Geronimo's Vanishing Act

In 1884, trouble erupted among the peaceful White Mountain, Apache tired of being hungry and living like captives.  Geronimo slipped into Mexico along with 74 warriors to avoid arrest.  At this same time General Crook, named "Grey Wolf" by the Apache was reassigned to Arizona where the Apache trusted him.  He decided it was time to get tough with the corrupt Indian Agents but along with that he punished Apache for domestic abuse and drunkenness.

General Crook and his Apache Scouts

Crook was prepared to deal with the war leaders in the Sierra Madre by recruiting companies of tough, wild Apache scouts to track the warriors down.  Along with 193 Apache scouts and the cooperation of Mexico, Crook went into the Sierra Madre destroying Apache camps.  When the Apache began to surrender, Geronimo appeared among them.   That didn't last long as he led 42 warriors and 92 women and children back into Mexico.  The same scenario happened again the next year.  Geronimo talked peace with Crook in March of 1886, but the very next day he vanished again with 20 warriors and their families.

The next year, Crook was replaced by General Miles, who sent 5000 troops against the warring raiders.  Miles made two important decisions - one was harsh and unjust, one offered peace.  First Miles rounded up all the reservation Apache and Apache scouts who aided Crook and sent them to Florida so they could not aid Geronimo again.  Second, he met with Geronimo in September 1886 to talk peace.  Geronimo's acceptance was the end of the Apache wars along with his reign in the Apache tribe.

The Indian Rights Association along with General Crook protested the living conditions in Florida and the separation from their Apache families.  Eventually the men were reunited with their wives and children in 1887.  In 1894 they were sent to Fort Sill, Oklahoma where Geronimo died in 1902, still hoping to get back to his beloved Southwest.

Next time...the Dwindling Reservations
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On March 5, 1815, Franz Anton Mesmer, a German physician who pioneered the medical field of hypnotic therapy, dies in obscurity in Meersburg, Swabia (now Germany)

Tiger of The Southwest

General Cook said of the Apache, "These tigers of the human race resented anything like an attempt to regulate their conduct, or in any way to interfere with their mode of life." (like the American Revolution??!)  The most "tiger-like" of them all was Geronimo who became a terror to Mexicans and whites alike in the Southwest - a symbol of the tenacious Indian resistance to white man's intrusion.

The Early Years

The Minbreno Apaches, led by chief Mangra Coloradas, made a living raiding Mexicans and young Goyathalay did his share of riding and fighting.  But in the 1850s Mexicans killed his mother, his wife and his three children and turned Goyathalay's hatred outward.  His hatred attracted the attention of Chief Coloradas and he sent him to Cochise, chief of the Chiricahuas tribe to enlist him in the fight against the Mexicans.

Goyathalay and Cochise's warriors invaded the town of Arizpe, captured ammunition and food, and fought a two-day battle against the Mexican forces.  During the battle Goyathalay was seen running around charging against the enemy when one Mexican yelled, "Geronimo!"  The cry was echoed by others and from that day forward Goyathalay was known as Geronimo, Spanish for Jerome.

Geronimo left his home tribe soon after and married a Chiricuhua squaw and accepted Cochise as his leader.  In 1876 he began using the Sierra Madre of western Mexico as a stronghold to raid both sides of the border and terrorize Mexicans and whites. 

Next time...fighting the white man
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On March 1, 1872, President Grant signs the bill creating the nation’s first national park at Yellowstone.

The Apache Nation

Geronimo

The Southwest would not be complete without mention of the feared Apache Nation lead by Geronimo and Cochise, his son.  The Apache wars in Arizona happened for the same reason that any other Indian wars in the West happened - white man's ruthless encroachment of tribal lands for mining, declining the food supply, and general exploitation of the Indian people.

One battle with the Apache concerned the sale of liquor at Sulphur Springs in the Dragon Mountains.  Apaches were never known for their ability to handle large quantities of whiskey and reportedly started a war amongst themselves while under the influence. Several women and children were killed and the white man was blamed for selling it to them in the first place.

Resentment grew and reports reached Fort Quitman that Geronimo was on the warpath.  The fact that the stage driver along with a passenger arrived carrying the news and a dozen or so Apache arrows through their body was probably enough to let them know!

In 1886 the Apache surrendered to General Nelson Miles.  Chiefs Geronimo and Natchez, along with 32 braves and squaws, were exiled to Florida.  Many years later, Geronimo was photographed in the seat of an early Model T Ford, in an attempt to show that he had successfully adapted to the white man's world.
To me that begs the question - why could the white man be successful adapting to the Indian's world??

Next time...a whole new direction.  Salesmen in the West.