GERONIMO, GUERRILLA FIGHTER

GERONIMO!

Extraordinarily adept at the use of hit-and-run tactics, Geronimo has earned a respected niche in the annals of guerrilla warfare. eptember 4, 1886: Geronimo surrenders to General Nelson A. Miles in Skeleton Canyon-leader of the last American Indian fighting force formally to capitulate to the United States. For eighteen defiant months he has evaded thousands of soldiers bent upon capturing his tiny band of warriors. Next day both men are sitting quietly in an Army ambulance heading for Fort Bowie when the Apache warrior begins reminiscing as he gazes longingly toward the rugged Chiricahua Mountains he knows so well.

"This is the fourth time I have surrendered," says Geronimo.

"And I think it is the last time," replies General Miles.

They reach the fort in one day, and Miles wires a triumphant telegram across the country: "The Indians surrendered as prisoners of war. I returned here bringing Geronimo, hereditary chief Naiche, and three others. Captain Lawton will bring the remainder. I intend to ship them to Florida without delay."

The surrender immediately becomes front page news.

Geronimo, powerfully built at five-feeteight, was a Chiricahua Apache guerrilla leader whose warriors were physically robust, agile, disciplined, and untiring. They maintained themselves by hit-and-run raids, stealing cattle and horses, or plundering wagon trains. Very seldom did they fight in the open field.

Apache raiding strategy was based on a keen knowledge of the mountains of southeastern Arizona, which they used as north-south travel routes into Mexico. One such was the Chiricahuas where they knew every trail, every canyon, and every waterhole. When chased by the cavalry, they lured pursuers into canyon ambushes or fled across the range.

The Chiricahuas-derived from Apache words meaning "great mountain" -are laced with forests and streams and snowcapped in winter. Apache Pass, at the north end of the range, was for years the most dangerous location in Arizona for encounters between Apaches and white men. Here the Indians ambushed wagon trains and Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoaches and, on July 15, 1862, led by Mangas Coloradas and Cochise, attacked a detachment of Union soldiers. This battle focused attention on the need for a military post at Apache Pass. Two weeks after the engagement, Camp (later Fort) Bowie was established, built on a strip of tableland near a spring. In the 1870s and 1880s, Fort Bowie served as the nerve center for military campaigns against Chiricahua Apaches who refused to stay on reservations-particularly the small band led by Geronimo.

Geronimo was not a chief, and his fol lowing was small. His skill as a war leader was first recognized after a personal tragedy. During a peaceful tribal trading expedition led by Chief Mangas Coloradas to Janos, Chihuahua, Mexico, in the 1850s, Geronimo lost his first wife, Alope, his aging mother, and three children. Mexican soldiers from Arispe, Sonora, crept up to the camp and killed most of the women and children while the men were in town. "I vowed vengeance to the Mexican troopers who wronged me," Geronimo recalled in his ghost-written autobiography. A year later, he was placed placed in in command of a war party that sought out the soldiers responsible for the massacre. During a bloody two-hour battle fought near Arispe, Geronimo led charge after charge. When both sides finally withdrew, the battlefield was strewn with dead. Geronimo's power as a leader was on the rise. Geronimo later took another wife-he was to have nine during his lifetime-in the Chiricahua Mountains area, where he moved near his new in-laws, as was Apache custom. From this point, he led sporadic raids across the border into Mexico, returning with cattle, horses, guns, and clothing. These wild days in the Chiricahuas, probably the happiest time in Geronimo's life, were soon to end.

In the 1870s, a new era was born. President U. S. Grant adopted an Indian peace policy and dispatched a commissioner to Arizona to persuade Apaches to live on a reservation, either at Camp Verde or Fort Apache. The Chiricahua Apaches were the major holdouts, refusing to give up their freedom to live where they pleased. In 1872, however, Cochise met with the peace commissioner, General O. O. Howard, in the Dragoon Mountains. During their talks, Cochise promised to remain at peace in return for a Chiricahua reservation in southeastern Arizona, a land that was to belong to the Chiricahua Apaches "as long as the water flows and the grass shall grow."

GERONIMO!

Then General George Crook, military commander in Arizona, was ordered to round up all Apaches not on a reservation. Using small, fast-moving cavalry units, which included a large number of friendly Apache scouts, Crook developed an effective fighting force. He also linked Arizona's scattered military posts with telegraph lines and built first-class wagon roads. (See the July, 1982, issue of Arizona Highways.) Crook's task was far from over, however. A new government policy was being forged which would lead to bloodshed. Before Crook was transferred out of Arizona in 1875, the government was demanding the concentration of all western Apache tribes at the San Carlos reservation. Crook objected. His reasons: treaties With several tribes would be broken, and the hot desert climate at San Carlos was not suitable for mountain dwellers. Unmoved by Crook's logic, Washington soon found the reservation overcrowded and the Indians restless, particularly after being shorted on rations by government contractors. Of course, the federal government also abolished the new Chiricahua Indian Reservation in southeastern Arizona. The decision contributed to an Apache war that spilled the blood of many ranchers, settlers, freighters, soldiers, and Indians. From this conflict came new Apache leaders, Geronimo, Juh, Nolgee, and others. With a handful of warriors, they became the scourge of southern Arizona and northern Mexico.

Rather than remove themselves to San Carlos, about two-thirds of the Chiricahuas fled, with Geronimo leading one group to the Sierra Madre of Mexico, his boyhood home after his father's death. From here he raided at will until captured in 1877 by Indian agent John Clum and the San Carlos reservation police at Ojo Caliente in New Mexico. Geronimo and his followers were shackled and taken to the desert reserve.

But Geronimo was not content being a farmer, growing barley and watermelons. This was "squaw's work." He also resented the presence of cavalry soldiers on the reservation and the ban on tiswin,

Indian corn liquor. Eventually, he would

(UPPER INSET) Hostiles in camp at Cañon de los Embudos. (LOWER INSET) Geronimo and his warriors. BOTH BY C.S. FLY.

GERONIMO!

Text continued from page 15 lead escapes from the reservation in 1878, 1881, and 1885. Geronimo's three escapes followed a similar pattern. The Apaches used darkness to get a head start on cavalrymen, leaving a trail of blood, burning ranch houses, and wrecked wagons as they moved swiftly toward Mexico. If the cavalry caught up, warriors fought a rear guard action from good defensive positions while the main body moved out of danger with herds of cattle and horses. In 1882, while still "on the loose," Geronimo led warriors on a "rescue" raid to San Carlos. About 700 Chiricahuas were escorted back to Mexico, some against their will, to live an outlaw existence. On the way, ranches were raided for food and fresh mounts. At a Gila Valley sheep ranch, ten white people were killed. Geronimo evaded the lacework of troopers crisscrossing southern Arizona and New Mexico, and succeeded in crossing the border. He was tracked, however, by a small American force (an 1882 treaty with Mexico legally permitted Americans to pursue outlaws across the border) commanded by Captain T. C. Tupper. The troopers, though, were held off by Geronimo's rear guard and were forced to retreat back to Arizona when their ammunition ran low. The next day, the main body of Apaches was ambushed by Mexican soldiers who encircled them with a grass fire. But after dark, the Apaches made good their escape to the Sierra Madre. "All during the night," one Indian later recalled, "we could hear people mourning and wailing for their relatives." The two battles cost the Apaches a hundred casualties, mostly women and children. After Geronimo's dramatic raid on San Carlos, General Crook was reassigned to Arizona. Twice, in 1883 and 1886, he induced Geronimo to surrender. At one point Crook assembled a force of fifty regular troopers and 200 Apache Indian scouts at Willcox, near Fort Bowie. Guided by Peaches, a former Chiricahua warrior, Crook moved into the Sierra Madre along a steep trail. By the time Geronimo returned from a raid in Chihuahua, many of his warriors had already capitulated. "Soldiers in the Sierra Madre?" Geronimo screamed angrily. "Isn't anyplace safe from the white eyes?" He surrendered on May 21, 1883, agreed to follow Crook back in good time, and finally crossed the border in March, 1884, driving 350 head of stolen cattle, some ponies, and a mule pack train loaded with plunder. "I want a military escort to San Carlos!" Geronimo demanded, explaining that a man of his stature was expected to bring gifts for relatives and friends on the reservation. Crook obliged, assigning Lieutenant Britton Davis to lead the escort. Davis yielded to Geronimo's wish to move the livestock slowly through the lush Sulphur Springs Valley, so they wouldn't lose any fat. Later, by driving the cattle quietly at night he even avoided two federal officers: the U.S. marshal for southern Arizona and the collector of customs from Nogales, who intended to arrest Geronimo and his warriors for the murder of Arizona residents and to confiscate the cattle for nonpayment of duties at the border. When the group arrived at San Carlos, Crook, acting to set an example for other Apaches, confiscated the livestock, and turned over the proceeds of their sale to the Mexican government for distribution to claimants. Later Crook was able to move the Chiricahuas from the desert heat of San Carlos to high country near Fort Apache, a land of pine forests and bountiful game. The government provided plows, and Geronimo became one of the best farmers. But in May, 1885, acting on a rumor he and other Apaches would be arrested for drinking tiswin, Geronimo headed for Mexico again, this time with a party of forty-two warriors and ninety-two women and children. The next March, after nearly a year of raiding and killing, Geronimo met with Crook once more at Cañon de los Embudos (canyon of the tricksters). "All I want is peace," he said. "Why did you kill innocent people, sneaking all over the country to do it?" asked Crook. "What did these innocent people do to you that you should kill them and steal their horses...? You promised peace that would last, but you have lied about it.... Decide at once on unconditional surrender or fight it out." Geronimo chose surrender. But Crook had no sooner returned to Fort Bowie when a courier arrived with news that Geronimo and Chief Naiche, a son of Cochise, had disappeared again with their followers. A trader fired their apprehensions with liquor and rumors they would be killed after crossing the border.

Disgusted by events and stung by a rep-rimand from President Grover Cleveland, Crook requested reassignment. Within two weeks, General Nelson A. Miles ar-rived at Fort Bowie to assume command. Faced with the anger of the federal gov-ernment and local residents alike (territo-rial newspapers were demanding the arrest, trial, and execution of marauding Apaches), Miles indiscriminately trans-ported to Fort Marion, Florida, the fugi-tives who had recently surrendered to Crook, other Apaches living at peace on the reservation, and loyal Indian scouts. None were allowed to return to Arizona. Miles, as pompous as Crook was mod-est, now made elaborate plans to capture Geronimo: about 5000 soldiers were put on alert. Cavalry rode patrol constantly, and infantry guarded waterholes, passes, and supply depots. In addition Miles cre-ated an elaborate network of mountain-top heliograph stations in southeastern Arizona and northern Mexico. The mir-rors, which flashed messages in Morse code, were put to heavy use when Geron-imo swept through southern Arizona with a small raiding party. The Apaches stole horses on the Calabasas and A. L. Peck ranches north of Nogales, killing Mrs. Peck, two children, and a ranch hand. A Tenth Cavalry detachment, hot on Geron-imo's trail, was ambushed in a box canyon south of the border. At last Miles resorted to a stratagem Crook might have used. He sent Lieuten-ant Charles B. Gatewood, affectionately called "Big Nose" by the Apaches, to lo-cate and negotiate with Geronimo. Gate-wood followed two Apache women, who had come to Fronteras for supplies, to Geronimo's camp. Waving a stick with a white flour sack attached, Gatewood entered camp unharmed and passed out fifteen pounds of tobacco as he explained the government's surrender terms - exile to Florida.

GERONIMO!

"We will surrender to General Miles in Skeleton Canyon. You will go with us," Geronimo said after the Apache leaders had talked it over.

True to his word this time, Geronimo and his band were waiting at the canyon, in the Peloncillo range in southeastern Arizona, when General Miles arrived in style on September 3.

"This is the ocean," the general said, drawing a line on the ground. He put down three stones-one for the location of Florida, one for the Chiricahuas at Fort Apache, and one for Geronimo's group. Then he placed all the stones on the spot indicating Florida.

"That is what the Great White Chief wants to do," Miles explained, "get all of you together."

Geronimo, who interpreted Miles' statement to mean the Chiricahua families would be united on a beautiful reservation, remarked, "It sounds like a story to me. I hardly believe you."

Miles, who assured him it was the truth, was lying. There was no reservation.

One condition of the surrender, however, greatly benefitted Geronimo and his people. They were never tried in either civil or military courts for crimes of murder and robbery committed against residents of Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico, escaping the vengeance of citizenry bent upon hanging them.

On the day of the surrender a century ago, September 4, 1886, thunder echoed over Skeleton Canyon and rain poured down. When the storm subsided, the Apaches were taken to Fort Bowie, allowed a few days rest, then loaded on wagons under heavy guard and sent to Bowie Station on the Southern Pacific Railroad for entrainment to Florida. As they left the post, the Fourth Cavalry band ironically played "Auld Lang Syne."

Much later, Apache families were given a permanent home at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. There Geronimo died and was buried in 1909, his grave marked with a rock monument topped with a stone eagle.

Today there are Apaches who would like to transfer Geronimo's body to Arizona, but others oppose the idea. But in all likelihood, Geronimo's spirit has already traveled back to the mountains he loved.

WHEN YOU GO...

A visit to Fort Bowie or the Chiricahua Mountains should definitely include a stop at the Chiricahua National Monument, where eroded "totem poles" balance on tiny pedestals in the Wonderland of Rocks. From this high vantage point in the Coronado National Forest, bands of Apaches under Geronimo raided settlers on both sides of the border. The monument's 11,000 acres are accessible by car, and easy hiking trails let you walk through galleries of fancifully eroded rock shapes.

Mean daily temperature here in January is forty degrees Fahrenheit; in July, seventy-four degrees. Summertime is the busiest season for the monument.

Wear comfortable clothing and walking shoes, make sure your automobile is in good condition for travel, and be sure to bring along a supply of drinking water for emergencies. Places to eat are few and far between. So come prepared.

At the monument, stop at the visitor center. There is an entrance fee. National Park Service personnel are on hand to explain the monument's special features and describe the area's natural history. A half-mile from the visitor center is a campground in Bonita Canyon. A fourteen-day limit is imposed. Trailers up to twenty-six feet in length can be accommodated, but there are no hookups.

Picnics are a special treat in the campground, which has drinking water, fireplaces, tables, and rest rooms, all centrally located. There is a camping fee, payable at the visitor center.

Willcox, on Interstate Route 10 eighty-five miles east of Tucson, is your gateway to the Chiricahuas (pronounced Cheery-kab-wahs), in the heart of cattle country. Willcox also is the home of Rex Allen, "the Arizona Yodeling Cowboy" in the days of radio's National Barn Dance. During the 1950s, he became a cowboy movie actor. Willcox celebrates Rex Allen Days with a major rodeo the first weekend of October. Motels, restaurants, commercial campgrounds, and trailer parks are found here.

Also in the Chiricahuas: the Southwestern Research Station, five miles west of Portal, the entrance to picturesque Cave Creek. SRS is a biological field station of the American Museum of Natural History. It affords laboratories and facilities for up to 55 researchers in a variety of scientific fields. The labs are not open to the public, but visitors to the station are welcome. Accommodations are available; reservations are necessary. Rates are moderate and include three meals per day. There is a five-night maximum length of stay. (See page 38.) Fort Bowie National Historic Site brings the Indian wars of the latter nineteenth century into focus for visitors from around the world. Even the famous Butterfield stage ran through this once major frontier post, the adobe ruins of which still can be seen. A National Park Service ranger on duty from 8 AM. to 4:30 PM. seven days a week will answer your questions about the site and its historic importance. To get to Fort Bowie from I-10, take Apache Pass Road (sometimes troublesome in wet weather) south from Bowie about thirteen miles to the Fort Bowie trailhead. From there, a mile-and-a-half hike brings you to the site.

Traveling to southeastern Arizona from Phoenix or Tucson is fast and easy on Interstate Route 10 to Willcox, then State Route 186 to the monument in the Chiricahuas. Mileage from Phoenix is approximately 219; from Tucson, 108.

Suggested reading for all your Arizona explorations is Travel Arizona, an Arizona Highways book, by Joseph Stocker.

For more information: Chiricahua National Monument, Dos Cabezas Route, P.O. Box 6500, Willcox, AZ 85643; (602) 824-3560.

Coronado National Forest, Federal Building, 300 West Congress Street, Sixth Floor, Tucson, AZ 85701; (602) 629-6483.

Fort Bowie National Historic Site, P.O. Box 158, Bowie, AZ 85605; (602) 847-2500.

Southwestern Research Station, Portal, AZ 85632; (602) 558-2396.

Willcox Chamber of Commerce, 1500 North Circle I Road, Willcox, AZ 85643; (602) 384-2272.