Do you want to learn more about The Fearless Life Of Geronimo? Then you have come to the right place.
The man, the myth, the legend. There have been many stories told about the warrior they call Geronimo. There’s also the legend that Geronimo himself came up with the well-known battle cry that you hear so many people yell before jumping from high above, you know the one.
From stories of bravery all the way to stories of the supernatural, its safe to say that Geronimo is name that has lasted the test of time.
So who exactly was he? why was he so well known? Let’s find out more about The Fearless Life Of Geronimo.
Contents
Early Life.
When he was born he was given the name Goyathlay (“One Who Yawns”) in No-doyohn Cañon, Arizona, in June 1829.
In a country which lies around the headwaters of the Gila River which is near present-day Clifton, Arizona. He was the fourth child to a family of eight. Four boys and four girls. Geronimo and his family lived off the land life much of our First Nations People did at that time.
It was there at a young age he learned the ways of the Bedonkohe band of the Chiricahua Apache tribe, Which was one of six tribes in that area.
His father died when he was a young boy from a unknown sickness.
At the age of 10, he began his journey of hunting and to him, this was never considered to be work. He became very skilled in hunting killing many animals that even with today’s weapons would be terrifying to kill.
In 1846, at age 17 he was admitted to the council of the warriors. He was very happy, for I could go wherever he wanted and do whatever he liked. although he had not been under the control of anyone, the customs of his tribe prohibited me from sharing the glories of the warpath until the council admitted him.
Another reason for his joy was that he could now marry the fair Alope, daughter of No-po-so. She was a slender, delicate girl, but they had been lovers for a long time. Her father however asked for many ponies for her. The next day Geronimo showed up with a herd of ponies and took with me Alope. This was all the marriage ceremony necessary in his tribe.
They later had three children.
Among the Chiricahua, he was better known for his skills as a shaman or medicine man. Those who followed Geronimo credited him with a variety of supernatural powers including the ability to heal the sick, slow time, avoid bullets, bring on rainstorms, and even witness events over great distances.
One legend described by Apache Jason Betzinez is when a few warriors were sitting around a campfire during a raiding expedition when Geronimo suddenly had a vision that U.S. troops had attacked their base camp. After arriving at the site several days later, they found that Geronimo’s vision had been correct.
the Americans had already captured and destroyed the encampment. “I cannot explain it to this day,” Betzinez later wrote, “but I was there and I saw it.”
The Massacre At Kas-Ki-Yeh
In the summer of 1858, being at peace with the Mexican towns as well as with all the neighboring Indian tribes, Geronimo’s whole tribes went south into Old Mexico to trade. They went through Sonora toward Casa Grande but just before reaching that place they stopped at another Mexican town called by the Indians “Kas-ki-yeh.”
There, they stayed for several days, camping just outside the city. Every day they would go into town to trade and would leave their camp under the protection of a small guard so that our weapons, supplies, women and children would not be disturbed during thier absence.
Late one afternoon when returning from the town they 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 small guard, captured all their ponies, secured their weapons, destroyed their supplies, and killed many of the women and children.
They quickly separated, hid, and waited until nightfall. They then snuck into the camp one by one which now had a few troops keeping guard.
He found that his mother, young wife, and his three small children were among the slain. It was then that he had vowed vengeance upon the Mexican troopers who had wronged him, and whenever he came near or saw anything to remind me of former happy days my heart would ache for revenge upon Mexico.
Geronimo would go on to marry 8 more times but would never recover from the death of his first wife Alope.
Revenge
In the tradition of the Apache, he set fire to all his family’s belongings and then, in a show of grief, headed into the wilderness to grieve their deaths. There, it is said, alone and crying, a voice came to Geronimo that promised him: “No gun will ever kill you. I will take the bullets from the guns of the Mexicans … and I will guide your arrows.”
Backed by this sudden knowledge of power, The Fearless Life Of Geronimo changed a year later after the tragic death of his family, went to other apache tribes the Chokonen and the Nedni. After hearing of Geronimo’s great loss they agreed to follow him into battle to avenge the wrongs of the Mexican troops.
In the summer of 1859 the three tribes gathered and set up camp just outside the town of Kas-ki-yeh. When they were spotted eight men were sent to go parlay then these men were then captured, killed, and then scalped. This was to draw out the troops from the town.
A bloody 2 hour battle ensued which resulted in apache tribe finally avenging the massacre of their people a year earlier.
Desire For More Revenge.
Even though he killed those who killed his family Geronimo was still wanting more revenge. During the Fearless Life Of Geronimo, he led many other raids and fights into Mexico often coming home as the only survivor of the pointless skirmishes. The people of his home often blamed him for all the people who died by his side but he did not ever say anything about and kept his silence.
During one of the raids he and the 25 apache warriors were followed and ambushed again he remained the only survivor but was injured by a stay bullet which hit him under his left eye. The day after he had gotten shot the Mexican troops surrounded his home at night and suddenly opened fire.
The attack was so sudden that there was no time to fight back all they could do was run. With winter at hand and only a handful of warriors left, it was a long, long time before they were again able to go on the warpath against the Mexicans.
Many Years Of Raids
Although The Fearless Life Of Geronimo had been to its fair share failed raids, he also had many successful raids under his belt as well.
Raiding other people was a way of life way for the apache because of this they gained a name for themselves. Often taking supplies and food to give to their tribes.
For many years Geronimo led many raids into the Mexican territory some successful and some were not. This was during a time of no laws and people were free to do as they wished.
Beginning in the 1850s, the face of his enemy changed. Following the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848, the United States took over large pieces of land from Mexico, including areas that belonged to the Apache.
Captivated by the discovery of gold in the Southwest, settlers, and miners streamed into their lands. Naturally, tensions grew and the Apaches stepped up their attacks, which resulted in brutal ambushes on stagecoaches and wagon trains.
But the Chiricahua leader, Geronimo’s father-in-law, Cochise, could see where the future was headed. In an act that greatly disappointed his son-in-law, the great revered chief called a halt to his decade-long war with the Americans and agreed to the establishment of a reservation for his people on a prized piece of Apache land.
Forcibly Removed
But within just a few years, Geronimo’s father in law Cochise died, and just like it did too many other tribes, the federal government broke its agreement, moving the Geronimo’s people north so that settlers could move into their lands. This act only further angered Geronimo, setting off a new round of fighting.
Geronimo proved to be very elusive as he was aggressive. However, authorities finally caught up with him in 1877 and sent him to the San Carlos Apache reservation. For four long years, he struggled with his new reservation life and escaped the reserve in September 1881.
Out on his own again, Geronimo and a small band of Chiricahua warriors ran from the American troops, and over the next five years, they engaged in what is proved to be the last of the Indian wars against the United States.
His followers viewed him as the last great defender of the Native American way of life. But others, including fellow Apaches, saw him as a stubborn holdout, violently driven by revenge and foolishly putting the lives of other people in danger.
With his followers beside him, Geronimo shot across the Southwest and as he did, the seemingly mystical leader was transformed into a legend as newspapers closely followed the Army’s pursuit of him. At one point nearly 5,000 troops were trying to hunt him and his part down.
The Last To Surrender
On September 4, 1886, the great Apache warrior Geronimo surrendered in Skeleton Canyon, Arizona, after fighting for his homeland for almost 30 years. He was the last American Indian warrior to formally surrender to the United States.
After his surrender, he became a prisoner of war over the next several years. Geronimo and his people have bounced around, first to a prison in Florida, then a prison camp in Alabama, and then Fort Sill in Oklahoma. In total, the group spent 27 years as prisoners of war.
Final Years
While he and what was left of the Chiricahua people remained under guard, Geronimo experienced a bit of celebrity from his white former enemies. Less than a decade after he’d surrendered, crowds from all over longed to catch a glimpse of the famous Indian warrior.
In 1905, he published his autobiography, and that same year he received a private audience with then-President Theodore Roosevelt, unsuccessfully pressing the American leader to let his people return to Arizona.
Four years after the historical meet with the president while riding home in a cold February 1909, he was thrown from his horse. He survived a night out in the freezing cold, but when a friend found him the next day, Geronimo’s health was rapidly declining. He passed away six days later from pneumonia with his nephew at his side on February 17, 1909, still, as a prisoner of the United States at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
On his deathbed, he confessed to his nephew that he deeply regretted his decision to surrender. His last words were reported to be said to his nephew, “I should have never surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive.”
The great warrior was then buried at Fort Sill, Oklahoma in the Beef Creek Apache Cemetery thus ending The Fearless Life Of Geronimo.
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