132 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 197 



10,000, while Parker (1844, p. 32) in 1838, gives an estimate of only 

 2,000. 



After 1846, the increased number of population estimates and other 

 reports on the Navaho reflect the growing interest of the American 

 authorities in this area. The several population estimates of this 

 period vary from a low of 5,000 reported in 1849 to a high of 15,000 

 as estimated in 1860. Most of the estimates are in the range 8,000 to 

 10,000 (table 27, p. 136). 



The removal of the majority of the tribe to Fort Sumner in 1864 

 made possible the first actual enumeration of at least the captive por- 

 tion of the Navaho population. One of the first of these enumerations 

 is summarized in a letter dated AugTist 27, 1864.^^ At this time, 5,911 

 Navahos had already arrived at the fort, and an additional 1,309 were 

 en route thereto, making a total population of 7,220. Periodic enumer- 

 ations were made throughout the Fort Sumner period, usually in con- 

 nection with the distribution of ration tickets. The results of these 

 counts were included in the regular monthly reports submitted by 

 General Carleton to his superiors in Washington. It is evident from 

 these enumerations that the later arrivals at the fort were compen- 

 sated by the deaths and escapes that occurred there, so that the total 

 captive population remained between 7,000 and 8,500 in number. Thus, 

 the enumeration of May 31, 1867, produced a total of 7,406 Navahos 

 while the report a month later estimated the total captive population 

 as about 7,500 at this time (Dodd, 1868, p. 203). ^^ 



The decade of the 1860's was miquestionably a period of great 

 hardship for the Navaho. In his report of the hostilities immediately 

 preceding the surrender of the Navaho tribe. Brigadier General 

 Carleton noted that 301 Indians had been killed. Altliough some of 

 these casualties were Apaches, the loss to the Navaho Avas not in- 

 considerable. The "long walk" to Fort Sumner, a journey of some 

 300 miles, also took its toll ; Carleton mentions the death of 197 out 

 of a single group of about 2,600 Navahos who undertook this journey. 

 These losses, together with the severe privations experienced during 

 the 4 years at Fort Sumner itself, appear to have halted, at least 

 temporarily, the increase in the Navaho population.^^ 



81 Carleton (MS.) expressed the opinion that no more than 1,000 Navahos remained at 

 large at this time and that most of these had fled beyond the Little Colorado River to the 

 West. Cf. Underhill, 1956, p. 119. 



82 The Navaho population at Fort Sumner apparently reached a peak of well over 8,000 

 by the end of 1864, and declined somewhat thereafter. On Dec. 31, 1864, Capt. Francis 

 McCabe of the First New Mexico Volunteer Cavalry conducted an enumeration of the 

 Navahos at Fort Sumner, arriving at a total of 8,354. McCabe's reported age distribution 

 suggests a peculiar deficiency of children under age 5. See Keleher, 1952, p. 502, foot- 

 note 105. 



83 General Carleton's order to Col. Christopher Carson regarding hostilities against the 

 Navaho and Apache is contained in a letter from Carleton to Col. Joseph R. West, Santa Fe, 

 dated Oct. 11, 1862 (U.S. Congress, 1867, appendix p. 99). His summary of the results of 

 these operations is contained in General Order No. 3, dated Feb. 24, 1864 (ibid., pp. 

 247-257). 



