Bosque Redondo Memorial at Fort Sumner Historic Site

Located at Fort Sumner Historic Site in the scenic Pecos River valley, the Bosque Redondo Memorial chronicles a dark history: the forced relocation of an estimated 9,500 Diné (Navajo) and 500 N’de (Mescalero Apache) from their traditional tribal homelands to the Bosque Redondo Indian Reservation. Fort Sumner, a U.S. Army internment camp, stood at the reservation’s center.

Between 1863 and 1868, thousands died during the 400-mile march known as The Long Walk and from inhumane conditions at the camp. More than 450 of the Mescalero Apaches escaped in 1865, but the Navajo remained for another three years. Nearly one-third died before the U.S. government intervened and allowed them to return home.

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