'Geronimo'

'The Last Free Apache'

Geronimo and his small band of warriors were responsible for some of the bloodiest raids and battles  in New Mexico and the Sierra Madres.
                                In 1858, Geronimo and his band were camped outside of a town called Janos. For two days they drank and traded with the towns people. On the third day General Carrasco and his troops struck with a surprise attack. The blow was horrible for the Indians. Geronimo and a few other Apaches barley escaped .  In this battle the Whites took the lives from his Mother, Wife, and three children. After this loss, Geronimo and his few friends slipped back across the border.
                                Geronimo now went to different tribes to get as many warriors as he could.( After he gets his men he would start a long period of raiding .) He wanted revenge for his Families deaths. Geronimo chose to start his raids on the town Arizpe in Sonora. A commander and a number of troops were in the town.
                         The first day a Mexican Commander and two companies of infantry marched out. Along with them came a pack train full of ammunition and rations. The Indians wanted it and just before dusk they struck from the flank and the train was in their hands. The next morning they came with everything  they had. The Indians made a Simi-circle and the troops marched right into the ambush. Eventually it came down to Geronimo and another soldier and Geronimo killed him. Geronimo later said that ' the Mexicans weren't worth counting'. 

                          Geronimo and his tribe were forced onto a reservation in San Carlos (in Eastern Arizona ). Geronimo wanted to be free and he soon fled into Mexico, raiding along the way with his band of followers. Geronimo was soon arrested and returned to the reservation. He stayed on the reservation for 5 years until an Apache profit, on the reservation, was killed. Geronimo fled to the Sierra Madres once again. In May 1882 Apache scouts, working for the U.S. Army, surprised Geronimo in his Mountain hideout. Geronimo then agreed to return to the reservation.
                          After a year of farming, rumors of Ka-ya-ten-nae being murdered and other Indians being hung, Geronimo was tempted to run again. On May 17, 1885, with 35 warriors, and 109 women and children, Geronimo fled. But only to be caught in January of 1886 by Apache Scouts. Geronimo fled once more but surrendered to General Nelson Miles on September 4, 1886. In the end his group consisted of 16 warriors, 12 women, and 6 children.
                           After Geronimo's last surrender, the Government transported him, and nearly 450 Apache men, women, and children, to Florida for confinement in Forts Marion and Pickens. The last few months of Geronimo's freedom required 5,000 soldiers( or one quarter of the entire army), 500 scouts, and up to 3000 Mexican soldiers to track home down.
                           On February 17, 1909, as a prisoner of war, Geronimo died of pneumonia. He wanted to be return to his homeland to be buried but wasn't allowed. So he was buried in the Apache Cemetery at Fort Sills, Oklahoma. 
Bibliography:
Geronimo, <http://www.indians.org/welker/geronimo.htm> 5/6/05
Geronimo, <http://www.indigenouspeople.net/geronimo.htm> 5/6/05
Geronimo, <http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Rapids/9755/geronimo.html> 5/9/05
Book, Benjamin Chaps, The Great Chiefs, New York, 1975 Time Inc.
Spensor M. Askren
8th American History
2005 Project