Historical Marker
Bosque Redondo Indian Reservation
Fort Sumner, De Baca County · New Mexico
The Diné figure on this sign runs low. The state site's own history puts the peak, in the winter of 1864, at more than 8,500 Diné (Navajo) and nearly 500 Ndé (Mescalero Apache) held here, and an older panel nearby once said 10,000 and 500. The Ndé did not wait to be released. On the night of November 3, 1865, hundreds slipped away while nine kept the campfires burning to cover them, scattering toward their mountains; the nine followed within days. Carleton sent troops after them, and a Mescalero reservation came only in the 1870s.
What the plaque says
Official Scenic Historic Marker Bosque Redondo Indian Reservation Fort Sumner 1862-1868 You are entering the grounds of historic Fort Sumner, headquarters of the Bosque Redondo Indian Reservation. Over 400 Mescalero Apache and 7,000 Navajo were held here as prisoners of war. The museum tells their stories.
Where it stands
34.40199, -104.19413 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- Bosque Redondo Memorial — 0.2 miThe state site at Fort Sumner that for decades told the story of an army post and an outlaw, remade with Diné and Ndé people into a memorial to those held here.