# Second Battle of Fort Defiance

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The **Battle of Fort Defiance** was a military engagement fought during the [United States](/source/United_States) period of the [Navajo Wars](/source/Navajo_Wars). On April 29, 1860,[3] about 1,000 [Navajo](/source/Navajo_people) [warriors](/source/Warrior) assaulted the [United States Army](/source/United_States_Army) [garrison](/source/Garrison) of [Fort Defiance](/source/Fort_Defiance,_Arizona) in [New Mexico Territory](/source/New_Mexico_Territory),[1][4] now within present day [Arizona](/source/Arizona). The Navajo achieved a surprise attack but was ultimately repulsed by 150 American defenders of the [3rd Infantry](/source/3rd_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States)) under [Captain](/source/Captain_(land)) [Oliver L. Shepherd](/source/Oliver_L._Shepherd). The Americans formed in the center of the buildings and withstood the Navajo attack. The natives retreated with a loss of around seven dead and several wounded while the Americans suffered four men killed in action and three wounded.

The second Navajo assault on Fort Defiance was the only instance of hostile natives attacking a heavily garrisoned fort subsequent to occupation during the [Mexican–American War](/source/Mexican%E2%80%93American_War).[3] It was one of the largest battles fought within the borders of Arizona.[citation needed] It was also one of the reasons why the [militia](/source/Militia) commander [Lieutenant Colonel](/source/Lieutenant_Colonel) [Manuel Antonio Chaves](/source/Manuel_Antonio_Chaves) ordered an unauthorized campaign into Navajo territory in 1860 and 1861.[citation needed]

## See also

- [Apache Wars](/source/Apache_Wars)
- [American Indian Wars](/source/American_Indian_Wars)

## References

1. [*The Book of the Navajo*](https://books.google.com/books?id=Z8e2mfFJa-4C&pg=PA333) Raymond Friday Locke, Mankind Publishing Company, Los Angeles, 1992, page 333. Retrieved February 6, 2022.

1. [*The Leading Facts of New Mexican History, Volume 2*](https://books.google.com/books?id=VrsUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA316) Ralph Emerson Twitchell, Torch Press, 1912, page 316. Retrieved February 6, 2022.

1. ["The Regular Army Before the Civil War 1845 - 1860"](https://web.archive.org/web/20141023015919/http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/075/75-1/CMH_Pub_75-1.pdf) by Clayton R. Newell, Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington, D.C., 201, page 31. Retrieved February 6, 2022.

- McNitt, Frank. *Navajo Wars*. Univ. New Mexico, 1972.
- Lavender, David. *The Rockies*, Revised Edition. New York: Harper & Row, 1975.
- Limerick, Patricia Nelson. *The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West*. New York: W.W. Norton, 1987.
- Locke, Raymond Friday. *The Book of the Navajo*. Los Angeles: Mankind Publishing Company, 1992.

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