In 1846, the United States took control of New Mexico and Arizona. The United States Army under the leadership of General Stephen Watts Kearny occupied the territory which had been acquired from Mexico. When the Navajo leader Narbona first heard about the new American regime, he decided to travel to Santa Fe to obtain firsthand information about these new soldiers. He took with him only a few of his older councilors and traveled at night. Near Santa Fe they remained hidden from the soldiers so that they could safely watch the activities without being discovered. After observing the soldiers, they returned home without making any contact with the Americans.
In her biography Hosteen Klah: Navaho Medicine Man and Sand Painter, Franc Johnson Newcomb reports:
“On the homeward ride they all agreed that Navaho warriors could never win against these troops and that it would be well to establish friendship with the Americans.”
The Athabascan-speaking tribes of the Southwest—the Navajo and the Apache—had a long history of raiding the Spanish settlements within their territories as well as trading with them. In an 1846 letter to Indian Commissioner William Mediall Charles Bent, an Indian trader, described the Navajo as:
“…an industrious, intelligent, and warlike tribe of Indians who cultivate the soil and raise sufficient grain for their own consumption and a variety of fruits.”
He also noted that they manufactured blankets and woolen goods. Other traders during this time observed that Navajo blankets were coveted trade items among other Indians, such as the Cheyenne.
With regard to American policies in their newly acquired territory, John Ware, in his chapter on the Southwest in I Am Here: Two Thousand Years of Southwest Indian Arts and Culture, reports:
“One of the first priorities of the new regime was to pacify the Navajos and Apaches, whose raids had increased throughout the 1700s and 1800s.”
However, instead of bringing peace, federal government actions often brought increased warfare. General Stephen Watts Kearny promised the non-Indian settlers in the area that the army would provide security from the Navajos and Apaches. Historian Veronica Tiller, in her book The Jicarilla Apache Tribe: A History, writes:
“These promises revealed an implicit prejudice: the military intended to side with the New Mexicans against the Indians without first examining the causes for the hostilities and without recognizing that Indians had been the victims of an unfriendly populace equally guilty of offenses.”
The first treaty council between the United States and the Navajo was held to negotiate the Bear Springs (Ojo del Oso) Treaty. Navajo leaders Narbona, Zarzilla (Long Earrings), and José Largo met with an American force of 350 soldiers. The eighty-year-old Narbona was suffering from an attack of influenza and was brought to the council on a litter slung between two horses. As was typical with American negotiations with Indians, the Americans had no concept of Navajo government. The Americans assumed that all people who spoke some dialect of Navajo must belong to a single political entity ruled by an authoritative dictator or monarch. They did not understand that the Navajo were really numerous independent, autonomous bands.
Before the American troops had returned to the Rio Grande, the Navajo were again raiding near Albuquerque. Anthropologists Garrick Bailey and Roberta Glenn Bailey, in their book A History of the Navajos: The Reservation Years, write:
“The tribe had no central government to bind it together under the treaty, and many Navajos considered themselves superior in military strength to the Americans.”
These bands, not represented at the council, were unaware of the treaty, and, if they had been aware of it, would not have viewed it as binding them. The Treaty of Bear Springs was never ratified by the U.S. Senate.
In 1848, several Navajo leaders and the United States signed the Newby Treaty. The following year, when it became evident that the treaty was not working, the Americans, under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel John M. Washington, sent an expedition to negotiate another treaty at Canyon de Chelly. While on the way to Canyon de Chelly, the Americans met several Navajo leaders in the Chuska Valley. The Americans held council with Navajo leaders Narbona, Achuletta, and José Largo. The Navajo leaders were asked to attend a council to sign a treaty with the United States. Narbona and José Largo indicated that they would not be able to attend and designated Armijo and Pedro José to attend in their place. Historian Kathleen Chamberlain, in her book Under Sacred Ground: A History of Navajo Oil 1922-1982, reports:
“The headmen grew quickly irritated at the arrogant Washington and his unruly troops but presented horse and mules to show friendship and sincerity.”
As the Navajo leaders were leaving, there was a dispute over an allegedly stolen horse in which the Americans told them that they must turn over one of the best horses. The skirmish with the Americans resulted in the immediate death of 16 or 17 Navajo, with several others dying later from wounds received in the battle. The elderly chief Narbona was mortally wounded but lived long enough to return to his hogan and say goodbye to his family. In their book Navajoland: Family Settlement and Land Use, Klara Kelly and Peter Whiteley write:
“Ironically, Narbona, probably the most respected Navajo leader and the true ‘head chief,’ if such a thing existed, had tried valiantly to establish peace between the Navajos and the Americans.”
In his chapter in the Handbook of North American Indians, Robert Roessel writes:
“Actually, Narbona was one of the most influential Navajo leaders, who tried to keep the peace between his people and the New Mexicans. His death, and the manner in which it occurred, did nothing to allay the fears the Navajos felt toward the intruders.”
In 1849, four Navajo medicine men made the sacred journey to Tohe-ha-glee (Meeting Place of Waters) to consult with the Page of Prophecy. After making the proper offerings, they read the marks in the sand which are the messages from the Holy People. The marks indicated a journey to a distant place. Other marks indicated many burials. Franc Johnson Newcomb reports:
“It was not a happy four who returned to their homes to report the message they had read from the Page of Prophecy.”
In the same year, the blind Navajo prophet Bineah-uhtin, a medicine man who saw with his mind, attended a War Chant where he came into contact with some young Navajo warriors. He told them:
“The day will come when your enemies will drive you out of your homeland, and you will go to a barren country where the corn will not grow, and your sheep will eat poison weeds and die. Many of your people will starve, and others will be killed so that only a few will survive, and in all these wide cornfields there will be nothing alive excepting the coyotes and the crows.”
In 1851, the army established Fort Defiance (called Hell’s Hollow by the soldiers) for the express purpose of subduing the Navajo. While the American Indian agent was encouraging peaceful relations with the Navajo, the military was pushing for confrontation.
Congress appropriated $30,000 in 1854 for the purpose of negotiating treaties with the Apache, Navajo, and Ute in New Mexico. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs felt that the solution to the Indian “problem” was to extend the reservation concept into New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah.
In 1855, at Laguna Negra, New Mexico, a treaty council was held with the Navajo. About twenty chiefs were in attendance and Zarcillos Largos (Long Earrings) spoke for them. In the midst of the conference Zarcillos Largos told the Americans that he had grown too old to lead his people and he asked the Navajo headmen to select another to speak for him. Manuelito was selected as the new leader. The Americans promised the Navajo a reservation and annuity payments. Twenty-seven Navajo chiefs made their marks on the treaty and received presents. Historian Robert Utley, in his book The Indian Frontier of the American West 1846-1890, reports:
“The Navajos made no attempt to live by the new treaty.”
The Senate, balking at the monetary cost, refused to ratify the treaty.
In 1858, Navajo leader Manuelito pastured his horses and cattle in the army hay camp at Fort Defiance. In his book Who Was Who in Native American History: Indians and Non-Indians From Early Contacts Through 1900, Carl Waldman writes:
“The soldiers wanted the pastureland for their horses. Yet the Navajos had used these grazing lands for generations and continued to do so.”
Major William T. Brooks ordered Manuelito to remove his livestock and when he refused, the soldiers killed 60 of Manuelito’s horses and over 100 of his sheep. The Navajos, outraged by the slaughter, killed Major Brooks’ black slave. This began a new series of wars between the Navajo and the Americans.
In 1858, the American army imposed a new treaty on fifteen Navajo headmen at Fort Defiance. The Americans blamed the Navajo for the conflict and exacted a number of concessions from them. However, neither side was prepared to honor the treaty. Relations continued to deteriorate.
In 1861, a delegation of Navajo headmen including Manuelito, Barboncito, Delgadito, Armijo, and Herrero Grande met with Colonel Edward Danby at Fort Fauntleroy (later Fort Wingate). Carl Waldman reports:
“They agreed in council to work for peace. At this time, Herrero Grande was selected as principal chief and spokesman of all the bands.”
Robert Roessel writes:
“The treaty stipulations indicated an understanding of the Navajos and of the fact that they had been subjected to devastating slave raids.”
In 1861, a group of Navajo were having a peaceful horse race with soldiers at Fort Fauntleroy when the soldiers massacred 15 Navajos, including women and children. The incident started when the Navajos accused the officers of cheating. Colonel Manuel Chaves, who had previously raided for Navajo slaves, ordered his troop to fire on the Navajo women and children when a drunken Indian tried to enter the fort. While at least two sergeants attempted to stop the slaughter, Chaves ordered the howitzers to fire on the Navajos.
As a result, relations with the Navajo became strained and the only Navajo who remained at the post were the mistresses of some of the officers. In her book The View from Officers’ Row: Army Perceptions of Western Indians, Sherry Smith reports:
“The commanding officer sent these women as emissaries to their tribe, where they were not well received. Thus, not only were sexual relations with Indian women a reality, but army officials were willing to exploit these relations in moments of crisis.”
In 1861, a large Navajo war party under the leadership of Manuelito and Barboncito attacked Fort Defiance and nearly overran it.
In 1863, General Carleton issued an ultimatum to the Navajo: they were to peacefully transfer to the reservation at Bosque Redondo or be treated as hostile. Colonel Kit Carson began to wage a “scorched earth” campaign against the Navajo. The plan, devised by General Carleton, called for all male Navajo to surrender or be shot. This resulted in the Navajo Long Walk, their imprisonment, and having the Treaty of Bosque Redondo forced upon them in 1868.
Indians 101/201
Twice each week—on Tuesdays and Thursdays—this series presents American Indian topics. Indians 201 is an expansion of an earlier essay. More American Indian histories from this series:
Indians 201: The 1854-1855 Western Washington Treaties
Indians 101: American Lies and the Treaty of Fort Laramie
Indians 101: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Indians 101: Treaty Rock and the Coeur d'Alene Indians
Indians 101: Chehalis Treaties and Reservations
Indians 101: The 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty
Indians 101: Cherokee Treaty Claims
Indians 101: Breaking Treaties