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Show 128 IX. HWEELDI DOO AHA'DEET'4 were in such bad shape that the men had to walk through the snow. As a result, this campaign also failed. But soon winter patrols began to see results of the earlier campaigns. Reports told of Navajos dying from hunger. Their food supply had been burned, and their flocks of sheep had been scattered. The Navajos suffered a great deal. The army began to think that the Navajo war would soon end. The Raid on Canyon de Chelly Carson returned to Fort Canby in December. He planned to rest his troops there until spring while he spent the holidays with his family in Taos. Carleton, however, had other plans. The general would not let the tired officer go home until he had taken a hundred captives. He told Carson to go to Canyon de Chelly, even though Carson thought he would find few Navajos there. In spite of many problems, two lines of troops left for Canyon de Chelly on January 6, 1864. One group entered the east end of Canyon del Muerto. Carson took the other group of four hundred men west to the mouth of Canyon de Chelly. On January 11, Carson set up his base camp at Chinle. The next day, while Carson's men scouted Canyon de Chelly, the other troops began their march through Canyon del Muerto. When Carson reached the east end of the gorge without meeting the other group, he began to worry. Only after he returned and found the other group back at Chinle did he understand the forked structure of the canyon. Carson was surprised at the number of Navajos who made the gorge their home. General Carleton had been correct. Canyon de Chelly hid large bands of Navajos, some of whom had hurled rocks and curses at the army. But the soldiers had been able to capture only six of them. That evening a small group of Navajos came to the camp under a flag of truce. They wanted to know what would happen to them if they surrendered. They feared they might all be killed. The Canyon de Chelly Navajos admitted they were having trouble living through the winter. When they learned that they would not be killed, but only sent to a reservation, they agreed to surrender. Carson let them return for their families, but he warned them that they must come back by ten o'clock the next morning. If they did not, he would send his soldiers after them. |