General O. O. Howard was directed to enforce the decree. The Nez Percé were greatly distressed. Several conferences were held. Young Joseph resisted manfully. By this time he was in his thirty-seventh year. Fully mature, he stood six feet tall, and his rugged body disclosed tremendous energy and sinew. His mind was keen, but his spirit was disciplined. He was ready for his work. The military authority gave Chief Joseph thirty days to get his people on the reservation; June 14, 1877 was the deadline.[187] In vain Joseph pleaded for an extension of time until fall. Orders had been given by the military. Joseph also gave orders. His people gathered in their stock and prepared for the migration; it was better for deer to be penned up than to fight the grizzly. There were many soldiers at Howard’s back; the odds were too great. They must surely obey or perish. Other Nez Percé leaders were not so wise. Chiefs Tu-hul-hul-sote and White Bird wanted to fight. They were chiefs in their own right and had large followings. Still, Joseph was willing to sacrifice honor and prestige by resisting war.[188] He valued his people’s blood above his own pride. While the great man humbly revealed his integrity, trouble brewed in darker minds. [Illustration: Courtesy of Haynes, Inc. Chief Joseph, war chief of the Nez Percé.] An old man in White Bird’s band was taunting young Wal-ait-its, whose father, Eagle Blanket, had been slain by a white settler in 1876. “You are brave! Why don’t you go and show it by killing the man who killed your father?” The goad fired him to a fever of revenge. He and two companions sprang upon their horses. When they returned to the council, four white men had answered the last call. Wal-ait-its shouted, “Why do you sit here like women? The war has begun already.” Tu-hul-hul-sote had organized a war party. Joseph still hoped for a peaceful settlement. It could not be. The war fever spread, and Indian blood was on fire. He must either lead or step aside. He chose to defend his people and their cause.[189] On the morning of June 17 a battle took place in White Bird’s Canyon. Captain Perry, assisted by Lieutenants Theller and Parnell, was approaching with two troops of cavalry. Joseph had taken command. He quickly conceived of a daring triple-action assault. With instinctive judgment he chose strategic positions and gave brisk orders. He moved among his men, encouraging them, and directing them from place to place. He seemed an all-pervading, dominating force. He deployed his braves upon the heights. Protected by rocks and brush, they threaded a bobbing course upon the beleaguered cavalry. Dismounting and aiming deliberately, they decimated the ranks of soldiery.[190] White Bird Canyon stands next to the Custer and Fetterman massacres as the Waterloo of white troops before Indians, but the conditions were in no way identical. The advantages were equally balanced at White Bird.