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American
Indians of the South West
Geronimo,
1899
Apache, Fort Sill, OT
The Butler Institute of American
Art
Indian
Portraits
Geronimo,
a Family Man
by
Apryl Nelson
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Geronimo
“Geronimo!” Children have cried this name as they ran into make-believe battles, but they do not know who Geronimo was. Geronimo was one of the last wild and free Indians of the west, an Apache warrior who finally surrendered in 1886 to General Nelson A. Miles, hoping to return to his beloved Arizona, destined to spend his last years on army camps in places like Florida. Underneath the “dangerous warrior” label white America feared and happily captured in the late 1800s, was a man.
Geronimo was married to several women over his life time. When he had the status of a great man he took a second wife, something only the greatest chiefs did, as a status symbol. Marrying a great chief was good for the woman too, it gave her honor, she took care of her husband and he took care of her, and if they were fortunate they would have children to take care of together. Apache society greatly honored their children.
Geronimo lost several wives to death by illness or by other tribes or other hostile relations. When one wife died he usually had another wife, but he often got a new wife to “replace” the one who died. This may sound callous to our twenty-first century ears, but this was common practice in Geronimo’s time. Geronimo loved his wives and they loved him, and worked well with one another. There were tales of Apache wives being captured by Mexicans, sold as slaves, their children taken from them, who later managed to escape and return to their tribes. Such was the story of Nah-thle-tla, an Apache women kidnapped when Mexicans attacked their camp. Her children were taken from her forever and after she served several years in slavery she escaped and journeyed at least 250 miles to return to her tribe.
Geronimo’s wives were Alope, with whom he had three children, all of whom he lost. After which he married Chee-hash-kish and had two children, Chappo and Dohn-say, then he took a second wife, Nana-tha-thtith with whom he had one child. He later had a wife named Zi-yeh at the same time as another wife, She-gha, one named Shtsha-she and later a wife named Ih-tedda. Some of his wives were captured women he took as a wife, such as the young Ih-tedda. Wives came and went, overlapping each other, being captured and brought into the family, lost, or even given up, as Geronimo did with Ih-tedda when he and his band were captured, at that time he kept his wife She-gha but not the younger wife, Ih-tedda. Geronimo’s last wife was Azul.
Throughout his life Geronimo had some eleven children, though less than half of them survived to adulthood. Geronimo lost his first wife Alope, and their three children to a Mexican raid, a large part of what turned Geronimo against Mexicans and led him to kill many of them throughout his lifetime in Arizona. Another wife of Geronimo, Nana-tha-thith and her child were killed in a Mexican attack. Mexicans would either kill Apache women or take them as wives. Apaches did the same to Mexican captives. A Mexican woman or child captive would be taken in and made part of the Apache family.
Despite the white men and Mexicans Geronimo and his friends killed, there is some respect to be had for Geronimo. He loved his family and his friends, he would do anything to protect them. He loved his home land of Arizona and longed always to return to Arizona once the government had forced him to leave Arizona and live in their Fort Sill and other places, in climates that were strange and unhealthy to Geronimo and his fellow Apaches. When Geronimo was captured for the last time, his “surrender” to General Nelson Miles, he calmed down and accepted his life. Many times he asked President Theodore Roosevelt to allow him to return to Arizona, but was refused, for this I feel sorry, he wanted to change his life, stop killing and raiding and just live in his home, but they never let him return to Arizona. Further, once a captive of the United States Geronimo was put on exhibit in many towns and cities across the United States, used in parades and fairs to bring spectators, and saw as little more than a savage, non-human.
Resources:
Geronimo by Angie Debo
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