In this episode of pplpod, we explore the life of Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce, the leader remembered through the powerful but misleading legend of the “Red Napoleon.” The episode begins by stripping away that myth, showing that Joseph was not primarily a battlefield mastermind but a diplomat and civilian leader trying desperately to avoid war. Born in 1840 in the Wallowa Valley of northeastern Oregon, Joseph inherited both his father’s leadership role and his father’s dying command never to sell the bones of his people. The discussion follows the 1855 Treaty of Walla Walla, the gold rush that shattered that agreement, and the 1863 treaty that reduced Nez Perce lands from millions of acres to a fraction of their former size while cutting out the Wallowa Valley entirely.

The episode also follows Joseph through the crisis of 1877, when Gener ...