Howard's telegram was referred to Sheridan, and September 25 he returned it to the Secretary of War with this endorsement: "It was my understanding that Geronimo and the hostiles surrendered unconditionally, and it was on that account that I recommended that they should be turned over to the civil authorities of Arizona and New Mexico for trial and such punishment as might be awarded them."
September 24 Miles made his belated special report. It contained nothing that had not already been included in the annual report summarized above by Howard. September 25 the Secretary of War wired Miles: "It would appear from disdispatches received through division headquarters that Geronimo, instead of being captured, surrendered, and that the surrender, instead of being unconditional, was, contrary to expectations here, accompanied with conditions and promises. That the President may dearly understand the present status of Geronimo and his band, he desires you to report by telegraph direct the exact promises, if any, made to them at the time of surrender." In reply, on the twenty-fifth, Miles telegraphed to the President requesting that he might report to him in person. The following day Cleveland wired denying this request on the ground that it was important for Miles to remain with his command at that time. He also emphatically repeated his request of the previous day. At last poor Miles telegraphed, September 29: "On the 6th instant, I forwarded telegraphic report of 153 words, and on 19th forwarded special report, together with report in full of Captain Lawton, also my annual report. These give as full an account of facts, circumstances, and conversations as language can express, and as this matter involves the lives of men, I beg that they may be carefully read before any further action is taken."
The President was a man slow to get impressions, but determined in his efforts to learn. So, September 29, the following telegram was sent by the Secretary of War to Stanley at San Antonio: "That there may be no misunderstanding here as to the status of Geronimo and the Indians who surrendered with him, the President desires you to ascertain, as fully and clearly as possible, the exact understanding of Geronimo and Nachez as to the conditions of the surrender and the immediate circumstances which led to it."
Stanley's report showed that Geronimo and Nachez had clearly understood all that Miles promised them--and quite a little more. "Both chiefs say they never thought of surrender until Lieutenant Gatewood, interpreter George Wratten, and the two scouts came to them and said the Great Father wanted them to surrender; that they believed this, but did not believe Crook, because he talked ugly to them, and that they thought he would put them under Chatto, and that when Geronimo met Miles at Skeleton Cañon, the latter said: 'Lay down your arms and come with me to Fort Bowie, and in five days you will see your families, now in Florida with Chihuahua, and no harm will be done.' "
October 11 the Secretary of War directed Stanley to supply by telegram the name, age, sex, and condition of health of each one of the hostile Apaches in his custody at San Antonio. Stanley replied the same day giving details concerning the fifteen men, eleven women, and six children in the band, and also the names of the two enlisted scouts who had gone with Gatewood into their camp to demand their surrender. October 19 the Secretary of War issued an order to Sheridan to send the fifteen adult male hostiles under proper guard to Fort Pickens, Florida, to be kept there in close custody. The same order decreed that the eleven women, six children, and two scouts should be sent to Fort Marion, Florida, to be placed with the other Chiricahua and Warm Spring Indians who had been taken there in September. (There is a discrepancy between this report and that of Lieutenant Gatewood. Stanley reports thirty-two Apaches in all. Gatewood states the thirty-eight surrendered. The contradiction is accounted for by the fact that the night before Lawton reached Fort Bowie with his prisoners, three men and three women slipped out of his camp and escaped into the mountains.)
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