page_title: Navajo
section_title: Reservation era
hierarchical_section_title: Navajo / History / Reservation era
caption_attribution_description: English: Studio portrait of a Native American (Navajo) woman with a child in a cradleboard on her back. She wears boot moccasins.
context_page_description: The Navajo are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States.
  At more than 300,000 enrolled tribal members as of 2015, the Navajo Nation is the second-largest federally recognized tribe in the U.S. and has the largest reservation in the country. The reservation straddles the Four Corners region and covers more than 27,000 square miles of land in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. The Navajo language is spoken throughout the region, and most Navajo also speak English.
  The states with the largest Navajo populations are Arizona and New Mexico. More than three-quarters of the enrolled Navajo population resides in these two states.
  Besides the Navajo Nation proper, a small group of ethnic Navajos are members of the federally recognized Colorado River Indian Tribes.
context_section_description: The United States military continued to maintain forts on the Navajo reservation in the years following the Long Walk. Between 1873 and 1895, the military employed Navajo as "Indian Scouts" at Fort Wingate to assist their regular units. During this period, Chief Manuelito founded the Navajo Tribal Police. It operated between 1872 and 1875 as an anti-raid task force working to maintain the peaceful terms of the 1868 Navajo treaty.
  By treaty, the Navajo were allowed to leave the reservation for trade, with permission from the military or local Indian agent. Eventually, the arrangement led to a gradual end in Navajo raids, as the tribe was able to increase the size of their livestock herds and cultivated crops. In addition, the tribe gained an increase in the size of the Navajo reservation from 3.5 million acres (14,000 km²; 5,500 sq mi) to the 16 million acres (65,000 km²; 25,000 sq mi) as it stands today. But economic conflicts with non-Navajos continued for many years as civilians and companies exploited resources assigned to the Navajo. The US government made leases for livestock grazing, took land for railroad development, and permitted mining on Navajo land without consultation with the tribe.
  In 1883, Lt. Parker, accompanied by 10 enlisted men and two scouts, went up the San Juan River to separate the Navajo and citizens who had encroached on Navajo land. In the same year, Lt. Lockett, with the aid of 42 enlisted soldiers, was joined by Lt. Holomon at Navajo Springs. Evidently, citizens of the surnames Houck and/or Owens had murdered a Navajo chief's son, and 100 armed Navajo warriors were looking for them.
  In 1887, citizens Palmer, Lockhart, and King fabricated a charge of horse stealing and randomly attacked a dwelling on the reservation. Two Navajo men and all three whites died as a result, but a woman and a child survived. Capt. Kerr (with two Navajo scouts) examined the ground and then met with several hundred Navajo at Houcks Tank. Rancher Bennett, whose horse was allegedly stolen, told Kerr that his horses were stolen by the three whites to catch a horse thief. In the same year, Lt. Scott went to the San Juan River] with two scouts and 21 enlisted men. The Navajos believed Lt. Scott was there to drive off the whites who had settled on the reservation and had fenced off the river from the Navajo. Scott found evidence of many non-Navajo ranches. Only three were active, and the owners wanted payment for their improvements before leaving. Scott ejected them.
  In 1890, a local rancher refused to pay the Navajo a fine of livestock. The Navajo tried to collect it, and whites in southern Colorado and Utah claimed that 9,000 of the Navajo were on a warpath. A small military detachment out of Fort Wingate restored white citizens to order.
  In 1913, an Indian agent ordered a Navajo and his three wives to come in, and then arrested them for having a plural marriage. A small group of Navajo used force to free the women and retreated to Beautiful Mountain with 30 or 40 sympathizers. They refused to surrender to the agent, and local law enforcement and military refused the agent's request for an armed engagement. General Scott arrived, and with the help of Henry Chee Dodge, a leader among the Navajo, defused the situation.
caption: Navajo woman and child, circa 1880–1910
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