Man Behind the Myth - Geronimo

Good day everyone. This is your captain speaking. Today we are going to delve into the history of one of the most renowned Native American leaders to ever grace the annals of history. A man of peerless cunning and martial skill. So saddle up and prepare to ride because today we're taking a look at Geronimo to discover the man behind the myth. Before we begin I'd like to apologize for butchering any Native American words or names. That said, let's begin. Geronimo was born into the Benoncohe band of the Emdendaje Apache under the name Coyale on June 16, 1829 in Members, New Mexico, which is now known as Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora or simply Sonora, Mexico. His father was a son of Mako, the former chief of the Benoncohe Apache. He also had three brothers and four sisters. At the time of his birth and during his youth, the Apache and Comanche tribes were both deeply embroiled in hostilities with Mexico with the Apache-Mexican War spanning almost 300 years from the 1600s to the early 1900s. His father died when Geronimo was still young and following this Geronimo's mother took him to live with the Chiende where he would spend the remainder of his childhood years. When he was 17 years old he married the first of his nine wives, a Nedney Chiricahua Apache woman named Alope who would go on to bury him three children. On the 5th of March 1851 when Geronimo was just shy of 22 years old his wife, children, and mother were all killed when a company of 400 Mexican soldiers led by Colonel Jose Maria Carrasco attacked his camp outside of Janos Chihuahua while he and the men of the tribe were in town trading. Carrasco's account of the event is that he followed the Apache to Janos from Sonora after the tribe had conducted a raid where they killed the local Mexican militia and stole a large number of livestock. Recalling the event later in life Geronimo said this, quote, 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 of our ponies, secured our arms, destroyed our supplies, and killed many of our women and children. Quickly we separated concealing ourselves as best we could until nightfall when we assembled at our appointed place of rendezvous, a thicket by the river. Silently we stole in one by one. Sentinels were in place and when all were counted I found that my aged mother, my young wife, and my three small children were among the slain, end quote. The loss of his entire family led Geronimo to develop a deep-seated hatred for all Mexicans which he would foster for the rest of his life, far outweighing his distrust and dislike for Americans. His antipathy ran so deep that he and his warriors were known to attack and kill any groups of Mexicans that they encountered on their travels. In My Life, an Autobiography of Geronimo published in 1905, Geronimo said this, quote, I have killed many Mexicans. I do not know how many for frequently I did not count them. Some of them were not worth counting. It has been a long time since then, but still I have no love for the Mexicans. With me, they were always treacherous and malicious, end quote. Geronimo's chief, De Soudaje, or Mangus Coloradas as he was also known, sent him to Xicaxe, better known as Cochise, leader of the Chihicahui Choconan band of the Chiricahua Apache, to seek aid in his revenge against the Mexicans. It was during this time that he was given the name Geronimo, which he reportedly gained during a battle with Mexican soldiers who called out the Geronimo as a way to entreat St. Jerome for help, though this origin is a source of some dispute. During the battle, Geronimo ignored a hail of bullets from Mexican guns, attacking and killing his enemies armed with only a knife. For many years, the war between the Apache and the Mexicans consisted primarily of retaliatory attacks from both sides. In December of 1860, a group of 30 minors attacked an Apache camp on the western bank of the Membras River, killing four, wounding several others, and capturing 13 women and children. This led to several raids conducted by the Apache on both Mexican and American targets. In 1873, the Mexicans and Apache met at Casas Grandes to formalize a peace treaty. During the meeting, the Mexicans gifted the Apache with mezcal. When the Apache became drunk, the Mexicans attacked and killed at least 20 of them. Those who were not killed or captured were forced to retreat into the mountains for safety. Throughout the years between 1858 and 1886, Geronimo was captured and imprisoned several times by both Mexican and American forces, though he escaped his prison each time. Also during this time, Geronimo gained a reputation for possessing powerful spiritual and supernatural abilities, such as the ability to slow or stop time, stop or deflect bullets, heal the sick, summon storms, and see over great distances without mechanical aid. He was also reported to have visions of events happening elsewhere. One story tells that while sitting around the campfire one night, Geronimo had a vision that U.S. troops had attacked one of their camps. When they reached the camp a few days later, they found that the camp had From the fires of the Apache-Mexican Wars came the Apache-United States Conflict, commonly known simply as the Apache Wars. Many Apache were sent to reservations, and while they were removed from the warfare, conditions were so that disease ran rampant, and corruption in the rank of the Indian agents in charge of delivering government-provided rations meant that many starved to death. Being denied not only provisions, but also the right to roam, many Apache rebelled against reservation life. Geronimo was among these. On three separate occasions, he led his band in breakouts from the reservation to return to their old nomadic ways, including the raiding of settlements. During each breakout he staged, Geronimo would lead his band across Arizona and New Mexico and back into Mexican territory, killing and plundering as they went. They ultimately settled and established a base in the Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains. In Mexico, they were safe from the pursuit of the United States Armed Forces, and from their base in the Sierra Madre Mountains, Geronimo and his band were perfectly positioned to raid the villages, haciendas, and wagon trains of both Sonora and Chihuahua. They would also send raiding parties back into the United States to steal guns and ammunition. In addition to these raids, they would attack American ranches, wagon trains, and civilian travelers, routinely killing all persons they encountered to avoid being tracked or identified for as long as possible as they fled back to Mexico. These events, as well as breakouts led by other prominent Apache leaders, resulted in both Mexican and American forces putting special effort into capturing or killing any renegade Apache bands they found. In 1883, Mexico even allowed the United States to send troops into Mexican territory to aid in these efforts. On May 17, 1885, several Apache leaders, including Geronimo, fled the San Carlos Reservation, once again heading for Mexico. General George Crook of Arizona dispatched two columns of troops into Mexico in pursuit. Each column consisted of a cavalry troop numbering around 40 men and roughly 100 Apache scouts. It was the Apache scouts who proved most useful in weeding out the strongholds set up by the renegade Apache bands. Geronimo was reportedly deeply unsettled to know that his own tribesmen had been responsible for hunting him and his followers down. During the months-long hunt for Geronimo in Chihuahua and back across the border into the United States, the Apache raided and plundered countless settlements and even began killing other Native Americans and civilians to steal their horses. It was the relentless, dogged pursuit of his fellow Apache that would eventually break the fighting spirit of Geronimo and other Apache leaders. On the 9th of January, 1886, General Crook, during his second expedition into Mexico, located Geronimo and his band. The Apache scouts under his command located and captured the band's horses and supplies, forcing the band to agree to negotiate a peaceful surrender. However, before the negotiations could be finalized, Mexican troops arrived and mistook the Apache scouts as the enemy, accusing them of theft, robbery, and murder. They attacked the scouts, and during the fight, an American captain named Crawford was killed. Shortly after, Geronimo met with Lieutenant Mowes, who was in command of the United States troops sent by General Crook. During the meeting, Geronimo would agree to meet with General Crook at Canyon de los Ambidos, or the Canyon of the Funnels. During the meeting, General Crook asked Geronimo why he had fled the reservation. Geronimo replied, quote, End quote. During negotiations, Geronimo agreed to Crook's terms of surrender. However, an American soldier who sold them whiskey told them that he and his band would be murdered the moment they crossed the border into the United States. That night, Geronimo and around 40 of his followers slipped away. At first, General Crook attempted to defend the actions of his soldiers, but on April 1st, he sent a telegram to General Philip Sheridan asking to be relieved of command. Sheridan agreed. Crook's replacement was General Nelson A. Miles. It was under the command of General Miles that Geronimo and his band would be captured and returned to the United States for the final time. General Miles selected Captain Henry Lawton and First Lieutenant Charles B. Gatewood to lead the expedition, the latter of whom was known to be greatly respected among the Apache. Captain Lawton was ordered to return Geronimo and his band back to the United States, dead or alive. Geronimo credited Lawton for his tenacity in as Lawton's forces were always right on their tail, wearing them down little by little. However, it was Gatewood whom Geronimo would give all the credit for his decision to finally surrender. Gatewood was, as previously stated, greatly respected by the Apache and even spoke some of their language. He was also knowledgeable and respectful of their customs, culture, and values. Geronimo and his band traveled back to the United States with Lawton and Gatewood, officially surrendering to General Miles at Skeleton Canyon, Arizona, on the 4th of September in the year 1886. At the time of his surrender, Geronimo had in his possession a Winchester Model 1876 lever-action rifle with a silver-washed barrel and receiver, serial number 109450. It is now on display at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York. He also had a Colt single-action army revolver with a nickel finish and ivory stocks, serial number 89524, and a Sheffield Bowie knife with a stag handle and a silver-studded holster and cartridge belt, all of which are on display at the Fort Sill Museum in Lawton, Oklahoma. The details of the surrender are heavily disputed, and one version of events by General Oliver O. Howard, who claims the surrender was unconditional, was contested in front of the United States Senate. For his part, Geronimo repeatedly asserted that his surrender had been conditional and that he and his people had been misled. In the end, it took the efforts of 5,000 American troops, which equaled out to nearly a quarter of the United States Standing Army, and 3,000 Mexicans to capture Geronimo. The Sonora governor claimed that Geronimo and his band slaughtered between 500 and 600 Mexicans during the last five months of his career alone. There are many stories of his cruelty and savagery, including one near Silver City, New Mexico, where a family was massacred save one little girl who was taken alive and hung by a meat hook through the base of her skull. Stories such as these earned him the title of the worst Indian who ever lived among white settlers. Following his surrender, Geronimo and other Apache were held at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas for six weeks before being transported to Fort Pickens in Pensacola, Florida. His family were sent to Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, Florida. This course of action would prevent the Arizona authorities from arresting and trying Geronimo for the murders of Americans he had killed during his decades of raiding. While in Florida, Geronimo was used as a popular tourist attraction, with hundreds of visitors let into the fort daily to look at him in his cell. Also during this time, the United States government relocated hundreds of children from the Arizona reservation to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, where more than a third of them died from tuberculosis. Eventually in 1888, the Chiricahua prisoners were transported to Mount Vernon Barracks in Alabama, where they were reunited with their families. However, when a fourth of the Apache died of tuberculosis, many, including Geronimo, were moved to Fort Sill, Oklahoma in 1894, where he was given a plot of land and turned to farming. However, this did not stop tourists seeking him out as many still wanted souvenirs of their encounters with him, paying him 25 cents for a button cut from his shirt or the hat from his head. Capitalizing on this trend, Geronimo would buy more buttons to sew into his shirts and more hats to sell daily. In 1898, Geronimo took part in the Chiricahua delegation from Fort Sill to the Trans-Mississippi International Exposition in Omaha, Nebraska. Geronimo was well known from newspaper coverage of the Apache Wars, and his appearance at the expo granted him celebrity status, putting him in popular demand for appearances as an attraction at fairs all across the country. The two largest he ever attended were the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York in the year 1901 and the St. Louis World Fair in 1904. At these fairs, he would dress in traditional Apache garb and pose for photos with tourists and sell his handcrafted wares. He was also always accompanied by a guard of United States Army soldiers. Following this, Pawnee Bill's Wild West shows negotiated an agreement with the United States government to have Geronimo, still under Army guard, travel as part of the show. Pawnee Bill's shows presented the Native Americans as lying, thieving, treacherous, murderous monsters who had killed hundreds of men, women, and children, and would not hesitate to take a scalp from a member of the audience, if given half a chance. Again, during this time, many paid Geronimo for buttons off of his coat or shirt, from which he accumulated a small fortune in wealth. These shows also presented Geronimo as a chief, despite him never bearing that title. In 1905, during the inaugural parade for President Theodore Roosevelt's second term, Geronimo and five Native chiefs rode on horseback down Pennsylvania Avenue. The chiefs were dressed in full headdresses and painted faces. The purpose of their presence was, according to a newspaper reporting on the event, to show Americans that they had buried the hatchet forever. All along the parade route, the Natives received a standing ovation from the crowds. Later that week, Geronimo met with the president and made a formal request that he and the other Chiricahua be relieved of their status as prisoners of war and be allowed to return to their homeland in Arizona. Roosevelt refused, citing the many crimes against white settlers in the region, and claimed that Geronimo had a bad heart, saying that Geronimo had killed many of his people and burned villages, and he and his people had not been good Indians. He gave the caveat that they would wait and see how he and the other Apache did on the reservation before making further decisions. Later that same year, Geronimo agreed to tell his story to S.M. Barrett, who was the superintendent of education in Lawton, Oklahoma. Geronimo gave his account in Spanish and refused to answer any questions or alter his narrative in any way, attending each interview already knowing what he wanted to tell Barrett. Barrett had to appeal to President Roosevelt for permission to publish his book, and it was translated into English by Geronimo's nephew. This book was then re-edited by Frederick Turner, who omitted Barrett's footnotes and added a new introduction for non-Apache readers. Also that year, he was taken by the Indian Office to Texas, where he shot a buffalo during a roundup staged for the National Editorial Association, though those who bore witness to the event were unaware that Geronimo's people were not buffalo hunters. In February of 1909, Geronimo was thrown from his horse whilst riding home and laid in the cold all night until he was found by a friend the next morning. He developed pneumonia and died on February 17, 1909, at the age of 79. His last words, reportedly spoken to his nephew, were thus, quote, I should have never surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive. He was buried at Fort Sill in the Beef Creek Apache Cemetery. He was still a prisoner of war at the time of his death. During his time as a prisoner of war, Geronimo converted from his people's traditional spiritual beliefs to Christianity, saying in his 1905 autobiography, quote, I have heard the teachings of the white man's religion and in many respects believe it to be better than the religion of my father's, end quote. He also said, quote, I have adopted the Christian religion. I believe that the church has helped me much during the short time that I have been a member. I am not ashamed to be a Christian, and I am glad to know that the President of the United States is a Christian, for without the help of the Almighty, I do not think he could rightly judge in ruling so many people. I have advised all of my people who are not Christians to study that religion, because it seems to me the best religion in enabling one to live right, end quote. It should be noted, though, that some sources claim Geronimo converted back to Apache spirituality before his death. During World War I, six members of the Yale Secret Society Skull and Bush, who was the father of the 41st President of the United States, George H.W. Bush, and grandfather of the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush, were stationed at Fort Sill as Army volunteers. Decades later, in 1986, an anonymous letter was sent to Ned Anderson, former San Carlos Apache chairman, claiming that Skull and Bones had stolen the skull of Geronimo. Included with the letter were a photo and a copy of a logbook. Anderson met with officials from the Society about the letter, but the theft was denied. In 2006, a letter from Skull and Bones member Winter Mead, dated 1918, was discovered claiming the theft took place. The group's attorney claimed the letter to be a hoax. In 2009, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of Geronimo's family for the return of his remains, though nothing ever came of it. Jeff Houser, chairman of the Fort Sill Apache Tribe of Oklahoma, has declared the story to be a hoax. The truth of the matter remains unclear to this day. Starting sometime after the release of the 1939 film Geronimo, United States paratroopers began a tradition of shouting Geronimo's name before jumping out of planes as a way of showing that they had no fear, just as Geronimo had had no fear. His name is also born on the emblems and monikers of several United States military units. Military use of Geronimo's name has also sparked controversy, as demonstrated in 2011 when it was used as a codename for both the operation to kill Osama bin Laden and Osama bin Laden himself. Following this outcry, the operation was renamed Operation Neptune Spear. Harlan Geronimo, Geronimo's great-grandson, addressed the Senate Commission of Indian Affairs saying, quote, whether it was intended to name the military operation to kill or capture Osama bin Laden or to give Osama bin Laden himself the codename Geronimo, either was an outrageous insult and mistake. And it is clear from the military records released that the name Geronimo was used at times by military personnel involved for both the military operation and for Osama bin Laden himself. Obviously, to equate Geronimo with Osama bin Laden is an unpardonable slander of Native Americans and its most famous leader in history, end quote. There are three towns in the United States named after Geronimo, one in Arizona, one in Oklahoma, and one in Texas. During World War II, a Liberty ship hull number 1122 was named the SS Geronimo in his honor. And in 1994, the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp bearing his likeness as part of their Legends of the West series. Throughout the years, starting in 1939, Geronimo has been the subject of many films, television shows, musical pieces, radio dramas, and even fine art. All this and much more guarantee that Geronimo will forever hold a place in the pantheon of American history. Thank you all for watching. This has been another episode of Man Behind the Myth. And once again, I am your host, Captain Crozi. Leave a like and a comment if the mood strikes you and God's willing, I'll see you all next time. Farewell.