Blood and Ice: Intimacy and Factionalism at Fort Defiance Indian Agency, 1887–1888

Abstract

Abstract On a bitterly cold morning on November 19, 1887, six Navajo boys were walking across the school grounds at Fort Defiance Indian Agency when they came across a clot of blood containing a human fetus. A brief investigation by the agent pointed to the unmarried school matron as being the mother of the fetus, a finding that provoked a deep factional dispute among agency employees. Given the explosiveness of the situation, the commissioner of Indian affairs found cause to send an inspector to the remote agency to collect evidence and render a judgement as to whether any individuals were guilty of “undue intimacy.” More than a detective story, this essay utilizes the Fort Defiance story as a window for exploring the problems of agency factionalism and the challenges facing the Office of Indian Affairs in its efforts to monitor and regulate employee behavior in its colonial outposts.