Geronimo: His Own Story

Geronimo: His Own Story, S.M. Barrett (ed.), Ballantine, 1971

Several hundred years ago, the Apaches came out of northwestern Canada like the Goths of the Western Hemisphere, killing and raiding along the way. They didn't stop until they reached the Sierra Madre mountains, and established their territory in southern New Mexico and Arizona and northern Mexico. They presented a major obstacle for Spanish hopes of conquest in that area. What made them so difficult to stop is that they didn't fight in the "approved" manner; they fought a guerrilla war before there was a word for it. This is the autobiography of one of the greatest Apache leaders, dictated in the early 1900s, when he was a prisoner of war in Oklahoma.

As a young man, Geronimo talks about involvement in various raiding parties into Mexico, most of which were pretty successful, but some of which were failures. The Mexican reprisal raids were intended to wipe out the Apache, or push them north and let the Apache's long-time enemy, the Comanches, do the wiping out. One day, while the men were trading in a nearby town, the undefended Apache camp was attacked by Mexican troops. Among the dead were Geronimo's mother, first wife and three of his children.

Geronimo could never become hereditary chief of the Apaches, but he rose quickly through the ranks to become "second in command" (for want of a better term). Meantime, Mexico "gave" the Apaches to the United States at the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Geronimo quickly learned that the white man was not to be trusted. He especially remembers January 1863, when the last hereditary chief of the Apache, a man named Magnus-Colorado, took half of the tribe to what was supposed to be a peace conference in New Mexico. If things worked out, the other half, under Geronimo's control, would be sent for to join them. The first group was never heard from again; the assumption is that they were murdered by US troops.

It wasn't until 1886 that Geronimo, and the remnants of the Apaches, surrendered to US authorities. They were sent to a fort in Florida for a time, then were transferred to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Geronimo's last wish in this book is that he be allowed to spend his last days back home on Apache land in Arizona.

This is more than an autobiography of a famous historical figure, or a book on Native American history. The editor also considers whether or not the American version of "progress" at the expense of others is usch a good thing. On more than one level, this book is well worth reading.