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Violation

Navajo: the Long Walk and Bosque Redondo (1864-1868), ended by the 1868 treaty

Not yet reviewed by this nation. What follows comes from public records and research. It does not speak for the nation.

In 1864 the Army forced the Navajo to Bosque Redondo; an 1868 treaty ended their captivity and set apart a reservation.

Treaty
Treaty with the Navaho, 15 Stat. 667
Nations
Navajo Nation (Dine) and Mescalero Apache
When
1864-1868
Land affected
Four years of confinement, deaths, and homeland access.
Acreage
Return to homeland; later reservation about 17.5 million acres (17,544,500 acres per Wikipedia, Navajo Nation)
Legal aftermath
The 1868 treaty is the rare case where a treaty restored people to their homeland. Modern shortfalls concern water (V041).

What happened

The Navajo removal in 1864 was a military campaign during a war, not a broken treaty. Northern Arizona University's Cline Library says General James Carleton led the forced relocation, and Kit Carson attacked the Navajo with cavalry, "burning Navajo cornfields and poisoning water sources." In 1864, it says, the military forced 11,468 Navajos from Fort Canby (today's Fort Defiance, Arizona) to walk more than 300 miles to Bosque Redondo in New Mexico.

The library states that "the weaker people who could not keep up pace with the military were either left to die or were shot." It says several hundred Navajo died on the march and "close to 2000" more at Bosque Redondo, where the river water was contaminated, disease was rampant, the corn crop failed and wood became scarce.

The Treaty of Fort Sumner was signed on June 1, 1868 (15 Stat. 667; ratified July 25, 1868; proclaimed August 12, 1868). In Article 13 the Navajo agreed "to make the reservation herein described their permanent home" and not to settle elsewhere as a tribe. The library says the treaty let them move back onto about 3.5 million acres that included part of their ancestral land. The Supreme Court wrote in 2023 that the treaty set aside a reservation in their original homeland.

This is context for how a reservation was created after forced removal, not a record of a broken treaty promise.

Good to know. Death counts are rough estimates. The 3.5 million acres was the 1868 reservation; later additions brought it to about 17 million acres.

Summarized with AI assistance from 4 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error

What the sources say, and how this was checked

Well supported by the sources below.

  1. The weaker people who could not keep up pace with the military were either left to die or were shot.The Long Walk (Cline Library, Northern Arizona University)
  2. Finally, in 1868, the U. S. Government released the Navajo, allowing them to return to some of their ancestral homelands.The Long Walk (Cline Library, Northern Arizona University)
  3. agree to make the reservation herein described their permanent homeTreaty with the Navaho, 1868, 15 Stat. 667, Tribal Treaties Database
  4. the United States established a large reservation for the Navajos in their original homelandArizona v. Navajo Nation, 599 U.S. 555 (2023), Cornell LII

Research notes. Death counts are the Cline Library's rough figures ('several hundred' on the march, 'close to 2000' at Bosque Redondo). The 3.5 million acre figure is the library's and differs from the later reservation size, which the Court gives as about 17 million acres after later additions. Navajo Nation sources should be centered; they were not available here.

Treaty under documented pressureShapes from the 1899 federal record: approximate, not legal boundaries.

Who is doing the work

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Land return and Native-led work nearby

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Connections

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Nations named 2

Located in 2

Policy era 1

Concerns the instrument 1

Sources

  1. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosque_Redondopointer
  2. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-navaho-1868-1015reference work
The record’s fields
What happened
Navajo: the Long Walk and Bosque Redondo (1864-1868), ended by the 1868 treaty -- Beginning in early 1864 the Army forced the Navajo to Fort Sumner (Bosque Redondo), New Mexico; more than 300 died on the Long Walk (one source), and over 9,000 Navajo and Mescalero were interned there, about 8,500 Navajo and 500 Mescalero in April 1865 against a plan for 5,000. Bosque Redondo was not a violation of a ratified treaty in force; it was a coerced removal and confinement during war. The June 1, 1868 treaty (ratified July 25; proclaimed Aug. 12) ended the war, set apart a reservation for the Navajo's 'use and occupation' and let them return after it was signed (treaty dated June 1, 1868; the return march is commonly dated June 18, 1868, not verified this session). 'May 1868' predates the treaty and appears to be an error propagated from Wikipedia. Article 13 made the reservation their 'permanent home.' The reservation later grew to about 17.5 million acres (17,544,500 acres per Wikipedia, Navajo Nation).
Kind
Violation
Confidence
Medium
Nation review
Not yet reviewed by this nation
Notes
  • Some details are disputed
  • Some details not yet checked against a source

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