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History
Story
of the Yavapai-Apache Exodus Day
On February
27, 1875, the United States Army, acting on an Executive Order from
the President, transferred an estimated 1,500 Yavapai and Dilzhe’e
Apache from the Rio Verde Indian Reserve 180 miles away to the Indian
Agency at San Carlos. The forced removal of the indigenous people
of the Verde Valley resulted in several hundred lives lost and the
loss of several thousand acres of treaty lands promised to the Yavapai-Apache
by the United States government.
The People were forced to march, under considerable duress, through
the winter-flooded rivers, mountainous terrain, and harsh weather
under the direction of Indian Commissioner L.E. Dudley and U.S.
Army troops. Rather than use the wagon roads that could be used
to carry supplies and transport the sick and the elderly, Dudley
made the people, young and old, walk through the mountain passes
and narrow canyon trails get to San Carlos.
The Yavapai and Dilzhe’e Apache remained in internment at
San Carlos for 25 years. When finally released, only about 200 actually
made it back to their homeland in the Verde Valley. What they found
when they returned was that their land was taken over by Anglo settlers
and that there was no longer a place reserved for the Yavapai-Apache
people in their own homeland.
The
Yavapai-Apache people have come a long way since that fateful day
in 1875. The entire event, now known as Exodus Day, is reenacted
each year by the Yavapai-Apache Nation in the 1875 Removal –
1900 Return commemoration. Last February marked the 129th anniversary
of Exodus Day, and the Nation honored it with a weekend full of
ceremony, traditional song and dancing, food, and other activities
for the family and general public.
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