September 4, 1886: Geronimo Surrenders

The best-known image of Geronimo, 1887

September 4, 1886: Geronimo surrenders to the U.S. Army. The last great at-large Native American opponent of "the white man" gives up the fight.

He was born to the Apache tribe on June 16, 1829, in No-doyohn Cañon, Arizona, then a part of Mexico, with the name Goyaałé, meaning "The One Who Yawns." No one should be stuck with what he was called as a baby, but he wouldn't have to be.

In 1851, with the Apaches having to move south following the Mexican-American War, they were attacked by the Mexican Army, and another Apache heard a Mexican soldier that Goyaałé was killing yell, ¡Jerónimo!" invoking his patron saint, St. Jerome, for help. The warrior was known as "Geronimo" from then on.

Reservation life was confining to the free-moving Apache people, and they resented restrictions on their customary way of life. Geronimo led breakouts from the reservations, in attempts to return his people to their previous nomadic lifestyle.

While well-known, Geronimo was not a chief of the Bedonkohe band of the Central Apache, but a shaman. However, since he was a superb leader in raiding and warfare, he frequently led large numbers of 30 to 50 Apache men.

In 1886, after an intense pursuit in northern Mexico by American forces that followed his 3rd 1885 reservation breakout, Geronimo surrendered for the last time, at Skeleton Canyon, Arizona, to Lieutenant Charles B. Gatewood. Geronimo and 27 other Apaches were later sent to join the rest of the Chiricahua tribe.

While holding him as a prisoner, the United States capitalized on Geronimo’s fame among non-Indians by displaying him at various fairs and exhibitions. In 1905, the Indian Office provided Geronimo for use in a parade at the Inauguration of President Theodore Roosevelt. He and Geronimo admired each other, as Geronimo admitted in a memoir published later that year.

He died on February 17, 1909, of pneumonia, at the age of 79, at the Army hospital at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, still a prisoner of war, and was buried at the Fort Sill Indian Agency Cemetery, among the graves of relatives and other Apache prisoners of war. He has living descendants today.

In 1939, Victor Daniels, who claimed to be of Cherokee ancestry, acted under the name Chief Thundercloud, and was the 1st actor to play Tonto in a Lone Ranger film, starred in the film Geronimo: The Story of a Great Enemy. Inspired by the film, U.S. Army paratroopers, testing the practice of parachuting from planes, began a tradition of shouting "Geronimo!" to show they had no fear of jumping out of an airplane.

Geronimo has also been played by John Doucette in the 1958 ABC movie Tombstone Territory, Chuck Connors in the 1962 film Geronimo!, Enrique Lucero in the 1979 CBS miniseries Mr. Horn, and in 2 films in 1993, both with Native American actors in the role: Geronimo, starring Joseph Runningfox; and Geronimo: An American Legend, starring Wes Studi.

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September 4, 1886 was a Saturday. The only professional team sport in America at the time was baseball. In the National League:

* The New York Giants lost to the Detroit Wolverines, 7-1 at Recreation Park in Detroit.

* The Chicago White Stockings (forerunners of the Cubs) beat the Washington Nationals, 13-6 at West Side Park in Chicago.

* The St. Louis Maroons beat the Boston Beaneaters (forerunners of the Braves), 12-2 at an early version of Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

* The Philadelphia Quakers (forerunners of the Phillies) beat the Kansas City Cowboys, 3-0 at Association Park in Kansas City.

And in the American Association:

* The New York Metropolitans, nicknamed the Mets, beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-2 at the Polo Grounds. Neither of these teams has any connection to the teams using those names today.

* The Brooklyn Grays lost to the Philadelphia Athletics, 15-2 at the original Washington Park in Brooklyn.

* The Pittsburgh Alleghenys (forerunners of the Pirates) beat the Cincinnati Red Stockings (forerunners of the Reds, but not connected to the 1869-70 team of the same name), 1-0 at Recreation Park in Pittsburgh.

* The St. Louis Browns (forerunners of the Cardinals) beat the Louisville Colonels, 11-4 at Eclipse Park in Louisville.