The Long Walk to Bosque Redondo
Officials called it a reservation, but to the conquered and exiled Navajos it was a wretched prison camp
- By David Roberts
- Smithsonian magazine, December 1997, Subscribe
As white settlers and prospectors pushed westward in the latter half of the 19th century, displacement of Native Americans from their ancestral homelands became commonplace. One of the most tragic episodes of exile was the Long Walk in 1864, when Kit Carson rounded up 8,000 Navajos and forced them to walk more than 300 miles from northeastern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico to Bosque Redondo, a desolate tract on the Pecos River in eastern New Mexico.
Intended to be a reservation "to tame the savages," the ill-planned site, named for a grove of cottonwoods by the river, turned into a virtual prison camp for the Navajos. The brackish Pecos water caused severe intestinal problems, and diseases were rampant. Armyworm destroyed the corn crop, and the wood supply at the Bosque was soon depleted. The Navajos endured the wretched camp for four years, when the government relented and returned them to their homeland.
Now, plans are under way to build a memorial at Bosque Redondo. Writer David Roberts visited the site, as well as the Navajo homeland, and vividly recounts Navajo oral histories of the capture and the Long Walk and accounts of how some Indians cleverly escaped Carson's infamous roundup
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Comments (8)
the best
Posted by lpl on November 26,2012 | 02:46 PM
It is here- Amongst Dine Lands- that we shall continue to live and proser as the Dine Peoples of the Four Sacred Mountains. It is written that Chief Manuelito and Chief Barboncito were our Great Sacred Leaders during these hard times for the survival of the Dine Peoples, and may we- the current group of Dine Peoples- continue to thrive washed in their strengths. Young people of Dine lands, please learn your language and live a good life for the sake of our elderly Dine peoples.
Posted by Della Frank on April 14,2012 | 02:51 PM
research on the long walk we need more information about the long walk like how was the condition at fort sumner when the navajo's where there? and was there any other tribes at fort sumner? and why were the navajo's forced to leave their sacred land? if any one could tell me any of these question thanks and tell me why and i would appericaite it thanks.
Posted by betty on February 14,2012 | 11:11 AM
how harsh and cruel we humans can be , How can a people of no interegity be allowed to be in command.Long life to the natives of americas.
Posted by antonio l c. nunez on January 31,2012 | 08:53 PM
why did the navajo have to walk to the bosque
Posted by bill on January 26,2012 | 03:30 PM
Disrespect causes such great tension and strife. When will we ever learn?
Posted by Gordon Lipsky on November 29,2011 | 01:07 AM
I'm a navajo gentelmen and im doing a research on the long walk. when i was young my grandfather use to tell me the story of the long walk.
Posted by Leonard Bia on April 28,2011 | 01:25 AM
Bosque Redondo
In 1864 The United States Military entered the sacred land of the Navajos
The soldiers burned our homes and cornfields and killed our livestock
Many tried to defend their land but got killed and others ran to hide but were seized
Thousand of Navajos were captured, exiled and driven 300 miles to captivity
Chief Barboncito our forceful leader with his courage we endured
The old, weak and ill never made it they were shot before our eyes
The food ration made us sick and many of our children and elders died from it
Our woman folks were sexually assaulted and many died from diseases
In the winter there were shortage of food and firewood and many died of exposure
Chief Ganado Mucho our prominent leader with his strength we envision hope
During the captivity many ceremonies were conducted for our return to our sacred land
The General planned to sent the Navajos to Oklahoma and our chiefs refused to negotiate
Our last and only hope was to used the Enemy Way to mystified the mind of the General
The medicine people fasted and conducted the ritual to stop our relocation process
Chief Manuelito our spiritual leader with his powerful medicine we were freed
On June 1, 1868
The Great Spirit pitied us to return to Dine’ tah
The children of the White Shell woman will prosper
Father sky greeted us with the gentle female rain
The rainbows radiated on Mother Earth
Our land the four sacred Mountains
We shall prevail
Posted by orlinda arthur-williams on April 8,2010 | 06:26 PM