Geronimo History and Early Photographs

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Geronimo and his band of Apache Indians featured through early photographs including C.S. Fly images. Geronimo's history explained by Dr. Mark Sublette owner of Medicine Man Gallery gives a brief history of Geronimo's life and shares early photographs of the famous Apache warrior.
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Geronimo History and Early Photographs
One of the most famous, if not the most famous Indian name, is Geronimo. In fact, it was so famous, that in World War two that they used it as they jumped out of airplanes to say, “Geronimo!” And that's where that name of fierce power was really resurged in that timeframe. Well, Geronimo was a Cherokee Apache Indian, and he's somebody that I have found very interesting. One, because of his lore, and two, he was an Arizona native. he lived in Arizona and he lived in Mexico as well, and he raided different areas of the state. Some people would consider him to be an outlaw, and other people would consider him to be a hero. He was a very interesting man. He was very protective of his people and most people consider him in the native world to be a leader, and I have always loved his photographs, and I've collected them, and I also occasionally sell them. So, I wanted to tell you a little bit about the photographs and about Geronimo. Geronimo who, was again, a Native American from Arizona - probably was first photographed around 1883 when he first surrendered, and he was up to the White Mountain Apache. He was interned there; he stayed there until about 1885, and he finally broke free (and) went back took his people, and hid from the American military. He was able to elude capture until September of 1886. In fact, the United States government sent about 5,000 troops after him, which was a very large percent of our entire national force at that time. The reason was that he was a very, very significant person, and this was the last Native American kind of not on a reservation - an Indian that was still there, and the government had a policy against Native Americans at that time. So, Geronimo was captured at this timeframe and some of the most famous photographs are from that time. In fact, one of the photographs that you'll see is one that Andy Warhol did, and you can see in his piece that he did in 1986 I believe. So, the photographs that were done at this time we're done by CS Fly. Fly was an interesting guy that lived in Tombstone, Arizona, and was a photographer. He went out when Miles was capturing Geronimo. Geronimo actually surrendered and took photographs. These are very interesting because they show him and his band of troops out in the field, and then in the process of being interned. And at this time what happened to Geronimo is they were all sent (including women and children) back east. He ended up being put in prison for over 20 years. He went to Alabama, then he went to Florida. Much of the children that were of the Cherokee Apaches were all shipped up to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where they were interned and made into good little citizens. (There’s) a wonderful image of his band of children as they looked when they were first captured, and what they look like after they were sent to Pennsylvania. You'll see different images of Geronimo throughout this period of time, not only on his trip from Alabama and in Texas and in Florida, but also when he was sent finally to the prison, and what was really his reservation, even though it wasn’t his homeland - in Oklahoma. Geronimo was very well thought of in the sense of notoriety, even at that time frame. He died in 1909 and was somewhat of a celebrity. He would sign his name for a dollar or two. He had to make a living to help himself because he couldn't do what he did best, which was raid and live out in the lands of Arizona. So, he did what he could. He would make bows and arrows. He would sign and he would go on things like Buffalo Bills exhibit. He went with Teddy Roosevelt, actually in a parade. He was a very interesting person, a very strong individual in American history, and a name that you need to know. Geronimo.