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97-600: Following conflicts between the Navajo and US forces, and scorched earth tactics employed by Kit Carson , which included the burning of tribal crops and livestock, James Henry Carleton issued an order in 1862 that all Navajo would relocate to the Bosque Redondo Reservation near Fort Sumner , in what was then the New Mexico Territory . Those who refused would face "immediate military action". This culminated in

194-469: A federally recognized tribe possessed. The bills excluded any splinter groups, political factions, and any groups formed after December 31, 2002. In 2013 the Bureau was greatly affected by sequestration funding cuts of $ 800 million, which particularly affected the already-underfunded Indian Health Service . The Bureau of Indian Affairs has been sued four times in class action overtime lawsuits brought by

291-476: A future. In their "Long Walk Home", the Navajo became a rare example in US history of native people successfully returning to their ancestral lands after being forcibly removed. Although in some respects the treaty meant that Carleton's Bosque Redondo experiment ended in failure, it succeeded in ending the Navajo wars, nullifying the independence of the Navajo, and rendering them "wards of the government". On June 18, 1868,

388-570: A group of around 500  American Indians with the AIM took over the BIA building, the culmination of their Trail of Broken Treaties walk. They intended to bring attention to American Indian issues, including their demands for renewed negotiation of treaties, enforcement of treaty rights and improvement in living standards. They occupied the Department of Interior headquarters from November 3 to 9, 1972. The BIA

485-406: A landed agricultural existence. Provisions of the treaty included the following: In more specifics, each of the thirteen articles can be summarized by excerpts from their primary document as follows: "The actual cost of removal of the tribe...", "The purchase of fifteen thousand sheep and goats...", "The purchase of five hundred beef cattle and a million pounds of corn...", "The balance, if any, of

582-569: A major class action case related to trust lands, was settled in December 2009. The suit was filed against the U.S. Department of Interior, of which the BIA is a part. A major responsibility has been the management of the Indian trust accounts. This was a class-action lawsuit regarding the federal government's management and accounting of more than 300,000 individual American Indian and Alaska Native trust accounts. A settlement fund totaling $ 3.4 billion

679-665: A military campaign was known as vastatio . Two of the first uses of scorched earth recorded happened in the Gallic Wars . The first was used when the Celtic Helvetii were forced to evacuate their homes in Southern Germany and Switzerland because of incursions of unfriendly Germanic tribes : to add incentive to the march, the Helvetii destroyed everything they could not bring. The second case shows actual military value: during

776-513: A retreat, during which it will necessarily suffer great losses. Wellington's campaign in 1810 and 1811 is a good example. Clausewitz wrote in On War : All that the country yields will be taken for the benefit of the retreating army first, and will be mostly consumed. Nothing remains but wasted villages and towns, fields from which the crops have been gathered, or which are trampled down, empty wells, and muddy brooks. The pursuing army, therefore, from

873-506: A scorched earth campaign that threatened the population with starvation and deported many civilians into slavery in Egypt . The fires of burning villages and fields were clearly visible from Allied ships standing offshore. A British landing party reported that the population of Messinia was close to mass starvation. Ibrahim's scorched-earth policy caused much outrage in Europe , which was one factor for

970-558: A scorched-earth policy and so the Spaniards advanced into a wasteland. Belgrano's army destroyed everything that could provide shelter or be useful to the Royalists. In 1827, Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt led an Ottoman-Egyptian combined force in a campaign to crush Greek revolutionaries in the Peloponnese . In response to Greek guerrilla attacks on his forces in the Peloponnese , Ibrahim launched

1067-759: A scorched-earth policy in the Palatinate , Baden and Württemberg . The French were intent on denying enemy troops local resources and on preventing the Germans from invading France. By 20 December 1688, Louvois had selected all the cities, towns, villages and châteaux intended for destruction. On 2 March 1689, the Count of Tessé torched Heidelberg , and on 8 March, Montclar levelled Mannheim . Oppenheim and Worms were finally destroyed on 31 May, followed by Speyer on 1 June, and Bingen on 4 June. In all, French troops burnt over 20 substantial towns as well as numerous villages. In

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1164-601: A suitably-rugged container had not yet been invented.) The command was obeyed as a result of French plundering and general ill-treatment of civilians in the previous invasions. The civilians would rather destroy anything that had to be left behind, rather than leave it to the French. When the French armies reached the Lines of Torres Vedras on the way to Lisbon, French soldiers reported that the country "seemed to empty ahead of them". Low morale, hunger, disease and indiscipline greatly weakened

1261-483: A treaty. The conditions on the reservation "deeply impressed Sherman" and "appalled Tappan". Tappan likened the plight of the Navajo to that of prisoners of war during the Civil War, imprisoned at Andersonville, Georgia , where conditions deteriorated so dramatically nearly 13,000 had died there. In Sherman's words, "The Navajos had sunk into a condition of absolute poverty and despair." Initially, Sherman proposed moving

1358-524: Is now Jujuy and Salta Provinces to the south. The Jujuy Exodus was conducted by the patriot forces of the Army of the North , which was battling a Royalist army. Belgrano, faced with the prospect of total defeat and territorial loss, ordered all people to pack their necessities, including food and furniture, and to follow him in carriages or on foot together with whatever cattle and beasts of burden that could endure

1455-527: Is one of the oldest federal agencies in the U.S., with roots tracing back to the Committee on Indian Affairs established by Congress in 1775. First headed by Benjamin Franklin , the committee oversaw trade and treaty relations with various indigenous peoples, until the establishment of the Bureau of Indian Affairs by Secretary of War John C. Calhoun in 1824. The BIA gained statutory authority in 1832, and in 1849

1552-440: Is possible by a retreating army to leave nothing of value worth taking, to weaken the attacking force or by an advancing army to fight against unconventional warfare . Scorched earth against non-combatants has been banned under the 1977 Geneva Conventions . It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove, or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as foodstuffs, agricultural areas for

1649-508: Is the deliberate destruction, whether partial or complete, of a fortification without opposition. Sometimes, such as during the Wars of Scottish Independence and the English Civil War , it was done to render the structure unusable as a fortress. In England, adulterine (unauthorised) castles would usually be slighted if captured by a king. During the Wars of Scottish Independence , Robert

1746-436: Is to be distributed to class members. This is to compensate for claims that prior U.S. officials had mismanaged the administration of Indian trust assets. In addition, the settlement establishes a $ 2 billion fund enabling federally recognized tribes to voluntarily buy back and consolidate fractionated land interests. The bureau is currently trying to evolve from a supervisory to an advisory role. However, this has been

1843-617: The American Indian Movement  (AIM) worried the U.S. government; the FBI responded both overtly and covertly (by creating COINTELPRO and other programs) to suppress possible uprisings among native peoples. As a branch of the U.S. government with personnel on Indian reservations , BIA police were involved in political actions such as: The occupation of BIA headquarters in Washington, D.C., in 1972 : On November 3, 1972,

1940-685: The American Revolutionary War . In 1789, the U.S. Congress placed Native American relations within the newly formed War Department. By 1806 the Congress had created a Superintendent of Indian Trade , or " Office of Indian Trade " within the War Department, who was charged with maintaining the United States Government Fur Trade Factory System . The post was held by Thomas L. McKenney from 1816 until

2037-647: The Federation of Indian Service Employees , a union which represents the federal civilian employees of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Indian Education, the assistant secretary of Indian affairs and the Office of the Special Trustee for Indian Affairs. The grievances allege widespread violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and claim tens of millions of dollars in damages. Cobell vs. Salazar ,

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2134-718: The Great Gallic War the Gauls under Vercingetorix planned to lure the Roman armies into Gaul and then trap and obliterate them. They thus ravaged the countryside of what are now the Benelux countries and France. This caused immense problems for the Romans, but the Roman military triumphs over the Gallic alliance showed that the ravaging alone was not to be enough to save Gaul from subjugation by Rome. In

2231-668: The Great Powers ( United Kingdom , the Kingdom of France and the Russian Empire ) decisively intervening against him in the Battle of Navarino . In the American Civil War , Union forces under Philip Sheridan and William Tecumseh Sherman used the policy widely: supplies within the reach of Confederate armies I regarded as much contraband as arms or ordnance stores. Their destruction

2328-511: The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975, the BIA has increasingly emphasized tribal self-determination and peer-to-peer relationships between tribal governments and federal government. Between 1824 and 1977, the BIA was led by a total of 42 commissioners, of whom six were of indigenous descent. Since the creation of the position of Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs in 1977, all thirteen occupants up to

2425-513: The Iroquois decisively during the American Revolutionary War with the Sullivan Expedition . General John Sullivan used a scorched earth campaign by destroying more than 40 Iroquois villages and their stores of winter crops resulting in many deaths by starvation and cold in the following winter. In a letter to Jean-Jacques Dessalines , Toussaint Louverture outlined his plans for defeating

2522-475: The Maratha Empire , Shivaji Maharaj had introduced scorched-earth tactics, known as Ganimi Kava . His forces looted traders and businessmen from Aurangzeb 's Mughal Empire and burnt down his cities, but they were strictly ordered not to rape or hurt the innocent civilians and not to cause any sort of disrespect to any of the religious institutes. Shivaji's son, Sambhaji Maharaj , was detested throughout

2619-520: The Roman Senate also elected to use this method to permanently destroy the Carthaginian capital city, Carthage (near modern-day Tunis ). The buildings were torn down, their stones scattered so not even rubble remained, and the fields were burned. However, the story that they salted the earth is apocryphal . The system of punitive destruction of property and subjugation of people when accompanying

2716-581: The Second Sino-Japanese War . The retreating Chinese forces burned crops and destroyed infrastructure including cities to sabotage the logistics of the advancing Japanese forces. Clausewitz wrote in Principles of War : In defensive just as in offensive warfare, it is necessary to pursue a great aim: the destruction of the enemy army, either by battle or by rendering its subsistence extremely difficult. Thus we shall disorganize it and force it into

2813-716: The Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and then in the Indian Wars of the Great Plains . When General Ulysses Grant 's forces broke through the defenses of Richmond, Virginia , Confederate President Jefferson Davis ordered the destruction of Richmond's military supplies. The resulting fires quickly spread to other buildings, as well as to the Confederate warships docked on the James River . Civilians in panic were forced to escape

2910-610: The U.S. federal government for indigenous tribes . It renders services to roughly 2 million indigenous Americans across 574 federally recognized tribes. The BIA is governed by a director and overseen by the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, who answers to the Secretary of the Interior . The BIA works with tribal governments to help administer law enforcement and justice; promote development in agriculture, infrastructure, and

3007-528: The 150th anniversary were also held at the Bosque Redondo Memorial, established in 2005, which includes a museum where the second surviving copy was displayed. Scorched earth A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy of destroying everything that allows an enemy military force to be able to fight a war, including the deprivation and destruction of water, food, humans, animals, plants and any kind of tools and infrastructure . Its use

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3104-569: The 1831 court case Cherokee Nation v. Georgia . The Supreme Court originally refused to hear the case, because the Cherokee nation was not an independent state and could not litigate in the federal court. It was not until the court case Worcester v. Georgia , when Chief Justice John Marshall allowed Native American tribes to be recognized as "domestic dependent nations." These court cases set precedent for future treaties, as more Native tribes were recognized as domestic and dependent nations. This period

3201-429: The BIA. In particular, problems in enforcing treaties, handling records and trust land incomes were disputed. In 2002 Congress worked with the Bureau to prepare bill S.1392, which established procedures for tribal recognition. A separate bill S. 1393 ensured full and fair participation in decision-making processes at the Bureau via grants. Both bills addressed what services, limitations, obligations, and responsibilities

3298-803: The Bruce adopted a strategy of slighting Scottish castles to prevent them from being occupied by the invading English. A strategy of slighting castles in Palestine was also adopted by the Mamlukes during their wars with the Crusaders . Stephen the Great used scorched earth in the Carpathians against the Ottoman Army in 1475 and 1476. In 1462, a massive Ottoman army, led by Sultan Mehmed II , marched into Wallachia. Vlad

3395-551: The Duke of Pomerania, the imperial general permitted his troops, upon his retreat, to exercise every barbarity on the unfortunate inhabitants of Pomerania, who had already suffered but too severely from his avarice. On pretence of cutting off the resources of the Swedes, the whole country was laid waste and plundered; and often, when the Imperialists were unable any longer to maintain a place, it

3492-481: The French army and compelled the forces to retreat, see also Attrition warfare against Napoleon . In 1812, Emperor Alexander I was able to render Napoleon's invasion of Russia useless by using a scorched-earth policy. As Russians withdrew from the advancing French army, they burned the countryside over which they passed ( and allegedly Moscow ), leaving nothing of value for the pursuing French army. Encountering only desolate and useless land Napoleon's Grande Armée

3589-581: The French in the Haitian Revolution starting in 1791 using scorched-earth: "Do not forget, while waiting for the rainy reason which will rid us of our foes, that we have no other resource than destruction and fire. Bear in mind that the soil bathed with our sweat must not furnish our enemies with the smallest sustenance. Tear up the roads with shot; throw corpses and horses into all the foundations, burn and annihilate everything in order that those who have come to reduce us to slavery may have before their eyes

3686-541: The Impaler retreated to Transylvania . During his departure, he conducted scorched-earth tactics to ward off Mehmed's approach. When the Ottoman forces approached Tirgoviste , they encountered over 20,000 people impaled by the forces of Vlad the Impaler, creating a "forest" of dead or dying bodies on stakes. The atrocious, gut-wrenching sight caused Mehmed to withdraw from battle and send instead Radu, Vlad's brother, to fight Vlad

3783-563: The Impaler. Further use of scorched-earth policies in war was seen during the 16th century in Ireland , where it was used by English commanders such as Walter Devereux and Richard Bingham . The Desmond Rebellions were a famous case in Ireland. Much of the province of Munster was laid waste. The poet Edmund Spenser left an account of it: In those late wars in Munster ; for not withstanding that

3880-641: The Knights, the Maltese militia and a Spanish relief force. In 1630, Field-Marshal General Torquato Conti was in command of the Holy Roman Empire 's forces during the Thirty Years' War . Forced to retreat from the advancing Swedish army of King Gustavus Adolphus , Conti ordered his troops to burn houses, destroy villages and cause as much harm generally to property and people as possible.: To revenge himself upon

3977-562: The Long Walk of 1864, wherein some 8,000 to 10,000 Navajo and Apache , including women and children, were forced to march over 350 miles from their native land near the Four Corners area. According to Carleton's planned assimilation, while at Bosque Redondo the Navajo would "become farmers, would live in villages, and would be instructed in Christianity and other American practices". However

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4074-491: The Mughal Empire for his scorched-earth tactics until he and his men were captured by Muqarrab Khan and his Mughal Army contingent of 25,000. On 11 March 1689, a panel of Mughal qadis indicted and sentenced Sambhaji to death on accusations of casual torture , arson , looting and massacres but most prominently for giving shelter to Sultan Muhammad Akbar, the fourth son of Aurangzeb, who had sought Sambhaji's aid in winning

4171-574: The Mughal throne from the emperor, his father. Sambhaji was particularly condemned for the three days of ravaging committed after the Battle of Burhanpur. During the Great Northern War , Russian Emperor Peter the Great 's forces used scorched-earth tactics to hold back Swedish King Charles XII 's campaign towards Moscow in 1707–1708. In 1779 Congress decided to defeat the four British allied nations of

4268-437: The Navajo elsewhere. What was left was to define the area to which they would return, and negotiations (through the double language barrier of translation from English to Spanish, and then from Spanish to Navajo) were not well understood. He agreed they could go outside the reservation to hunt and trade, but must make their homes and farms within its bounds, the area of which he overestimated by nearly double. A dozen miles south of

4365-473: The Navajo to the Indian Territory , in what would become the US state of Oklahoma . He offered to send a delegation there at the government's expense. Barboncito refused, and the Navajo resolved that they would not plant again at Bosque Redondo. Barboncito recited his grievances, according to one source: the crowding together and dying of his people and their stock, their toil in vain, the cursed ground and

4462-427: The Navajo to the "Fifth Avenue Hotel to board at the cost of the United States." By Sherman's own calculation, Bosque Redondo would cost the government some $ 2,002,277 between 1865 and 1868. Issues of the camp and the fate of those interred there was debated in Congress , and the Doolittle Committee was formed, led by Chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs James Rood Doolittle , in order to in part investigate

4559-430: The Navajo, none ever fully materialized. June 1, 1868 is remembered among the Navajo as Treaty Day, and has since been commemorated, including on June 1, 1999, when thousands gathered at a ceremony held at Northern Arizona University . In May 2018, one of two surviving original copies of the treaty was moved to the Navajo Nation Museum , for display as part of the 150th anniversary of the signing. Ceremonies commemorating

4656-414: The Persian Achaemenid Empire , led by King Darius the Great , during his European Scythian campaign . The Scythians, who were nomadic herders, evaded the Persian invaders and retreated into the depths of the steppes after they had destroyed food supplies and poisoned wells . The Greek general Xenophon recorded in his Anabasis that the withdrawing enemy burnt up the grass and everything else that

4753-454: The Senate Committee on the Indian Affairs made the final settlement in 1850. This settlement, "supported the position of the Cherokee that the cost of maintaining the tribesman during their removal and the years upkeep after their arrival West should be paid by the federal government, and the expense of the removal agents should be paid as well." In 1832 Congress established the position of Commissioner of Indian Affairs . In 1849 Indian Affairs

4850-407: The Vikings successfully. In the Harrying of the North , William the Conqueror 's solution to stop a rebellion in 1069 was the brutal conquest and subjugation of northern England . William's men burnt whole villages from the Humber to Tees and slaughtered the inhabitants. Food stores and livestock were destroyed so that anyone surviving the initial massacre would soon succumb to starvation over

4947-399: The abolition of the factory system in 1822. The government licensed traders to have some control in Indian territories and gain a share of the lucrative trade. The abolition of the factory system left a vacuum within the U.S. government regarding Native American relations. The Bureau of Indian Affairs was formed on March 11, 1824, by Secretary of War John C. Calhoun , who created

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5044-444: The agency as a division within his department, without authorization from the United States Congress . He appointed McKenney as the first head of the office, which went by several names. McKenney preferred to call it the " Indian Office ", whereas the current name was preferred by Calhoun. The Bureau was initially organized by region, with commissions for Superintendents of Indian Affairs granted to prominent citizens in each region of

5141-414: The appropriation to be invested for the maintenance of the Indians", "The removal of this tribe to be made under the supreme control and direction of the military commander of the Territory of New Mexico" The signing of the treaty, as a treaty, and so defined by the US government as "an agreement between two nations", effectively established the sovereignty of the Navajo Nation , although still dependent on

5238-476: The assistant secretary for Indian affairs. The current assistant secretary is Bryan Newland . The BIA oversees 574 federally recognized tribes through four offices: Agencies related to Native Americans originated in 1775, when the Second Continental Congress created a trio of Indian-related agencies. Benjamin Franklin and Patrick Henry were appointed among the early commissioners to negotiate treaties with Native Americans to obtain their neutrality during

5335-498: The carrions, happy where they could find them, yea, and one another soon after, in so much as the very carcasses they spared not to scrape out of their graves; and if they found a plot of water-cresses or shamrocks, there they flocked as to a feast for the time, yet not able long to continue therewithal; that in a short space there were none almost left, and a most populous and plentiful country suddenly left void of man or beast. In early 1565, Grandmaster Jean Parisot de Valette ordered

5432-447: The chair of the Indian Affairs Committee, advising him that "the Navajos were unalterably opposed to any resettlement in Texas, or any place further east, and would not remain at the Bosque Redondo without the use of overwhelming military force." Tappan had been in favor of a return to their homeland from the outset, and Sherman relented, convinced that the land was unfit for white settlement, and that he had failed in his efforts to divert

5529-450: The city as it quickly burned. Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs ( BIA ), also known as Indian Affairs ( IA ), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior . It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to Native Americans and Alaska Natives , and administering and managing over 55,700,000 acres (225,000 km ) of reservations held in trust by

5626-420: The civil war. Muawiyah also sent Sufyan ibn Awf to Iraq to burn the crops and homes of Ali's supporters. During the Viking invasion of England , the Viking chieftain Hastein tried to occupy the ruined Roman fortress of Chester in late summer 893, planning to raid northern Mercia from the refortified fortress. But the Mercians destroyed all crops and livestock in the surrounding countryside and expelled

5723-419: The defector's properties. Belgrano labored to win the support of the populace and later reported that most of the people had willingly followed him without the need for force. The exodus started on 23 August and gathered people from Jujuy and Salta . People travelled south about 250 km and finally arrived at the banks of the Pasaje River, in Tucumán Province in the early hours of 29 August. They applied

5820-411: The economy; enhance tribal governance; manage natural resources; and generally advance the quality of life in tribal communities. Educational services are provided by Bureau of Indian Education —the only other agency under the Assistant Secretary for Indian affairs—while health care is the responsibility of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through its Indian Health Service . The BIA

5917-461: The enemy territory to damage its infrastructure. Robert the Bruce counselled using scorched earth to frustrate the invasion of Scotland by Edward I of England , according to an anonymous 14th-century poem: in strait places gar keep all store, And byrnen ye plainland them before, That they shall pass away in haist What that they find na thing but waist. ... This is the counsel and intent Of gud King Robert's testiment. A slighting

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6014-502: The enthusiasm of a people who prefer their independence to their property; or by the rigor of an arbitrary government, which consults the public safety without submitting to their inclinations the liberty of choice. During the First Fitna (656–661), Muawiyah I sent Busr ibn Abi Artat to a campaign in the Hejaz and Yemen to ravage territory loyal to Muawiyah's opponent Ali ibn Abi Talib . According to Tabari , 30,000 civilians are estimated to have been killed during that campaign of

6111-442: The fears or avarice of the natives. But, on the approach of the Romans, the rich and smiling prospect was instantly blasted. Wherever they moved ... the cattle was driven away; the grass and ripe corn were consumed with fire; and, as soon as the flames had subsided which interrupted the march of Julian, he beheld the melancholy face of a smoking and naked desert. This desperate but effectual method of defence can only be executed by

6208-489: The federal government. However, according to historian Jennifer Nez Denetdale , the treaty was also "the point at which the Navajo people lost their freedom and autonomy, and came under American colonial rule." Denetale continues: In affixing their X-marks to paper, Diné [Navajo] leader both affirmed Diné sovereignty and acknowledged the authority of the United States to limit tribal sovereignty. They did what they had to do in an impossible situation to allow their people to have

6305-443: The group of 8,000, accompanied by some 2,000 sheep and 1,000 horses set off at a pace of 12 miles (19 km) per day. The group arrived too late in the year to their homeland for the planting season, and were "forced to rely on rations, wild foods" and those Navajo who had avoided the long captivity at Bosque Redondo and had maintained their herds. The people would continue to struggle against their poverty for several years. The land

6402-405: The harvesting of all the crops in Malta, including unripened grain, to deprive the Ottomans of any local food supplies since spies had warned of an imminent Ottoman attack. Furthermore, the Knights poisoned all of the wells with bitter herbs and dead animals. The Ottomans arrived on 18 May, and the Great Siege of Malta began. The Ottomans managed to capture one fort but were eventually defeated by

6499-423: The image of the hell which they deserve". During the third Napoleonic invasion of Portugal in 1810, the Portuguese population retreated towards Lisbon and was ordered to destroy all the food supplies the French might capture as well as forage and shelter in a wide belt across the country. (Although effective food-preserving techniques had recently been invented, they were still not fit for military use because

6596-414: The journey. The rest (houses, crops, food stocks and any objects made of iron) was to be burned to deprive the Royalists of resources. The strict scorched-earth policy made him ask on 29 July 1812 the people of Jujuy to "show their heroism " and to join the march of the army under his command "if, as you assure, you want to be free". The punishment for ignoring the order was execution, with the destruction of

6693-416: The limits of the Navajo land may have been. This proved advantageous for both parties. First for the Navajo, who enjoyed the greater freedom of movement allowed by lax enforcement, and also for the government, who could then claim the Navajo failed to respect their agreement, and abrogate their own obligations, saving tens of millions of dollars in subsidies. Of the benefits the government agreed to provide to

6790-430: The many civilian casualties, including the killing of 150 men, Brigadier General Thomas Ewing Jr. , Sherman's brother-in-law, issued US Army General Order No. 11 (1863) to order the near-total evacuation of three-and-a-half counties in western Missouri , south of Kansas City, which were subsequently looted and burned by US Army troops. Under Sherman's overall direction, General Philip Sheridan followed that policy in

6887-427: The newly established Navajo reservation was between 10% and 25% the size of their original lands, and did not include much of the best grazing land, much of which had been occupied by white settlers during the Navajo's internment at Bosque Redondo. The boundaries of the reservation remained nebulous, with as many as half living off the reservation by 1869, and even the army officers in the area were themselves unsure where

6984-516: The present day have been Indigenous, including Bay Mills Indian Community's Bryan Newland, appointed and confirmed to the position in 2021. As of 2020, the majority of BIA employees are American Indian or Alaska Native, the most at any time in the agency's history. Headquartered in the Main Interior Building in Washington, D.C. , the BIA is headed by a bureau director who reports to

7081-450: The production of foodstuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies, and irrigation works, for the specific purpose of denying them for their sustenance value to the civilian population or to the adverse Party, whatever the motive, whether in order to starve out civilians, to cause them to move away, or for any other motive. The term was found in English in a 1937 report on

7178-407: The proposed reservation lay the surveyed route for planned rail construction along the 35th parallel , land which had been promised to the railroad for forty miles on either side. Ultimately, regardless of what may have been put down on the "white man's document", the Navajo thought "only of going home". In total, 29 would make their mark, and the treaty was signed on June 1, 1868. It was ratified by

7275-539: The quartermaster or commissary departments to be issued as if furnished from our Northern depots. But much was destroyed without receipts to owners when it could not be brought within our lines and would otherwise have gone to the support of secession and rebellion. This policy I believe exercised a material influence in hastening the end. General Sherman used that policy during his March to the Sea . Another event, in response to William Quantrill 's raid on Lawrence, Kansas , and

7372-482: The same was a most rich and plentiful country, full of corn and cattle, that you would have thought they could have been able to stand long, yet ere one year and a half they were brought to such wretchedness, as that any stony heart would have rued the same. Out of every corner of the wood and glens they came creeping forth upon their hands, for their legs could not bear them; they looked Anatomies [of] death, they spoke like ghosts, crying out of their graves; they did eat of

7469-479: The scorched-earth policy came into effect again because even though some large supply dumps had been established on the advance, the route between them had both been scorched and marched over once already. Thus, the French army starved as it marched along the resource-depleted invasion route. In August 1812, Argentine General Manuel Belgrano led the Jujuy Exodus , a massive forced displacement of people from what

7566-501: The senate on June 24, 1868, and signed by President Andrew Johnson on August 12. The treaty was divided into 13 articles. Much of the substance was modeled after the Treaty of Fort Laramie crafted for the Sioux earlier that year, and similar to many other such treaties, Bosque Redondo included a number of so-called civilization or assimilation provisions, designed to incentivize a transition to

7663-590: The shame of going to the commissary for food, the grubbing of mesquite roots for fuel and carrying them on one's back for miles and miles, the Comanches' murderous raids." The Indian Bureau agent impressed upon the commissioners, that the Navajo were resolute that they should not remain at Bosque Redondo, and although they had remained peaceable thus far, "if not permitted to return to their own country, would leave anyway, committing depredations as they went." Sherman telegraphed to Senator John B. Henderson , who had assumed

7760-496: The site, personally chosen by Carleton, proved difficult and expensive to maintain, and the conditions for those interned there deplorable. Farming was impractical in the poor quality soil, with inadequate irrigation, and the unpredictable and occasionally destructive waters of the Pecos River . What crops grew were destroyed by worms and floods. Many died of disease and starvation. According to one estimate, from March to December 1865,

7857-569: The southern district selected by us, where they may soon be made self- supporting." After negotiating the Second Treaty of Fort Laramie , peace commissioners William Tecumseh Sherman along with Samuel F. Tappan departed to treat with the Navajo and bring an end to their current arrangement. There they met with Barboncito as tribal representative along with 10 headsmen. Sherman and Tappan arrived at Fort Sumner on May 28, 1868, with full authority granted by Congress earlier that year to negotiate

7954-402: The southern, midwestern and western United States. These superindenents were authorized to negotiate with tribes and oversaw Indian agents in their assigned region. The bureau was eventually reorganized in 1878, with superintendencies removed. These were eventually replaced with regional offices, which continue today. The BIA's goal to protect domestic and dependent nations, was reaffirmed by

8051-507: The squalid conditions and provide recommendations to Congress. Eventually in 1867, Carleton was removed from command. The newly formed Indian Peace Commission , established to resolve the pressing issues of the western tribes, made their official report in January of the following year and recommended their course of action concerning the Navajo, that "a treaty be made with them, or their consent in some way [be] obtained, to remove at an early day to

8148-466: The total population dropped from approximately 9,000 to some 6,000. Meanwhile, Bosque Redondo was incurring great expense to the government to maintain. In 1865 the cost of feeding and guarding the Navajo reached some $ 1,250,000. General William T. Sherman wrote to General James Carleton that the government "cannot and will not maintain" this "extravagant system of expendature," and joked to General John A. Rawlins , that they would be better off sending

8245-611: The very first day, has frequently to contend with the most pressing wants. Notable historic examples of successful scorched-earth tactics include the failed Swedish , French and German invasion of Russia , Sherman's march to the sea during the American Civil War , Kit Carson 's campaign during the Navajo Wars in 1863 and Lord Kitchener 's methods in the Anglo-Boer War . The Scythians used scorched-earth methods against

8342-529: The winter. The destruction is depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry . The survivors were reduced to cannibalism , with one report stating that the skulls of the dead were cracked open so that their brains could be eaten. Between 100,000 and 150,000 perished, and the area took centuries to recover from the damage. During the Hundred Years' War , both the English and the French conducted chevauchée raids over

8439-518: The year CE 363, the Emperor Julian 's invasion of Persia was turned back by a scorched-earth policy: The extensive region that lies between the River Tigris and the mountains of Media ...was in a very improved state of cultivation. Julian might expect, that a conqueror, who possessed the two forcible instruments of persuasion, steel and gold, would easily procure a plentiful subsistence from

8536-401: Was accomplished without bloodshed and tended to the same result as the destruction of armies. I continued this policy to the close of the war. Promiscuous pillaging, however, was discouraged and punished. Instructions were always given to take provisions and forage under the direction of commissioned officers who should give receipts to owners, if at home, and turn the property over to officers of

8633-416: Was designed by its agents to decrease the power of American Indian leaders. The bureau was renamed from Office of Indian Affairs to Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1947. With the rise of American Indian activism in the 1960s and 1970s and increasing demands for enforcement of treaty rights and sovereignty, the 1970s were a particularly turbulent period of BIA history. The rise of activist groups such as

8730-527: Was encompassed by westward expansion and the removal of Native Nations. In 1833 Georgians fought for the removal of the Cherokee Nation from the state of Georgia. Despite the rulings of Worcester v. Georgia, President Jackson and John C. Calhoun created a plan for removal. The removal of the Cherokee Nation occurred in 1838 and was accompanied by the Treaty of 1846. When reparations from the treaty were unfulfilled,

8827-587: Was good for use in front of the Ten Thousand . During the Second Punic War in 218–202 BCE , both Carthaginians and Romans used the method selectively during Hannibal's invasion of Italy . After the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene , Quintus Fabius Maximus instructed those living in the path of the invading Carthaginians to burn their houses and grain. After the end of the Third Punic War in 146 BCE,

8924-530: Was implicated in supporting controversial tribal presidents, notably Dick Wilson , who was charged with being authoritarian; using tribal funds for a private paramilitary force, the Guardians of the Oglala Nation (or "GOON squad"), which he employed against opponents; intimidation of voters in the 1974 election; misappropriation of funds, and other misdeeds. Many native peoples continue to oppose policies of

9021-626: Was laid in ashes, in order to leave the enemy nothing but ruins. In 1688, France attacked the German Electoral Palatinate . The German states responded by forming an alliance and assembling a sizeable armed force to push the French out of Germany. The French had not prepared for such an eventuality. Realising that the war in Germany was not going to end quickly and that the war would not be a brief and decisive parade of French glory, Louis XIV and War Minister Marquis de Louvois resolved upon

9118-507: Was prevented from using its usual doctrine of living off the lands that it conquered. Pushing relentlessly on despite dwindling numbers, the Grand Army met with disaster as the invasion progressed. Napoleon's army arrived in a virtually-abandoned Moscow , which was a tattered starving shell of its former self, largely because of scorched-earth tactics by the retreating Russians. Having conquered essentially nothing, Napoleon's troops retreated, but

9215-424: Was to train students in the proper behavior according to prevailing standards of "civilization." That way they could assimilate into American society and not be permanently trapped in reservations. The boarding schools prohibited students from using their indigenous languages, practices, and cultures. Another force for assimilation and Euro-American control was the Bureau of Indian Affairs tribal police force. This

9312-479: Was transferred to the newly created Department of the Interior. Until the formal adoption of its current name in 1947, the BIA was variably known as the Indian office, the Indian bureau, the Indian department, and the Indian Service. The BIA's mission and mandate historically reflected the U.S. government's prevailing policy of forced assimilation of native peoples and the annexation of their land; beginning with

9409-512: Was transferred to the newly established U.S. Department of the Interior. In 1869, Ely Samuel Parker was the first Native American to be appointed as commissioner of Indian affairs. One of the most controversial policies of the Bureau of Indian Affairs was the late 19th to early 20th century decision to educate native children in separate boarding schools , such as the Carlisle Indian Industrial School . The goal

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