Legends of the Old West - KIT CARSON Ep. 5 | “The Navajo Long Walk”

Episode Date: June 14, 2023

Kit Carson begins the chapter that will be the darkest of his life. He follows an order to force the Navajo – by any means necessary – to move to the Bosque Redondo reservation. Carson’s scorched earth campaign works, and the U.S. Army marches thousands of Navajo to their new home in an event that will be known as The Long Walk. Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join Apple users join Noiser+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons. Click the Noiser+ banner on Apple or go to noiser.com/subscriptions to get started with a 7-day free trial. For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. On YouTube, subscribe to LEGENDS+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: hit “Join” on the Legends YouTube homepage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While the Civil War still raged in the East, the Union Army in the Southwest had matters well in hand. There was no longer a Confederate threat, so the Army turned its attention to making the West safer for white settlers. General James Carlton, commander of the 9th Military Department of the United States, headquartered himself in Santa Fe. His most pressing concern was the Navajo. Carlton wanted to round up all the Navajo in their homeland in northeastern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico and herd them to a new reservation called Bosque Redondo. Carlton had established the reservation along the Pecos River in eastern New Mexico, and he built an outpost called Fort Sumner to supervise it. Kit Carson, who was a colonel for the Union Army,

had already corralled the Mescalero Apache and moved them to Bosque Redondo. Now, Carlton wanted Kit to do the same with the Navajo. Instead, Kit resigned his commission and went home to his family in Taos. He'd done his duty in the Civil War by helping to stop the Confederate threat in New Mexico. He had no stomach for another Indian campaign, especially one he knew was daunting and likely to end in disaster. Moving the Mescalero Apache onto the new reservation was a different task than the one Carlton contemplated for the Navajo. The Mescalero already lived in the area of the reservation, and their total numbers were only about 500 people. The Navajo population was estimated at 12,000.

They were the largest Native American nation in the country, and they lived hundreds of miles away in the region that would be called the Four Corners. Their homeland was massive and honeycombed with canyons and mesas and valleys. Monument Valley, the backdrop for hundreds of Western movies and TV shows, was in the heart of their territory. They were wealthy in agricultural fields and livestock, and even slaves. In principle,

Kit Carson agreed with the reservation concept. He may not necessarily have liked it, but he couldn't see a better way to stop the continual conflict between white settlers and Native American societies. He thought reservations could work if they were done correctly and truly supported by the government when it came to providing the resources that were needed. Kitt also believed strongly that reservations should be established on traditional tribal lands, essentially just turn some of their homeland into a reservation. Otherwise, someone would be forcing a tribe to leave its ancestral land and move to a foreign territory, and possibly mix with other tribes who were their mortal enemies. And in Kitt's time as an Indian agent, he had witnessed firsthand the failings of the government when it came to providing resources for Native Americans, and that was on a small scale compared

to what Carlton wanted. Kitt was highly skeptical of the government's ability to provide resources on a much larger scale. So, instead of carrying out Carlton's order to move the Navajo, Kitt resigned from the army and spent several quiet months at home with his family in Taos. But then, for reasons we'll never fully know, no matter how many scenarios have been proposed by historians over the years, Kitt Carson finally relented to Carlton's persuasions. He agreed to return to duty and execute the Navajo plan.

From Black Barrel Media, this is Legends of the Old West. I'm your host, Chris Wimmer, and this season we're telling the story of one of the original legends of the American West, famed frontiersman and explorer, Kit Carson. This is Episode 5,000, comprised of U.S. Army soldiers, the New Mexico Volunteer Regiment he'd led in the Civil War, and Pueblo Indians. Carson's personal vanguard were his old friends the Ute, 100 of them, who had campaigned with him before. Carson knew the Navajo and the Ute had long-standing grievances, adding the Utes as his scouts would strike fear into the hearts of the Navajo.

They set off in mid-July 1863, at a time when the eastern half of the nation was reeling from the battle of Gettysburg. Kitt's column marched west and established headquarters at the abandoned Fort Defiance just inside the present-day border of Arizona and just north of the present-day Navajo city of Window Rock. The men spent long hours fortifying the old structure and bringing it back into shape. When the work was done, Carson renamed it Fort Cambie in honor of his commanding officer during the previous Civil War battles, it Fort Cambie in honor of his commanding officer during the previous Civil War battles, Colonel Edward Cambie. Along the way, Carson's troops began the strategy that would be needed to force the Navajo to leave their homeland. The soldiers destroyed fields

and crops as they passed. There were no confrontations as the Navajo had retreated into other areas. And while Carson's column was at Fort Canby, a deadline expired that raised the stakes of the mission. Earlier that year, General Carlton had given the Navajo leaders a deadline to surrender to him in Santa Fe. Carlton had given the Navajo leaders a deadline to surrender to him in Santa Fe. By July, it seemed clear that no one was going to show up, and there would be no surrender. Carlton sent Kitt's column on its way. The deadline officially expired, and Carlton issued General Order No. 15, which declared war on the Navajo. It also named Colonel Christopher Carson as the man who would prosecute that war. Carlton bombarded Kitt with orders, insisting upon frequent updates on his progress.

One of his orders noted, much is expected of you, both here and in Washington. Kitt was under even more pressure than he'd anticipated, and unfortunately, he couldn't find the Navajo. Their territory was vast and provided nearly unlimited potential to hide. They became ghosts, which left Kit only one option if he was going to accomplish their surrender, a total and literal scorched earth campaign. His men burned fields, killed livestock, and destroyed their resources, even the stockpiles that had been carefully concealed. Carson's troops became used to their leader riding out each morning with his Ute scouts. They were on the hunt for Navajo warriors, but usually all they found

were sheep and cornfields. Occasionally, they came across a few guardian warriors who were soon killed. But the larger damage was to the food sources. It was astounding. More than two million pounds of food were burned or otherwise destroyed. And that didn't count the animals that were slaughtered to deprive the Navajo of meat in the winter. And even though the Navajo were largely hidden, they weren't oblivious. They watched from afar as their fields were burned and their animals were killed. They started referring to this part of their history as the Fearing Time. Still, most people remained out of reach, but not all.

At one point, while Carson was out on patrol, four Navajo leaders turned up at Fort Cambie. They carried a flag of truce and asked for a meeting, while 100 of their people waited nearby to see what would happen. The four men were taken prisoner by Major Thomas Blakeney, who ignored their overtures. He put them on cleanup detail. One man objected, and he was shot dead. Two of the others escaped. The last leader was an old man in his 70s, and he remained at the fort. When Kit returned from his patrol and discovered what Blakeney had done, he was livid. As a podcast network, our first priority has always been audio and the stories we're able to share with you. But we also sell merch. And organizing that was made both possible and easy with Shopify.

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taking up too much time from all the other work we do to bring you even more great content. And it's not just us. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the U.S. Shopify is also the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy's, and Brooklinen, and millions of other entrepreneurs of every size across 175 countries. Because businesses that grow, grow with Shopify. a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash realm, all lowercase. Go to shopify.com slash r-e-a-l-m now to grow your business no matter what stage you're in. shopify.com slash realm. Kit sent the old man named Littlefoot to talk to his people and offer apologies, and to tell them they could safely come in. Carson knew the chances of that happening after the mistreatment were slim, but he had to try. If he had been there, he could have offered them the terms that had been agreed upon by Carlton. Surrender, come in, and be guaranteed safe conduct and a

reservation to live on in peace. But now, Carson knew word of the incident would spread rapidly. Major Blakeney would soon be dismissed for improper conduct, which helped illustrate some of the complexity and the somewhat catch-22 nature of the situation. Kit wanted the Navajo who surrendered to be treated with respect, and he wanted them to understand that if they did surrender, they would be treated with respect. But at the same time, his men were actively destroying their livelihood in an effort to force them to surrender.

And Kit depended heavily on his group of Ute warriors, who were traditional enemies of the Navajo. It was often difficult to restrain the Utes and make them capture their enemies instead of killing them in the old ways. Carson continued his patrols into Navajo country, but they accomplished little. The Navajo were exceptionally adept at hiding, and despite Carson's tracking ability, as well as that of his Ute scouts, little contact resulted from the patrols. They continued their scorched-earth tactics, but as for finding captives to take the Bosque Redondo,

they came up empty-handed. General Carlton was impatient and increasingly disappointed in the campaign and constantly prodded Kitt to do a better job. Kitt tried, but the Navajos' sacrifices worked against him. They didn't attack the men who burned their crops. They waited and watched, and the stall tactic began to work. Army horses and mules gave out. Men grew weary, and the Utes rebelled. Carson told them they couldn't make slaves out of the captives or keep any of the loot they

discovered. The Utes were so unhappy, they left his command. Winter was approaching, and Kit was tired and frustrated with the whole affair. The weather was another enemy he didn't need to contend with. He applied for a two-month leave of absence, since his wife Josefa was about to give birth to their sixth child. The campaign could wait while the snows came in, and he needed rest. But General Carlton had a different idea. He told Kitt that he would only grant the leave after Kitt delivered at least 100 Navajo captives. To do that, Kit would have to enter Canyon de Chelly, the Navajo stronghold. If the Navajo fortified themselves in the canyon, it would be really hard to get them out.

And, of course, the Navajo knew that better than anyone. A small group moved into the canyon and made an incredible climb to the top of a promontory called Fortress Rock. The ascent would have strained the abilities of modern-day climbers, and the Navajo did it with no equipment and while carrying food and children on their backs. They used handholds and footholds that had been chiseled into the rock cliffs by the Anasazi, the ancient people who had lived in the area more than 600 years earlier and who had mysteriously disappeared from history. On the morning of January 6, 1864, Kit Carson and 500 troops left Fort Canby

and headed for Canyon de Chelly. On the way, Carson divided his troops into two units. He wanted to approach both ends of the canyon at the same time and snare anyone who was inside. Carson led the larger of the two units, and they collided with a group of Navajo on their way to the canyon. There was a brief but fierce fight, during which the soldiers killed the warriors and took the women and children captive. It took two days for Carson's units to reunite after the smaller unit got lost in the maze of canyons. But when they were back on track, Kit received his first stroke of good luck. A band of 50 Navajo, starving and cold, showed up with a flag of truce. They were frightened, but Carson gave them food and blankets and they sat down to talk.

The Navajo explained they had heard the army wanted to kill them all and that this was a war of extermination. Carson set the record straight. He explained about the reservation at Bosque Redondo and how it would be a good place for the Navajo. Carson wanted to save the Navajo, not kill them. The group only had two choices, and neither was good. Their hide-and-wait tactic had worked during the summer and fall, but now it was the dead of winter, and Carson's six-month scorched-earth policy fully paid off. and Carson's six-month scorched-earth policy fully paid off. The Navajo could fight and die by the bullet,

which was certainly better than a slow, miserable death by cold and starvation, or they could surrender and place their trust in a white man. The group surrendered and agreed to send messengers across Navajo country to tell the others to surrender. The Navajo were instructed to go to Fort Canby, where they would be welcomed, housed, and fed, and eventually taken to Bosque Redondo. Carson gave the Navajo his word they would not be harmed if they did so, and he took a handful of troops and rode to Fort Canby to make sure the promise held. to make sure the promise held.

Kit left the main body of his troops in the canyon to make certain the Navajo surrendered. But before he left, he gave them a tragic order which still resonates with the Navajo today. In the sheltered confines of Canyon de Chelly, planted since the time of the Spanish explorers, there was an orchard of peach trees. There were thousands of them. Peaches were a treat no other tribe in the southwest had tasted, and they were the pride of the Navajo. Carson ordered his men to chop down every tree.

The order has never been forgotten or forgiven by the Navajo. Maybe Carson was holding to his strict, scorched-earth policy. Maybe the stress of the campaign got to him. Many have said it was out of character for Carson, but again, it's hard to know the truth. Meanwhile, there was still a group of Navajo camped up on Fortress Rock, and accounts vary of how their story ended. The version that sounds like it's from a Hollywood movie says they scaled down the enormous cliff walls in the middle of the night and vanished into the darkness without the soldiers on the canyon floor ever knowing they were there.

The Navajo Times newspaper wrote a version in 2009 that was drawn from accounts that have been passed down through the generations. It says the soldiers eventually got tired of waiting and left, and then the group crawled down. But shortly after the Navajo thought they were free to resume their lives, the soldiers returned and the Navajo were captured. The second story is probably closer to the truth, but even if they pulled off a midnight escape,

they probably didn't remain free for long. At Fort Canby, Kit Carson watched as more than 800 Navajo arrived to surrender in the first week of February. Over the next month, thousands streamed into the fort, and they kept coming. Fort Canby was overwhelmed. Carson wrote to Carlton that he needed more food and supplies immediately. The surrender of the Navajo had been such a success, the army and the government weren't prepared for it. They had thousands of Navajo refugees on their hands and had promised them food and shelter in good faith, but apparently had no idea what to do when the plan actually worked. The result would be the nightmare of the Navajo.

Kit Carson was exhausted. As the steady stream of refugees arrived at Fort Canby, he escorted 250 or so to the Rio Grande River in New Mexico, the first stop on their way to Bosque Redondo. From there, the Navajo were taken to the reservation, and Kit went to Santa Fe. In Santa Fe, crowds cheered him. He had accomplished something historic, and the citizens believed they were finally safe from attacks, from the Navajo at least. The Comanche were still to the east in Texas, and most of the Apache were still to the southwest in Arizona, but the largest tribe in the nation had surrendered. Carson was grateful for their well wishes, but as soon as he could, he headed home to his wife and children. He had more than

fulfilled his order from General Carlton, and he had earned some time off. He was tired and didn't feel well, but he figured the pains in his chest and his general malaise were just due to exhaustion. If he could rest, he would probably be fine. And if any man deserved a rest, it was him. At Fort Canby, more Navajos surrendered every day. The old outpost was completely and totally overwhelmed, but General Carlton was thrilled. He declared a, quote, suspension of arms against the Navajo. He wrote to officials in Washington and said, you have seen the last of the Navajo War.

In early spring, with snow on the ground and still falling, Carlton ordered his men to march the Navajo to the Bosque Redondo Reservation. Between 8,000 and 9,000 Navajo began a journey that was roughly 400 miles, and they had to travel on foot. They were in rags in the freezing winter weather. The food the army supplied was dismal. The staples were rancid bacon and other spoiled meat, and wheat flour, which most of the Navajo had never seen. It would have seemed crazy to white settlers, for whom flour was a core element of cooking, but the Navajo had no idea what to do with it. They became so hungry, they stuffed it in their mouths, found a way to choke it down, and then became sick. They had no clue it was used to make bread,

and even if they had known, they had no way to bake bread. Carlton ordered the Navajo to be treated with, quote, Christian kindness, but that was in short supply. Rapes were common, as were assaults of other kinds, but there was no punishment for the perpetrators, even if the victims knew enough English to complain about their predators. Just staying alive required every ounce of strength the Navajo could manage. And beyond the physical, mental, and emotional suffering, there was the religious suffering. Their homeland was within

the realm of four sacred mountains, where the future states of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico met. Now they were leaving their lands to go to a place many had never seen. Many worried that their gods would not be able to find them in this new alien territory. For nearly three weeks, they trudged east through New Mexico until they finally reached Bosque Redondo at the end of a journey that would be called the Long Walk. An estimated 200 died, and the rest would have little time to recover from the trip because there was nothing at the reservation but 400 acres of ground. Within days of their arrival, they were put to work.

The Navajo dug seven miles of trenches to irrigate the fields they were about to plant. The Navajo and the soldiers built a dam upriver, and the Navajo helped construct more buildings for the soldiers. Then it came time to plant. The Navajo were great farmers, unlike most tribes in the West, and they were eager to get something in the ground that would finally help with their survival. They planted corn, vegetables, and rice, and the first harvest looked like it would be a bumper crop. Kit Carson traveled down to Bosque Redondo to see how things were working out.

He asked for the job of superintendent of the reservation and there were few people as well qualified as Carson. He got the job, but he soon regretted it. Carson was many things, but a detail-oriented bureaucrat was not one of them. He hated dealing with government regulations and requisitions. Politicians in the East couldn't possibly understand the world of the West, especially the complexities of a place like Bosque Redondo. General Carlton's plan was to house the Navajo in Pueblo-style apartment buildings,

but they balked at the idea. The Navajo, like virtually all the peoples in the West, detested the closed-in lifestyle. Carlton started schools, and each child was given a lunch ticket. With the promise of food for attendance, the Navajo went along with the concept of school. But when the lunch program stopped, the students stopped attending. They failed to see the advantages of making marks on paper anyway. They rejected the Christian church as well. The Navajo had male and female gods, and they had no interest in this new system of only one male god.

And on top of all of that was the problem Kit Carson had foreseen years earlier. The Navajo weren't the only people on the reservation. They'd been crowded in with their old enemy, the Mescalero Apache. General Carlton mistakenly or naively thought the two cultures would get along. The Mescaleros were greatly outnumbered by the Navajo, and they believed Navajo witches were digging up Mescalero graves and putting curses on them. A year after the two nations were thrown together, the soldiers awakened one morning to find a huge group of Mescalero Apache had vanished during the night. They were never found,

and the problems didn't stop there. Sickness was constant and awful. The main cause was the water from the Pecos River. At first, the river ran fine, but then the water turned brackish and alkaline. It tasted terrible, and it was to be the main water source for more than 10,000 people. Dysentery and constant intestinal illness affected everyone, even the soldiers. Worse than that were sexually transmitted diseases. A system of prostitution developed on the reservation. Soldiers could pay one meal ticket or two cups of cornmeal to sleep with a Navajo woman. That was a major problem throughout the Army. to sleep with a Navajo woman. That was a major problem throughout the Army.

In Hampton Side's book about Kit Carson, Blood and Thunder, he cites Army reports that many companies of soldiers had an infection rate of over 50% in forts throughout the country. General Carlton had good intentions when he ordered the planting of 12,000 trees, but it seemed like nothing worked as planned at Bosque Redondo. The trees were too young to be used for firewood. They probably looked nice and provided shade, but they couldn't be used for their intended purpose. Nearly all the mature trees in the area had already been harvested, so the Navajo resorted to burning mesquite and pinon, which weren't good for warmth or cooking. And if the list of problems seems unending and nearly unbelievable, it still isn't done.

A disaster was on the horizon, and Kitt, General Carlton, and officials in Washington would have to scramble to avoid a total catastrophe. to avoid a total catastrophe. Next time on Legends of the Old West, the Navajo experiment at Bosque Redondo continues, but then eventually ends for the Navajo in an unexpected twist. And Kit Carson accepts his final mission, one that pits him against the most dangerous enemy

of his life, the Comanche. That's next week on the season finale of the story of Kit Carson here on Legends of the Old West. Members of our Black Barrel Plus program don't have to wait week to week to receive new episodes. They receive the entire season to binge all at once with no commercials, and they also receive exclusive bonus episodes. Sign up now through the link in the show notes or on our website, blackbarrelmedia.com. Memberships begin at just $5 per month. This series was researched and written by Kathleen Morris. Original music by Rob Valliere.

I'm your host and producer, Chris Wimmer. If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening. Check out our website, blackbarrelmedia.com for more details and join us on social media or at Old West Podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. And all of our episodes are on YouTube. Just search for Legends of the Old West Podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. And all of our episodes are on YouTube. Just search for Legends of the Old West Podcast.

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