Geronimo is one of the most notable Native Americans who ever lived.
His story has been told on screens big and small, and shouting his name is synonymous
with having no fear.
But how much do you really know about him?
People who knew Geronimo at a young age could be forgiven if they didn't think he would
grow up to be remembered by history.
For one thing, his given birth name was "Goyahkla", which means "One Who Yawns."
His grandfather had been an Apache chief, but when his father joined his mother's tribe
when they married, that effectively removed Geronimo from any hereditary leadership position
in either tribe.
He became a great leader of warriors while still in his twenties, but he was never a
tribal chief.
According to Smithsonian Magazine, he bristled whenever he was called a chief by ignorant
white people, which happened often.
Tradition holds that Goyahkla received his better-known moniker after a particularly
brutal battle.
However, historians disagree whether it was because Mexican soldiers were mispronouncing
"Goyahkla" or if they were praying aloud to St. Jerome for mercy in the face of his ruthless
attack.
"GE-RON-I-MO!"
"Geronimo!"
When Geronimo reached manhood, he married a woman named Alope.
In his autobiography, he said that marrying her was, quote, "the greatest joy."
They were very happy together, and she bore him three children.
The Apache typically traveled in bands to trade with other tribes and the people across
the Mexican border.
They would leave the women and children in a secure encampment a short distance away
with a few warriors to protect them in case of emergency.
While in Mexico on one such trading mission, Mexican troops attacked and looted the Apache
encampment, slaughtering nearly everyone there while the men were away.
Geronimo returned to discover that he had lost his entire living family: his wife, his
mother, and all three of his children.
The attack on the Apache was in retaliation for earlier raids against the Mexicans, though
it's very possible that Geronimo hadn't actually taken part in them.
When he told his life story he didn't shy away from admitting to other raids, but he
never mentioned participating in any before the massacre of his family.
The end result was nevertheless the same, as Geronimo developed a visceral hatred for
Mexicans that drove him for much of his life.
In 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the overt hostilities of the Mexican-American
War.
"The best treaty in the world who?"
"What are you, stupid?
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
Who wants to party?"
Some of the terms dictated that America would protect Mexico from attacks by native tribes
crossing over their common borders.
Mexico also expected the U.S. to compensate it financially for the damage incurred during
raids that got through.
The U.S. never much cared about marauding bands attacking Mexico, much less making any
monetary reparations to their victims.
But that all changed with the Gadsden Purchase of 1854.
This was a section of land nearly 30,000 square miles in size, which now forms Mexico's border
with present-day Arizona and part of New Mexico.
It overlapped significantly with the Apache homeland.
The U.S. purchased it from Mexico for $10 million in order to expand the transcontinental
railroad through the Southwest.
Since any disturbances in this area were now happening on U.S. soil, the government suddenly
took an interest in Geronimo and the Apache.
They were determined to round them up and put them on reservations out of the way, or
quote unquote "civilize" them by forcing them to adopt the ways of white people
When white men began appearing on his people's lands, Geronimo considered them an improvement
over the Mexicans.
The Apache were peaceful, making treaties and exchanging gifts.
But the white men were treacherous and looked for reasons to betray them.
One such incident occurred when a peaceful meeting between the Apache chief Cochise and
Lieutenant George N. Bascom turned out to be a trap.
Cochise escaped by cutting a hole in a tent and evading the soldiers who had surrounded
him, and Geronimo and other Apache helped him get back his captured tribesmen and settle
the score.
But the U.S. Army was relentless in its pursuit and determination to round up all of the Apache,
as they had done with Sitting Bull and the Sioux in 1881.
Eventually Geronimo grew tired of always being chased, and with the help of scouts working
with the Army against their own people, his band of Apache was captured and sent to the
San Carlos Reservation in Arizona in 1886.
Geronimo hated the restrictions the reservation placed on him.
He made three attempts to break out from the reservation but ultimately none were successful.
When he surrendered for the third and last time, it effectively brought the Apache's
organized resistance against the U.S. government to an end.
After Geronimo surrendered, President Grover Cleveland wrote to his secretary of war that
he didn't see any point in treating him as anything but an ordinary prisoner of war.
As he put it in his telegram,
"I hope nothing will be done with Geronimo which will prevent our treating him as a prisoner
of war, if we cannot hang him, which I would much prefer."
It was decided to move the Apache to more neutral ground where local tempers didn't
run quite as hot.
The warriors were shipped off to restore the abandoned Fort Pickens in Pensacola, Florida,
where they would be imprisoned and treated as tourist attractions for a few years.
Meanwhile, their families were sent to Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida, where they
were forced into cramped quarters.
Many of the children, meanwhile, were shipped off to be forcefully assimilated into white
society.
The families were eventually reunited and later moved to Fort Sill in Oklahoma, where
they were permitted to recreate their tribal way of life as best as they could.
In his autobiography, Geronimo described how the land was unsuitable for his people, but
he agreed to stay, hoping that for once white men wouldn't mistreat him or his people.
Geronimo's later years saw him participating in activities that weren't particularly dignified.
At the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, for example, he was considered the perfect attraction
to symbolize the taming of the West.
He exhibited his skills with bow and arrow, and signed autographs for 10 cents apiece,
as he posed with Apache crafts.
He also took part in Wild West shows, where he staged a buffalo hunt that would end with
him missing the kill, requiring that the beast be then finished off by white cowboys.
Geronimo eventually passed away on February 17, 1909.
He had arranged to get some whiskey after selling some bows and arrows and fell off
his horse when riding home that evening.
He lay on the ground all night before he was discovered and developed pneumonia as a result.
He died within the week, a sad end for a legendary figure.
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