Geronimo

This was set in 1885, when the United States had almost finished taking over the west and its natives. The government’s next mission was to resettle the Apaches by placing them on reservations. However a rebellious and stubborn warrior of the Chiricuaha Apache tribe, named Geronimo, and his bands of renegades held out. But after two months, he gave himself up and was taken to the Turkey Creek reservation. For a while, he led a resigned quiet life, but the murder of an Apache medicine men by the white men, Geronimo jumped Turkey Creek and took about half of the reservation with him. He rebelled against the white men’s attempts to change the Apache ways and conquering all the Apache lands. The movie then focused on the long hunt for Geronimo. Finally, Geronimo surrendered on September 4, 1886. He lived on for another 22 years as a prisoner of war. The government never let him go.

Characteristics of the Apache tribes

-Apaches were very superstitious, and deeply valued the words of their medicine men (even when blabbing about how the dead would rise was involved).
-They liked stillness, and therefore didn’t like to talk a lot.
-The several Apache tribes didn’t much like each other.
-Most of all Apache went where the best fight was (which was why the army had many Apache scouts working for them).
-They valued a blue colored stone.
-Most Apache were great fighters, but not very good farmers (which they’re forced to be in the reservation).
-They’re proud of their Apache ways and resisted the attempts of the white men to change them.
-We see Geronimo demanding of other Apache “Where is your heart?” in the movie. Therefore, for any proud Apache, their hearts were to be true to their tribe and not the whites.

My Thoughts

For me, the saddest part of this movie was almost at the end, where the rifles were rudely snatched away from the Apache scouts. Even though most of these scouts had served the army faithfully, they were either arrested or sent back to their reservations. They were dismissed with a rude “Their duties for the United States Army are at an end. We thank them for their services”. It was a heart-breaking moment when this scout Chato held on hopelessly to his rifle and mumbled something like, “I’m a good Apache, it’s not right. I’m Sergeant Chato, a scout”.

When 2nd lieutenant Britton Davis resigned from the army because he was ashamed of the way it refused to keep its word, I was going like “Yay, that’s right!” Apparently, the so-called proposal about how the Apache would get 400 acres of land and two mules were a big puff of air, not that anyone believed it for a second in the first place. In General Miles opinion, they shouldn’t be worried about keeping their words to savages. Britton Davis was right, it was shameful.