faculty of the University of California, Riverside in 1991, Trafzer taught at Diné College (Navajo Community College), Washington State University and San Diego State University. Trafzer's research focuses on Native American history and culture. His Kit Carson Campaign: The Last Great Navajo War and Yuma: Frontier Crossing of the Far Southwest were published in 1981. His co-authored work, Renegade Tribe: The Palouse Indians and the Invasion of the Inland Pacific Northwest appeared in 1986, winning a Washington Governor\\\'s Award that year. In 1994 he won the Penn Oakland Award for Earth Song, Sky Spirit. His works include Grandmother, Grandfather, and Old Wolf: Tamánwit Ku Súdat and Traditional Native American Stories From the Columbia Plateau, Death Stalks the Yakama: A Social-Cultural History of Death on the Yakama Indian Reservation, 1888-1964, and Exterminate Them!

Reviews

[Gerald Hickman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very interesting book full of details about the Palus tribe. The tribe was associated by marriage with the Nez Perce tribe along the Clearwater River in what is now the state of Idaho and with other Columbia Plateau Tribes of Native Americans in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

The research for this manuscript was compiled by staff at Washington State University in Pullman.
The Palus tribe still does not have a legal Reservation and only a few native homesteads in Southeastern Washington state. The Palus were famous for rejecting giving up their tribal territory in the 1840's through 1900. White livestock ranchers gave assistance to the tribe late in the history of the tribe and helped them to maintain a presence in Eastern Washington. The Palus tribe was involved with the Yakima War of 1855-56, the Steptoe Battle in 1858 and Battles of Spokane Plains, Four Lakes, Four Mound Prairie and the Horse Slaughter along the Spokane River.

This is one of my favorites because it explores little known details and facts about the several wars that painted the Palus tribe as resistant to the invasion of their traditional homelands by white settlers, the U S Army, miners and livestock growers.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Palus Tribe had the unfortunate distinction of participating in combat in all four Columbia basin Indian wars: the Cayuse War, Yakima War, Coeur D'Alene War, and the Nez Perce War. Even more so than other tribes, the Palus were treated poorly, even when they attempted to play by the whites rules.
For those interested in Northwest history, this book has lots of hard-to-find information in it. The authors had a commanding knowledge of Palus oral history and family relations, much of it from direct interviews with the modern (when the book was written) Palus tribe.

[Jay Doctor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great, wish there was more oral history about early Palouse, not starting the tale with Lewis and Clark

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reissued as The Snake River-Palouse and the Invasion of the Inland Northwest, this scholarly work tells the story of western expansion from the Indian perspective.

[Jeff Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

For research. Excellent.