Photograph as originally submitted to this page in the Historical Marker Database www.HMdb.org. Click on photo to resize in browser. Scroll down to see metadata.

Photographer: Sandy Ballard
Taken: February 1, 2020
Caption: An additional nearby marker for the Navajo Reservation at Fort Sumner
Additional Description: The Navajo Reservation at Fort Sumner, New Mexico
The early 1860s witnessed increased American expansion into New Mexico. The Navajos and Apaches resisted the invasion of their homelands by the settlers and raided throughout the territory. In 1863 the U.S. Army rounded up thousands of Navajos and forced them to march over 400 miles, in winter, to the Bosque Redondo Reservation which was established here for their exile. Approximately 11,000 Navajos survived the “Long Walk” and about 450 Mescalero Apaches were also interned at this site. Fort Sumner was established specifically to keep the Navajos and Apaches at the concentration camp.

The reservation experiment was a nightmarish catastrophe. There was never enough food, agricultural efforts met with failure, wood for cooking and warmth was scarce, and even the water seemed unhealthy. The prisoners were allowed to return to their homelands in 1868 and the fort was abandoned in the same year. 3000 people died here in exile.
Submitted: February 1, 2020, by Sandy Ballard of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Database Locator Identification Number: p509228
File Size: 7.923 Megabytes

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