The Geronimo war, now ended, had cost the Government more than a million dollars.
When the news was received, and confirmed by later reports, that Geronimo and his band had actually surrendered, there was much rejoicing throughout western Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and even across the Rio Grande in Mexico. Bonfires were made, and congratulatory telegrams poured in upon General Miles and Captain Lawton from many sources. Families who had been in daily terror of their lives, now felt they could retire at night with some assurance of living to see the sunrise of the next morning.
It was not thought prudent to let Geronimo and his band remain in the Southwest, even as United States prisoners, as the settlers would have still been in terror lest they should again break out of the reservation or prison and renew their depredations.
For this reason, Geronimo and sixteen members of his band, including the leading chiefs, were sent to Fort Pickens, Florida. The rest of his band, and the four hundred Chiricahua and Warm Spring Indians of Fort Apache were sent to Fort Marion, near St. Augustine, Florida, about the same time. May 1, 1887, the prisoners from the latter fort were removed to Mount Vernon, Alabama, to improve their health. Here they were afterward joined by Geronimo and the other prisoners from Fort Pickens.
At least two of the officers engaged in this campaign afterward became distinguished in the Spanish-American and Philippine wars. We refer to Capt. H. W. Lawton and Surgeon Leonard Wood, whose subsequent histories are well known.
Capt. John G. Bourke, near the close of his work, "On the Border with Crook," states that a number of the prisoners sent to Florida, including "Chato" and his band, "had remained faithful for three years, and had rendered signal service in the pursuit of the renegades." Continuing, he wrote, "Yet, every one of those faithful scouts—especially the two, 'Ki-e-ta' and Martinez, who had at imminent personal peril gone into the Sierra Madre to hunt up 'Geronimo' and induce him to surrender—were transplanted to Florida, and there subjected to the same punishment as had been meted out to 'Geronimo.' And with them were sent men like 'Goth-Kli' and 'To-Klanni,' who were not Chiricahuas at all, but had only lately married wives of that band, who had never been on the warpath in any capacity except as soldiers of the Government, and had devoted years to its service. There is no more disgraceful page in the history of our relations with the American Indians than that which conceals the treachery visited upon the Chiricahuas who remained faithful in their allegiance to our people."
If these statements are true, and they are quoted from documents of the War Department, then the loyal Indians of this period have been terribly wronged. And every honorable soldier, and just citizen, should demand that reparation be made and the wrong righted as much as possible, even after the lapse of years. If these Indians were unjustly imprisoned, as is here claimed, the accumulating years only serve to augment the shame of those responsible for such an outrage.
In the spring of 1889 a school was opened for the Indian children at Mount Vernon, Alabama, and Geronimo was not only present at the opening, but acted as head usher on the occasion.
October 4, 1894, Geronimo and a portion of his band, including Naiche and other chiefs, were removed to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. They now number 240 people and are called prisoners of war.
Naiche, the last of the band to surrender, seems to be, according to his own statement, an hereditary chief of the Chiricahua Apaches. He is said to be a clever artist, and a crack shot, either with the primitive bow and arrow or Winchester rifle. He is now one of the United States soldiers at Fort Sill, having enlisted as a Government scout.