Geronimo (1829-1909), Native American, leader of the Chiricahua
Apache tribe, born in present-day Clifton, Arizona. After his wife, children,
and mother were killed by Mexicans in 1858, he participated in a number of
raids against Mexican and American settlers, but eventually settled on a
reservation. In 1876 the U.S. government attempted to move the Chiricahua from
their traditional home to the San Carlos reservation; Geronimo then began ten
years of intermittent raids against white settlements, alternating with periods
of peaceful farming on the San Carlos reservation.
In March 1886, the American
general George Crook captured Geronimo and forced a treaty under which the
Chiricahua would be relocated in Florida; two days later Geronimo escaped and
continued his raids. General Nelson Miles then took over the pursuit of
Geronimo, who was chased into Mexico and captured the following September. The
Native Americans were sent to Florida, Alabama, and finally to Fort Sill,
Oklahoma Territory, where they settled as farmers. Geronimo eventually adopted
Christianity. He took part in the inaugural procession of President Theodore
Roosevelt in 1905. Geronimo dictated his memoirs, published in 1906 as Geronimo's
Story of His Life. He died at Fort Sill on February 17, 1909.
Tags
Native Americans
