Geronimo Campaign

Geronimo Campaign
Part of Apache Wars

Naiche and his band at Geronimo's camp on March 27, 1886, shortly before their surrender to General George Crook. Geronimo and his followers did not stay in army custody for long and they later escaped, leading to a final surrender at Skeleton Canyon in September 1886. Photograph taken by C. S. Fly.
DateMay 17, 1885 – September 3 1886
Location
Result Decisive United States victory
Belligerents
 United States Apache  Mexico
Commanders and leaders
United States George Crook
United States Nelson Miles
Geronimo Surrendered
Naiche Surrendered
Ulzana Surrendered
Unknown
Strength
United States 3,000, 193 Apache scouts (1885)[1]
United States 5,000 (July 1886)[1]
~40 warriors and 100 non-combatants (1885)[2]
20 warriors and 18 non-combatants (September 1886)[1]
Mexico 3,000[2]
Casualties and losses
55 civilians killed[2] 20 women and children captured in August 1885[2]
1 warrior killed (Ulzana's Raid)[2]
20 warriors and 60 non combatants surrendered in March 1886[2]
18 warriors, 12 women and 6 children surrendered in September 1886[2]
400 peaceful Apache from San Carlos Reservation deported to Florida[2]
Unknown

Geronimo Campaign, between May 1885 and September 1886, was the last large-scale military operation of the Apache wars. It took more than 5,000 U.S. Army Cavalry soldiers, led by the two experienced Army generals, in order to subdue no more than 70 (only 38 by the end of the campaign in northern Mexico) Chiricahua Apache who fled the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation and raided parts of the surrounding Arizona Territory and adjacent Sonora state in Mexico for more than a year.[1][3][2]

  1. ^ a b c d Hughes, Howard (2001). The Pocket Essential American Indian Wars. Harpenden: Pocket Essentials. pp. 76–80. ISBN 978-1-903047-73-6. OCLC 70765858.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Sterngass, Jon (2010). Geronimo. New York: Chelsea House. pp. 76–87. ISBN 978-1-4381-3452-9. OCLC 679673779.
  3. ^ Vandervort, Bruce (2006). Indian wars of Mexico, Canada and the United States, 1812-1900. New York: Routledge. pp. 206–210. ISBN 0-415-22471-3. OCLC 60671754.