Geronimo

The Apache have been called the greatest guerrilla fighters the world has ever seen. Of these, Geronimo is the most famous. He defied the US government for over 25 years, and while he surrendered twice, he was never defeated. To understand the significance of this, it’s helpful to consider that at his final surrender in 1886 his band consisted of only 16 warriors, 14 women, and six children. The army had been pursuing them with 5,000 troops, a fifth of its entire regular army, and had spent over a million dollars a year to fight them. Yet, he and his small band were never defeated, but voluntarily surrendered. And in spite of what was a huge expenditure of money and troops for that time, it could be argued that the 100 renegade Apache scouts used by the army were the most important element in the limited success that they had in running Geronimo down. His surrender brought to an end to the Indian wars and the violence and uncertainty that had accompanied them.

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January 12, 2014 | Categories: History, Photography, The Drama Of It All | Tags: AMERICA, American West., Apache, Apache Wars., British, Chiricahua, Death, Fort Sill, General George Crook, Geronimo, History, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mexican, Military, Native Americans, Navajo, Oklahoma, Photo, Photography, Plains Apache, pneumonia, Politics, prisoner of war, Southwest United States, Trail of Tears, US Government, US Politics, USA, War, war chief, Warfare, Weird, Western Apache | Leave a comment