Kate and Sue McBeth, Missionary Teachers to the Nez Perce

1883

. . . By 1883, the [Chief Joseph] Nez Perces’ plight had become a national issue, and in May of that year James Reuben, who had been seeking permission to return some of the exiles to Idaho, was allowed to take 29 of them back to Lapwai. Two were aged men and the rest widows and orphans. The next year congress finally gave the Secretary of the Interior authority to send all of the remaining exiles back to the Northwest. (pp. 155-156)