“We had many people in Our Tribe
who had the characteristics
that would appropriate for
Being A Chief —
Who were well-respected
and who were known
for making careful decisions
for the well-being
of The People.
And Geronimo
was not among those."
"Like most Apache women, Alope pierced her babies’ ears to make her children grow faster
and bathed them in waters steeped with wildflowers to make their skin strong.
And just as their parents had done, Alope and Geronimo taught their children to sing prayers to Ussen, The Creator, for health,
strength and wisdom.
One day in the early 1850s, Geronimo and his family joined other Chiricahuas on a trading trip.
The group camped on the outskirts of a Mexican town called Janos
and the men headed in to trade.
On the way back the Chiricahuas met distraught members of their band.
Mexican soldiers had ransacked their
camp,
the women cried, stealing their ponies and supplies, leaving their wickiups in ruins.
The Apaches scattered.
That night Geronimo slipped back in to camp.
There he discovered the bodies of his mother,
his wife and his three small children,
lying in pools of blood.
Zelda Yazza,
Chiricahua Apache:
When he saw all his family massacred there
he cut his hair,
and he
left his hair there with them.
You see all the pictures that were taken.
You see their hair short, like mine.
That was a sign of mourning,
that they lost someone.
Narrator:
When Geronimo returned home he ripped down his wife’s paintings, tore apart strings of
beads she had made and gathered his children’s toys.
And just as Apaches had done
for generations when
loved ones died,
he set everything
his wife and children
had owned on fire.
Silas Cochise,
Chiricahua Apache:
Geronimo’s attitude changed after his mother was killed,
after his wife was killed,
after his children was killed.
And so that created an attitude
towards the non-Indians.
Robert Geronimo, Geronimo’s great grandson:
It just changed him completely and totally.
Silas Cochise,
Chiricahua Apache:
Maybe it wasn’t a wise thing
to deal with things like that, but
he wanted revenge.
Vernon Simmons, Chiricahua Apache:
Your Wife’s dead,
Your Kids are dead,
Your Mother’s dead.
That’s Your Life,
taken away
from you in an instant.
It- want to make you
go kill everybody.
Narrator:
“I had no purpose left…”
Geronimo later recalled,
“my heart ached for revenge.”
Ellyn Bigrope:
Power is everywhere,
it Lives in everything.
It might be known through a word, or come
in the shape
of an animal.
We all have Power,
but some tap into
different rooms.
Power Speaks to
Those Who Listen.
Elbys Hugar,
Chiricahua Apache:
The greatest thing
a person can have is
The Power — Benegotsi.
It’s scary.
(in Apache)
This is The Truth.
To Live with Power
is very challenging.
It’s so potent you must be
wary.
To have Power is
a Great Responsibility.
You can choose to leave it alone or accept it.
It’s up to you.
Narrator:
Not long after the vicious murder of His Family,
a despondent Geronimo
ventured deep into
Chiricahua country.
Alone, he buried his head in his hands and began to cry.
Suddenly he was startled by A Voice :
“No gun will ever kill you,” it said.
“I will take the bullets from
the guns of the Mexicans …
and
I will guide your arrows.”
Geronimo later said that he had been given what Apache people call Power,
a gift from Ussen.
Robert Haouzous, Chiricahua Apache:
The concept of Power is fundamental
in Apache belief.
Everybody acknowledges that somebody has
a certain Power, like
The Power of Medicine,
The Power of
Healing,
The Power of Seeing or Feeling Something
at a Distance.
Oliver Enjady,
Chiricahua Apache :
There were people that knew
where you were,
people that knew
about horses,
people that knew
about hunting.
We call this Power.
Ramon Riley,
Western Apache
(in Apache): Geronimo had
“N’daa K’eh Godih.” :
A Prayer power
that worked on the minds
of his enemies to make
their bullets miss their targets
and turn into water.
Geronimo had This Power
and it helped him survive.
Narrator:
Soon after The Voice spoke to him,
Geronimo put His Power into action.
He got permission
from the Chiricahua chiefs to take revenge for the massacre at Janos.
With a force of 200 men, he lured the Mexican soldiers
who had killed his family, into battle.
Leading the charge
through a hail of bullets,
Geronimo whirled and dodged,
killing with his knife
when his arrows ran out.
David Roberts,
Writer:
So he’s dashing back and forth,
running this zigzag pattern, and obviously
scaring the daylights out of the Mexicans.
They had never run into an antagonist
quite like this guy.
Vernon Simmons, Chiricahua Apache:
“I don’t care what you put up against him.
He’ll come after you.
That’s the kind of fighter he was.
He was a true blooded
Chiricahua fighter.
And he said he didn’t -
He wasn’t scared of bullets.
That, I heard from my grandpa.”
Narrator:
Geronimo and his men decimated The Enemy.
From that day forward,
Mexicans would shudder at his name, while the Chiricahuas would accord him great respect.
As a sign of his status, over
the years he would take many wives, including the daughter of the greatest Chiricahua chief, Cochise.
Yet Geronimo would never be
A Chief himself.
For the Apaches, he was
too impulsive, too fretful,
too vengeful.
Michael Darrow,
Fort Sill tribal historian:
“We had many people in Our Tribe
who had the characteristics
that would appropriate for
Being A Chief —
Who were well-respected
and who were known
for making careful decisions
for the well-being
of The People.
And Geronimo
was not among those.
