Copy of 1868 treaty donated to Navajo Nation

The Navajo Nation is working toward acquiring one of three copies of the 1868 treaty between the tribe and the United States. The treaty was signed on June 1, 1868, and is significant because it acknowledges tribal sovereignty and emancipated Navajos who were forcibly removed for internment at Bosque Redondo in eastern New Mexico. This version of the treaty was discovered last year by the great-grandniece of Samuel F. Tappan, an Indian peace commissioner who assisted in the negotiation process for the treaty. Clare Weaver is Tappan’s descendant and is donating the item to the tribe after finding it in the attic of her home in Manchester, Massachusetts. While Tappan kept the peace commission’s copy, the version signed by federal representatives and Navajo leaders is housed at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C. That copy was lent to the Navajo Nation and was the focus of an exhibit last year at the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, Arizona. The third version was given to Navajo leader Barboncito for the tribe, but its location is unknown...MORE