declared, “We do not want to go to the left or
to the right, but straight back to our country.”
At length Sherman was persuaded by these
entreaties, and he allowed the tribe to reside
in a greatly reduced portion of its native land.
By 1868, a new treaty was signed, and the ex-
iles resettled on familiar territory surrounded
by the four sacred mountains. Happily, they
remain situated there to present times. Bar-
boncito subsequently renounced violence
and resumed his role as the tribe’s religious
singer. He died at Canyon de Chelly, his place
of birth, on March 16, 1871, a hero to his peo-
ple and widely respected by his American
adversaries.
Bibliography
Bailey, Lynn R. The Long Walk: A History of the Navajo
Wars, 1846–68. Los Angeles: Westerhole Press,
1964; Dunlay, Thomas W.Kit Carson and the Indi-
ans.Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000;
Frink, Maurice. Fort Defiance and the Navajos.
Boulder: Pruett Press, 1968; Iverson, Peter. Navajo
Nation. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico
Press, 1981; Kelly, Lawrence C. Navajo Roundup:
Selected Correspondence of Kit Carson’s Expedi-
tion Against the Navajo, 1863–1865. Boulder:
Pruett Press, 1970; Kessell, John L. “General Sher-
man and the Navajo Treaty of 1868: A Basic and Ex-
pedient Misunderstanding.” Western Historical
Quarterly12 (1981): 251–272; McNitt, Frank. Navajo
Wars: Military Campaigns, Slave Raids, and
Reprisals.Albuquerque: University of New Mexico
Press, 1972; Moore, William H. Chiefs, Agents, and
Soldiers: Conflict on the Navajo Frontier,
1866–1882.Albuquerque: University of New Mexico
Press, 1994; Roberts, David. “The Long Walk to the
Bosque Redondo.” Smithsonian 28, no. 9 (1997):
46–52, 54, 56–57; Trafzer, Clifford E. The Kit Carson
Campaign: The Last Great Navajo War.Norman:
University of Oklahoma Press, 1982.BARCLAY, ROBERTHERIOT
Barclay, Robert Heriot
(September 18, 1796–May 8, 1837)
English Naval Officer
T
he one-armed Barclay was a capable
veteran of the Napoleonic Wars who
commanded the British naval forces on
Lake Erie during the War of 1812. Although
lacking guns, supplies, and manpower, he
came close to defeating a squadron under
Capt. Oliver Hazard Perry.
Robert Heriot Barclay was born in Kettle
Manse, Fifeshire, Scotland, on September
18, 1796, the son of a minister. He joined the
Royal Navy in 1798, aged only 11 years, and
by 1805 functioned as a midshipman aboard
Adm. Horatio Nelson’s flagship HMS Vic-
tory.In February of that year Barclay re-
ceived a promotion to acting lieutenant on
board HMS Swiftsure,and in this capacity
he fought at the dramatic victory of Trafal-
gar on October 21, 1805. After the battle, his
vessel was assigned to take the captured
French warship Redoubtableinto tow, and
during a severe gale his actions rescued 170
prisoners before that vessel sank in heavy
seas. Up through 1808 Barclay served with
distinction on a succession of warships, ris-
ing to the rank of second lieutenant. In Feb-
ruary 1809, while attacking a French convoy,
he sustained injuries that resulted in the loss
of his left arm. This may have dissuaded a
less determined man from further service,
but Barclay returned to active duty within a
year, and between 1810 and 1812 he com-
pleted several cruises while attached to the
North American Station at Halifax, Nova
Scotia.