Long Walk of the Navajos is a tale of misery and resiliency

One hundred sixty years ago this month, the first large group of emaciated Navajos began trekking eastward from their homeland to a new reservation. It became known as the Long Walk. Escorted by the U.S. Army, the Navajos — Diné, as they call themselves — embarked upon a nearly 400-mile forced march to Bosque Redondo, near Fort Sumner in eastern New Mexico. There they lived — and thousands died — for the next four years. Approximately 2,400 Native men, women and children left Fort Defiance, Ariz., in early March 1864,...