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Indians 101: Manuelito, Navajo war leader [1]
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Date: 2023-12-12
When the Europeans began their invasion of the Southwest, the Diné peoples were living in what would become northern Arizona and New Mexico, and portions of southern Utah and Colorado. When the Spanish entered New Mexico, they recorded that the Tewas referred to one of the neighboring tribes as Navahú in reference to large areas of cultivated lands. This is in reference to the Navajo practice of dry-farming in arroyos, and cañadas. The Tewas also referred to these newcomers as Apachü which means strangers and enemies. The Spanish would later refer to these people as Apache de Navajó meaning the Apaches with the great planted fields.
The Navajos, as they would later be called in English, were never a single political nation but numerous small bands unified by a common language (Athabascan), religious practices, family clans, and other cultural features. In their interactions with the American government during the second half of the nineteenth century, one war leader, a man known as Manuelito, emerged as an important tribal leader.
Manuelito (1818-1894) was born to the Big Water (To’Tshonii) clan near Bears Ears Peak in Utah. In his book Who Was Who in Native American History: Indians and Non-Indians From Early Contacts Through 1900, Carl Waldman writes:
“He rose to prominence as a warrior and married the daughter of war chief Narbona.”
In 1855, at Laguna Negra, New Mexico, a treaty council was held with the Navajos. About twenty chiefs were in attendance and Zarcillos Largos (Long Earrings) spoke for them. In the midst of the conference Zarcillos Largos told the Americans that he had grown too old to lead his people and he asked the Navajo headmen to select another to speak for him. Manuelito was selected as the new leader.
The Americans promised the Navajos a reservation and annuity payments. Twenty-seven Navajo chiefs made their marks on the treaty and received presents. Historian Robert Utley, in his book The Indian Frontier of the American West 1846-1890, reports:
“The Navajos made no attempt to live by the new treaty.”
The Senate, balking at the monetary cost, refused to ratify the treaty.
In 1858, Manuelito pastured his horses and cattle in the army hay camp at Fort Defiance. Carl Waldman writes:
“The soldiers wanted the pastureland for their horses. Yet the Navajos had used these grazing lands for generations and continued to do so.”
Major William T. Brooks ordered Manuelito to remove his livestock and when he refused, the soldiers killed 60 of Manuelito’s horses and over 100 of his sheep. The Navajos, outraged by the slaughter. then killed the black slave of an army officer. This began a series of wars between the Navajo and the Americans.
In 1860, a large Navajo war party under the leadership of Manuelito and Barboncito attacked Fort Defiance and nearly overran it. In her entry on Manuelito in Notable Native Americans, Denise Marecki-Arriola reports:
“However, the army had been warned of the impending attack and was prepared with canons and guns ready when the Indians arrived. The warriors made an impressive show against the well-armed troops, but were driven back.”
Carl Waldman writes:
“Colonel Edward Canby led troops into the Chuska Mountains in pursuit of the warriors, but the Indians wore them down with hit-and-run raids.”
In 1861, a delegation of Navajo headmen including Manuelito, Barboncito, Delgadito, Armijo, and Herrero Grande meet with Colonel Edward Danby at Fort Fauntleroy (later Fort Wingate). Carl Waldman reports:
“They agreed in council to work for peace. At this time, Herrero Grande was selected as principal chief and spokesman of all the bands.”
In his chapter in the Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 10: Southwest, Robert Roessel writes:
“The treaty stipulations indicated an understanding of the Navajos and of the fact that they had been subjected to devastating slave raids.”
In the final battle at Canyon de Chelly in Arizona in 1864, the will of the Diné (Navajo) was broken and they were forced on the Long Walk to the Bosque Redondo (Fort Sumner) in New Mexico. From the Diné viewpoint, they were leaving the protective circle of the Four Sacred Mountains. In her book Navajo Jewelry: A Legacy of Silver and Stone, Lois Jacka writes:
“They were leaving hallowed ground—their ceremonies would no longer be effective; the deities would not hear their prayers.”
Many of the Navajos died on the 300–350-mile forced march. In her book Navajo Weapon: The Navajo Code Talkers, Sally McClain reports:
“If someone complained of being sick, the soldiers killed him. If someone stopped because he was tired, hungry or thirsty, the soldiers killed him. If a woman stopped to have a baby, the soldiers killed her and anyone who tried to help.”
Their new home would be a flat, barren land with poor farming conditions and alkaline water. Historians Robert Utley and Wilcomb Washburn, in their book Indian Wars, report:
“The reservation did not contain enough tillable land, even with primitive irrigation, to support so many Indians, and such pitiful crops as were nursed to maturity succumbed to flood, drought, hail, and visitations of insects.”
In their 1946 book The Navajo, Clyde Kluckhohn and Dorothea Leighton report:
“Taken far from the rugged and vivid landscape which they prized so highly, they lived in a flat and colorless region, eating alien foods and drinking bitter water which made them ill.”
Unlike the Navajos, the Americans were accustomed to a political system which is centralized, ideally around a single individual (a dictator is often preferred) or a group of individuals. Therefore, the Americans organized the Navajos into 12 bands and appointed a chief for each one: Armijo, Delgado, Manuelito, Largo, Herrero, Chiqueto, Muerto de Hombre, Hombre, Narbono, Ganado Mucho, Narbono Segundo, and Barboncito. Barboncito is designated as the principal chief.
Manuelito did not surrender at Canyon de Chelly and did not participate in the Long Walk. It wasn’t until 1865 that Manuelito and about 4,000 Navajos under his leadership surrendered to the U.S. Army. Denise Marecki-Arriola writes:
“He and his followers were the last to surrender after Kit Carson’s scorched earth campaign to force them to relocate to the Bosque Redondo Reservation near Fort Sumner.”
In 1868, Navajo leaders Barboncito, Manuelito, Kasuss, and three others from New Mexico and Arizona visited Washington, D.C. to ask President Ulysses S. Grant to be allowed to return to their own country. They were told that the plan was to send them to Indian Territory (Oklahoma).
In 1868, 29 Navajo leaders signed the treaty which would allow them to return home. The treaty reduced the size of their homeland, but the Navajos were desperate and wanted to return home.
In 1870, Navajo leaders Manuelito and Narbono used force to recapture a herd of sheep from a raiding party. In their book A History of the Navajos: The Reservation Years, Garrick Bailey and Roberta Glenn Bailey report:
“This event marked a major change in the Navajo political system: for the first time, the chiefs were attempting to assume control over raiding.”
In 1872, a Navajo tribal police force—the Navajo Cavalry—was organized by the Indian agent to patrol the reservation and to return stolen property. Manuelito was placed in command of the force of about 100 men.
In 1873, a delegation of Navajo leaders was selected to travel to Washington, D.C. to meet with President Ulysses S. Grant. Among those selected was Manuelito who hoped to persuade the President to grant the Navajos more land. Juanita, Manuelito’s wife, also accompanied the group.
In 1878, the Navajos needed more grazing land for their herds and a presidential executive order withdrew land from the public domain for Navajo use. The boundary of the reservation was moved 20 miles west. Historian Kathleen Chamberlain, in her book Under Sacred Ground: A History of Navajo Oil 1922-1982, reports:
“Such presidential extensions did not require Congressional approval. On the other hand, executive order lands granted no title to the Indians and were often vague regarding area or specific land use.”
A council was held with the Navajo leaders to explain the extension to them. The chiefs complained that they were being crowded by American settlers on all sides. They asked for a similar extension to the east. Manuelito wanted this eastern extension for winter range and for hunting.
In 1878, Manuelito told the army commandeer of Fort Wingate that he had been “witched” and that his men were holding six witches captive. A group of soldiers set the accused men free once they promised never to practice witchcraft again.
Manuelito died in 1894. In his book Encyclopedia of American Indian Wars, 1492-1890, Jerry Keenan writes:
“Although he accepted treaties that were constricting to his people in what he believed was the best interest of the Navajos, he later came to oppose these agreements and gradually found himself in conflict with U.S. authorities as a consequence. Disputes over grazing lands eventually led to a breakdown in Navajo-American relations.”
More American Indian biographies
Indians 101: Juan Antonio, California Cahuilla leader
Indians 101: Little Turtle, Miami war leader
Indians 101: Kicking Bird, Kiowa leader
Indians 201: Sealth (Seattle), Suquamish/Duwamish Leader
Indians 101: Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, Writer, Musician, and Activist
Indians 201: Dr. Susan LaFlesche, Omaha Physician
Indians 201: Sarah (Sally) Ainse, Oneida trader
Indians 201: Mourning Dove, first American Indian woman novelist
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