A new book by a Nez Perce woman from north central Idaho places her family’s generations of military service within the larger, often painful arc of tribal history — a story that spans from pre-statehood frontier wars to active-duty service today.
Robbie Paul’s book, Listening to the Birds: A Nez Perce Woman’s Journey of Self-discovery and Healing, traces the Paul family’s deep roots in the Nez Perce tribe and a military legacy that stretches across nearly every major American conflict from the 19th century onward. Family members served in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam, with some relatives still on active duty today.
Service Rooted in Complex History
The family’s connection to military and government affairs predates those 20th-century conflicts by decades. Paul’s great-great-grandfather and great-grandfather were among 125 Nez Perce warriors hired to escort Washington Territory Governor Isaac Stevens from one location to Fort Walla Walla in 1856 — a mission that carried real danger, as the Yakama tribe had threatened to kill Stevens during that same period.
The irony of that escort mission was not lost on later generations. Just that same year, Stevens had delivered one of the more chilling declarations of the era, warning that “war shall be prosecuted until the last hostile Indian is exterminated.” The Nez Perce nonetheless accepted the assignment for a modest fee.
“Our Nez Perce people knew the U.S. military was very powerful,” Paul said, offering context for why the tribe often chose cooperation over confrontation even when the relationship with the federal government was deeply fraught.
Paul’s great-grandfather, known by his Nez Perce name Wa-tat-ooy-napt-lah-hayne — translated roughly as “Seven Days Whipping” — served during the Washington and Oregon wars of 1855 and 1856. He later died in the Nez Perce War of 1877, which ended with Chief Joseph’s surrender and the exile of tribal members to Kansas. The promised return to the Idaho reservation never materialized for many. Hundreds of Nez Perce died from malaria in Kansas — a catastrophe that reduced entire family lines.
Seven Days Whipping’s son, Ka-khun-nee, or “Black Raven,” was the only one of five siblings to survive, with his mother also perishing. In 1879, Black Raven was forcibly sent to the Carlisle Indian Industrial Boarding School in Pennsylvania, where he was stripped of his name and given the name Jesse Paul — the surname that Robbie Paul carries today.
A Tradition That Continued Despite the Costs
Despite that history of forced assimilation and broken promises, the Paul family did not turn away from military service in subsequent generations. Paul’s sister, Jackie Inglis, a Caldwell resident, reflected on that continuity.
“The Nez Perce were typically a very friendly, warm tribe. They welcomed Lewis and Clark,” Inglis said, pointing to a cultural tradition of openness and cooperation that she believes shaped the family’s outlook through the generations.
That spirit of service appears in the most recent generation as well. Inglis’s husband, J.R. Inglis, retired from a full military career in 2023 at the age of 70. He and Jackie reside between Eagle and McCall in southwestern Idaho.
The numbers behind the broader Native American military tradition are striking. Native people make up roughly 1.4 percent of the U.S. population, yet account for approximately 1.7 percent of military personnel — a per-capita rate of service that exceeds the national average. For families like the Pauls, that statistic reflects not just patriotism but a cultural instinct toward service that survived even the most severe disruptions of the 19th century.
The Nez Perce Tribe’s relationship with federal and state governments has often been tested, including in more recent environmental disputes, but the tribal community’s military legacy stands as one of the more enduring threads connecting past and present.
What Comes Next
Paul’s book is available now and serves as both a personal memoir and a broader historical account of Nez Perce resilience. For readers in the Lewis-Clark Valley and across north central Idaho, the work offers a locally grounded look at how one Nez Perce family navigated the contradictions of American history — and kept showing up to serve anyway. For more on Idaho tribal and statewide news, visit idahonews.co.