History of Geronimo

In Mesilla, New Mexico this T shirt hangs in the window of a shop full of Native American-made items for sale to tourists. C. S. Fly took the photo in 1886 as Geronimo and his men surrendered to General Crook. The second man from the left was Geronimo's son, Chappo. Geronimo is the man at the right. Another may be his brother. In the photo Geronimo is holding an 1873 Springfield Infantry Rifle, its ram-rod and cleaning stick. Perico (or Porico) was Geronimo's brother. Chihuahua is apparently a nickname for another Apache, perhaps Yanozha or his brother, Fun.

A lot about Geronimo is not known. His autobiography is short, leaving out details we might be interested in, but rich in details important to him. One of the unanswered questions is how he came to be called "Geronimo." My favorite version of the story is that Mexican warriors would yell appeals to their Saint Jerome and the man took that cry as his battle name.

We do know he was born in the Chircahua Mountains of Arizona in 1829. There were several small bands of Apaches calling these mountains home. It's an arid environment, requiring large areas to support relatively few people. The Apache did not recognize nor respect any borders between the US and Mexico. This was their hereditary homeland and had never known fences. Geronimo was a shaman or medicine man for his tribe. He did not even carry weapons the day his life changed forever.

Geronimo said, in his autobiography, "Late one afternoon when returning from town we were met by a few women and children who told us that Mexican troops from some other town had attacked our camp, killed all the warriors of the guard, captured all our ponies, secured our arms, destroyed our supplies, and killed many of our women and children... when all were counted, I found that my aged mother, my young wife, and my three small children were among the slain." The tribe had been peacefully camped near a town in Mexico, most of the men in town, trading.

Geronimo and his tribesmen went to war trying to protect their people and their homelands. They were the enemies of the Mexican Army and then the US Army. By the time Geronimo and his men were finally captured and subdued they were the last of the Native bands fighting the White Man.

Geronimo said, "We are vanishing from the earth, yet I cannot think we are useless or Usen would not have created us. He created all tribes of men and certainly had a righteous purpose in creating each."

Geronimo lived to 83, the last years in a camp at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. The US soldiers called it a reservation, Geronimo called it a prisoner of war camp. He had been lied to, mistreated, moved from reservation to reservation. He had been turned into a tourist attraction in Florida, bringing in as many as 459 tourists in a single day. He spent years at hard labor finally appealing to General Miles to be excused from the forced labor due to his age. He had been a prisoner for the last 23 years of his life and died of pneumonia. Many members of his family, his wives, his children and his friends had died at the hands of the European descendants. He last wish was to return to his homeland in Arizona but he died in Oklahoma.

There are even legends about his remains. One legend has it that his body was dug up the night after it was buried and that his remains were returned to the Chiracahua Mountains in Arizona, the land that he loved so well. Legend is that his favorite war pony occupies his grave in Ft. Sill. In a different legend, the Yale Skull and Bones Society (including Prescott Bush, grandfather of George W.) stole the skull of Geronimo from his grave and still hold it as a priceless treasure. Unless the Ivy Leaguers kiss a horse's skull, all the legends can't be true.

Geronimo lives on legend. The historic homelands of his people carry names like Chiricahua and Huachuca or Tombstone and Douglas, but the people who lived there are gone. Retirees from the Northern climes spend their winters in RV parks where Apache men bled and died for their families, their way of life. For their homeland security. Today massive border fences are being built across the lands of Geronimo, Chocise, and Mangus-Colorado.

Sources and further reading:

http://www.nativeamericans.com/Geronimo.htm

http://www.americanindians.com/Geronimo.htm

http://americanhistory.about.com/od/nativeamericans/a/geronimo.htm

http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/army/p/geronimo.htm

http://skullandcrossbones.org/articles/skullandbones.htm

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-geronimophotos.html

http://www.ani-kutani.com/nativeamericanfacts/unfortunately_these_old_photogra.htm