The convoluted name sums up the tragic history of this bleak, windswept spot, beside the Pecos River six miles southeast of town. Fort Sumner was built in 1862 to guard the Bosque Redondo Reservation, a prison to more than 10,000 Navajos forced from their homeland on the Long Walk, plus captured Mescalero Apaches. Over 2000 Navajos died before an 1868 treaty authorized their return home. A modern museum tells the story, while a trail loops through the scant remains.
