Chiefs, agents & soldiers

In Navajo history the decades immediately following the release from the Bosque Redondo in 1868 are years of privation. Reunion with their homeland soothed some of the sorrow of their Long Walk, but daily life for the Navajo remained nearly as harsh as at Fort Sumner. In the fourteen years following their incarceration, Navajo leaders struggled constantly to feed their people while abiding by the terms of their release to avoid armed conflict and cease raiding. In this ethnohistory, the chiefs - particularly Barboncito, Ganado Mucho, and Manuelito - emerge as extraordinary leaders who held together a fragile peace by alternately accommodating and challenging often hostile officials while convincing their people to endure hardships born of Washington's disregard for their welfare. When necessary, they even tracked down and punished errant Navajos whose raids threatened the peace. Through the courage and patience of the chiefs, working with the few conscientious agents and soldiers sent to oversee their lives, the Navajo not only survived but learned how to adapt to a dominant society.