How the West Was Lost

This episode relives the Long Walk of 2,400 Navajos from their home in Canyon de Chelly to the Bosque Redondo in Eastern New Mexico. It was 1864 when General James H. Carleton assigned Colonel Kit Carson to force the Navajos on the walk. During the trek, 200 Navajos died and the rest suffered horribly. It was one example of the European settlers forcibly removing Native Americans from their land. In 1868 Navajo leaders journeyed to Washington and convinced President Andrew Johnson to let their people go home and leave the disease and insect-ridden poverty of the Bosque Redondo. This episode includes interviews with direct descendants of the Navajo leaders.

This episode traces the rise and fall of the Iroquois confederation. Long before the Europeans arrived, Iroquois nations engaged in bloody conflicts among themselves. Finally, Hiawatha persuaded the Mohawk, Oneida, Cayugas, Onondaga and Senecas to establish a "Great Peace" which began the confederation. The arrival of white men rekindled ancient rivalries and the fur trade lead to the "Beaver Wars" in the mid 1600s. This devastated the Iroquois through warfare, as well as disease. Next, French missionaries attracted some Iroquois with their talk of baptism and peace. Others, however considered the missionaries evil. This was the beginning of the break in the great confederation.