Fort Defiance (Apache County, Arizona)

Apache County · Arizona · Indian Wars

Quick BriefArizona's first military post, established September 1851 at Canyon Bonito by Colonel Edwin V. Sumner to assert U.S. control over Navajo territory following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Built on valuable grazing land denied to the Navajo, the fort became the flashpoint for intense conflicts, including a major 1860 attack by over 1,000 Navajo warriors, and later served as the staging point for Kit Carson's 1863–1864 campaign that culminated in the Long Walk.

Civil War

History & Significance

Colonel Edwin V. Sumner established Fort Defiance on September 18, 1851, as the first military post in what is now Arizona. Major Electus Backus was placed in command, and the fort was built on valuable grazing land that the federal government then prohibited the Navajo from using.

Initially, Navajo and soldiers competed together in horse races, but in 1856 a soldier's actions during a race provoked armed conflict that killed about 30 Navajo. On April 29, 1860, approximately 1,000 Navajo warriors assaulted the garrison but were repulsed by 150 American defenders of the 3rd Infantry under Captain Oliver L. Shepherd.

The fort was abandoned at the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. It was reestablished as Fort Canby in 1863 as a base for Kit Carson's operations against the Navajo.

Carson's campaign resulted in thousands of Navajo being forced on a Long Walk of 450 miles and interned near Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Following the Navajo Treaty of 1868, the post was reestablished as an Indian agency, and in 1870 the first government school for the Navajo was established there.