Geronimo

[Gary]

Read about him here.

 

[mbritt]

Geronimo's story of his life in his own words
I found it fascinating reading.

 

[Birdwatcher]

For maybe a better story, see the August issue of "Wild West" magazine.

The cover story in the August is the rivalry between Geronimo and the man mostly responsible for tracking him down, the nearly forgotten and generally underrated Chatto.

A quote attributed to Chatto in the opening editorial of the magazine jumped out at me, saying as it seemed to so much about the character of the man. After the capture of Geronimo, Chatto was sent to Washington to receive a medal for his service. Despite the fact he would subsequently spend 27 years in forced exile along with Geronimo's band, Chatto in later life said of the medal...

I did not find this in the woods, it means something.

Turns out that Chatto was already in his 40's and Geronimo in his '50's in the 1880's. What won Chatto over to the US side was the fact that Chatto's wife and two small children had been previously captured by Taharuma Indians in service to Mexico and sent to the jail in Chihuahua. General Crook's promise to intervene on Chatto's behalf winning an unswerving loyalty.

Chatto was influential in the organization of as many as 57 Apache scouts in service to the US against Geronimo, led by recent West Point graduate Lt Britton Davis...

Lieutenant Britton Davis describe him as "one of the finest men, red or white, I have ever known".

We all know the outcome of the Geronimo campaign. Did Chatto ever get back his wife and kids?

Once again complex reality trumps simple stereotype...

Crook's persistence finally paid dividends after he left Arizona, Mexican authorities admitted that Chatto's family was in Chihuahua. They sent the picture of his wife, now named Catarina, and the two children to State Department officials. The general forwarded it to Chatto, who admitted he cried every time he looked at it.

Catarina was a servant... Two families in Chihuahua had adopted her daughter and son, which was the state's custom for prisoners who were minors. They allowed her to visit her children, which was probably why she refused to return to Chatto...

None of the Apaches could believe that she preferred to stay with the Mexicans. Nevertheless Chatto, who would live another 50 years, never laid eyes on his family again.

Chatto outlived just about everyone, being killed in New Mexico when the car he was riding in went off of the road into a ravine on the Mescalero Apache reservation in 1934.

Remarkable.

Birdwatcher