What is geronimo famous for
- •
November is Native American Heritage Month. Visit National Archives News for more information on related events and resources. Today’s post comes from Callie Belback from the National Archives History Office.
Entering a library or a bookstore, one might see the autobiography Geronimo: His Own Story sitting on the shelves. At the end of his days, unable to write and edit a manuscript but still able to tell a story, Geronimo commissioned writer S. S. Barrett to help share his life story with the public.
Geronimo was part of the Chiricahua Apache community, one of several divisions within the Apache tribe of North America. Located in the Southwest, the Apache people resisted colonization of their lands by both Spanish and North American peoples. After being admitted to the warriors’ council in 1846, Geronimo participated in Apache raids that took place in modern day Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico.
In 1874, the U.S. authorities forcibly removed approximately 4,000 Apaches to a reservation in San Carlos, Arizona. Located in the east-central part of the state,
- •
Geronimo (aka Goyathlay)
Chief: Geronimo (Bedonkohe Apache Leader: aka Goyathlay)
Born: June 16, 1829 near Turkey Creek (Gila River), Apache land contested by Mexico, and currently known as New Mexico
Died: February 17, 1909 Fort Sill, Oklahoma
Nationality: Apache
Geronimo was an Apache leader who belonged to the Bedonkohe band of the Chiricahua Apache tribe. He was not considered a chief among the Apache people, but was known as an infamous leader with a warrior spirit that conducted raids and warfare. Geronimo was a symbol of Native American resistance to both the United States and Mexican military. He acquired a reputation as being a fearless fighter who wreaked havoc and vengeance on Mexican troops, because they had murdered his entire family that included his wife, children and mother.
Many of Geronimo’s raids and combats were in the period of the Apache-American conflict that generated from white settlers occupying on Apache lands after the war ended with Mexico in 1848. Initially the warfare began with the older Apache-Mexican conflict, and then the A
- •
The first great outrage came with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 at the end of the Mexican-American war. Part of the agreement involved Mexico ceding much of the Apache Nation’s land to the United States. Then in 1854, the United States used the Gadsden Purchase to pay Mexico $10 million for 29,670 square miles that would later become part of Arizona and New Mexico — pretty much the remainder of Chiricahua Apache territory.
Just four years later, while he was away on a trading trip, Mexican soldiers led by Colonel Jose Maria Carrasco attacked Geronimo’s band. They murdered dozens of Apache, including Geronimo’s mother, wife, and three young children. “I had lost all,” he said in his autobiography.
Geronimo’s followers also believed that he had spiritual powers, and it was during this life-changing tragedy that he received a remarkable vision. While he was holding a ceremony after the slaughter of this family, he says a voice told him: “No gun will ever kill you…. I will guide your arrows.” From that moment on, he devoted his life to avenging the brutal ki
Copyright ©dadtori.pages.dev 2025