Paving the way for the settlers -- a great conference with the Navajo

Fort Defiance, New Mexico (now Arizona) by Seth Eastman (1808 - 1875), painted 1873 Wikipedia.

By 1870 it was assumed that the Mormon pioneers would settle somewhere in Arizona. One of the most obvious impediments to the settlement was the Navajo nation. It is reported that in 1869 the Indians had stolen approximately $1,000,000 worth of cattle, horses and sheep in southern Utah. In the autumn of that year, Jacob Hamblin, at Major J. W. Powell's invitation, gathered with the Major's party and some others, including Ammon M. Tenney, Ashton Nebecker, Nathan Terry and Elijah Potter, with an Indian guide to attend peace talks with the Navajos.

McClintock relates an interview with Ammon Tenney in which the great council, including U.S. Army officers, Powell, Hamblin's party and some 8000 Indians, took place at Fort Defiance. Fort Defiance had been established as a military outpost in 1851.

The U.S. Government, by this time, had a long history with the Navajos. Tribal land had been reduced by the Bonneville Treaty of 1858. Other treaties had been signed in 1849, and 1861.

It is important to understand the immediate background of this meeting. The Navajo had been at war with the U.S. for many years culminating with an unsuccessful attack on Fort Defiance in 1860. However, because of the U.S. Civil War, troops were removed from most of the forts in Arizona. After the war, Brigadier General James H. Carleton and Kit Carson were sent with troops to restore order and subdue the Navajo. This was accomplished through a brutal campaign of repression ending with the wholesale removal of the majority of the Navajos to Fort Sumner, New Mexico. The exodus of the Navajos in 1864 is referred to as the "Long Walk."

Navajos on the Long Walk

In the Navajo Treaty of 1868 the remnant of the Navajos were allowed to return to their own lands. Despite the Treaty, raids along the southern border of Utah had continued unabated.

The Great Council was decidedly hostile. Hamblin spoke to the gathering and concluded as follows:

What shall I tell my people, the Mormons, when I return home? That we may live in peace, live as friends, and trade with one another? Or shall we look for you to come prowling around our weak settlements, like wolves in the night? I hope we may live in peace in time to come. I have now gray hairs on my head, and from my boyhood I have been on the frontiers doing all I could to preserve peace between white men and Indians I despise this killing, this shedding of blood. I hope you will stop this and come and visit and trade with our people. We would like to hear what you have got to say before we go home.

The response of the Indians as reported by McClintock is described as follows:

Barbenceta, the principal chief, slowly approached as Jacob ended and, putting his arms around him, said, "My friend and brother, I will do all that I can to bring about what you have advised. We will not give all our answer now. Many of the Navajos are here. We will talk to them tonight and will see you on your way home." The chief addressed his people from a little eminence. The Americans understood little or nothing of what he was saying, but it was agreed that it was a great oration. The Indians hung upon every word and responded to every gesture and occasionally, in unison, there would come from the crowd a harsh "Huh, Huh," in approval of their chieftain's advice and admonition.

It is notable that in John Wesley Powell's account the participation of Jacob Hamblin in the Great Council is entirely omitted.

Source unless indicated
McClintock, James H. Mormon Settlement in Arizona; a Record of Peaceful Conquest of the Desert. 1921.