Council Proceedings, May 30, 1868

This is the transcript of one of the discussions leading to the signing of the U.S. Navajo Treaty of 1868.

[ Note: while spellings and punctuation in this document have been maintained from the original transcription of these proceedings, paragraph breaks and colored text have been added to make it easier to read. ]

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Fort Sumner N.M.
May 30th, 1868

The Council met according to adjournment. Present the Commissioners on the part of the United States and on the part of the Navajo Tribe the ten chiefs or headmen chosen by the tribe at yesterday's council as their representatives.

General Sherman said:
We are now ready to commence business, we have it all written down on paper and settled and when agreed on, we will have three copies made, one for you, one to keep ourselves and one to send to Washington. We do not consider it complete until we have all signed our names to it. I will now read it to you and any changes that may be considered necessary will be made. The treaty was then read by General Sherman and interpreted to the Indians and approved by them.

Then General Sherman said:
We have marked off a reservation for you, including the Canon de Chelly and part of the valley of the San Juan, it is about (100) one hundred miles square. It runs as far south as Canon Bonito and includes the Chusca mountain but not the Mesa Calabesa you spoke of; that is the reservation we suggest to you, it also includes the Ceresca mountain and the bend of the San Juan river, not the upper waters.

Barboncito said:
We are very well pleased with what you have said and well satisfied with that reservation. It is the very heart of our country and is more than we ever expected to get. We wish now to have Narbono Segundo and Ganado Mucho admitted as members of our council in addition to the ten elected yesterday which was agreed to.

General Sherman then asked:
How would old Fort Defiance suit you as a site for your agency?
Answer--Very Well.

Ganado Macho said:
After what the Commissioners have said, I do not think anybody has anything to say. After we go back to your own country it will be the same as it used to be. We have never found any person heretofore who told us what you now have and when we return to our own country we will return you our best thanks. We understand the good news you have told us, to be right and we like it very much; we have been waiting for a long time to hear the good words you have now told us, about going back to our own country and I will not stop talking until I have told all the tribe the good news.

General Sherman said:
Now we will adjourn until Monday the 1st day of June 1868 at 9 o'clock a.m. when we will meet and sign the treaty.

The Council accordingly adjourned until Monday the Ist
day of June 1868 at 9 o'clock a.m.