Wood refused. While moving northward, on August 18, Lawton and Gatewood heard that two Apache women had opened negotiations for peace at the pueblo of Fronteras, some 70 miles to the northwest.
He rode and walked 55 miles, arriving at Cuchuta late that night. On August 20, Gatewood pushed on the remaining 15 miles to Fronteras. He presented himself to Jesus Aguirre, the prefecto of the Sonaran district of Arispe, to which Fronteras belonged. The meeting did not go well. After his interview with Aguirre, Gatewood camped with an assembly of American troops three miles below Fronteras.
After dark, Aguirre visited the American camp. Although Aguirre told several officers he did not want them present when he negotiated peace with Geronimo, he told Gatewood he hoped to get the Apaches drunk and then massacre them. During the next two days Gatewood made no attempt to contact Geronimo.
When Lawton heard, he rode to Fronteras to find out why. However, before he saw Gatewood, he got drunk. Wood, who had accompanied Lawton, assumed command and ordered Gatewood to find Geronimo. At dusk, the lieutenant moved south. He enlisted two additional interpreters, Tom Horn and Jesus Maria Yestes, and between six and eight soldiers. Horn was serving as chief of scouts for one of the columns in Mexico; Yestes lived in Fronteras.
Gatewood had no intention of rejoining Lawton. The march was little more than an act to convince anyone who watched that he would rejoin Lawton. After traveling six miles, it was dark enough for his purposes.
Gatewood ducked into an arroyo, then turned eastward into the mountains. Shortly after midnight, he turned northward, toward Fronteras. Early on August 23, he found the trail of the two Apache women who had spoken with Aguirre.
It led eastward, down the mountain toward the Bavispe River. By the time Gatewood reached the Bavispe, all signs indicated that the Chiricahuas were close. Gnarly crags towered above. Fearing ambush, Gatewood slowed his pace to a crawl. Gatewood followed them through a canyon and into the valley of the Bavispe. Just past noon, he reached a canebrake below a peak that offered a good view of the surrounding country. After setting up camp, he sent Kayitah and Martine out to find Geronimo.
During the wait, Gatewood sent several messengers back to Lawton. Anticipating meeting Geronimo the next day, he requested tobacco and supplies. Kayitah had remained at the Chiricahua stronghold.
Martine described the stronghold as an exceedingly rocky position high up in the [Teres] mountains in the bend of the Bavispe. Martine said that Geronimo and Naiche wanted to talk peace—but only with Gatewood. On August 25, an anxious Gatewood packed 15 pounds of tobacco, cigarette papers, and matches that had arrived from Lawton during the night.
He moved out at sunrise. After traveling several miles along the canyon floor, Gatewood began to ascend the mountain that Geronimo held. An unarmed Chiricahua warrior appeared, then three armed warriors. Gatewood sent Brown back to the canebrake. Gatewood, with Martine, Wratten, Yestes, Horn, maybe one soldier and the four Chiricahuas, reached the bend of the Bavispe shortly after 8 a.
Suddenly, armed warriors appeared on the mountain and began their descent. We were very anxious for a few minutes, Martine remembered, thinking that maybe Geronimo had changed his mind and meant trouble for us.
When the Chiricahuas reached the mountain base, they vanished, only to explode out of the bush from different directions. Some 35 to 40 Chiricahuas, including 21 warriors, surrounded Gatewood. Kayitah appeared. There was no sign of Geronimo. Gatewood greeted everyone, then took off his arms.
The Indians immediately asked for tobacco and alcohol. Gatewood had no alcohol, but passed out the makings for smokes. Everyone rolled cigarettes and lighted up. Geronimo appeared, set his Winchester down and crossed to Gatewood. As they shook hands, Geronimo said Anzhoo —How are you? Gatewood asked about the negotiations with the Mexicans. Geronimo explained that he wanted supplies, mescal and time to rest and figured the Mexicans would let him have those things if they thought he would surrender to them.
The moment of reckoning had arrived. With warriors surrounding him and Geronimo staring at him, Gatewood felt chilly twitching movements. He said, I am directed by General Miles to ask the surrender of yourself and followers to the United States government.
An unconditional surrender. Feeling his way carefully, Gatewood continued: Surrender and you will be sent to join the rest of your people in Florida, there to await the decision of the President as to your final disposition. Accept these terms or fight it out to the bitter end. Geronimo rubbed his face, his eyes. Then, holding his arms before Gatewood, made them tremble. The Mexicans expected to play their usual trick of getting us drunk and killing us, but we have had the fun; and now I feel a little shaky.
He then said, [We want] to go back to the White Mountains the same as before. Gatewood told Geronimo that he had no authority to offer terms. If I was authorized to accede to these modest propositions, the war might be considered at an end right there, the lieutenant said. After Geronimo recited all the wrongs done to his people, the talk turned to what the Chiricahuas should do.
Warrior tempers flared. They moved away from Gatewood to speak in private. Geronimo resumed negotiations with Gatewood after a lunch break.
He said he wanted the usual terms, including no punishment. Geronimo then snapped: To expect [us] to give up the whole Southwest to a race of intruders [is] too much….
Geronimo looked Gatewood square in the eye. Take us to the reservation or fight. Gatewood could do neither. Surrounded, he could not even run. It did not look good. Naiche spoke for the first time, saying that Gatewood had come in peace and would be allowed to leave in peace. Breathing easier, Gatewood decided to gamble and say a truth that had not happened yet. He showed early promise as a hunter and led four successful raids on nearby tribes by age Personal tragedy shaped his lifelong hatred for anyone who attempted to subject him or his people.
I will take the bullets from the guns … and I will guide your arrows. The young Goyahkla earned the nickname while leading Apache raids. Some historians believe its origins are the cries of frightened Mexican soldiers calling out the name of the Catholic St.
Jerome when they faced Geronimo in battle. National Atlas of the United States. American Westward expansion brought new woes—and foes—to the Apache. Mexico ceded much of what is now the American Southwest to the United States, including land the Apaches had called home for centuries. The Gadsden Purchase in gave the U. In , the U.
A defiant Geronimo broke out of San Carlos Reservation with his followers three separate times in the next decade. His knowledge of the surrounding hills helped him to evade his pursuers.
The more often Geronimo escaped and the longer he was able to disappear, the more embarrassed the U. His belief that no bullets could harm him appeared to be true, as he continually escaped skirmishes with law enforcement, Anglo-Americans and Mexicans.
He was wounded multiple times, but always recovered. He became a newspaper sensation. On May 17, , Geronimo, then 55, led Apache followers in a daring escape from the reservation. To avoid capture by the American cavalry and Apache scouts, he often pushed the men, women and children in his group to travel as far as 70 miles per day. While on the loose, Geronimo and his band raided both Mexican and American settlements, sometimes killing civilians.
Naturally, tensions mounted and the Apaches stepped up their attacks, which included brutal ambushes on stagecoaches and wagon trains. But the Chiricahua leader, Geronimo's father-in-law, Cochise, could see where the future was headed. In an act that greatly disappointed his son-in-law, the revered chief called a halt to his decade-long war with the Americans and agreed to the establishment of a reservation for his people on a prized piece of Apache property.
But within just a few years, Cochise died, and the federal government reneged on its agreement, moving the Chiricahua north so that settlers could move into their former lands. This act only further incensed Geronimo, setting off a new round of fighting. Geronimo proved to be as elusive as he was aggressive. However, authorities finally caught up with him in and sent him to the San Carlos Apache reservation.
For four long years, he struggled with his new reservation life, finally escaping in September Out on his own again, Geronimo and a small band of Chiricahua followers eluded American troops. Over the next five years, they engaged in what proved to be the last of the Indian wars against the United States. Perceptions of Geronimo were nearly as complex as the man himself.
His followers viewed him as the last great defender of the Native American way of life. But others, including fellow Apaches, saw him as a stubborn holdout, violently driven by revenge and foolishly putting the lives of people in danger. With his followers in tow, Geronimo shot across the Southwest. As he did, the seemingly mystical leader was transformed into a legend as newspapers closely followed the Army's pursuit of him.
At one point nearly a quarter of the Army's forces — 5, troops — were trying to hunt him down. Finally, in the summer of , he surrendered, the last Chiricahua to do so. Over the next several years Geronimo and his people were bounced around, first to a prison in Florida, then a prison camp in Alabama and then Fort Sill in Oklahoma. In total, the group spent 27 years as prisoners of war. While he and the rest of the Chiricahua remained under guard, Geronimo experienced a bit of celebrity from his white former enemies.
Less than a decade after he'd surrendered, crowds longed to catch a glimpse of the famous Indian warrior. In , he published his autobiography, and that same year he received a private audience with President Theodore Roosevelt, unsuccessfully pressing the American leader to let his people return to Arizona.
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