The early 1860s witnessed increased expansion into New Mexico by settlers from the south and the east. The Navajo and Mescalero Apache resisted this influx into their homelands and hunting grounds by raiding settlements and caravans throughout the Territory. In 1863, the U.S. Army rounded up thousands of Navajo and forced them to march to the Bosque Redondo Reservation which was established here for their exile. Approximately 11,000 Navajo suffered the "Long Walk" and about 450 Mescalero Apache were also held here.
The reservation experiment was a nightmarish catastrophe. There was never enough food, agricultural efforts met failure, wood for cooking and warmth was scarce, and the water was unhealthy. The prisoners were allowed to return to their homelands in 1868 and the fort was abandoned in the same year.
Exact figures are not known, but historians estimate that as many as 100 of the Mescalero Apache and perhaps 1,500 of the Navajo died during the winter of 1863-64. Added to the 1,400 prisoners who perished during the Long Walk, these deaths meant the Navajo lost, as a direct result of General Carleton's policy, 20 percent of their population.
