Although raiders and plunderers since known to history, the Navaho cannot
be designated a warring tribe, for however courageous they may be, their
lack of political integrity has ever been an obstacle to military
organization. They never have had a tribal chief, properly so called,
while their many leading men could never command more than a small
following. Manuelito, who was acclaimed head-chief in 1855 at the
conference with Governor Meriwether for the purpose of negotiating a
treaty, probably had a greater following than any other Navaho in historic
times, but he could never have relied on a majority of the warriors of his
widely scattered tribe. Although divided into many bands, like the Apache,
the Navaho, unlike them, were not engaged in ceaseless depredation, their
sporadic raids having been conducted by small parties quite independent of
any organized tribal movement. They preferred rather to follow a pastoral
life. With their large population, had they possessed the Apache's
insatiable desire for war and a political organization that permitted
concerted action, the subjugation of the Southwest would have been far
more difficult than it proved to be.
While the statement is made that the Navaho were never a warlike people,
it must not be presumed that they never caused our Government trouble.
Those familiar with the Navaho admire their energy, industry,
independence, and cheerful disposition, and their ability to attack the
problems of life in a way that no other wandering tribe has exercised. On
the other hand, cunning and trickery are among their characteristics, and
they are expert horse-thieves. With the Indian, as well as with civilized
man, honesty may be interpreted in various ways. If one should leave his
camp equipage unprotected in a tent, it would be entirely safe from all
except the renegade, already recognized by his people as a thief. But if
one should turn his back and later find that his horse had been run off by
a Navaho in the hope of being rewarded for returning it, the tribesmen of
the raider would regard him as one whose cunning should be emulated.
[Illustration: Navaho _Hogan_]