Research Guides: Geronimo: Biography

Geronimo (June 16, 1829 - February 17, 1909)

Geronimo was a leader of the Chiricahua Apache during the Apache Wars (1850-1890) with Mexico and the United States. Geronimo was captured several times by U.S. military agents, escaping each time and spending more than twenty-five years as a fugitive in Mexico and the American Southwest. Geronimo was born in 1829 in No-doyohn Canyon, Mexico (present-day Arizona). His given name was Goyathlay (also spelled Goyahkla, Gokhlayeh, Goyaale), meaning "one who yawns." Geronimo's lineage is tied to the Nedhi, the Southern Chiricahua, and the Bedonkohe tribes. His paternal grandfather, Mako, was chief of the Bedonkohe tribe. As the Apache followed a matrilineal culture, Geronimo became a Chiricahua when his father married into the tribe. Upon Mako's death, the Bedonkohe dispersed and joined with Geronimo's branch of the Chiricahua. Continue . . .

Source: Issitt, Micah L. “Geronimo.” Geronimo, Aug. 2017, p. 1. From Academic Search Complete database.

eBook Collection

Imagining Geronimo : An Apache Icon in Popular Culture

Geronimo's Kids : A Teacher's Lessons on the Apache Reservation

Resources

The Glorious & Tragic Last Days of Geronimo In spite of being a prisoner of war, Goyathlay (his real name) rode in Teddy Roosevelt’s inaugural parade and visited the White House. With his growing national notoriety he began to cash in. He favored three-piece suits, and he had a sweet tooth for lemon pie. He was a master haggler and, by one account, a fearless homemaker. Truth be told, he was a master at beating the White Man at his own game. At the end of his long, rich life, what was his dying wish? A schoolteacher in New Mexico found the answer. This is that story.
Geronimo Apache Shaman The article features Apache Shaman named Geronimo, who is best known for his deadly raids in Mexico and the American Southwest in the 1800s. It claims that the killing by Mexican soldiers of his family in March 1851 resulted in the lifelong hatred by Geronimo of Mexican soldiers. In September 1886, Geronimo surrendered to Brigadier General Nelson Miles.
Geronimo Now Facts, Anecdotes, and Hearsay Assesses the interpretations, inaccuracies, and controversies surrounding 19th-century Chiricahua Apache warrior Geronimo. The article traces the possible origins of Geronimo's ancestors and describes the cultural, social, and political environment in which he grew up. It summarizes his conflicts with the US government and his growing celebrity status as a result of his resistance and capture. The author contrasts Geronimo's life as a warrior and later as a prisoner of war with early-21st-century perceptions of him. In addition, she examines controversies, such as questionable claims of familial relationship to Geronimo and potential negative impacts of his celebrity on the Chiricahua Apache people, pointing to the ways his story - true or not - has shaped American history.
Geronimo! Part V. Presents the fifth in a series on the first Americans and highlights the Apache Indian warrior called Geronimo. His life as a child; The Apache Wars; The endurance of the Apache warriors; The broken promises of the US government to the Apaches; More. INSET: Indians of the Southwest.
Geronimo Relates His Early Life The article features Apache Shaman named Geronimo, particularly his early life. In his interview with Captain William Holman Cary Bowen and interpreter George Wrattan in1893, Geronimo claimed that he was born in 1829 at his father's ranch at the head of the Gila River in Arizona. According to him, his tribe fought with other Indian tribes including the Western Apaches, Navajos and Mescaleros.
Geronimo's Arizona Article from True West Magazine.
History.com Geronimo A brief synopsis of Geronimo's life.

From Films On Demand database:

Geronimo and the Apache Resistance For decades in the 19th century, Apache tribes resisted the westward advance of the pioneers and the threat they posed to traditional ways of life. Fighting the longest was Geronimo—one of the most famous, feared, and misunderstood Native American warriors in history. Geronimo and the Apache Resistance, from the PBS American Experience collection, separates myth from reality in the tragic collision of two cultures with dramatically different views of the world—and of each other. It is an illumination of the mysteries of Apache power that made them so terrifying in battle yet so skillful in escaping disaster. In the words of the descendants of those Apaches, the film provides the long-awaited chance to tell their story as it has never been told. Distributed by PBS Distribution. (56 minutes) Distributed by PBS Distribution.
Geronimo: We Shall Remain - America Through Native Eyes This episode takes viewers back to February 1909, when the indomitable Chiricahua Apache medicine man Geronimo lay on his deathbed. He summoned his nephew to his side, whispering, “I should never have surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive.” To angry whites, Geronimo had become the archfiend, perpetrator of savage cruelties. To his supporters, he remained the embodiment of proud resistance. To other Apaches, he was a stubborn troublemaker, unbalanced by his unquenchable search for vengeance. Geronimo and his tiny band of Chiricahuas fought on. The final holdouts, they became the last Native American fighting force to capitulate formally to the government of the United States. Distributed by PBS Distribution. Part of the series We Shall Remain: America Through Native Eyes. (60 minutes)