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Born in 1829 in the Bedonkoke band of the Apache tribe, Geronimo was a feared fighter in the Indian Wars of Southwest America. He spent three decades at war with both Mexico and the U.S., and was the last Native American warrior to formally surrender to the U.S. government.
--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: September 4, 1886--
Geronimo was not a chief, but he was a respected leader and a medicine man. In 1858 Geronimo lived outside the town of Janos in Northern Mexico with his wife, mother, and three young children. When the men of his camp were in town trading, a force of 400 Mexican soldiers massacred the camp, killing his family. From that day on Geronimo hated Mexicans and killed them at every opportunity.
Driven from their lands and into the mountains, raiding settlements became a way of life for many Apache. They would steal livestock and supplies, and also kill those who had pushed them off their traditional hunting grounds. Mexicans and Americans retaliated against these raids in equally brutal fashion. On all sides, women and children were rarely spared.
In the years following 1876, Geronimo surrendered to American forces and was placed on a reservation three times. But, big surprise, the reservation sucked. The conditions were harsh and the government imposed restrictions upon the inhabitants, treating them like prisoners. Rations were scarce, and disease prevalent. In 1885, for the last time, Geronimo and several others said fuck this place and escaped the reservation, beginning his final phase of fighting the U.S. government.
For the next year Geronimo and his band of approximately 150 men ranged across Arizona and New Mexico, plundering supplies and killing settlers as they went. They hid from American pursuit in the rough terrain of the Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains, coming down to raid both Mexican and U.S. towns.
The U.S. couldn’t abide that, so they sent in the army to find him and his men and either kill them or take them prisoner. They wore the Apaches down with continual pursuit, giving them no time to rest, so that eventually Geronimo and his band were too exhausted to continue. Lieutenant Charles Gatewood, who spoke some Apache and honored their traditions, accepted Geronimo’s surrender on September 4, 1886, at Skeleton Canyon in Arizona.
Now a prisoner of war, Geronimo was sent to Florida and became a tourist attraction for sick fucks who wanted to see the “bloodthirsty Indian” in his cell. Many of the Native Americans who were relocated to Florida died from disease. Geronimo was then sent to Alabama and later to Oklahoma where he was given a plot of land and became a farmer.
In 1909, at the age of 79 and still considered a prisoner of war, Geronimo was thrown from his horse and spent the night in the cold before being found the next day. He died a short time later from pneumonia. His final words, spoken to his nephew, were, “I should never have surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive.”
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