Established September 18, 1851 by Col. Edwin V. Sumner to patrol the
Navajo Territory after several treaty attempts
failed. Located in Canyon Bonito about 60 miles northeast of the Zuni villages
in Apache County.
Just three miles inside the eastern border, it was the first US fort within
the boundary of present-day Arizona. The history of Fort Defiance shows
the fitness of its name; fighting between Army soldiers and Indian braves
was frequently intense. As a result of the Civil War
the post was abandoned on April 28, 1861 and became an Indian Agency
in 1868. First government school for the Navajo was established here in
1870. In 1936, Commissioner Collier again centralized these, and
chose Window Rock, Arizona, as the Navajo Central Agency for the entire
Navajo Reservation. Window Rock, Arizona, would later become the Capitol
of the Navajo Nation. The Fort Defiance Agency contains many Navajo Chapters
that help govern the Navajos in the Fort Defiance Agency area. From Gallup,
New Mexico, take US 66 north; turn west on State 264 to Navajo 7; drive
past Window Rock to the Agency.
Fort Defiance and the Navajos. Frink, Maurice, 1895-
E83.859
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History of Fort Defiance, 1851-1900 by Rosal Mangiante.
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