Toohoolhoolzote

Representative leader At a winter meeting in 1876, Toohoolhoolzote had been appointed the head speaker for the Nez Perce bands of Joseph, Looking Glass, White Bird and his own for the coming meeting with U.S. Army General Oliver O. Howard. The leaders allowed him to speak for them, and to deny or allow the military's demands. This includes about 25 Palus men under the chief Hahtalekin (also known as Taktsoukt Jlppilp - "Echo" or "Red Echo") and Husishusis Kute (Husis Husis Kute, Hush-hush-cute - "Bald Head", "Naked Head").

Native Americans' concerns One of the major concerns of the leaders was that they have sufficient time to prepare to leave and to move their livestock.

...staring down all that bitter talk and all those menacing white rifles with nothing save his Nez Perce simiakia, his terrible Indian pride...

This blind pride was my father's blood, the simiakia of my untamed ancestors entering into me.

...stood up above the pit to show the power of his personal simiakia, his faith, his own medicine. Nothing could harm him...

Faith As a follower of the Dreamer Faith, he tried to be a pacifist. Yellow Wolf said of him: He told how the land always belonged to the Indians, how it came down to us from our fathers. How the earth was a great law, how everything must remain as fixed by the Earth-Chief. How the land must not be sold! That we came from the earth, and our bodies must go back to earth, our mother.