Nisqually people

In the 2000 census, it had a resident population of 588 persons, all in the Thurston County portion, on the southwest side of the Nisqually River.

[2] The tribe moved onto their reservation east of Olympia, Washington, in late 1854 with the signing of the Medicine Creek Treaty.

As reaction to the unfairness of the treaty, many members of the tribe led by Chief Leschi engaged and were eventually defeated by the US Army in the conflict known as the Puget Sound War in 1855–56.

The governing body of the Tribe is the General Council comprising all enrolled tribal members 18 years of age or older.

The Nisqually speak a subdialect of the southern dialect of Lushootseed (called Twulshootseed), which is a Coast Salish language.

"[3] The Nisqually Indians originally inhabited the interior woodlands and coastal waters from Mount Rainier west to Puget Sound.

In 1917, Pierce County, through the process of condemnation proceedings (eminent domain), took 3,353 acres (13.57 km2) for the Fort Lewis Military Reserve.

[4] When building Ft. Lewis in 1917, the United States government wanted to control land for the project that rightfully belonged to the Nisqually people.

[9] Many Natives began to leave the reserves in search of better opportunities and homes elsewhere and from the beginning of the 20th century until the 1940s the US government controlled the education of Nisqually youth in attempts to assimilate them into white American culture.

[10] Fish, both fresh and smoked, is an important staple in Nisqually cuisine, especially salmon, but also cod, eulachon, halibut, herring, sturgeon, and trout.