In May 1868, General W. T. Sherman arrived at Fort Sumner to discuss the hardships and wishes of the Navajos. Chief Barboncito spoke for the Navajos.
“I was born at the lower end of Canyon de Chelly,” he said. “We have been living here for five winters [at Fort Sumner] and have done all we possibly could to raise a crop of corn. This land does not like us. Neither does the water. In our country a rattlesnake gives a warning before he bites. We have all declared that we do not want to remain here any longer.”
The following day, General Sherman agreed with the Navajos, adding, “Our government is determined that the enslavement of Navajos shall cease.”
During five years of imprisonment, two thousand of the nine thousand Navajos who marched on the Long Walk from Navajo Nation to Fort Sumner died. The nearby lake was salt-filled, winters were brutal, and slave traders dragged hundreds from their families. Hearing that his people could now return to their homeland, Chief Barboncito was humble and joyful.
“After we get back to our country, the Navajos will be as happy as the land, black clouds will rise, and there will be plenty of rain. Corn will grow in abundance.”
What happened to the Navajos in the 1860s was a terrible injustice. But unlike so many American Indians forced to leave their homelands, the Navajos were allowed to return. Struggles with land-grabbers, railroads, and treaty breakers continued, but the Navajos flourished—and today the Navajo Nation has the largest Indian population in America.