Geronimo: Apache War Hero, Leader, and Legend

Introduction: Geronimo's Character and Origins

Geronimo was in many ways an exemplary human being. He was brave, loyal, passionate, spiritual, truthful, strong, and wise. Raised in the Apache tradition, his real name was Goyathlay, meaning "one who yawns." The name Geronimo was given to him by his enemies — the Spanish-Mexicans, who called out to St. Jerome (or Jeronimo) when Goyathlay attacked (Welker, 2011). To the Spanish-Mexicans and the Americans, the man they dubbed Geronimo was a savage; but to his own people — and indeed to many Americans who met him after his surrender — Geronimo was a noble soul and a great leader, as opposed to the villain that propagandists tried to make him out to be.

The Apache-Mexican War and Geronimo's Rise

The war between the Mexicans and the Apache was brutal, but it was a war over land, and both sides committed what might today be called atrocities in raids upon the other's homeland. In a Mexican raid, Geronimo's family was slaughtered. Geronimo therefore joined a party of revenge and became the war chief of the Apaches.

As war chief, Geronimo excelled in leading his men in battle, and his view of the enemy was unambiguous. In the nineteenth-century American Southwest, the law was kill or be killed — and Geronimo followed this law to the letter: "I have killed many Mexicans; I do not know how many, for frequently I did not count them. Some of them were not worth counting. It has been a long time since then, but still I have no love for Mexicans. With me they were always treacherous and malicious… I am old… If I were young, and followed the warpath, it would lead into Old Mexico" (Geronimo, 1906, p. 89). These words were written after his surrender to the United States government, by which point he had converted to Protestant Christianity — which later expelled him for gambling. His spiritual beliefs were as strong as his identity as a warrior; he was not interested in negotiating with his enemies, for whom war was personal.

Resistance Against the United States

In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the United States government sought to place the Apache on a reservation. Led by Geronimo, these Apaches began to raid the settlers who had displaced them. The U.S. Army gave chase, and a prolonged campaign against Geronimo ensued. Geronimo's initial reaction was to surrender peacefully, but "rumors of impending trials and hangings" caused him to flee once more with a small band of Apache warriors and followers. He was finally surrounded in the Sonora Mountains, and in 1886 he surrendered (Weiser, 2010). However, Geronimo escaped again that same year and was once more surrounded, this time in Skeleton Canyon, Arizona. Geronimo and his band were then transported by rail to Florida. Eight years later, he arrived in Oklahoma and began a period of assimilation into American life.

Surrender, Assimilation, and Public Fame

As a retired war chief assimilated into American life — often appearing at fairs and, famously, in Theodore Roosevelt's inaugural parade (Weiser, 2010) — Geronimo's fame grew to legendary proportions. Everyone wanted to know about the warrior chief who now walked among them. His obituary, published on February 18, 1909, in The New York Times, described him "as the leader of the warring Apaches of the Southwestern territories in pioneer days, [who] gained a reputation for cruelty and cunning never surpassed by that of any other American Indian chief. For more than twenty years he and his men were the terror of the country, always leaving a trail of bloodshed and devastation" (Old Apache Chief Geronimo is Dead, 1909).

Legacy and True Character of Geronimo

The obituary was, of course, framed to portray Native Americans as savage. However, in Geronimo's own words — which were never apologetic — the war chief emerges as fierce, practical, honest, spiritual, and intelligent, much as General Patton has been portrayed in American military history. The key difference, of course, is that Patton was celebrated as a United States war hero, while Geronimo was an Apache war hero.

Part of the legend surrounding Geronimo testifies to the greatness of the man. He courageously faced deeply uneven odds to defend his people and his homeland. It is a testament to his courage and conviction that the Mexicans felt the need to call upon the saints when they encountered him in battle. Geronimo may have been fierce and unyielding in war, but in his old age he embraced the teachings of Christ — their message of mercy, charity, and explanation of the afterlife resonated with him in ways that Apache spiritual tradition had not fully addressed. He was not biased or narrow-minded; he simply fought with everything he had against an enemy that threatened his people's way of life. For these reasons, his own people followed him and hailed him as a great medicine man, spiritual leader, and war hero. He fought to protect the land that the Usen had given the Apaches, often slipping into and out of enemy camps like a ghost in the night — and for this reason, he was feared.

Conclusion

The man who became known as Geronimo was noble in character and soul, fierce in battle and war, and truthful and honest in the telling of his own tale. His life was marked by wars with the Spanish-Mexicans and the settlers who had displaced the Apache people, but his later years were marked by assimilation into American culture, honor, and a measure of public respect. He remained in the public imagination a striking example of a way of life foreign to most Americans, yet he always retained his dignity and his commitment to duty — whether that meant defending his people and their homeland or accepting the difficult conditions of assimilation into the culture that had ultimately captured him. As historians have recognized, Geronimo's story is inseparable from the broader tragedy of Native American dispossession in the American West.