GERONIMO IN MEXICO: “A summation”

Most of us know of the Apache leader Geronimo but most of what most of us know we learned at the movies.  Leader of the Chiricahua Apaches, Geronimo led the fight against the expansion into Apache tribal lands by the United States during the Apache Wars.  But you knew that much from the movies.  It is true that the greatest wrongs that were visited upon the Apaches were from the United States government.  But the history of Geronimo’s war parties started in Mexico…and we have spent the last few months publishing our adaptation of Geronimo’s own recollections.  As we conclude our study of Geronimo in Mexico, we look at his name, his power and his injuries.

Geronimo was born on June 16, 1829, a birth date he gave himself, near Turkey Creek; a tributary of the Gila River, in what is now the western part of the state of New Mexico.  It was in Old Mexico then but in reality it was Bedonkohe land.  He was given the name, “One Who Yawns,” or Goyathlay in English (often Gokhlayeh or Goyahkla and spelled Goyaałé in the Chiricahua dictionary).  In more recent times, the Fort Sill (Oklahoma) Apaches have suggested that his birth name meant, “Intelligent, shrewd, clever.”

Goyathlay became exceedingly fierce and unafraid in his war against the Mexicans.  It was his Mexican adversaries who gave Goyathlay the nickname of "Geronimo." It is said that Goyathlay was given the name Geronimo (Jerome) by Mexican soldiers because of the daring feats he performed.  Few historians agree to the reasons but it is said that each time they saw him the Mexican soldiers would cry out in terror, "Cuidado!  Geronimo!"  In one battle, ignoring a deadly hail of bullets and armed only with a knife, Goyathlay repeatedly attacked and stabbed the Mexicans, purportedly causing them to call out supplications to Saint Jerome, allegedly the Patron Saint of the Mexican Army.  Although in the Roman Catholic Church, Jerome is recognized as the patron saint of translators, librarians and encyclopedists, he did write quite a bit about the horrors of hell and perhaps it was in this context that the Mexicans were asking for Saint Jerome’s aid.

          Geronimo attributed his numerous raiding successes to his special spiritual insights and abilities known to Apache people as "Power.”  He had a reputed invulnerability to gunshot, the faculty to walk without leaving tracks; the abilities now known as telekinesis and telepathy.  He was wounded by buckshot and bullets many times but survived.  

During his many wars with the Mexicans Geronimo received many major but not fatal wounds. He was shot in the right leg above the knee, and carried the bullet all his life.  He was also shot through the left forearm.  In addition, Geronimo was shot just below the outer corner of the left eye, shot in left side, and shot in the back.  Other major wounds Geronimo received included being slashed in the right leg below the knee with a saber and being injured on top of the head with the butt of a musket.

Apache men chose to follow him of their own free will, and the warriors offered eye-witness testimony regarding Geronimo’s “Power."  They declared that this was the main reason why so many chose to follow him. The Apaches believed that Geronimo was favored or protected by "Usen", the Apache high-god.  Geronimo believed that the bitter loss of his family at Kas-ki-yeh brought him his "Power."  While sitting with his head bowed in sorrow, he heard a voice tell him that ‘no gun can ever kill you, and I will guide your arrows.’ The fact that he was often wounded, but remained alive, strengthened his conviction in this power.

Geronimo was responsible for the deaths of many Mexicans; no one knows how many, because normally Geronimo did not count them. Some of them, he said, were not worth counting.  Until his dying day Geronimo had no love for the Mexicans. Geronimo felt that the Mexican military leaders were treacherous and malicious with him and always deceitful and cruel.   Even when he was old and knew that he would never go on the warpath again, Geronimo said that if he were young, and followed the warpath, it would lead into Old Mexico. 

Goyathlay had officially become Geronimo and the name caught on. His “Power” served him well and his exploits in the Southwest have become international legend.  

GERONIMO IN MEXICO: “Sko-la-ta, Nokode and the Massacre at Casa Grande, 1880”

Most of us know of the Apache leader Geronimo but most of what most of us know we learned at the movies.  Leader of the Chiricahua Apaches, Geronimo led the fight against the expansion into Apache tribal lands by the United States during the Apache Wars.  But you knew that much from the movies.  It is true that the greatest wrongs that were visited upon the Apaches were from the United States government.  But the history of Geronimo’s war parties started in Mexico…and we continue our adaptation of Geronimo’s own recollections.

Around the year 1880, when Geronimo was in his camp in the mountains south of Casa Grande, Mexico, called by the Indians Sko-la-ta, a company of Mexican troops attacked. There were twenty-four Mexican soldiers and they faced about forty Indians. The Mexicans surprised the warriors in camp and fired on them, killing two Apaches in the first volley.  This attack by the Mexicans was totally unexpected.

Geronimo related that he did not know how the Mexicans were able to find his camp unless, of course, they had excellent scouts and unless Geronimo’s own guards were careless, but there the Mexicans were, shooting at the Indians before the Apaches knew that the Mexicans were in the vicinity.  If the Mexicans had known how outnumbered they were they might not have assailed the Indian camp.

The Indians were situated in a wooded area, and Geronimo gave his men the order to move forward and fight the Mexican troopers at close range. The warriors kept behind rocks and trees until they came within ten yards of the Mexican line, then they stood up and both sides shot until all twenty four of the Mexicans were killed. Geronimo lost twelve Apaches in this battle. When the warriors had buried their dead and secured what supplies the Mexicans had, they headed to the northeast.

At a place near Nacori, called by the Apaches Nokode, Mexican troops attacked them again.  Gathered in this camp were about eighty warriors, both Bedonkohe and Nedni Apaches. There were three companies of Mexican troops.

The Mexican army attacked the warriors in an open field, and the Indians scattered, firing as they ran. The Mexicans followed them, but the Apaches dispersed, and soon outran the army.  Geronimo’s warriors reassembled in the Sierra Madre Mountains. Here a council was held, and since the Mexican troops were attacking without warning and coming from many directions, Geronimo and the warriors decided to disband.

After about four months had passed, and pressure from the Mexican army had lessened, the Apaches reassembled at Casa Grande.  Here they decided that it would be advantageous for the Indians to make a treaty of peace with the Mexican people. The alcaldes of the town of Casa Grande, along with all of the men of Casa Grande, made a treaty with the Apaches. The people of Casa Grande and the Indians shook hands and promised to be as brothers. This done, they began to trade, and the Mexicans, in a classic act of deceitfulness, gave the Indians mescal.  Soon nearly all the warriors were intoxicated.  While the Apaches were under the influence, two companies of Mexican troops, who had been headquartered in another town, attacked the Indians.  The Mexican troops slaughtered twenty Indians and captured many more.  The Apaches fled in all directions. After the treachery and massacre of Casa Grande the Apaches did not reassemble for a long while, and when they did, even though there was pressure from the American army, Geronimo and his Apaches returned to Arizona.

GERONIMO IN MEXICO: “The Battle of White Hill, 1879”

Most of us know of the Apache leader Geronimo but most of what most of us know we learned at the movies.  Leader of the Chiricahua Apaches, Geronimo led the fight against the expansion into Apache tribal lands by the United States during the Apache Wars.  But you knew that much from the movies.  It is true that the greatest wrongs that were visited upon the Apaches were from the United States government.  But the history of Geronimo’s war parties started in Mexico…and we continue our adaptation of Geronimo’s own recollections.

Almost every year the tribe would live a part of the time in Old Mexico. Because there were at this time many white settlements in Arizona and plenty of pressure from the United States Army, the Apaches would move to Mexico, move back to Arizona, and then return to Mexico.  Geronimo had said that the reason was that game was no longer plentiful in Arizona and, besides, the Indians liked to go down into Old Mexico.  The lands of the Nedni Apaches, Geronimo’s friends and kinsmen, extended far into Mexico. Their Chief, Whoa, was like a brother to Geronimo, and Geronimo’s tribe spent much of their time in Nedni Apache territory. Geronimo’s Chiricahua Apaches would go into hiding in the Sierra Madre Mountains. 

In 1879, their camp was near Nacori, and Geronimo had just organized bands of warriors for raiding the country, when scouts discovered Mexican cavalry coming toward the camp to attack.

Instead of running and hiding, Geronimo marched all of his warriors toward the Mexican troops and met them at a place about five miles from the Indians’ encampment. Using an interesting tactic that best demonstrated Geronimo’s fighting style, the warriors showed themselves to the soldiers and, as expected, the Mexicans quickly rode to the top of a hill and dismounted, placing their horses on the outside for breastworks. It was a round hill, very steep and rocky, and there was no timber on its sides. There were two companies of Mexican cavalry, and the Apaches had about sixty warriors. The Indians crept up the hill behind the rocks and the Mexicans kept up a constant fire.  Geronimo cautioned the warriors to lay low behind the boulders and not to expose themselves to the Mexicans and to fire sporadically.

Geronimo knew that the troopers would waste their ammunition.  It wasn’t long before the Apaches had killed all the Mexican cavalry’s horses, but the Mexican soldiers would lie behind their dead steeds and shoot at the Indians.  While the Apaches had killed several Mexicans, the warriors had not yet lost a man.  However, it was impossible to get very close to the Mexicans in this way, and finally, Geronimo considered it best to lead a charge against them.

The Apaches had been fighting ever since about one o’clock, and about the middle of the afternoon, seeing that they were making no further progress, and considering that the Mexicans were almost out of ammunition, Geronimo gave the sign for the move forward. The war-whoop sounded and the Indians leaped forward from behind every stone, jumping over the Mexicans’ dead horses, fighting hand to hand. The warriors closed on the cavalry with lightening speed.  The attack was so sudden that the Mexicans, running first this way and then that, became so confused that in a few minutes the Apaches had killed them all with spears, tomahawks, and knives.  Then the Indians scalped the slain Mexicans, carried away their few Apache dead, and gathered up all the weapons they needed.

That night Geronimo moved the camp eastward through the Sierra Madre Mountains into Chihuahua. No troops molested them here and after about a year the Apaches returned to Arizona.

GERONIMO IN MEXICO “Apaches move to Mexico: 1873”

Most of us know of the Apache leader Geronimo but most of what most of us know we learned at the movies.  Leader of the Chiricahua Apaches, Geronimo led the fight against the expansion into Apache tribal lands by the United States during the Apache Wars.  But you knew that much from the movies.  It is true that the greatest wrongs that were visited upon the Apaches were from the United States government.  But the history of the Geronimo’s war parties started in Mexico…and we continue with the story.

Pressure was coming from Brigadier General George Crook who had caused much dissatisfaction among the Apaches.  Around the year 1873, when Mexican troops attacked Apacheria and were defeated by the Chiricahua who were off the reservation, the Apaches decided that it would be prudent to make raids into Mexico.

Geronimo moved the whole camp, packing all their belongings on mules and horses went into Mexico and made camp in the mountains near Nacori.  In moving their camp in this way the Apaches wanted no one to spy on them, and if the Indians passed a Mexican’s home they usually killed the residents. However, if the Mexicans offered to surrender and made no resistance or trouble in any way, Geronimo would take them prisoners. The Indians always set a place of rendezvous when they went off on a raid so that they could all get back together with their women and children.  Frequently the Indians would change their place of rendezvous; then they would take with them their Mexican prisoners if they were willing to go, but if they were unruly they might be killed.

Geronimo told of one Mexican in the Sierra Madre Mountains who saw the tribe moving and shooting at them delayed the Indians for some time.  Thinking the plunder of the Mexican’s house would pay them for the delay, the Apaches undertook the trouble to attack him, but after the Indians had killed him they found nothing in his casa worth having.

The Apaches ranged in those mountains for over a year, raiding the Mexican settlements for supplies, but not having any general engagement with Mexican troops; then the Indians returned to their homes in Arizona. After remaining in Arizona about a year The Apaches returned to Mexico, and went into hiding in the Sierra Madre Mountains.  Their camp was near Nacori, and Geronimo had just organized bands of warriors for raiding the country, when the scouts discovered Mexican troops coming toward the camp to attack them.  We’ll discuss that battle in our next installment.

GERONIMO IN MEXICO “The Chief’s loss and Geronimo’s gain: 1866-67”

Most of us know of the Apache leader Geronimo but most of what most of us know we learned at the movies.  Leader of the Chiricahua Apaches, Geronimo led the fight against the expansion into Apache tribal lands by the United States during the Apache Wars.  But you knew that much from the movies.  It is true that the greatest wrongs that were visited upon the Apaches were from the United States government.  But the history of the Geronimo’s war parties started in Mexico…and we continue with the story.

Early in the summer of 1866 Geronimo took thirty mounted warriors and invaded Mexican territory. The war party went south through Chihuahua as far as Santa Cruz, Sonora, then crossed over the Sierra Madre Mountains, following the river course at the south end of the range. The Indians kept on westward from the Sierra Madre Mountains to the Sierra de Sahuaripa Mountains, and followed that range northward.

Geronimo collected all the horses, mules, and cattle they wanted, and drove the animals northward through Sonora into Arizona. Mexicans saw the Indians many times and in many places, but they did not attack at any time, nor did any Mexican troops attempt to follow them. When the Apaches arrived at the Homeland, Geronimo gave presents to all, and the tribe feasted and danced. During this raid the warriors had killed about fifty Mexicans.

Next year, in 1867, Chief Mangas Coloradas led eight Chiricahua Apache warriors on a raid into Mexico.  Geronimo went along as a warrior, for even if not in charge he was always glad for an opportunity to fight the Mexicans. The Indians rode south from near Tombstone, Arizona, into Sonora, Mexico. They attacked some Mexican cowboys, and after a fight with the Mexicans the Indians drove all the Mexican cattle toward Apacheria. On the second day of travel, as the war party drove the cattle northward, the Chief failed to set out scouts.

When not far from Arispe, Mexican troops rode down upon the Apaches. The Mexicans were well armed and well mounted, and when the Apaches first saw them the Mexicans were less than half a mile away. The Indians abandoned the purloined cattle and rode as hard as they could toward the mountains, but the Mexican troops gained on them rapidly. Soon the troopers opened fire, but they were still far away.  The Indians returned fire but they were unable to reach the Mexicans with their arrows.  At last the Indians reached some timber, and, leaving their ponies, fought the Mexican troops from the cover of the trees. The Mexicans simply halted, collected the Indian’s ponies, and rode away across the plains toward Arispe, driving the cattle with them. Mangas Coloradas and the Apache war party could do nothing but stand and watch the Mexicans until they disappeared in the distance.  After that, the Indians set out on their disappointing walk home to Arizona.

The Indians arrived home in five days with no victory to report, no spoils to divide, and not even the ponies on which they had ridden into Mexico. The whole tribe considered this Mangas Coloradas expedition disgraceful.

The warriors who had been with the Chief on this last expedition wanted to return to Mexico. They were not content with the unsatisfactory results of the raid.  More importantly, they felt intensely the taunts and jeers of the other warriors.

Mangas Coloradas either would not or could not lead them back to Mexico, so Geronimo took command.  A war party of only six went on foot, directly toward Arispe in Sonora, and made their camp in the Sierra de Sahuaripa Mountains. The Indians raided several Mexican settlements at night and captured many horses and mules.  They loaded the animals with the provisions, saddles and blankets they had taken from the Mexican villages. Then Geronimo and the war party, traveling only at night, rode back to Arizona.

When the warriors arrived at their home, Geronimo sent out sentries to prevent any surprise by Mexicans who might have trailed them, assembled the tribe, divided the spoils, and the Apaches feasted and danced into the night.  Because of the disgrace felt by the tribe as a result of the last raid, Mangas Coloradas did not receive any of this plunder.  And it seems, according to Geronimo’s words, that the war party did not care. No Mexican troops followed Geronimo’s war party back to Arizona.