Apache genocide

Geronimo, the last resistant Apache chief, was not left in peace even after his death

Danilo Anton

Who can capture the spirit of the wind?

Geronimo, whose real name was Goyahkla, was the last Apache leader who fought the armies of the US and Mexico in a protracted war of resistance until they were isolated and derrotados..His captors promised to release him but kept him captive until his death in 1909.

Geronimo was not left alone, not even after his death. Nine years after his burial a group of young people from the elite of American society, including Prescott Bush, father of George Bush and grandfather of George W. Bush, violated Geronimo's tomb, took his remains and carried them to "The Tomb", a student fraternity building called "Skull and Bones" of the high aristocracy US Yale University where, as has been reported, are still maintained.

Who was Geronimo?

Goyahkla a Bedonkohe apache who later became known as Geronimo, was born in 1820 in a town called No-doyon in the headwaters of the Gila River, now in southeastern Arizona. His birthplace is today a place of reverence among Apaches surviving communities.

His father was called Taklishim - "The Gray Man", son of the chief of the tribe apache Mahko Bedonkohe who inherited traditions. His mother taught him the mythical origins of their people, taught him to pray to Use, the Supreme Being, also called the giver of life. She explained him the legends and exploits of supernatural beings, The “Women in White”, the “Water Child”, entities that are closely connected with the origin of the Apache people, and the kind spirits of the mountains, who are hidden in caves and were honored in the Apache ceremonial. (...)

Long after being defeated and killed the Apache chiefs Victorio and Nana, the leadership was assumed by Geronimo (Goyahkla) and Juh. At that time, and to prevent further sacrifices to his people, he entered into negotiations with the US government.

Representatives of the US government offered the Apaches piece of land in exchange of laying down their arms. The place, called San Carlos, was barren and totally inadequate.

Daklugie son of Juh illustratively described it.

"The Creator did San Carlos. It is an older place than he just left it as a sign of how things appear before He became. Take stones and ashes and bones, and throw some scorpions and rattlesnakes, put up all that red-hot stones, add the US Army Apaches chasing and so will have to San Carlos. "

The last Apache bastion faced two powerful armies on both sides of the border, the United States and the Mexican army. At the end there were only seventeen warriors with their families. They were surrounded by five thousand soldiers and thousands of civilians sided with the United States and three thousand Mexican soldiers on the other side of the mountains.

Despite the unequal situation the Apaches continued to fight. Daklugie said it this way: "At that time Geronimo also had Lozen, known as the “Female Warrior”. Geronimo looked weakened also by the presence of women and children who should be defended and fed. Nobody ever captured Geronimo. I know it. I was with him. Anyway Who can catch the wind? "

A few months later, exhausted and discouraged by the absence of their families, Geronimo and the remaining Apache warriors who accompanied him surrendered to General Nelson Miles from US Army with the promise that the Apache chief would be released in two years and will be allowed to live in peace in their reserves.

Again the promises were not fulfilled. Geronimo was kept in prison for twenty-three years. He died in 1909, still captive. The rest of the Apaches, a few hundred, were sent to Oklahoma and New Mexico.

Today the Apaches are concentrated in the Fort Apache reservation in Arizona and in San Carlos. Most of the Chiricahua, Mescalero and Lipan Apaches live in the Mescalero Reservation in southern New Mexico. The Jicarilla Apaches have a reservation in north-central New Mexico.

Even after his death his enemies did not leave him in peace. Nine years after his burial a group of young people from the elite of American society violated his tomb and took his remains to "The Tomb", a student fraternity called “Skulls and Bones” at Yale University.

Perhaps the skull and the remains of Geronimo are still in Yale. We do not know for sure. They may actually be somewhere else, anywhere.

What we do know for sure is that since long time ago his spirit has been freed from the shackles of repression, imprisonment, kidnapping and abuse.