Fort Sumner (Fort Sumner, New Mexico, New Mexico)
Fort Sumner, New Mexico · New Mexico · Indian Wars
History & Significance
Congress authorized Fort Sumner on October 31, 1862, with General James Henry Carleton initially justifying it as protection for settlers from Apache, Kiowa, and Comanche while establishing the Bosque Redondo reservation—a one-million-acre area where over 9,000 Navajo and Mescalero Apache were forced to live. The U.S. Army used scorched earth policies to forcibly remove Diné and Mescalero Apache from their traditional homelands, in what the Diné call the Long Walk, when over 50 different groups made the 300+ mile journey over nearly three years.
By April 1865, about 8,500 Navajo and 500 Mescalero Apache were interned despite the Army planning for only 5,000, leading to severe food shortages; the two groups, historical enemies, faced frequent conflict. Conditions were catastrophic: alkali-filled water without firewood, Pecos River water causing severe illness, and crop failures due to infestation and poor soil.
An estimated 1,500 lives were lost to exposure, starvation, and disease. The Mescalero Apache escaped in 1865; the Navajo remained until May 1868 when the Army acknowledged the reservation a failure, leading to the Treaty of Bosque Redondo allowing their return. A museum designed by Navajo architect David N. Sloan opened in 2005 as the Bosque Redondo Memorial.
Key Facts
Map
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🧳 Visiting
What you’ll see when you visit:
- Fort ruins and grounds from 1860s military installation
- Bosque Redondo Memorial documenting Navajo and Apache internment (1863–1868)
- Exhibits on Indian Wars, forced relocation, and reservation history
- Stark high-desert landscape where thousands were imprisoned
- Interpretive markers explaining the tragic environmental and human costs
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Sumner
- https://nmhistoricsites.org/bosque-redondo
- https://www.newmexicoculture.org/historic-sites/bosque-redondo-memorial
- https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/navajo/long-walk/long-walk.cshtml
- https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/timeline/332.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Walk_of_the_Navajo
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Bosque_Redondo