Geronimo
General Notes: "Geronimo His Own Story: The Autobiography of a Great Warrior"
To listen......................to learn.................that is power.
Geronimo



The more we can kill this year, the less will have to be killed in the next war, for the more I see of these Indians the more convinced I am that all have to be killed or maintained as a species of pauper.
United States Senator

When the Caciques of the Americans sit on their decapitated heads, then they dress our bodies in their clothes, feed our bodies with their victuals; then, too they can have our things to take with them to the houses of their fathers.
Hopi elders - 1882

They are to be treated as maniacs or wild beasts and by no means as people with whom treaties and compromises can be made......
General John Pope to his officers in the waging of the war to exterminate.

We didn't need all this land, and neither did you.
Red Cloud

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Before one begins understand the American Indian way of life, it should be noted that there are clear differences between American Indians and Anglo Americans. Many have heard the partisan cry of the frontier in which that expansion to the West was hindered by the presence of Indians. But the Indians in general viewed the land they lived on in sharp contrast to that of Anglo Americans.

The Indians viewed the land as a sacred reality in which they respected and lived in while their existence was fixed in accordance with the laws of nature. The Anglo view believed the concept of Manifest Destiny thereby declaring the frontier available to the masses of Americans who wished to take it. In the eyes of the Indian, this usually meant an aggressive exploitation of the land violating the laws of nature.


Since the time Columbus stumbled on to the Americas, this has been one way of revealing this reality. The following may develop some points for discussion:

Some whites----usually those who had the least contact with Native Americans--- viewed Indians as "noble savages" whose "natural" way of life remained in harmony with the elements, a myth still perpetuated by far too many scholars. To be sure, the population density of Indian settlement remained low enough so that their impact on western environment was relatively small compared with the later white settlement. And Indians could be remarkably inventive about making the most of the resources around them.

Nations of Nations: A Narrative History of the American Republic. Davidson et.al.

Many can argue the difference between the Indians and Anglos as the conflict of lifestyles in which life within nature opposes the quest for the American "garden of Eden," which is justified under the umbrella of Manifest Destiny. One must understand the resistance by the American Indians was an instinct which sought to protect what was rightfully theirs. The following are excerpts pertinent to this argument.

It was easy to forget the Indians; they were a sparse population, and for the first immigrants they presented nothing that resembled civilization.

Democratic Humanism and American Literature Harold Kaplan

The Indians must conform to "the white man's ways," peaceably if they will, forcibly if they must. They must adjust themselves to their environment, and conform their mode of living substantially to our civilization. This civilization may not be the best possible, but it is the best Indians can get. They can not escape it, and must either conform to it, or be crushed by it.

The Executive Documents of the House of Representatives for The First Session of the 51st Congress, 1889-1890, vol. II.

Most important, American Indian literature is not similar to western literature because the basic assumptions about the universe and, therefore, the basic reality experienced by tribal peoples and westerners are not the same, even at the level of "folklore." This difference has confused non-Indian students for centuries, because they have been unable or unwilling to grant this difference and to proceed in terms of it.

The tribes seek, through song, ceremony, legend, sacred stories (myths), and tales to embody, articulate, and share reality, to bring the isolated private self into harmony and balance with this reality, to verbalize the sense of the majesty and reverent mystery of all things, and to actualize, in language, those truths of being and experience that give to humanity its greatest significance and dignity.

The Sacred Hoop Paula Gunn Allen

These ideas juxtaposed with the events of American history are important elements regarding the Indian wars and resistance. Although both sides were responsible for varying degrees of atrocities toward each other, time after time Indians were betrayed which subsequently fueled their hostility toward the Anglo invaders.

Notes of American history which led to conflict:


The campaign under General Pope was the opening phase of a guerrilla war that raged intermittently between the U.S. Army and western Indians for some 30 years. The conflict gained momentum in November 1864, when a force of Colorado volunteers under the command of Colonel John Chivington fell upon a friendly band of Cheyenne gathered at Sand Creek under the protection of the army. Black Kettle, the Cheyenne chief, raised the American flag to indicate friendship, but Chivington was having none of it. "Kill and scalp all, big and little," he told his men. When the massacre ended, all 80 Cheyenne, including women and children, lay dead. Settlers and soldiers alike felt the consequences of Chivington's unprovoked brutality, as virtually all the Plains Indians joined the Sioux efforts to drive whites from their lands.

Chief Crazy Horse, in the end, stated, " Hear me, my chiefs, I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever." The government then shipped his defeated tribe to Oklahoma, where disease and starvation finished the destruction the army had begun.

Geronimo with his band of Apaches, became the last to succumb to the white conquest.


To shine another light on this for the benefit of the western or foreign reader, consider the following, a point of view regarding the Indian loss of identity, taken from a paper I did in 1994.

To put it another way, imagine that this country was taken over by a united sect of terrorists in the future, and they ravaged our way of life and repulsed our personal liberties, took over our cities and places we lived; How would you feel about this?"


This imaginary event is what the American Indian suffered in the 19th century.

This is some background to Geronimo's narrative. The following notes discuss another debate regarding the capture and surrender of Geronimo.


One of the most important events surrounding Geronimo's surrender is excluded in detail in the narrative. In Chapter 16 "The Final Struggle," Geronimo begins to realize that the end is near, however, he has a distrust for the U.S. Army and General Miles. The footnote on the bottom of page mentions the initial contact with Lt. Charles B. Gatewood of the 6th Cavalry. Although not much is revealed on behalf of Geronimo, this is a significant event of the eventual surrender. Many feel that Lt. Gatewood (who formally was under the command of General Crook) was the primary individual who convinced Geronimo to surrender to General Miles.

The point here is why did the U.S. government and the U.S. Army overshadow this event?


This has been debated in that some believe that it was General George Crook's initial plans and Gatewood's efforts were the reason for bringing Geronimo to the point of surrender. However, their have been several versions as to what occurred.

In the end, General Miles, Capt. Henry Lawton, and Leonard Wood received the recognition for ending Geronimo's resistance. Two sources offer different views.

The first of which is Leonard Wood's Chasing Geronimo, which details his personal accounts with the army as a medical officer and later a combatant line officer under Captain Lawton. He labeled Gatewood as kind of an outsider who was tired of his command and insubordinate. Woods discusses in detail the role he played as well as the accomplishments of Captain Lawton and General Miles.

He pointed out that General Crook failed to pacify the Indians, thus resulting in Crook's resignation. In the aftermath of the surrender of the Apaches, he along with Mile's officers received the praise, while Lt. Gatewood faded into obscurity.


In the other account by Lt. Britton Davis, his experience appears, in the eyes of many, closest to the truth about the surrender. He states Lawton's desire to kill Geronimo and his opposition to Gatewood's assignment to find Geronimo. Geronimo trusted Lt. Gatewood and met with him at Fronteras.

According to Davis, Gatewood talked to Geronimo about surrendering. At first the warrior refused, but Gatewood stated the Apaches were going to be sent to Florida. Geronimo, in time and if he conceded, would be able to return to Apache land. Geronimo still had a lot of distrust and was prompted to ask Gatewood:

We want your advice. Consider yourself not a white man but one of us. Remember all that has been said today and tell us what to do.

Gatewood to Geronimo:

Trust General Miles and surrender to him.

The matter was resolved and they proceeded to Skeleton Canyon.



Worthy of note:


General Crook believed in order to catch an Apache, an Apache must be used to achieve this. Many Apache scouts were recruited by the army. Under the orders by Miles at the end of the Geronimo campaign, Apache scouts including the major role players Kayitah, Martine, and Chato, were relieved of their duties and sent to Florida with the other Chiricahuas.

Lt. Charles B. Gatewood received his "reward" in Wyoming were he was assigned. A fire broke out in the barracks and it was threatening the whole compound. He attempted to blow up one of the buildings to save the rest, but a premature explosion shattered his arms and he was disabled for life, this occurring upon returning to duty after a sick leave from his exploits in the Geronimo campaign. He was forced to retire on half the pay of a lieutenant with a wife and two small children to provide for.

Charles Gatewood died in May of 1895 and his widow with her children to rear, was granted the munificent pension of 17 dollars a month.

Many felt that this was covered up because it was perceived as an embarrassment to the U.S. Army and the Federal government.

General Miles summed up these events like this:

IN HOC SIGNO VINCES, which is translated as BY THESE MEANS WE CONQUERED THEM.


R. Lewis
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