Navajo Long Walk

In the beginning, Kristofic was moving from Pittsburgh to the Navajo Reservation with his little brother Darren, and their pets. Their mother, got a job working as a nurse in the Navajo Nation Health Foundation. When Kristofic family, reached their destination, Kristofic was expecting to see tipis, horses, arrows and Indians. His mother said, “Navajos don’t live in tipis” and gave a short history lesson of the Navajos, Apaches, and Indians (Kristofic, 2011, p.4). Kristofic met his “first Indian

“The white men first showed up in the summer of 1943. They came from the north, from Colorado, in teams of half a dozen each, hunkered down in trucks until the roads ran out. Then they switched to horses, riding into the silent reaches of the Navajo reservation, leaving their own country behind through they were still within its borders. They entered a place that seemed mystical and wild, where the residents spoke little or no English and only a few could write their names, where medicine men chanted and sifted colored sand and witches were said to haunt the deep night along with coyotes and bears” – Prologue, S-37, SOM, and SOQ (pg. 1)7

This investigation evaluates to what extent did the Navajo code talkers aid the American military during WWII? In order to assess the extent to which these soldiers assisted the American military during WWII, this investigation focuses on their involvement in transmitting military messages in their native tongue, and the events surrounding these transmissions. In addition, the contribution of other Native American code talkers is considered and compared to that of the Navajos specifically within the investigation.

He described that for the Pueblos, the Spanish came with benefits like new animals, but the forced labor and swear fealty to the King of Spain was too strict . He recollected that Navajo did not yet experience the authority of the Spanish because “the white man did not know the Navajo existed” because they inhabited area that was dangerous and hide amongst bushes and trees. It was only until exposure to the ways of the Spanish that the Navajo even thought of taking care of animals like horses, so “the Navajos became horse stealers.” During Oakee’s interview, he stated that the violence of the Spanish encouraged peace amongst the Navajo and Pueblo, but eventually times turned hard and both groups looked towards the Spanish for help. He stated the “It was cruel time which the Indian had never forgotten, yet they were learning something too, and yet the Pueblo learn from the Spanish, the Navajo learn from the Pueblo.” Also, he stated that “the Spaniards did not understand [the Pueblos’ religion]”, which led to the revolt because the Spanish disgraced the sacred masks and stopped the Pueblos from communicating with their spirits. Furthermore, Oakee’s interview summarized the various ways that the Spanish had affected the lives of the Navajo, which was through contact with the Pueblo as the Navajo people incorporated sheep, new methods of farming, and new rituals into their way of

When whites first came to America, they tried to control the Indians. Whites soon realized that they could not control the Natives. This led to the Whites giving the Indians rights, but the Army ignored the rights the Natives had been given. As part of the Treaty of Fort Laramie or The Horse Creek treaty, 1851, the Native tribes were to be paid an annual annuity for granting the traveling immigrants a safe passage and staying within their tribal territories (Barrett 1). With an increase in foot travel along the trails leading to California for the gold rush, tensions were running high in the Native tribes (Cubbison 1). While the Natives were peaceful with the immigrants, their trust in The Army was failing. The soliders at Fort Laramie were

Many people think of the Civil War and America’s Indian wars as distinct subjects, one following the other. But those who study the Sand Creek Massacre know different. On Nov. 29, 1864, as Union armies fought through Virginia and Georgia, Col. John Chivington led some 700 cavalry troops in an unprovoked attack on peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho villagers at Sand Creek in Colorado. They murdered nearly 200 women, children and older men. Sand Creek was one of many assaults on American Indians during the war, from Patrick Edward Connor’s massacre of Shoshone villagers along the Idaho-Utah border at Bear River on Jan. 29, 1863, to the forced removal and incarceration of thousands of Navajo people in 1864 known as the Long Walk. In terms of sheer

Bosque Redondo and Fort Sumner were located together where there had been a grove of cottonwood trees that sat along the Pecos River.,. Carleton had supported the reservation as the last step to Indian removal in the area, seeking to drive the Navajos from their homeland to the reservation by way of violence. Furthermore, he made various attempts to have it explained to the Navajos that Bosque Redondo was their only means of salvation. To Navajo chiefs Barboncito and Delgadito, Carlton wished it explained that those Navajos who claimed not to be guilty of murder and robbery, that for their own preservation and as a means of validating their innocence, must come to Bosque Redondo as a means of separating themselves from the guilty parties. Carleton explained to his subordinates that they had no power to negotiate surrender with the Navajos, and that they must explain the conditions by which surrender could be accepted, stating that if approached by Navajos seeking peace it should be explained to them that they must, “Go to the Bosque Redondo, or we will pursue and destroy you. We will not make peace with you on any other terms” It was by this process that the Navajo as a power were intended to be destroyed, with even innocent parties forced to subject themselves to the will of the United States through internment at Bosque

Brian Delay wants the reader to be informed about the significance of the Indian people and how it plays a huge role in the U.S. Mexican War. He discusses how the Comanches, Navajos, Apaches, Kiowas, and others reshaped the Mexican territory in which was later disputed by the Americans. Furthermore, he explains how many Mexicans and Americans forget that the Indian tribes were enemies that cause U.S. to interfere with and view Mexico differently. The Indian tribes were a cause of Mexican weakness and the betrayal of the Americans of the Mexican people. In other words, Delay explains that Indian people were the definite cause that led to the international conflict.

After the Spanish had settled into the Navajo society, there were some hostility taking place between the two groups and then came along the Americans who then demanded for the land. The Americans had invaded because of the tribal refusal to surrender the land, which was what led to the Long Walks. The Long Walk took place between 1863 and 1864; the goal of the walk to Bosque Redondo was to withdraw the Navajos from their land.

The world view of the Navajo who had lived for many centuries on the high Colorado Plateau was one of living in balance with all of nature, as the stewards of their vast homeland which covered parts of four modern states. They had no concept of religion as being something separate from living day to day and prayed to many spirits. It was also a matriarchal society and had no single powerful leader as their pastoral lifestyle living in scattered independent family groups require no such entity. This brought them repeatedly into conflict with Spanish, Mexicans and increasingly by the mid-nineteenth century, Americans as these practices were contrary to their male dominated religiously monolithic societal values. The long standing history

Every culture has their own way of life, their own religious beliefs, their own marriage beliefs, their own values and feelings on life and the options it has to offer. Each culture has their own way to run things within their own government, and own way to keep their economy up to their standards. Also each culture and society have their own primary mode of subsistence that makes them unique. Among the Navajo culture their primary mode of subsistence are pastoralists.   Pastoralists have an impact on different aspects with in the culture.   The aspects that I will be discussing will be the Navajo’s beliefs and values, economic organization, gender relations and sickness and healing.

considered to be ignorant and hostiles by the “White” settlers, forced to live on reservations, lost

What molds a nation or group of people? As a member of the Navajo Nation, I’ve wondered how our history has impacted our nation. This research paper is a reflection of my curiosity. Throughout this paper I will explain how The Navajo Long Walk and The 1868 Treaty of Bosque Redondo contributed in shaping what the Navajo Nation today. During the mid 19th century tensions with the Navajo, U.S. government, and white settlers were tense. The third wave of the Navajo Wars would ultimately lead to the U.S. government’s decision to create a campaign against the Navajo and thus impose the Navajo Long Walk (Brooks 95). General Carleton, a U.S. Army General, had Kit Carson, the well-known Indian fighter, deliver his demands to the Navajo, he said, “Say to them: Go to Bosque Redondo or we will pursue and destroy you. We will not make peace with you on any terms. You have deceived us too often and robbed and murdered our people too long to trust you at large in your own country.” (Acrey 39). Thus, in 1864, Navajo people were forcibly removed by the U.S. federal government from their traditional homelands to eastern New Mexico. U.S. Army records indicate that at least 11,468 Navajos were forced to walk three hundred to five hundred miles to the internment camp called Bosque Redondo (Spanish translation is Round Forest) or Fort Sumner (Cheek 18). For four years, Navajo people were forced to stay in Bosque Redondo where starvation, disease, and restriction of their culture was prevalent.

The Navajo, also known as the Diné, are one of the largest Native American Tribes in the world. Their culture is made up of very distinct and unique characteristics that have been passed down from generation to generation. They have been taught to adapt to their surroundings and to the land. Each moral, standard, belief and value are what make the Navajo so unique to the Native Americans. In the following, their primary mode of subsistence, kinship system, beliefs, values, and economic organizations will be briefly examined to gain a better knowledge of the Navajo culture.

Just like other Indian kids on reservation, Crow Dog’s childhood was poor in everyway; didn’t have enough food, clothes, education, and parents’ love. She was