Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainA 2005 memorial by Navajo architect David Sloan marks the site of the U.S. Army's forced internment of over 10,000 Diné and 500 Mescalero Apache from 1863 to 1868
3647 Billy the Kid Dr, Fort Sumner, NM 88119
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
New Mexico Historic Sites manages the site; nominal admission fee. Check the NM Historic Sites website for current hours and pricing.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved paths around the memorial and interpretive museum; flat terrain
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 2005 · Primary public memorial to the Long Walk of the Navajo — forced internment of 10,000+ Diné, 1863–1868 · Memorial designed by Navajo architect David Sloan using hogan and tepee architectural forms · Sites of Conscience member · Treaty of Bosque Redondo (1868) signed here — allowed Diné return to homeland · New Mexico Historic Sites-managed interpretive museum
The Long Walk of the Navajo refers to a series of at least 53 forced marches carried out by the United States Army beginning in 1863, in which Diné (Navajo) people were removed from their traditional homeland — the Four Corners region of what is now Arizona and New Mexico — and compelled to walk distances of 250 to 450 miles to the Bosque Redondo Indian Reservation at Fort Sumner, New Mexico. The removal was ordered by General James Carleton and carried out primarily by troops under Kit Carson. Those who resisted or were unable to complete the marches were subject to killing; those who completed the walk faced internment in conditions that proved fatal to thousands.
Over 10,000 Diné and approximately 500 Mescalero Apache were interned at Bosque Redondo between 1863 and 1868. The reservation land was poorly suited to agriculture, water sources were inadequate, and the concentration of people far exceeded the land's capacity to support them. Historians estimate that between 1,500 and 3,500 Diné people died at Bosque Redondo from starvation, epidemic disease — including smallpox — and the effects of inadequate shelter and clothing. The Mescalero Apache escaped the reservation in November 1865.
The Treaty of Bosque Redondo, known in Diné as Naal Tsoos Sání (the Old Paper) and Hweeldi (the Place of Suffering), was signed on June 1, 1868, between the United States government and Diné leaders. The treaty created the Navajo Nation reservation and allowed the Diné to return to a portion of their ancestral homeland. The return march, completed in late 1868, is commemorated in Diné oral tradition and historical memory as a foundational event in the nation's modern history.
The Bosque Redondo Memorial, opened in 2005, was designed by Navajo architect David Sloan. The memorial's architectural forms draw on the hogan (traditional Diné dwelling) and tepee shapes, integrating Diné spatial and cultural concepts into the physical commemoration. The site is managed by New Mexico Historic Sites as part of the Fort Sumner Historic Site complex, which also includes the burial site of William Bonney (Billy the Kid). The memorial is a member of the Sites of Conscience international network, which designates sites of historical atrocity that are committed to active engagement with the legacies they represent.
Sources
The Bosque Redondo Memorial is a site of conscience — a place that carries weight because of what is documented to have happened there, not because of supernatural claims. Between 1863 and 1868, an estimated 1,500 to 3,500 Diné people died at Bosque Redondo from starvation, disease, and exposure under conditions of forced internment. The Treaty of Bosque Redondo in 1868 ended the imprisonment.
The memorial, opened in 2005 and designed by Navajo architect David Sloan, is the Diné Nation's and New Mexico's primary public acknowledgment of those events. The site is managed by New Mexico Historic Sites as an interpretive museum and memorial.
HauntBound presents this site for visitors who seek to understand American history — including its most difficult chapters — through direct encounter with the places where that history occurred. The memorial and museum at Fort Sumner are the recommended entry point.
Walk the 2005 memorial designed by Navajo architect David Sloan — whose structure draws on hogan and tepee forms — and the interpretive museum at Fort Sumner Historic Site covering the Long Walk of the Diné and the 1863–1868 internment at Bosque Redondo. The site also includes the Billy the Kid burial site, which is adjacent and separately signed.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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