Geronimo (1) (1829–1909)

Geronimo is a name and expression that we all know, yet likely it is separated from the person who embodied its life.

Close to the end of his life, during the years he was retained as a prison-of-war at Ft. Sills OK (along with remnants of the Apaches), he expressed desire to write his own story. He wanted a chance to express the Apache experience from a native view. Barrett, superintendent of schools in Lawton OK, transcribed his story. It was also Barrett who obtained permission from President Teddy Roosevelt for its publication, after others in power denied permission, not wanting to allow Geronimo's view of his culture, the land, or especially of particular white men. It was published in 1906, with the disclaimer that the War Department did not approve, and that disparaging descriptions of white military commanders did not represent the views of the editor or the government.

This edition includes an introduction by Turner that describes the setting based on current day scholarship of the period. Time has given a greater ability to describe the era more objectively, giving credence to Geronimo's words.

Geronimo's story is written in the oral tradition style, which the preface does well to describe. His story-telling style, with its rich simplicity, left me remembering much I had not known before.

Geronimo's closing plea:
"I am thankful that the President of the United States has given me permission to tell my story. I hope that he and those in authority under him will read my story and judge whether my people have been rightly treated. There is a great question between the Apaches and the Government. ... But we can do nothing in this matter ourselves - we must wait until those in authority chose to act. ..."

Turner's closing thoughts:

"As for the attitudes, they are to be most forcefully encountered west of the Mississippi, which was to have been Indian country forever. Out where most of the large reservations are located and where most of the public lands are too, there is still a steady, settled hatred of Native Americans that gathers intensity the nearer you get to a reservation. ... The same sentiment that favors the termination of the tribes' reservation status also applies to our public lands, our national parks, and our national forests ... Ever since the public domain came into existence, it has been the object of a steady, relentless attack by private interests. ...

It is tempting to suggest that Geronimo and Sitting Bull and Red Cloud would understand this, would see it as another aspect of that same mind-set they faced back in the nineteenth century. And in fact, many of those in the West calling for the breakup of the reservations and the dispersal of the public lands, national parks, and forests proudly identify themselves as descendants of those who won the West. And now that almost all of the West is theirs, it proves not to be enough: there is always some more that might be had. Red Cloud might have come closest to articulating the situation when, after he knew further resistance was futile, he allegedly told a white delegation, "We didn't need all this land, and neither did you."… (lisätietoja)