the Apachetribe in what is now southwest New Mexico, southeast Arizona, and northern Mexico. He grew upin a time of intense regional conflict between Mexicans, Americans, and Indians. In 1858 Mexicansoldiers killed his mother, wife, and children, and Geronimo vowed to take revenge. No settler oneither side of the border--and no fellow Indian--was immune to his attacks.Both the Mexican and the American armies, aided by rival Apaches, pursued him for more than tenyears. Though they captured Geronimo twice, he escaped both times. In 1886 Geronimo surrenderedfor the last time, but on his own terms. He remained in the custody of the army, and after a briefimprisonment, he worked as an army scout in Oklahoma. Later in life, with few other resourcesavailable, Geronimo capitalized on his fame, selling souvenirs and appearing at public events such asTeddy Roosevelt's 1905 inaugural parade. Said a judge who presided at his trial, "There is not,probably, in the history or tradition or myths of the human race another instance of such prolongedresistance against such tremendous odds."Geronimo (1829-1909), Native American, chief of the Chiricahua Apache tribe, born in present-day Clifton, Arizona. After his wife, children, and mother were killed by Mexicans in 1858, he participated in a number of raids against Mexican and American settlers, but eventually settled on a reservation. In 1876 the U.S. government attempted to move the Chiricahua from their traditional home to San Carlos, New Mexico; Geronimo then began ten years of intermittent raids against white settlements, alternating with periods of peaceful farming on the San Carlos reservation. In March 1886, the American general George Crook captured Geronimo and forced a treaty under which the Chiricahua would be relocated in Florida; two days later Geronimo escaped and continued his raids. General Nelson Miles then took over the pursuit of Geronimo, who was chased into Mexico and captured th...
