Geronimo (Apache)

“Geronimo” 

Tribe: Bedonkohe Apache 

 June 1829 - February 17, 1909

Geronimo was a prominent leader and medicine man. One of the most pivotal moments in his life was in 1858 when he returned home from a trading excursion into Mexico. He found his wife, his mother and his three young children murdered by Spanish troops. His family slaughtered; he joined a band of Chiricahua Apaches and took every opportunity to terrorize Mexican settlements. 

In 1876, the U.S. Army tried to move the Chiricahua’s onto a reservation, but Geronimo fled to Mexico eluding the troops for over a decade. Sensationalized press reports exaggerated Geronimo's activities, making him the most feared and infamous Apache. The last few months of the campaign required over 5,000 soldiers (one-quarter of the entire U.S Army), 500 scouts, and up to 3,000 Mexican soldiers to track down Geronimo and his band. Finally surrendering in 1886, he and his people were sent to prison in Florida, then Alabama and then to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, never returning to their Arizona homeland. 

“I cannot think that we are useless or God would not have created us. There is one God looking down on us all. We are all the children of one God. The sun, the darkness, the winds are all listening to what we have to say.”  Geronimo