The Geronimo Campaign Book

Faulk's fascinating book reveals that Geronimo lived during the last valiant struggle with the white settlers. He was a great if non-hereditary leader of the Chiricahua Apaches. Though he was the grandson of the chief of another tribe of Apaches, his father married a woman from the Chiricahuas. Being from a matriarchal system, Geronimo's father gave up all his rights to leadership and went to live with Geronimo's mother's tribe.

The Spaniards who colonized New Mexico beginning in 1598 and Arizona a century later wanted to convert the Indians to Christianity and make them Hispanic in the process. Their missions were built with this purpose in mind, but the Apache people, being fierce, independent and proud, resisted.

The Spaniards tried to make them submit by force, erecting numerous presidios (forts) across the norther frontier. Even the Apaches who were defeated did not want to settle in the shadow of a presidio, though other Indian tribes succumbed to the ploy. One settled, they were plied with inferior firearms and alcoholic beverages.

The system of the trading post was established because the independent and intelligent Apaches were not so easily reduced. From trading posts, Apaches were to receive annual presents from traders (gifted by the Mexican government). That way the government could keep an eye on them. This system broke down by 1831 when the annual distribution of presents ceased and war resumed between the Mexican government and the Apaches. Finally the Mexican states of Sonora and Chihuahua resorted to the old Spanish method of paying bounties for Apache scalps.

Geronimo was born into this reality. Scalp hunting brought wave after sickening wave of enterprising "backyard barbers." Since it was difficult to distinguish between a native American or Mexican scalp, whole villages of unsuspecting Mexicans were sometimes exterminated for their scalps.

Faulk renders a lively and often appalling account of the war that unfolded between the Apaches and the US soldiers, over the deserts and mountains of Arizona, New Mexico and northern Mexico in the mid 1880s, resulting in Geronimo's ultimate surrender.

While many individuals from the Apache and US military side attempted to uphold agreements, the blackguards and scoundrels, it turns out, belonged to the "Tucson Ring" of merchants who sold hay, grain and other provisions to soldiers and Indians living on reservations. They actively promoted and exaggerated accounts of bloody incidents in order to encourage more U.S. troops to be sent out West. They also connived with Indian agents to furnish substandard rations at standard prices, splitting the profits. Often with the aid of reservation agents (non-military men), they furnished no rations at all and simply pocketed the money.

This is why native American children frequently starved to death on the reservations they were eventually forced to go to.

Faulk explains the hierarchy of the US Army at the time and psychologically analyzes the attitudes and goals of the men who made their careers therein. What an eye-opener to learn that when General Custer lost at Little Big Horn, he had been hoping to get back a star in rank he had lost.

General George Crook, writes Faulk, championed justice for the Indians, especially the Apaches and wanted them to have the vote and be considered citizens.

There is a great deal in this book about Geronimo's bravery and the workings of his personality. Crook once said, "Geronimo has the best head on his shoulders of any Indian with whom I have ver come into contact." Geronimo's name became synonymous with courage, which is why paratroopers of the US Army in World War II began crying "Geronimo" when they jumped from an airplane.