Geronimo has a fair knowledge of the Spanish language. ↩
As a tribe they would fight under their tribal chief, Mangus-Colorado. If several tribes had been called out, the war chief, Geronimo, would have commanded. ↩
Regarding this attack, Mr. L. C. Hughes, editor of The Star, Tucson, Arizona, to whom I was referred by General Miles, writes as follows:
“It appears that Cochise and his tribe had been on the warpath for some time and he with a number of subordinate chiefs was brought into the military camp at Bowie under the promise that a treaty of peace was to be held, when they were taken into a large tent where handcuffs were put upon them. Cochise, seeing this, cut his way through the tent and fled to the mountains; and in less than six hours had surrounded the camp with from three to five hundred warriors; but the soldiers refused to make fight.”
This sweeping statement is more general than we are willing to concede, yet it may be more nearly true than our own accounts. ↩
General Miles telegraphed from Whipple Barracks, Arizona, Sept. 24, 1886, relative to the surrender of the Apaches. Among other things he said: “Mangus-Colorado had years ago been foully murdered after he had surrendered.” ↩
Geronimo often calls his horses to him in Fort Sill Reservation. He gives only one shrill note and they run to him at full speed. ↩
Regarding the killing of Mangus-Colorado, L. C. Hughes of the Tucson, Ariz., Star, writes as follows:
“It was early in the year ’63, when General West and his troops were camped near Membras, that he sent Jack Swilling, a scout, to bring in Mangus, who had been on the warpath ever since the time of the incident with Cochise at Bowie. The old chief was always for peace, and gladly accepted the proffer; when he appeared at the camp General West ordered him put into the guardhouse, in which there was only a small opening in the rear and but one small window. As the old chief entered he said: ‘This is my end. I shall never again hunt over the mountains and through the valleys of my people.’ He felt that he was to be assassinated. The guards were given orders to shoot him if he attempted to escape. He lay down and tried to sleep, but during the night, someone threw a large stone which struck him in the breast. He sprang up and in his delirium the guards thought he was attempting escape and several of them shot him; this was the end of Mangus.
“His head was severed from his body by a surgeon, and the brain taken out and weighed. The head measured larger than that of Daniel Webster, and the brain was of corresponding weight. The skull was sent to Washington, and is now on exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution.”
General O. O. Howard was not in command, but had been sent by President Grant, in 1872, to make peace with the Apache Indians. The general wrote me from Burlington, Vt., under date of June 12, 1906, that he remembered the treaty, and that he also remembered with much satisfaction subsequently meeting Geronimo. —Editor ↩
They do not receive full rations now, as they did then. ↩
Victoria, chief of the Hot Spring Apaches, met his death in opposing the forcible removal of his band to a reservation, because having previously tried and failed he felt it impossible for separate bands of Apaches to live at peace under such arrangement. ↩
Geronimo’s whole family, excepting his eldest son, a warrior, were captured. ↩
Geronimo’s exact words, for which the Editor disclaims any responsibility. ↩
These are the exact words of Geronimo. The Editor is not responsible for this criticism of General Crook. ↩
Governor Torres of Sonora had agreed to cooperate with our troops in exterminating or capturing this tribe. ↩
Captain Lawton reports officially the same engagement, but makes no mention of the recapture (by the Apaches) of the horses. ↩
The criticisms of General Miles in the foregoing chapter are from Geronimo, not from the Editor. ↩
Mr. George Wratton is now at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, acting as Superintendent of Apaches. He has been with the Apaches as interpreter and superintendent since their surrender. ↩
Recently Mr. Melton told Geronimo of this conversation. The wily old chief laughed shyly and said, “What if Prewitt’s pistol had been knocked out of his hand? Other men have tried to shoot me and at least some of them failed. But I’m glad he didn’t try it.” ↩
These field glasses were taken from soldiers and officers (Mexicans and Americans) whom the Apaches had killed. ↩
This was a stick nest built on top of the ground by a species of woods rat. ↩
These are not the words of the Editor, but of Geronimo. ↩
They were in Alabama from May, 1888, to October, 1894. ↩
The Indians are not allowed to sell the cattle themselves. When cattle are ready for market they are sold by the officer in charge, part of the money paid to the Indians who owned
