Longing to Go Home
Like so many Indians who were consigned to reservations far from their native lands, Geronimo longed to go home. And like so many others, he would never do so. Geronimo and the rest of the Chiricahuas were reunited by May 1888, but near Mobile, Alabama, far from their homeland. By 1890, approximately 120 of those who had been transported to Florida were dead. That number included 30 children who had been sent to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, a boarding school intended to educate young Indians and transform them essentially into imitation Euro-Americans. Diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis, exacerbated by an unfamiliar climate and a strong portion of despair, contributed greatly to the high mortality rate.
Ironically, among the strongest advocates for a more humane treatment of the Chiricahuas were two men who had spent much time as opponents of Geronimo—Generals Howard and Crook—although the former had won the war leader’s enduring respect. They urged removal of the refugees to a healthy climate, although the best that they could come up with was Fort Sill, Oklahoma, then part of Indian Territory. The exiles arrived at this location, which was closer to home but still not there, in the fall of 1894.
Geronimo became a competent farmer, but the soldiers had not forgotten his past deeds and regularly insulted him—for example, calling him “Gerry,” a name that he despised. He also became a celebrity as the United States, having defeated the last of the great Indian resistance leaders, now embarked on the mythologizing of the Indian wars that rendered history both more palatable and less true.
Geronimo became a popular subject of photographers and took to selling souvenirs, such as buttons and signed photographs. He attended the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition at Omaha, Nebraska, in 1898; the
Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, in 1901; and the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904. In 1905, he was a guest at the inauguration of President Theodore Roosevelt, riding in the inaugural parade with the president and another prominent Indian war leader, Quanah Parker. Onlookers along Pennsylvania Avenue cheered loudly for Geronimo, the man who had spread fear throughout the Southeast.
The end came for Geronimo on February 17,1909. He had gone to the town of Lawton to sell a bow he had made and then spent the money drinking. He had a long history of what now is called binge drinking, surely a way to help temporarily erase some of the memories of relatives and friends he had lost and the way of life that had been taken from his people. On his way home, he fell from his horse and lay in the road during a freezing rain. When he
Quanah Parker
Quanah Parker (circa 1 852-1911) was a powerful war leader who mightily resisted Euro-American intruders into the southern plains. Emblematic of the intruders were the buffalo hunters, men who could kill the buffalos from a great distance with their Sharp's.50-caliber rifles, leaving the carcasses to rot while they hauled away the hides.
In the early morning of June 27,1874, Quanah helped lead a large war party of Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Comanche warriors (including Quanah's own Quahada Comanches) against a small trading settlement known as Adobe Walls in the northern panhandle of Texas north of the Canadian River, near present-day Borger. Warned of an impending attack, the Adobe Walls saloonkeeper managed to awaken a number of men to prevent their being overrun in their sleep. Behind thick adobe walls and with their heavy guns, the 28 men (most of them buffalo hunters) and 1 woman managed to survive with just 3 fatalities.
Quanah continued to wage war, but by 1 875 he knew that war was futile. Ultimately, he helped his people to settle on a reservation in Indian Territory and learn how to live as farmers and ranchers. Shortly after the Quahadas' surrender, General Ranald Mackenzie appointed him chief of the Comanches. Quanah established good relations with the family of his EuroAmerican mother, Cynthia Parker, taking the Parker surname. He also developed a keen financial sense, arranging leasing arrangements with area ranchers to graze cattle on reservation land as a source of revenue for the Comanches.
Quanah himself became a successful rancher, helped to establish the Native American Church, and numbered among his many prominent friends President Theodore Roosevelt. In fact, he rode in the president's inaugural parade in 1905 and accompanied him on a wolf hunt. Upon Quanah's death, a funeral procession about two miles long attended his burial.
Cynthia Ann Parker
Cynthia Ann Parker (circa 1825-1871) moved with her family from Illinois to Texas around 1835. There, the family built a community known as Fort Parker around an uncle's Baptist church. On May 1 9, 1 836, a group of Quahada Comanche warriors raided the community and took five captives, including Cynthia. Ultimately, all of the captives except Cynthia were returned.
Cynthia was reared by a Comanche couple who loved her very much. Eventually, she married Peta Nocona, a Quahada chief. She bore him two sons, Quanah and Pecos, and a daughter, Topsana (Toh-Tsee-ah, or Prairie Flower). Cynthia repeatedly refused opportunities to return to her original family, explaining that she loved her husband and children too much.
Texas Rangers attacked Peta's camp on December 18,1860, wounding Peta and capturing Cynthia and her infant daughter. Cynthia was returned to her Parker family, and the Texas legislature allotted her both land and an annuity of $100 per year. She was never reconciled to life with the Parkers, however, and longed to return to the Comanches, several times trying unsuccessfully to escape from the Parkers. In 1863, Cynthia learned that Pecos had died; a few months later, her daughter also died. Gradually drawing into herself and often refusing to eat, Cynthia followed them in death in 1870.
Quanah's devotion to his mother never wavered over the years. Shortly before his own death, he succeeded in having her remains and those of his sister moved to a nearby cemetery near Cache, Oklahoma. Just two weeks before he died, a large marble monument that he had requested was erected over her grave. In 1957, all three were reburied in the Fort Sill cemetery in Oklahoma.
Was found the following day, he was taken to the military hospital at Fort Sill. He died there, not from the bullets that could never kill him, but from an equally deadly weapon, and while still a prisoner.
Four years later, approximately 260 of the Chiricahuas were allowed to return to the Southwest, to live among the Mescalero Apaches in New Mexico. It was not quite home, but it probably would have been close enough for Geronimo.
Geronimo's Autobiography
Stephen M. Barrett was superintendent of schools in Lawton, Oklahoma, in 1905, when he sought permission from the military to tell the story of Geronimo. Rebuffed by local officers (a Lieutenant Purington, for example, said that Geronimo should be hanged rather than given so much public attention), Barrett wrote to President Roosevelt. The president was more accommodating and granted permission. Barrett then arranged for a translator to work with him as
He interviewed Geronimo. The translator was Asa Daklugie, a son of Juh and a recent student at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.
The interviews began in the fall of 1905. Geronimo told his story, sometimes at his own tipi, sometimes at Asa Daklugie’s house, or even while riding. He declined to stop for note taking or corrections, preferring to return on another day to listen to the transcription and make changes.
Barrett submitted the manuscript to Major Charles Taylor, commander of Fort Sill, for approval, who suggested additional questions to ask Geronimo. When Barrett concluded that the autobiography was complete, he sent it to President Roosevelt, who suggested that Barrett include disclaimers to the effect that controversial statements and conclusions potentially offensive to readers were Geronimo’s and not the editor’s. The final manuscript went to the War Department in June 1906, which declined formal approval but did not attempt to stop Barrett from proceeding with the book’s publication. Later that year, the book was published.
The autobiography offers much information about Geronimo and his people, although it is far more forthcoming about battles against Mexicans than against the U. S. military. That Geronimo remained a prisoner of war certainly led him to deemphasize his conflicts with the United States. David Roberts, author of Once They Moved Like the Wind: Cochise, Geronimo, and the Apache Wars, refers to Asa Daklugie’s acknowledgment years later that Geronimo feared an effort by Barrett to lead him into incriminating himself and thus incurring additional punishment.23
Above all, the autobiography is a plea that President Roosevelt allow him to return home, where, Geronimo wrote, “I could forget all the wrongs that I have ever received, and die a contented and happy old man.”24 Roosevelt sympathized but feared there was still too much hatred against Geronimo in Arizona. He decided instead that Geronimo should remain where he was.
World History
