Bosque Redondo Memorial Museum, Fort Sumner State Monument, 1862–1869

The U.S. Army established Fort Sumner in 1862 as a supply and control point for the Bosque Redondo Indian Reservation. About 10,000 Navajo were forced to march hundreds of miles from the Four-Corners Region. The Navajo call this tragic journey the Long Walk. Some 500 Apaches from southern New Mexico were also brought here. Approximately 3,000 Native Americans died at the fort. The ill-conceived reservation was closed in 1868, and the Navajos and Apaches returned to their homes. The fort was abandoned in 1869.