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| Date | October 16, 1940 – May 21, 1941 |
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| Location | Pima County, Arizona, United States |
The Machita incident refers to events in southern Arizona between October 1940 and May 1941 related to the resistance by traditional O'odham chief and medicine man Pia Machita (O'odham: Pi ’Am Maccuḍḍam) to the United States draft of Native American men in the World War II era. Because the government feared his influence among Native American peoples, tribal and federal forces attempted to arrest Machita in October for this resistance.
During a physical altercation, his people gained his release, and he and about 25 followers fled into the desert. They evaded capture until May 17, 1941,when they were found at their village.[1] Machita and two followers were originally sentenced to 18 months in a federal prison, but their sentences were reduced by the intervention of tribal chairman Peter Blaine. A late 20th-century historian described this as the "most dramatic of Indian resistance" efforts to the United States during the World War II-era.[2]
- ^ Flaccus, Elmer (1981). "Arizona's Last Great Indian War: The Saga of Pia Machita". The Journal of Arizona History. 22.
- ^ Bernstein, Alison R. (1999). American Indians and World War II: Toward a New Era in Indian Affairs. University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 27–28. ISBN 978-0806131849.