Geronimo

On September 4, 1886, Apache Chief Geronimo surrendered ending the last major US-Indian war. From the article:

"American Westward expansion brought new woes—and foes—to the Apache. With the 1848 signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the Mexican-American War came to an end. Mexico ceded much of what is now the American Southwest to the United States, including land the Apaches had called home for centuries. The Gadsden Purchase in 1854 gave the U.S. even more land in today’s Arizona and southwestern New Mexico.

In 1872, the U.S. government created a reservation for the Chiricahua Apaches that included at least a portion of their homeland, but they were soon evicted and forced to join other Apache groups on the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona. A defiant Geronimo broke out of San Carlos Reservation with his followers three separate times in the next decade. His knowledge of the surrounding hills helped him to evade his pursuers.

The more often Geronimo escaped and the longer he was able to disappear, the more embarrassed the U.S. military and politicians grew. His belief that no bullets could harm him appeared to be true, as he continually escaped skirmishes with law enforcement, Anglo-Americans and Mexicans. He was wounded multiple times, but always recovered. He became a newspaper sensation.

Geronimo Surrenders
On May 17, 1885, Geronimo, then 55, led 135 Apache followers in a daring escape from the reservation. To avoid capture by the American cavalry and Apache scouts, he often pushed the men, women and children in his group to travel as far as 70 miles per day. While on the loose, Geronimo and his band raided both Mexican and American settlements, sometimes killing civilians.

In March of 1886, General George Crook forced Geronimo to surrender, but at the last minute, Geronimo and 40 followers escaped under cover of darkness. Five thousand U.S. soldiers—nearly a quarter of the standing army—and 3,000 Mexicans pursued the escapees. They held out for five months before Geronimo turned himself in to General Nelson Miles at Skeleton Canyon, Arizona on September 4, 1886.

Geronimo and his fellow captives were sent to Fort Pickens, Florida, by train, then Mount Vernon Barracks, Alabama They ultimately ended up imprisoned at the Comanche and Kiowa reservation near Fort Sill (in today’s Oklahoma).

Geronimo spent over 14 years at Fort Sill, leaving only occasionally for government-approved trips to world’s fairs and Wild West shows where the once-unbeatable leader was put on display. He even participated in President Theodore Roosevelt’s inauguration, though Roosevelt refused Geronimo’s plea to permit the Chiricahuas to return to their native lands in the West.

Death of Geronimo
Geronimo died of pneumonia at Fort Sill on February 17, 1909. He is buried in Beef Creek Apache Cemetery in Fort Sill, Oklahoma."