Leavenworth — For years, the trail of sites outlining the history of the Nez Perce tribe has ended in Montana, where Chief Joseph and his people surrendered to U.S. troops in 1877.
But 400 tribe members spent eight months of 1877 and 1878 incarcerated at Fort Leavenworth, where an undetermined number of members died of disease.
Fort Leavenworth was added to the Nez Perce National Historic Trail on Friday, one of several sites the tribe plans to certify before asking Congress to officially extend the trail.
"In general, the history stops with the trail, and there are a lot of significant things that have happened after that, which have shaped our tribal history," said Crystal White, the Nez Perce Trail Foundation's vice president.
Tribe members hope the new sites will attract federal dollars, including money to find the cemetery at Fort Leavenworth where the tribe's members were buried.
Historians estimate that between 20 and 100 members of the tribe died during the harsh winter.
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