"I was no chief and never had been, but because I had been more deeply wronged than others, this honor was conferred upon me, and I resolved to prove"

On this day in 1886 Geronimo became the last Native American to capitulate a major military campaign by Native Americans against the U.S.Government. During the last few months of the campaign one quarter of the American Army 5,000troops, 500 scouts and 3,000 Mexican soldiers were searching the Chiracaua Mountains of eastern Arizona for Geronimo and his remaining force of 16 warriors, 12 women, and 6 children.
The Chiracauas were the traditional home of the Geronimo’s people. Geronimo had actually surrendered prior and traveled to the San Carlos and White Mountain Apache reservations however drunken threats of hanging by US soldiers, the mistreatment of his people and, the ultimate murder of an apache holy man had caused him gather members of his tribe and flee back to his homeland
Geronimo was not a chief however the traditional Apache ethos of enduring great hardship, and taking what is needed, plus years of guerilla actions in the harshest conditions against overwhelming odds. Had contributed to Sensationalized press reports exaggerating Geronimo's activities, making him the most feared and infamous Apache.

In all fairness one of the most pivotal moments in Geronimo’s life was in 1858 when on an excursion to peace talks between the Government and the Apaches he returned to find his wife, his mother and his three young children murdered by troops. Among the tribe he was a changed man and became known for his anger and hatred, soon after this incident he received his power, which came to him in visions. Geronimo was never a chief, but a medicine man, a seer and a spiritual and intellectual leader both in and out of battle. The Apache chiefs depended on his wisdom

Upon their surrender, Geronimo and over 300 of his fellow Apaches were shipped to Fort Marion, Florida. One year later many of them were relocated to the Mt.Vernon barracks in Alabama, where about one quarter died from tuberculosis and other diseases. Geronimo died on Feb. 17, 1909, a prisoner of war, unable to return to his homeland. He was buried in the Apache cemetery at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

To this day Geronimo is the embodiment of the apache ethic, and has become an iconic rallying point among the apache tribe as an uncompromising symbol of freedom.

In 1986 the chair of the San Carlos Apache Tribe Ned Anderson was petitioning to have the remains of Geronimo moved from Fort Sill back to Apache land. Anderson received a anonymous letter from someone claiming to be a member of the Yale Skull and Bones Society the writer claimed that the Skull and Bones were in possession of Geronimo’s skull. The writer included a photograph of a skull in a display case and a copy of what is apparently a centennial history of Skull and Bones, written by the literary critic F. O. Matthiessen . In Matthiessen's account and a Skull and Bones log book from 1919, the skull had been unearthed by six Bonesmen, identified by their Bones nicknames, Matthiessen mentions the real names of three of the robbers, all of whom were at Fort Sill in early 1918: Ellery James '17, Henry Neil Mallon '17, and Prescott Bush '17, (the father and grandfather of the U.S. presidents) all of this information was substantiated by Yale historian Gaddis Smith in the Yale Daily News 5/9/06 (George Bush is left of the Clock)