The Long Walk of the Navajo - Published in The Territorial News

The middle part of the 19th century was a turbulent and terrifying time for the Navajo people. They found themselves in simultaneous conflict with the Hopis, Utes, and Mexicans. One Navajo historian commented that,  “It seemed like all hate and bitterness had been unleashed against the Navajo people.” They existed under the constant threat of capture and enslavement by raiders. Even government officials participated; the superintendent of Indian Affairs for New Mexico owned six Indian slaves. As the American population in New Mexico swelled, more Navajo land was encroached upon. These factors caused fear that the peace that had been laboriously achieved between  the New Mexicans and the Navajos could be endangered.

This tenuous peace collapsed in 1858 when a Navajo man shot and killed the slave of Captain William T.H. Brooks, the commanding officer at Fort Defiance. Brooks became enraged. Ignoring the protests of his lower-ranking officers and the Governor of New Mexico who were committed to maintaining peace, he declared war on the Navajos. The conflict carried on with intermittent violence until 1862 when General James Henry Carleton became the military commander for the state of New Mexico.

Carleton arrived in New Mexico with orders to subjugate the Navajos and protect the area from Confederate invasion. Carleton’s men had spent the Civil War in peaceful California and were eager for action. There was no threat of Confederate invasion and thus Carleton turned his attention to an ambitious plan to end New Mexico’s Indian conflict permanently. Against the recommendation of his officers who warned of “poor water, lack of wood, and threat of flood” Carleton chose a site on the Pecos River for Fort Sumner, to where he would relocate the Navajos. In September of 1863, Carleton sent a message to the Navajo people: ‘Go to Bosque Redondo [Fort Sumner], or we will pursue and destroy you.’ Carleton ordered an unenthusiastic Col. Kit Carson, who believed the Indians could be dealt with peacefully, to lead his army in a brutal scorched earth campaign to drive out any stubborn Navajos resisting the forced migration. Slave raiders saw the war as an opportunity and disguised themselves as “volunteer troops,” targeting young Navajo women and children.

Many Navajo resisted leaving their homeland to which they had a deep spiritual and emotional connection and hid in the wilderness. Eventually, the persistence of the US Army drove most of them into submission. In March 1864, a convoy of 2,500 Navajo prepared to make the 300 mile journey to Fort Sumner on foot. The trip was grueling, 323 Navajo died before reaching their destination. This excruciating trek became known as the “Long Walk of the Navajo.” Navajo writer Ruth Roessel detailed the misery: “People were shot down on the spot if they complained about being tired or sick, or if they stopped to help someone. If a woman became in labor with a baby, she was killed. There was absolutely no mercy.” Things were not much better once they arrived. Carleton had underestimated the number of Navajos in the area and resources ran thin. Bad water and lack of food and firewood caused starvation and disease; many people died. The situation was so desperate that the interned Indians would pick undigested corn out of manure for nourishment.

Carleton and his massive Indian removal plan had plenty of critics, the strongest of which was Joseph Knapp, a judge on the New Mexico Territorial Supreme Court. Knapp published a series of scathing denouncements of Carleton in the Sante Fe New Mexican. Knapp believed the internment and war to be illegal and immoral. Carleton had declared war without approval from Congress, he had subjected an entire race to punishment for the actions of a few of their criminals, and he took, “old men and women too decrepit to walk, women and children, non combatants” as prisoners of war. Beyond humanitarian concerns, the interment was expensive, costing the government an estimated $2,000,000 ($30 million in 2017 dollars).

As his experiment failed, Carleton’s support crumbled. In September 1866 Carleton was relieved. An 1867 government investigation assailed the treatment of the natives at Fort Sumner and peace treaty with the Indians was signed. An essential condition for the Navajos was the ability to return to their homeland. This condition was granted and today Navajo Nation encompasses much same 30,000 square miles of beautiful desert they called home prior to the Long Walk. There is no question that in the tense years leading up to the Long Walk, Navajo/New Mexican relations had become problematic. Violence, theft, and aggression were commonplace between the groups. However, through the extraordinary leadership from both sides, peaceful coexistence had been achieved at sporadic high points over the course of this tumultuous relationship. The fighting in the 1860s represented a complete failure in this relationship. The “Long Walk of the Navajo” and subsequent internment at Fort Sumner is remembered today as a dark and cautionary tale in American history.