historical overview of apache leader geronimo the santa fean magazine vol. 20, no. 1 jan-feb. 1992

8/14/2019 Historical Overview Of Apache Leader Geronimo THE SANTA FEAN MAGAZINE Vol. 20, No. 1 Jan-Feb. 1992

1/3

GERONIMOStory, Charles Bennett

Readers of the Santa Fe daily New Mexicanforgot the sultry days of early September when theyread the headline proclaiming the surrender ofChiricahua Apache leader Geronimo. The surren-der had taken place September 5, 1886, at SkeletonCanyon, a rugged, age-old Apache raiding routebetween old Mexico and the Arizona mountains sev-eral miles west of the New Mexico-Arizona bound-ary. Rumors that Geronimo had surrendered hadbeen circulating in Santa Fe during the previousweek. But a telegram to headquarters in Santa Fefrom General Bradley, commander of the MilitaryDistrict of New Mexico, who at the time was direct-ing troops in southwestern New Mexico againstGeronimo, confirmed the surrender. With Geroni-mo when he surrendered were Chief Naiche, theson of the famous chief Cochise; sixteen other war-riors; fourteen women; and six children.It had taken a force of 5000 U.S. troops and4000 Mexican soldiers to force the surrender ofGeronimo and his small band, who were outnum-bered more than 500 to 1 (ratio of fighting effec-tives). It had also taken an international treatybetween the United Sates and Mexico and two of themost prominent generals experienced in Indianwarfare. Other advantages utilized by the federalgovernment included the most modern militaryequipment, steam, electricity, the telegraph, therailroad, the heliograph (a device consisting of mir-rors mounted on a tripod with which operatorscould flash messages from mountaintops 25 to 30miles away), and Apache Indian scouts and trackers.Geronimo carried on his last campaign successfullyfor five months against these odds. His final sur-render involved negotiations more intricate andtime consuming that those following Burgoyne'ssurrender of his entire army during the AmericanRevolution, and after Lee's capitulation at Appo-mattox ending the U.S. Civil War. The terms ofpeace reached with Geronimo specified that he andhis band surrendered "as prisoners of war to anarmy in the field," effectively removing them fromthe jurisdiction of civil authorities.Following the surrender, Geronimo, his 37

Geronimo, ca. 1885s photo-C,S. Flycourtesy, Museum ofNew Mexico. Neg. 14272

THE SANTA FEAN MAGAZINE, January-Fbruary

THE SANTA FEAN MAGAZINvor 20 No. 1 JAN_FEB. 199ffi''.*'*

rffi'ff;-l\


2/3

1 HE SA.NTq FEA,\' ITIAGAZ l\[, January-February | 992. | 6followers, and 394 of his tribesmen were sent todetention in Florida. Later, Geronimo's people,except for those who had died of tuberculosis andother diseases or the children who had been sent tothe Indian School at Carlisle, Pennsylvania werekept in captivity for more than 20 years in Florida,Alabarna, and finally Oklahoma. But the Chiric-ahuas never gave up hope of returninS to theirsouthwestern mountains.

Geronimo was a remarkable individual whoseimpact on history was significant. He is credited asthe last American Indian to surrender formally tothe United States Government. Geronimo gave hisown account of his life during his 23 years of cap-tivity. Firsthand narratives of Apache warriors whofollowecl him in battle also exist, as well as reminis-cences of men and women who knew him personal-ly. Thus, it is possible to separate the man from thefictional paragon.Geronimo was not considered a "chief"among his people, but he was a medicine man and aleader. His band was the southernmost of the Chir-icahua Apaches. He was born in the late 1820s inthe area of the headwaters of the Gila River in whatis today the Gila Wilderness of the Gila NationalForest in southwestern New Mexico. His youth wasspent on both sides of the border during a time ofincreasing conflict between his people and non-Indians. both Americans and Mexicans. A turnin$point in Geronimo's life occurred when Mexicansolcliers surprise attacked a group of Chiricahuaswho were trading at Janos, Chihuahua. Geronimo'smother, wife, and his three small children werekilled. As a consequence of this experience hereceived the gift of the "Power," which to the Chir-icahuas was the life force of the universe, which dis-tinguished him as a medicine man.The western Apache tribes, includin$ theChiricahuas, ranged throughout southwestern NewMexico, southeastern Arizona, and the northernstates of Mexico. They were superb warriors.unusually adept at guerrilla lvarfare, perfectlyattuned to the arid environment of the Southwest,anrl highly intelligent and resourceful people toboot. In the perception of the federal $overnment,the western Apache were an extremely difficult peo-ple to bring under control.FollolvinS the unsuccessful Confederate cam-paign in New Mexico Territory in 1862, New Mexicofederal and territorial officials turned their atten-tion to military action agiainst hostile Apache andNavajo Indians. In Santa Fe, Governor Henrl Con-nelly; Superintendent of New Mexico Indian AffairsJames Collins; and the commander of the MilitaryDepartment of New Mexico, General James Car-leton, devised a strate$y to remove these semi-nomadic Indians who, feeling increasin$ pressuresof continued intrusion into their land, had steppedup their raids on livestock herds and aSainst set-tlers and prospectors. One by one these Indian

groups were defeated and placed on reservattoSeveral forts were built or regarrisoned beginnin 1862 in order that troops could be stationedsouthern New Mexico to provide protection frhostile Indians.From his headquarters in Santa Fe GenCarleton ordered militia colonel Christopher "KCarson to gather the Mescalero Apaches and Najos on a reser.,ration established on the Pecos Rin New Mexico at a place called Bosque RedonBy 1864 this task was accomplished' On his retto Santa Fe, Carson received a hero's rvelcome.removing people from their native lands, conving them to Christianity, and turning themfarmers proved disastrous. By the summer of 1the reseruation was dissolved, and the Navajos wallorved to return to their homeland'Mescaleros had already fled Bosqud Redond1865. Meanwhile, the western Apache tribes tterrorizing southwestern New Mexico, Arizona,northern Mexico. Geronimo's name seems firshave come to public notice in 1876, when the revation the government had established specificfor the bands of the Chiricahuas- their traditihomeland- was dissolved. The dissolutionprompted by two incidents: several non-lndiansbeen killed after they illegally sold whiskey to sChiricahuas; and a factional fight between dispaelements within the Chiricahua tribe had resuin the deaths of seven warriors. As a consequeof these incidents, and other alleged depredaover the course of years, the giovernment decidemove the entire Chiricahua Apache Tribe to theCarlos Apache Resen'ration in east central ArtzAt the conference where the Chiricahua werethey must leave their homeland Geronimo seeto be one of the principal leaders.Although the majority of the Chiricahabout 325 people, went to San Carlos, Geroniand another band fled. He reappeared six weeker at another reservation set aside for the Apaat Warm Springs, New Mexico about 40 mnorthwest of present Truth or Consequences.failure to heed the order to vacate his homelanthe San Carlos reservation branded Gerontrenegiade in the eyes of the federal government.The next year the Commissioner of InAffairs in Washington ordered Geronimo andrenegades living on the Warm Springs Reservto be arrested, removed to San Carlos, and heconfinement for murder and robbery. In all pbility the Chiricahuas had continued their cuof raiding in northern Mexico and returnin$ tWarm Springs Reservation with stolen hoSubsequently, on April 21, 7877, Geronimolured to reservation headquarters for a couarrested, shackled, and with his band marchSan Carlos, where preparations were made tohim and some others. But because of a govern


3/3

snafu Geronimo was released.Life at the San Carlos Reservation did notagree with the Chiricahuas. Far from their home-land, starving, poorly clothed, and dying fromsmallpox and ill from malaria, the Chiricahuasbegan saving their flour ration and other supplies,and stockpiling guns and ammunition. Geronimoand a group of Chiricahuas left the San Carlosreservation in April 1878, and headed for Mexico.After attacking a wagon train, killing the driversand seizing food and ammunition, and fighting offan attack by U.S. troops, Geronimo and his bandreached the Sierra l4adre of Mexico, where theyjoined another renegade band of Chiricahuas.Geronimo and his band remained at large formore than a year, when, possibly because he wasconcerned that his band would be held accountablefor raiding by other Apache groups, he returned tothe San Carlos Reservation. He remained incon-spicuous there until 1881, when his and otherApache bands again broke out. In 1883 he was per-suaded by General George Crook to surrender,although he did not actually give himself up untilFebruary 1884- and then under his own terms.He again broke out from the reservation in May1885; and in March 1886 General Crook againeffected a conditional surrender. En route to FortBowie, Arizona, the agreed upon place of surrender,

THE S[''JTA FEAI{ MAGAZINEthe band encountered an Anglo whiskey peddler,giot drunk, and fled to the mountains once more.At last, on September 3, 1886, General NelsonMiles presided at the final and unconditional sur-render of Geronimo, although the warrior had notunderstood the "unconditional" part of the terms.He and the other members of his band were sent toexile and prison in Florida. There and at Fort Sill,Oklahoma, five years later, Geronimo earned moneyby selling pictures of himself and small bows andarrows with his name on them. He came to beregarded as a public attraction and was a popularfeature at the 1898 Trans-Mississippi InternationalExposition in Omaha, the Pan-American Expositionin Buffalo in 1901, and the St. Louis World's Fair in1904. He died in 1909 at Fort Sill on the federalpayroll as an army scout.The opening of the Trans-Mississippi West tosettlement occurred at the expense of the AmerrcanIndians as the European-based cultures spreadacross the West from the south and east. As a prod-uct of his time, the Indian Wars period of U.S. his-tory- the 25 years following the U.S. Civil War-Geronimo emerges as perhaps the most defiantIndian leader to refuse to relinquish his homelandwithout a fight, or to submit to the federal govern-ment's inconsistent policies and false treaties. Hewas the proud victim of a changing time. 1

January-February 1992

historical overview of apache leader geronimo the santa fean magazine vol. 20, no. 1 jan-feb. 1992

Documents