11 Facts About Geronimo

A Mexican raid led by Colonel Jose Maria Carrasco set Geronimo and his Apaches on a path that later defined his conflict with the United States cavalry.

In the summer of 1858, Geronimo and eighty warriors were present.They traded with the nearby town of Kas-Ki-Yeh.Mexican soldiers rode through the Apache camp. They killed the few warriors left guarding the civilians. They burned the camp. They took the Apache's guns and horses. They murdered most of the women and children.

The attack was revenge for supposed raids Geronimo and his Apaches led against Mexican towns. The Apaches were innocent of this crime. Because of the attack, Geronimo’s entire family—his first wife Alope, his three children, and his mother—were killed.

The Apaches needed nearly a year to gather tribes for revenge. Geronimo himself successfully sought help from tribe after tribe.

As Apache tribes gathered to avenge the Kas-Ki-Yeh massacre, chiefs, including the famous chief Cochise, chose Geronimo to lead the fight. Though a chief usually gets that honor, they decided Geronimo's loss was the worst.

Geronimo stated that he led his Apache warriors against the Mexican army in a bloody, two-hour battle. This battle killed nearly every fighter. Geronimo fought at the front, killing many men until only his knife remained.

Geronimo wrote this in his autobiography.

Still covered in enemy blood, still holding his weapon, still joyful with battle, victory, and revenge, Geronimo was surrounded by Apache warriors and became war chief of all Apaches. Then he ordered scalping the dead.

After the revenge for Kas-Ki-Yeh, the Apaches returned to daily life and tried to forget the massacre. Geronimo wanted revenge, though. He convinced two other warriors to join him on the war path to Mexico.

After choosing a small village, Geronimo’s small band faced fire from Mexican rifles. Two companions died, and soldiers surrounded Geronimo. Instead of fleeing, Geronimo fought his way back to Arizona on foot while soldiers chased him closely.

This raid, likely caused by Geronimo's great grief, set back the Apache plans to get revenge on any Mexican who would dare to get close enough to him.dare to get close enough to him.Geronimo once single-handedly evaded a close-armed pursuit for two days.

Geronimo's first battle was a win. However, Geronimo lost to the Mexican people over several years early in his career. His first raids in Sonora were beaten back; his warriors returned empty-handed.

Geronimo spent much time injured. In one attack on a convoy, he rushed into the fight only to slip on blood.Geronimo was shot in the face but still stood up to fight, slipping on some blood.A Mexican soldier’s rifle butt smashed Geronimo’s skull. In another raid that nearly succeeded, soldiers followed Geronimo’s Apaches, shooting him multiple times. The opening volley actually hit him in the face; then, the soldier stood up and fought for safety.

Mangus-Colorado, the chief of Geronimo’s tribe, traveled to Apache Tejo, a white settlement, hoping to find peace with the encroaching white men. Mangus-Colorado returned with good news: the settlers agreed to take the Apaches and promised supplies upon their arrival.

The tribe split on how to act. Mangus-Colorado took half the tribe to Apache Tejo, where US soldiers killed them. Geronimo led the rest of the tribe in a retreat lasting weeks as troops constantly surrounded them.

After the fighting ended, the Apaches named Geronimo Tribal Chief.

In the summer of 1863, Geronimo led a raid on a village near Casa Grande, about forty miles west. At noon, Geronimo and his small band stole into the town andsent its residents running.Geronimo said no one in the town fought or chased them. They just saw the Native Americans, turned, and left town.

The town was empty; only one person died. The Apaches drove ponies into the town, loading up maximum loot. Geronimo ate for 24 hours after winning. He gave gifts to the tribe. Supplies remained for his people for the next year.

Around 1868, American soldiers moved into Apache territory. American settlers started peacefully. Geronimo and the Apaches lived together. A year later, several chiefs and warriors attended a peace meeting at Fort Bowie.

After being led into a tent,soldiers attacked the gathered group.Soldiers killed many men. Retaliating for the betrayal, Geronimo, who was not in the talks, joined two Apache tribes led by Cochise and attacked a freight train. The war party captured prisoners, offering them in trade for captives from the Fort Bowie attack.

The US Army rejected the terms. Geronimo and his men killed their prisoners and vanished into the mountains.

In 1883, after over ten years of raiding Mexico's people, Geronimo and his Apaches seemed to be losing. Surrounded by enemy troops, Geronimo slipped into the enemy camp just in time fora Mexican general gave a speech., who said:

Geronimo, the 'red devil,' and his hated band are in those ditches. This must be his last day. Attack them from both sides of the ditches. Kill men, women, and children. Take no prisoners. We want dead Indians. Do not spare your own men. Exterminate this band at any cost. I will shoot the wounded; kill all deserters. Return to your companies and advance.

Moments after that speech, Geronimo aimed and killed the general where he stood. This started a fight that let his Apache troops escape into the mountains nearby.

In the early 1870s, things calmed down somewhat. After a long break, Geronimo led his people back to Fort Bowie. Years earlier, US soldiers had betrayed them there. Upon arrival, Geronimo spoke with the man in charge, General Oliver Otis Howard, a former Civil War officer known among his men as 'the Christian General.'

Howard’s fair treatment of Native Americans earned him support from many Apache. EvenGeronimo faced danger.Writing,

General Howard always kept his word and treated us like brothers. He was the best friend among U.S. officers. We could have lived forever at peace with him. General Howard was the only pure, honest white man in the U.S. army. All Indians respect him. People still talk about happy times when General Howard commanded our Post.

After nearly thirty years of fighting, Geronimo settled his people at Apache Pass, completely at ease. After General Howard left, tension grew between white troops and the Indians on the reservation. Geronimo faced four months in prison just for a short trip.

When US forces asked several chiefs and warriors to meet them at Apache Pass, the Apache ran from the reservation fearing a trap. Geronimo’s followers grew to nearly 250 men, women, and children. Hearing about the Native American’s flight, Geronimo and his band fought their way across the West.

Hearing Geronimo say it,every death came from his tribe being chased and attacked without stopping.as he and his growing tribe ran for safety. General Crook, the new commander of Fort Apache, ordered his troops to kill Geronimo if he resisted arrest.

Geronimo finally surrendered to US troops because he had nowhere else to go. In the south, the Mexican army gave him no mercy, and an advancing United States did not want the Apache to keep their traditional semi-nomadic life.

In his old age, Geronimo watched the Apache slowly decline. By the end of his life, he had taken eight wives, though he rarely married more than one woman at a time. The aging chief wrote often about theempty promises of land and cattleUnited States troops made this.

Geronimo lived until February 1909. A horse threw him, leaving him in the rain for one night before people found him. Days later, pneumonia killed him. Witnesses at the scene said Geronimo's last words showed regret: “I should have never surrendered,” he said. “I should have fought until I was the last man alive.”