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Show THE COMING OF THE WHITEMEN 109 hundred Navajos at Jemez. After warning the Navajos about what the soldiers could do if the tribe failed to behave, Calhoun and Sumner ended the meeting by giving out presents. On January 27, 1852, some Navajos came back to Jemez to return three Mexican captives. Armijo, the leading Navajo present, spoke: I have come to tell my Great Father that my people wish to live in peace 8c quiet. We wish to cultivate the soil, as our fathers did before us. ... By the labour of our own hands we wish to raise our own crops â€" and like the Sun we wish to follow the course of nature. The bows 8c arrows we carry are to shoot game with, the deer, the antelope 8c the Rabbit. . . . I have lost my Grandfather and two others of my family who were killed by Mexicans. I have never sought revenge ... I wish to live in peace with everyone â€" I want to see my cattle & horses to be well grazed and my sheep to be safely herded. . . . We like the Americans â€" We have eaten their bread and meat â€" smoked their tobacco â€" the clothing they have given us has kept us warm in the cold winter and the snow â€" With "The hoes they have given us we will cultivate our land. We are struck dead with gratitude. . . . My people are all crying the same way three of our chiefs now sitting before you mourn for their children â€" who have been taken from their homes by the Mexicans â€" More than 200 of our children have been carried off and we know not where they are â€" the Mexicans have lost but few children in comparison with what they have stolen from us. . . . How shall we get them again â€" We leave our Great Father to decide â€" From the time of Col. Newby we have been trying to get our children back again â€" Eleven times have we given up our captives â€" only once have they given us ours â€" My people are yet crying for the children they have lost. Is it American justice that we must give up everything and receive nothing? Armijo's speech took the local Indian agent by surprise. Convinced that Armijo told the truth, he pleaded with his superior, Calhoun, to be just with the Navajos. |