FORT UNION, NEW
MEXICO, June 11, 1868, Thursday.
Dear Brother: I have now been in New Mexico three weeks
along with Col. Tappan, peace commissioner, for the purpose of seeing the
Navajos, and making some permanent disposition of them. By a debate in the
Senate I see you have a pretty good idea of their former history. These Indians
seem to have acquired from the old Spaniards a pretty good knowledge of
farming, rearing sheep, cattle, and goats, and of making their own clothing by
weaving blankets and cloth. They were formerly a numerous tribe, occupying the
vast region between New Mexico and the Colorado of the West, and had among them
a class of warriors who made an easy living by stealing of the New Mexicans and
occasionally killing. . . .
We found 7200
Indians there, seemingly abject and disheartened. They have been there four
years. The first year they were maintained by the army at a cost of about
$700,000, and made a small crop. The second year the cost was about $500,000,
and the crop was small. Last year the crop was an utter failure, though all the
officers say they labored hard and faithfully. This year they would not work
because they said it was useless. The cost has been diminished to about 12
cents per head a day, which for 7000 Indians makes over $300,000, and this is
as low as possible, being only a pound of corn, and a pound of beef with a
little salt per day.
Now this was the
state of facts, and we could see no time in the future when this could be
amended. The scarcity of wood, the foul character of water, which is salty and
full of alkali, and their utter despair, made it certain that we would have to
move them or they would scatter and be a perfect nuisance. So of course we
concluded to move them. After debating all the country at our option, we have
chosen a small part of their old country, which is as far out of the way of the
whites and of our future probable wants as possible, and have agreed to move
them there forthwith, and have made a treaty which will save the heavy cost of
their maintenance and give as much probability of their resuming their habits
of industry as the case admits of. . . .
Of course I have
noticed Grant's acceptance. I take it for granted he will be elected, and I
must come to Washington. I shall not, however, commit myself to this promotion
till he is not only elected but until he vacates and I am appointed and
confirmed. . . .
SOURCE: Rachel
Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between
General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 318-9
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