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Early life and identity
Geronimo, born as Goyathlay (often spelled Goyathlay), came into the world around 1829 among the Bedonkohe band of the Chiricahua Apache in the rugged country of the American Southwest, then part of Mexico. He grew up immersed in Apache lifeways that prized mobility, raiding as a means of subsistence and social balance, and strict codes of kinship and reciprocity. From an early age he trained as a hunter and fighter, but his role would become more than martial. Known for spiritual power and healing, he emerged as a medicine man as well as a war leader. The name Geronimo took hold during conflicts with Mexican soldiers, who, according to later accounts, cried out a Spanish saint's name in battle, and the sobriquet followed him thereafter.

Grief, vengeance, and war leadership
The turning point he later described came in 1851, when Mexican troops attacked an Apache encampment near Janos. In that assault, Goyathlay's first wife, Alope, and several close relatives were killed. The trauma and mourning that followed shaped his life. He embarked on raids into Sonora and Chihuahua with allied Apache bands, driven by grief and a broader defense of Apache autonomy. He fought alongside renowned leaders whose names defined Chiricahua resistance, including Mangas Coloradas and, later, his son-in-law's ally Cochise, as well as Victorio, Juh, Nana, and Chihuahua. Although Geronimo was not a hereditary chief in the formal sense, his perceived access to power, his endurance on the trail, and his boldness in sudden attacks made him an influential figure in councils of war.

Wider conflict with Mexico and the United States
Shifting borders brought new pressures. After the United States acquired vast southwestern lands, settlers, miners, and soldiers entered Apache country in growing numbers. Tensions sharpened in the 1860s as violence spiraled following incidents such as the Bascom affair that embroiled Cochise and his Chokonen followers. Campaigns and counter-campaigns crossed mountains and deserts on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico line. Apache leaders sought to protect their families and ranges while negotiating for supplies and peace when possible. Geronimo moved across this landscape of fragile truces and sudden war, coordinating with figures such as Juh, whose Nednhi warriors knew the Sierra Madre intimately, and with Victorio and Nana from the Chihenne band, who fought their own hard campaigns against soldiers and militia.

Reservations, flight, and the break with confinement
By the 1870s U.S. policy increasingly aimed to settle Apache groups on reservations. Geronimo and many Chiricahuas were confined at the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona under difficult conditions, where disease, hunger, and political factionalism took a toll. The reservation era brought new actors into his life: U.S. Indian agents and scouts, including John Clum, who in 1877 captured Geronimo without bloodshed during one of several efforts to keep him at San Carlos. Geronimo's repeated departures from the reservation reflected distrust of conditions there and the enduring pull of the Chiricahua homeland. Each return to the mountains brought renewed pursuit by U.S. and Mexican forces, aided at times by Apache scouts under Army officers.

The final campaigns and surrender
In the mid-1880s, pressure intensified. General George Crook, a veteran of western campaigns, pursued negotiations and field operations in tandem. In early 1886 Crook met Geronimo and other Chiricahua leaders at Canon de los Embudos near the border. For a moment a peaceful return seemed at hand, but confusion and suspicion unraveled the agreement, and Geronimo, with a small group that included Naiche, son of Cochise, withdrew again toward the Sierra Madre. The U.S. Army redoubled its pursuit under General Nelson A. Miles. Apache scouts and officers tracked the elusive band through parched canyons; among the intermediaries was Lieutenant Charles Gatewood, whose knowledge of Apache language and ways helped open a path to talks. In September 1886, near Skeleton Canyon, Geronimo surrendered to Miles. The terms ended the last major campaign of the Indian Wars in the Southwest.

Exile and prisoner-of-war years
After surrender, the U.S. government designated the Chiricahuas, including scouts who had served the Army, as prisoners of war. Families were split between Florida posts: many were sent to Fort Marion at St. Augustine, while Geronimo and a group of men were confined at Fort Pickens near Pensacola. The separations were painful and prolonged. Later, the prisoners were moved to Mount Vernon Barracks in Alabama, and eventually to Fort Sill in Indian Territory, present-day Oklahoma. Through these long years, Geronimo adapted to imposed routines, farmed when allowed, and struggled to keep kin networks intact. He interacted with soldiers, missionaries, and reformers, and he repeatedly petitioned for the Chiricahuas to be allowed to return to their Arizona homeland, a request that was consistently refused.

Public figure, memory, and advocacy
In captivity Geronimo became an unlikely public figure. He appeared at fairs and expositions, notably the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, where curiosity about the fading frontier drew crowds. He marched in the 1905 inaugural parade of President Theodore Roosevelt and later met Roosevelt, pressing the case for his people's return to the West. The president declined, citing political and local opposition. Geronimo also dictated his life story to S. M. Barrett, working through interpreters, producing a narrative that blended personal memory, cultural explanation, and defense of Apache choices. Although he was not a diplomat in formal institutions, he learned to navigate public arenas, sold photographs and autographs to support himself, and spoke about the terms of peace, the costs of war, and the dignity of Apache life. Figures from both sides of his long conflict remained part of his story in these years: Crook, Miles, and Gatewood in retrospective accounts; Naiche, Loco, and other Chiricahuas who shared the burden of exile.

Death and legacy
Geronimo died in 1909 at Fort Sill, reportedly after developing pneumonia following a fall from his horse. He was buried in the Apache cemetery there, still formally a prisoner of war at the time of his death. His legacy is layered and contested. To many Americans he became a symbol of resistance, the last of the unsubdued. To the Chiricahua Apache he was one among several essential leaders and healers whose authority came from family networks, spiritual practice, and demonstrated courage rather than formal rank. The saga of his life runs through the names of those around him: Cochise and Mangas Coloradas, whose leadership framed an era; Victorio, Juh, Nana, Naiche, and Chihuahua, comrades and counterparts in the mountains; John Clum, George Crook, Nelson A. Miles, and Charles Gatewood, officials and officers who shaped the course of his surrender and exile; and Theodore Roosevelt and S. M. Barrett, who helped fix his image in national memory. Seen from any angle, the arc of Goyathlay's life traces the transformation of the Southwest and the enduring struggle of a people to remain themselves.

Our collection contains 6 quotes who is written by Geronimo, under the main topics: Leadership - Live in the Moment - Freedom - Native American Sayings - Human Rights.

Other people realated to Geronimo: Pete Rose (Athlete), Tony Perez (Athlete), Jason Patric (Actor), Walter Hill (Director), John Milius (Director)