The Surrender of Geronimo

Illustration: Geronimo, the Apache leader, as he appeared in 1897.

 For more than 10 years, the Native American leader Geronimo fought against a fierce hit-and-run campaign against U.S. forces in southern Arizona. His surrender in 1886 marked the end of one of the largest struggles between Indians and white settlers in the west.

Geronimo was a leader of the Chiricahua Apaches. His apache name was Goyathlay, which means "He who yawns." But the Mexicans called him Geronimo, Spanish for "Jerome." After Mexicans killed his family in 1858, Geronimo led bloody raids on villages in that country. Meanwhile, American settlers were inflicting great cruelties on the Indians of Arizona. In1876, when the U.S. ordered the Apaches onto reservations, Geronimo moved his followers across the border in Mexico's Sonora Mountains. From there, they terrorized settlements in southern Arizona. Each time soldiers persuded them, they vanished, melting away to their hidden mountain camps.

Geronimo was captured several times but always escaped to continue fighting. However, when he learned that the rest of the Chiricahua Apaches had been moved from Arizona to a reservation in florida, he despaired. He surrendered on September 4, 1886. "I will quit the warpath," he said, "and live in peace hereafter."

DID YOU KNOW....During World War II, U.S. paratroopers used the fearless Indian leader's name as a battle cry, shouting "Geronimo!" as they plunged from their planes.

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