Geronimo! The Last of the Apache

Geronimo! The most famous Indian of them all, bizarrely his name is traditionally yelled when jumping from a plane and more than one horse has being called after him. Why is he so popular? Well, he was the leader of the last American Indian force to formally capitulate to the United States and then only following a prolonged struggle in which he time and again challenged the odds and won.

He was hard beaten, he was moulded by hellish acts perpetuated against him. When aged just twenty-two, Mexican troops raided his camp, killing his wife, children and mother. Geronimo was not there, he had been away trading, he swore revenge for as long as he breathed, his anger and rage remained undimmed for decades.

Ironically, it was also Mexican troops that gave him the famous moniker of Geronimo, legend having it that he attacked a band of soldiers armed with simply a knife, they screaming to St. Jerome for mercy. He initially joined the ranks of the Apache Chief Cochise, raiding Northern Mexico and US territory, attacking the settlers of both who were encroaching on their lands. When Cochise and his Chiricahua were forcibly removed to the arid lands of San Carlos in Eastern Arizona, Geronimo refused to go into the dark night, with a small band of loyal followers he disappeared into Mexico.

He continued his guerrilla skirmishing, reports of his many acts of bravery and remarkable ability permeated the public and the press. Indeed, many appropriated supernatural powers upon him, such were the miraculous deeds that he pulled off. In 1885, with Geronimo, still at large, the US and Mexican armies organised over eight thousand soldiers to bring him in dead or alive.

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Medicine Man Geronimo - Apache Warrior Priest

Geronimo was a respected medicine man and a successful warrior of the Chiricahua Apache. As a Chiricahua Apache, he was acknowledged as one of those with spiritual insights known to them as power. Few of these powers are the ability to travel without leaving any tracks, ability to survive a gunshot and telepathy and telekinesis. When Mexican bandits killed his family in1858, he began to hate all Mexicans. His adversaries in that country named him Geronimo, which was the Spanish counterpart of Jerome.

While fighting against both Mexican and US troops, he became famous for continually escaping his prison when captured and his bold exploits. He and his troops evaded their enemies for as long as a year, making him earn the title "worst Indian who ever lived" among the white men. His people were the last major force of autonomous Indian warriors who denied the United States Government in the American West. They surrendered on the 4th of September, 1886 though at the Skeleton Canyon in Arizona to States Army General Nelson A. Miles.

He was then sent to prison in Fort Pickens, Florida and in 1894, he was transferred to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He became a bit of a celebrity when he became old, often seen at fair and making profit out of selling pictures of himself. However, he was never allowed to return to his homeland. In 1905, he, together with President Theodore Roosevelt, rode together in the inaugural parade.

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