Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Geronimo: The Last Great Native American Resistance Leader

Starting point is 00:00:00 Few figures in American history embody resistance and resilience quite like Geronimo. A leader of the Apache nation who defied both Mexican and U.S. forces, his name became synonymous with both courage and defiance. But beyond the myths lie a complex story of survival, conflict, and cultural upheaval. In the process, he became an icon to the very people he fought against. Learn more about Geronimo and how his story shaped the history of the American Southwest. on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Do you ever climb into bed ready to sleep only to have your mind start racing the moment your head hits the pillow?

Starting point is 00:00:51 Thoughts bouncing around, replaying the day or jumping ahead to tomorrow? That is exactly why Catherine Nikolai created Nothing Much Happens. Each episode is a gentle, cozy bedtime story where, well, nothing much happens. No drama, no tension, nothing you need to follow closely. Just soft narration, calming repetition, and soothing sensory details designed to help your mind slow down and your body relax. It's not about entertainment, it's about rest. And millions of listeners around the world use it every night to quiet their thoughts and

Starting point is 00:01:20 finally fall asleep. If you've ever struggled to shut your brain off at night, this might be exactly what you've been missing. You can listen to Nothing Much Happens wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes are every Monday and Thursday. Before the Mexican-American War and the Treaty of Guadalupe Idaalgo, the lands inhabited by the Apache people included areas under both Mexican and United States. States control. It was here around the year 1823 when a child named Golilka, or

Starting point is 00:01:52 one who yawns, was born. Later known as Geronimo, he would spend his formative years in the Apache homelands of the Desert Southwest. In 1858, Geronimo and his band of Apache, known as the Bedoncohe, were in what is now Sonora, then part of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. During this time, the Apache and the region conducted raiding missions that disrupted local trade and shaped ongoing resistance. Rating was key to Apache survival. It was a tradition, but it was also a necessity. Options were few for the Apache living in the arid region of Northern Mexico and the American Southwest. When raiding, the Apache primarily targeted wealthy landowners and ranchers in northern Mexico, often seeking food, but occasionally taking rare items for trade.

Starting point is 00:02:38 In response to the threat posed by the Apache rating tactics, the Mexican government issued a bounty of $25 for the scalps of any Apache raider, hoping to deter further attacks and protect local interests. A militia of about 400 Mexicans answered the call and fell upon the Apache camp at a place known as Kaskia. While most of the men were away at a nearby trading post, the Mexican militia attacked the tribe, killing Geronimo's mother, his wife, and his three children. Returning to Koskiya, unspeakable agony struck Geronimo as he was. realized the catastrophic loss of his entire family. In his 1905 autobiography, Geronimo chronicled the gruesome discovery by noting, quote,

Starting point is 00:03:24 When we were all counted, I found that my aged mother, my young wife, and my three small children were among the slain, end quote. Historians debate the exact year of the massacre, as some sources cite 1851, while Geronimo's memoir states it occurred in 1858. But while historians may debate the year, the massacre. Massacre ignited a clear and enduring rage in Geronimo. Following a vision of invulnerability, he launched a campaign of retribution. Geronimo said, quote, we will attack them in their homes.

Starting point is 00:03:58 I will fight them in the front of the battle. And if I am killed, no one need mourn for me. In contrast to the peaceful ghost dance movement on the Great Plains, Geronimo's campaign was marked by violence. The Apache, under the leadership of their chief cochees, favored small raiding parties, unlike the tribes of the Northern Plains. Geronimo mastered guerrilla warfare, using stealth and speed to haunt his enemies. Legend has it that his name derives from Saint Jerome, whom the Mexicans prayed to for

Starting point is 00:04:29 assistance when fighting the Apache. Mexican forces noted that Geronimo seemed to be able to vanish into the landscape as if they were attacking the wind. Geronimo's autobiography reveals a lifelong rage towards Mexico for his first. family's murder. It was this rage that fueled fierce campaigns deep into Mexican territory as the conflict escalated. Geronimo's autobiography notes that he viewed every Mexican he encountered as the enemy. However, challenges for the Apache extended beyond conflicts with just Mexico. As circumstances in the region shifted, new adversaries emerged,

Starting point is 00:05:07 broadening the scope of their struggle. Apache warriors living on the border between the United States in Mexico often straddled the border, taking advantage of international restrictions on armies going from one country to the other. Life for Geronimo and the Apache became significantly more difficult after 1861. A boy was kidnapped by a group of Apaches, and Lieutenant George Bascombe wrongly accused Cochise's band and attempted to detain him at Apache Pass in Arizona. Cochise escaped, but several of his relatives were held hostage. Forces could be converged on the Apache in an attempt to bring Cochise to justice. Instead, they ended up killing several members of his family. This ended the relative peace between the United States and the Apache

Starting point is 00:05:54 and launched the nearly 40-year-long Apache Wars. The most prominent battle in the early Apache Wars was the Battle of Apache Pass in July of 1862. During the battle, Geronimo's warriors ambushed 2,500 Union troops near Apache Spring, as they were marching due to the battle. to halt a potential Confederate advance in the West. Geronimo's Apache warriors had secured the pass overlooking Apache Spring. They had the battle well in hand until the Union brought out two mountain howitzers, a devastating weapon that was new to the Apache, which changed the course of the battle. After their victory, the Union forces recognized the danger posed by Apache Pass.

Starting point is 00:06:39 So they built Fort Bowie to protect the route, and more importantly, secure one of the region's few primary sources of water. A stronger federal presence in the region was a catastrophic setback for the Apache. Fort Bowie changed the complexity of the war as federal troops now had a well-fortified base in the region to launch campaigns against the Apache. The Apache knew that they couldn't match the federal force's weapons. If they were to survive, they would have to rely on stealth, speed, and their knowledge of the land. A year after the Battle of Apache Pass, soldiers captured the chief Mangus Colorado under a white flag apiece,

Starting point is 00:07:18 only to torture and murder him, igniting a fresh wave of fury in Geronimo, who revered Magnus Colorado as his mentor. As these events unfolded, the Apache position was becoming increasingly perilous, foreshadowing even greater hardship ahead. April 30th, 1871, marked one of the Apache nation's darkest day. The Camp Grant Massacre. A band of Ara Vipa Apache, led by a chief known as Eskaminsen, had been living under the protection of the U.S. Army and were receiving rations while attempting to farm and avoid conflict. Despite this, tensions in nearby Tucson remained high due to ongoing raids in the region, many of which were not carried out by this group.

Starting point is 00:08:03 A vigilante force of roughly 140 men marched to the Apache camp. At dawn they attacked while most of the Apache men were away hunting, leaving the camp largely defenseless. The attackers killed over a hundred people, overwhelmingly women and children, and captured around 30 children who were later sold into slavery in Mexico. The following year, realizing that Apache life had changed forever, Chief Cochise reached a verbal agreement with General Oliver Howard of the United States to move into the Churikawa Reservation. This agreement not only defined the land, but also included provisions and aid to help the Apache transition to their new life as farmers.

Starting point is 00:08:44 Cochise understood that transitioning from a nomadic to a sedentary way of life would be a massive challenge, but he felt confident that the agreement would hold and even sent Apache runners throughout the region to bring in any remaining bands, including Geronimo and his warriors. General Howard's verbal agreement restored much of the original Apache lands, eventually winning the consensus of Apache chieftains, including a deeply skeptical Geronimo. Tom Jeffords, a friend of Cochise, was to be the agent for the reservation and set out to ensure the best deal for the Apache. In a letter to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Jeffords complained that the provisions promised to Cochise by Howard had not been realized.

Starting point is 00:09:29 In fact, he noted, quote, not a dollar was furnished to meet expenses, nor as much as a hammer to work with. Beyond its status as a non-ratified verbal agreement, the reservation deal faced additional obstacles that would further test Apache resilience. The peace ended up fracturing as copper discoveries drew miners to Apache land, while the Mexican government under Porfiro Diaz pressured the United States to stop Geronimo's cross-border raids. Diaz had granted the United States massive mining and agricultural interests, and as a result, the United States could no longer ignore the raids. If Cochise was the man who made the reservation possible, Geronimo was the man whose defiance made it impossible for the United States government to ignore. His refusal to stop

Starting point is 00:10:16 riding across the border gave the Bureau of Indian Affairs the excuse they needed to tear up the treaty and send the Apache to the San Carlos Desert in Arizona. The San Carlos reservation presented great challenges to the Apache as the region is home to severe droughts, limited water resources and inhospitable soil. In 1877, federal troops captured Geronimo as he fled the reservation the only time they ever caught him by force. Federal troops marched him back to the reservation in chains where he endured four long years of confinement. During those four years, the Apache endured constant agricultural failures, battled corrupt Bureau of Indian Affairs agents, and suffered under a total loss of freedom. Following the murder,

Starting point is 00:11:02 of an Apache Holy Man in a short battle with federal troops, Geronimo, in a group of 70, fled into the heart of Mexico. Moving at great speed, they cut telegraph wires as they sped into the Sierra Madre mountains that he knew so well. Geronimo thought he could disappear as he had done before, utilizing the border as a weapon against both forces hunting him. But what he didn't realize was that the Diaz regime in the United States had struck a deal. In their push to modernize the border, both nations now allowed the others' are

Starting point is 00:11:32 army to pursue fugitives across the international line. While in Mexico, Geronimo resumed raiding, built a fort, disrupted the cattle trade, and reestablished the ethos of the Invisible Warrior. He even displayed the courage to return to the San Carlos Reservation and smuggle fellow resistors back to his Mexican stronghold. Aware of Geronimo's movements, the United States dispatched General George Crook in 1883. Crook led a battalion of U.S. troops and Native American adversaries of the Apache to track Geronimo to his stronghold.

Starting point is 00:12:06 Geronimo evaded capture until 1886 when General Nelson Miles and 5,000 troops finally surrounded his tiny band. Only after he ran out of supplies did Geronimo agree to surrender and return to the reservation. Ironically, the kidnapped boy who sparked the Apache Wars, Felix Ward, was raised by the Apache only later to become Mickey Free. the Army Scout who helped track Geronimo to his final surrender. Once Geronimo was in custody, the government betrayed the capture agreement and changed the terms of his surrender. Geronimo then began a long odyssey as a prisoner of war, moving from Florida to Alabama,

Starting point is 00:12:48 and finally to the plains of Oklahoma, where he died of pneumonia in 1909. And there's one thing I should address, because many of you are probably thinking it. Why do people shout Geronimo when they jump out of an airplane or off a high object? According to legend, the use of Geronimo as an exclamation when leaping into the unknown originated with Private Aubrey Everhart of the 501st Parachute Infantry Battalion during World War II. He adopted the name after watching a film about Geronimo, using it as a symbol of fearlessness before his initial jumps. The practice took hold and spread, eventually becoming a common phrase in popular culture,

Starting point is 00:13:28 for any dramatic leap or jump. Despite being a prisoner of war, Geronimo became a symbol of courage and liberty. He leveraged his renown to critique the destructive effects of the reservation system on the Apache way of life, speaking out forcefully against the restrictions it imposed, the limits placed on indigenous freedom, and the pervasive corruption of the system that ran it. His autobiography only built his fame and legacy as a warrior who refused to yield in the face of injustice. Yet in the end, even he doubted the path that he took when he surrendered in 1886. When he noted, quote, I should never have surrendered.

Starting point is 00:14:08 I should have fought until I was the last man standing. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Otkin and Cameron Kiefer. Research in writing for this episode was provided by Joel Hermanson. My big thanks go to everyone who supports the show over on Patreon. Your support helps make this podcast possible. I also want to remind everyone about the community groups on Facebook and Discord, as this is where everything happens outside of the podcast. As always, if you leave a review on any of the major podcast apps, you too can have it run in the show.

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Geronimo: The Last Great Native American Resistance Leader

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