Geronimo (Mescalero-Chiricahua) “the one who yawns”
(June 1829 – February 17, 1909)
Apache chief Geronimo and the Indians he led, surrendered in Skeleton
Canyon in Arizona to U.S. Gen. Nelson Miles. For 30 years, the mighty
Native American warrior had battled to protect his tribe’s homeland;
however, by 1886 the Apaches were exhausted and outnumbered. Gen.
Miles accepted Geronimo’s surrender, making him the last Indian warrior
to formally give in to U.S. forces and signaling the end of the Indian Wars
in the Southwest. Geronimo died of pneumonia on February 17, 1909, as
a prisoner of the United States at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.