What was the purpose of the Navajo Long Walk?

What was the purpose of the Navajo Long Walk?

The Long Walk of the Navajo, also called the Long Walk to Bosque Redondo (Navajo: Hwéeldi), refers to the 1864 deportation and attempted ethnic cleansing of the Navajo people by the United States federal government. Navajos were forced to walk from their land in what is now Arizona to eastern New Mexico.

Where did the Long Walk of the Navajo end?

Bosque Redondo reservation
During a final standoff at Canyon de Chelly, the Navajo surrendered to Kit Carson and his troops in January 1864. Following orders from his U.S. Army commanders, Carson directed the destruction of their property and organized the Long Walk to the Bosque Redondo reservation, already occupied by Mescalero Apache.

What was the route of the Long Walk?

It followed a roughly 400-mile-long route eastward. It ran southeast across the Colorado Plateau, through mesas and canyons of sandstone, past mountains with timbered slopes, and around and across sheets and rivers of frozen lava.

When was the Navajo Long Walk?

August 1864
Long Walk of the Navajo/Start dates

What happened on the Long Walk in 1863?

Between 1863 and 1866, more than 10,000 Navajo (Diné) were forcibly removed to the Bosque Redondo Reservation at Fort Sumner, in current-day New Mexico. During the Long Walk, the U.S. military marched Navajo (Diné) men, women, and children between 250 to 450 miles, depending on the route they took.

How did the Navajo get their land back?

The Navajo (Diné) people were able to secure the rights to return to their ancestral homelands through persistence, determination, and negotiation.

How many Navajo people died on the long walk?

200 Navajos
In the dead of winter, they made the 300-plus-mile trek to a desolate internment camp along the Pecos River in eastern New Mexico called the Bosque Redondo Reservation, where the military maintained an outpost, Fort Sumner. Along the way, approximately 200 Navajos died of starvation and exposure to the elements.

How many miles did the Navajo Long Walk?

During the Long Walk, the U.S. military marched Navajo (Diné) men, women, and children between 250 to 450 miles, depending on the route they took.

How long was the Trail of Tears in miles?

5,045 miles
The physical trail consisted of several overland routes and one main water route and, by passage of the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act in 2009, stretched some 5,045 miles (about 8,120 km) across portions of nine states (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and …

How long did the Navajos stay in Bosque Redondo?

It was an arduous journey that saw them travel 12-15 miles a day, often in chilling cold or stifling heat. The Navajo continued to arrive at Bosque Redondo for a period of over two years.

Are there any Navajo left?

With a 27,000-square-mile reservation and more than 250,000 members, the Navajo Tribe is the largest American Indian tribe in the United States today. More than 1,000 Navajo live, off-reservation, in the region today.

Why did the Navajo have to walk the Long Walk?

The Long Walk is to the Navajo what the Trail of Tears is to the Cherokee. Troubled relations between the U.S. and the Navajos brought on a wicked removal in December of 1863. Earlier in the year, the United States government had sent in Christopher “Kit” Carson to remove the Navajos from their homeland of Fort Sumner, New Mexico.

What happened to the Navajos in 1864?

Timeline / Defining Rights and Responsibilities / 1864: The Navajos begin ‘Long Walk’ to imprisonment 1864: The Navajos begin ‘Long Walk’ to imprisonment In a forced removal, the U.S. Army drives the Navajo at gunpoint as they walk from their homeland in Arizona and New Mexico, to Fort Sumner, 300 miles away at Bosque Redondo.

What happened to the Navajos at Fort Sumner?

In a forced removal, the U.S. Army drives the Navajo at gunpoint as they walk from their homeland in Arizona and New Mexico, to Fort Sumner, 300 miles away at Bosque Redondo. Hundreds die during 18 days of marching. About 9,000 Navajos reach the fort, where 400 Mescalero Apaches are already held.

Where did the Navajo plan take place?

Originated by General James H. Carleton, New Mexico’s U.S. Army commander, the plan called for the removal of the Navajo from their native lands, including areas in northeastern Arizona, through western New Mexico, and north into Utah and Colorado.