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Show 126 IX. HWEELDI DOO AHA'DEET'4 At any rate, the country was more than tired of the Navajos. It was war time. The settlers did not want peace with the Confederates or the Navajos. They thought the Indians were out of control. Most treaties had come to nothing. The only solution, it seemed to them, was war. General Carleton picked Bosque Redondo, or "Round Grove," for the reservation. There, in a grove of cottonwood trees on the Pecos River in eastern New Mexico, would be the site of Fort Sumner. The Indian reservation would stretch north and south through the valley. Carleton had surveyed the area in the 1850s. It was distant from white towns. An army post there, Carleton hoped, would block Comanche and Kiowa raids into New Mexico. A military board checked the site. They noted that it had certain advantages. There seemed to be plenty of water, wood, and grazing land. But they liked a location at the junction of the Agua Negra and Pecos rivers better. The Bosque site was far from supply centers, they warned. Building supplies and grass for the animals could quickly be used up. The water there was bad, and the valley might flood. But Carleton, always sure of himself, insisted on the Bosque Redondo location. Carson's Campaign General Carleton chose Kit Carson to round up the Navajos. Carson had much to recommend him. He knew Indians well, having served as agent for the Jicarilla Apaches, Utes, and Northern Pueblos. He had guided army campaigns in the Southwest. Besides, he was nearby, at Taos. Best of all, he was an army officer. He led the First New Mexico Volunteers, a group which had fought in the Civil War. Volunteers would have to do, for there were no regular troops in New Mexico. They had all been sent east to fight in the Civil War. Four companies of volunteers went into Navajoland to build Fort Wingate at the head of the Gallo River. General Carleton decided to begin the campaign by rounding up the Mescalero Apaches, a much smaller group than the Navajos. Within five months, the Apaches had either given up or fled. By mid-March 1863, the troops had taken 450 Apaches to Bosque Redondo. While Carson's troops fought Apaches, other troops were building Fort Wingate east of the Zuni Mountains. Watching and fearing the worst, nearby Navajos sent men to Santa Fe to talk with Carleton. These men were from Delgadito's group of "Enemy |
