Geronimo, defied his right to do what he thought was right. Geronimo equally had a right to do what they thought was best. we look at history with the advantage of hindsight. It is a bit to easy to blame Geronimo and his actions for the fate that befell the Apaches. He did not put the people in the prison camps in Florida, he simply fought to remain free. it was betrayal at the hands of the government (namely president Cleveland) that landed all Chiricahuas - The dimension of the aftermath makes this more than just another chapter of shame in U.S. On September 5, 1886, Brigadier General Nelson A. Miles sent a telegram to his superiors in Washington, D.C., announcing that the 16-month war with Geronimo and Naiche was finally over. An era had also ended. Twenty-five years of intermittent warfare between the Chiricahua Apaches and Americans had reached its ultimate and inevitable destiny. At the forefront of the resistance was Geronimo, a Chiricahua shaman who had a hand in virtually every major incident between his people and Americans during the previous quarter-century. He was not a chief in the traditional sense. Chiricahuas recognized that he had almost supernatural powers: an unquestioned ability to predict enemy movements and the outcome of battles. During his last flight from the reservation on May 17, 1885, he could convince only 143 followers (41 fighting men) to join him. More than half left only because they had panicked when Geronimo told that his men had killed the agent. The balance of the tribe, some 385 individuals, had stayed on the reservation. Hoping to put a quick end to the war, 60 of the 80 Chiricahua men actually enlisted as scouts for the Geronimo have become the faces of the peace and war factions, the symbolic characters of the nations last significant Apache war. Once Geronimo formally capitulated at Skeleton Canyon in Arizona Territory, General Miles sent the hostiles to Florida, where they were kept under military control and classified as prisoners of war. Miles decision was just, for over the previous decade Geronimo had left reservations on four occasions (in 1876, 1878, 1881 and 1885), escaping to the Sierra Madre in Mexico. Miles then made a recommendation, this one unjust. He asked his superiors to authorize the removal of the entire Chiricahua tribe to Florida. He did not value the contributions made by Chatto and the 60 Chiricahua scouts. And he purposely ignored the inconvenient fact that 385 Chiricahuas not only had lived peacefully on the reservation but had never provided aid or recruits to the hostiles. He argued that the reservation was a breeding ground for new leaders, implying that malcontents had joined Geronimo. His specious arguments convinced Secretary of War William Endicott and President Grover Cleveland to approve his egregious betrayal. Those who had helped Brig. Gen. George Crook and Miles to end the war suffered the same fate as those who had raided and killed citizens of the United States and Mexico. Miles sent them to Florida, where they, too, were classified as prisoners of war under control of the War Department. Incredibly, this designation continued for 27 years. Each vividly remembered the militarys treachery toward Cochise and Mangas Coloradas in the early 1860s, which left the tribe suspicious of Americans and contributed mightily to the strife in the 1870s and 1880s. Each was captured at Ojo Caliente by Indian Agent John Clum, who shackled them before transferring them to San Carlos. Finally, in September 1881, fearing that American soldiers planned to arrest them, each jumped the reservation for Mexico. Chatto explained that talk of troops made Geronimo nervous a wild animal. Crook especially felt betrayed by Geronimos final uprising. He told Davis to tell the reservation Chiricahuas that he would have to suspend efforts to recover their captives until peaceful times are restored. Chatto took command of the reservation. He organized a war dance for the scouts and then left to pursue the hostiles. Martine and Kayitah, who helped the Army locate the elusive leaders camp in Mexico. In fact, Chatto had recommended Martine, who took Lieutenant Charles Gatewood to meet with Geronimo on August 25. Geronimo remain controversial among their own people. To some, Geronimo was the last of the Chiricahua patriots, fighting to preserve his way of life.. Martine and Kayitah, are the trajic figures was from a different clan as he who yawns was from the southern bands enemy people as for debat of any who was traitor well again many Inde dont like one another back then .Jason Bintinez where not much praise is put on geronimo. No matter the fact is the govt would have made the INDE POW anyway, even in OKLA towards the end of their lives stories are told where old feuds were put aside and all agreed that fighting the whites would have been better than living like a dam dog. But because of the enormous suffering and sacrifice made by the POWs in Florida and Oklahoma - many important bloodlines of the Nde were preserved. If they had fought on, all those bloodlines would have been destroyed. And the Chiricahua themselves would have been gone forever. Things are not over. The Circle of Life is still turning. What happened is not just history that was long ago and forgotten. It all has a meaning. Perhaps that meaning is not clear right now. But I believe that as time continues, everything will eventually have a clear meaning. Not one drop of blood that was spilled is forgotten by Usen. Not one tear that was shed is forgotten either. There will be a weighing up of all things.
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:00:38 +0000
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