Bosque Redondo Memorial at Fort Sumner Historic Site

Bosque Redondo Memorial at Fort Sumner Historic Site. . Why Here? , General James H. Carleton, commanding the Military Department of New Mexico, ordered the establishment of Fort Sumner in late 1862. Carleton and others mistakenly believed the Pecos River and the land surrounding Fort Sumner would support thousands of forcibly relocated Native Americans., The fort served as a supply and control point for the Bosque Redondo Indian Reservation, a 40-mile by 40-mile block of land (1,024,000 acres) set aside by Congress as a place where the U.S. Government could forcibly relocate members of the Diné (Navajo) and Ndé (Mescalero Apache) tribes., Internment , Between 1863 and 1866, the U.S. Government forced approximately 500 Ndé and 10,000 Diné on to the Bosque Redondo Reservation. While imprisoned at Bosque Redondo, the Ndé and Diné endured terrible hardships including a lack of clean drinking water, insufficient food, and inadequate shelters. These harsh conditions led to rampant disease and hundreds of deaths., The Ndé escaped from Bosque Redondo in November 1865 but the Diné remained imprisoned at Bosque Redondo until they signed the Treaty of 1868 and returned to their homeland in the Four Corners region., Captions , (Photo #1) Old post of Fort Sumner on the Bank of the Pecos River in New Mexico, date unknown. From Center for Southwest Research, University Libraries, University of New Mexico. William A. Keleher Collection. Resource Identifier 000-742-0768.tif , (Photo #2) Navajo Long Walk, 1863-1867; Bosque Redondo Indian Reservation (Ν.Μ.), 1963-1867, From Center for Southwest Research, University Libraries, University of New Mexico. William A. Keleher Collection. Resource Identifier 000-742-0395.tif