author
Geronimo
1829–1909
Remembered as one of the most famous Apache resistance leaders, he spent decades defending his people’s homeland against Mexican and U.S. expansion. His life later took an unexpected turn, from prisoner of war to a widely photographed public figure in the early 1900s.
1 Audiobook
Geronimo's Story of His Life
by Geronimo
About the author
Born Goyaałé, and often known in English as Geronimo, he was a Bedonkohe Apache military leader and medicine man whose name became closely tied to the Apache Wars. He was born in June 1829 and is known for leading and joining repeated efforts to resist Mexican and later United States control over Apache lands in the Southwest.
After years of conflict, he surrendered in 1886 and spent the rest of his life as a prisoner of war. Even in captivity, he became a well-known public figure, appearing at fairs and public events and dictating his life story, which helped shape how later generations came to know him.
He died in 1909 at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Today he remains a powerful and complicated historical figure, remembered both for his fierce resistance and for the ways his story reflects the violence and upheaval faced by Apache communities in the 19th century.