Great Apache Chiefs / Geronimo

Geronimo (Spanish for Jerome, applied by the Mexicans as a nickname; native name Goyathlay, `one who yawns'). A medicine man and prophet of the Chiricahua Apache who, in the latter part of the 19th century, acquired notoriety through his opposition to the authorities and by systematic and sensational advertising; born about 1834 at the headwaters of Gila River, New Mexico, near old Ft Tulerosa. His father was Taklishim, `The Gray One,' who was not a chief, although his father (Geronimo's grandfather) assumed to be a chief without heredity or election. Geronimo's mother was known as Juana.

When it was decided, in 1876, in consequence of depredations committed in Sonora, of which the Mexican government complained, to remove the Chiricahua from their reservation on the south frontier to San Carlos, Ariz., Geronimo and others of the younger chiefs fled into Mexico. He was arrested later when he returned with his band to Ojo Caliente, New Mexico, and tilled the ground in peace on San Carlos reservation until the Chiricahua became discontented because the Government would not help them irrigate their lands. In 1882 Geronimo led one of the hands that raided in Sonora and surrendered when surrounded by Gen. George H. Crook's force in the Sierra Madre. He had one of the best farms at San Carlos, when trouble arose in 1854 in consequence of the attempt of the authorities to stop the making of tiswin, the native intoxicant.

During 1884-85 he gathered a band of hostiles, who terrorized the inhabitants of south Arizona and New Mexico, as well as of Sonora and Chihuahua, in Mexico. Gen. Crook proceeded against them with instructions to capture or destroy the chief and his followers.

In Mar. 1886, a truce was made, followed by a conference, at which the terms of surrender were agreed on; but Geronimo and his followers having again fled to the Sierra Madre across the Mexican frontier, and Gen. Miles having been placed in command, active operations were renewed and their surrender was ultimately effected in the following August. The entire band, numbering about 340, including Geronimo and Nachi, the hereditary chief, were deported as prisoners of war, first to Florida and later to Alabama, being finally settled at Ft Sill, Okla., where they now reside under military supervision and in prosperous condition, being industrious workers and careful spenders. (J. M. C. T. )