In 1865, as winter loomed bringing cold weather, weakened prisoners fell to smallpox. Firewood was scarce. The population at the Bosque Redondo Indian Reservation dropped a third. Some 500 Navajo fled in October and again in November, despite the death warrant promised for such action.
That same month, November of 1865, almost all remaining Mescalero Apache also defied the military and fled, no longer willing to abide Carleton's imprisonment. They returned to their homes in the Sacramento Mountains of southern New Mexico, rejoining relatives who had never surrendered.
On December 31, 1865, a Navajo man said:
"Cage the badger and he will try to break from his prison and regain his native hole. Chain the eagle to the ground - he will strive to gain his freedom, and though he fails, he will lift his head and look up to the sky which is home - and we want to return to our mountains and plains, where we used to plant corn, wheat and beans."
