LOOKINGGLASS
Looking Glass
(ca. 1832–October 5, 1877)
Nez Percé War Chief
L
ooking Glass helped
direct the legendary
1,500-mile flight of
the Nez Percé Indians
from Oregon to Montana.
He was generally a capa-
ble war chief, but two
strategic mistakes cost
him his life and his tribes-
men their freedom.
Allalimya Takanin was
born around 1832 in the
Wallowa Valley of pres-
ent-day northeastern Ore-
gon state. His father,
Apash Wyakaikt (“Flint
Necklace”), was chief of
the Asotin band of the
Nez Percé Indians. Be-
cause of his practice of
wearing a small mirror
around his neck, the
elder man acquired the
name of Looking Glass.
Young Allalimya Takanin, meanwhile, devel-
oped into an accomplished warrior and buf-
falo hunter. His wanderings over the Great
Plains brought him into close contact with the
distant Crow Indians, whom he befriended,
and helped defeat the neighboring Sioux on
several occasions. He thus acquired a practi-
cal knowledge of trails and overland routes as
far away as Montana. Like many Nez Percé,
Allalimya Takanin was initially friendly to-
ward white settlers, but after gold was discov-
ered in 1850 the newcomers displayed insa-
tiable appetites for Indian land. The elder
Chief Looking Glass refused to sign the 1855
treaty, which sold millions of acres of land to
the U.S. government, although he cautioned
against war with whites. After his death in
1863, Allalimya Takanin succeeded him as
chief, adopting his father’s mirror and name.
Thereafter, Looking Glass
continued the tradition of
passive resistance against
land sales while preach-
ing peaceful coexistence
with surrounding settlers.
To underscore continuity
in this policy, in 1863 he
refused to sign another
treaty that conceded ad-
ditional Nez Percé land to
the Americans while con-
signing many of the
Christianized Nez Percé
bands to reservations in
Lapwai, Oregon. He was
joined in his resistance
by another notable leader,
Chief Josephof the Wal-
lowa band.
The Nez Percé en-
dured a decade of uneasy
relations with whites until
May 1877, when a new
army commander, Gen. Oliver O. Howard,
brought the issue to a climax. That month he
ordered all nontreaty Nez Percé to evacuate
their homes and report to reservations with
30 days. Failing this, army troops would
forcibly remove them. While numerous chiefs
debated what action to take, resentful young
Nez Percé braves murdered several settlers in
retaliation for an earlier killing, which
touched off the famous Nez Percé War. Look-
ing Glass continued to advocate a peaceful
settlement to the crisis until July 11, 1877,
when troops of soldiers and militia under Lt.
Stephen C. Whipple appeared at his village.
Negotiations were in progress when a volun-
teer shot an Indian, touching off a wild melee
that ended with Looking Glass fleeing his vil-
lage. Soon thereafter, he joined up with
Joseph’s band, which had also been attackedLooking Glass
National Archives