March to September
Geronimo surrenders to the U.S. Army.
Geronimo, exhausted by the military’s efforts to
subdue his renegade band, asks to meet with Gen-
eral George Crook—whom he had surrendered
to nearly three years earlier (see entry for JUNE
1883)—at Canyon de los Embudos. Crook again
threatens to kill all of Geronimo’s people if they
do not surrender. He insists that they will be sent
to prison in the East but promises that after two
years they will be allowed to return to the San
Carlos Reservation, in present-day Arizona. On
March 25, after days of discussion, Geronimo ac-
cepts Crook’s terms. In less than a week, however,
he and Apache leader Nachez lead 20 men and
13 women back to their mountain hideaways in
Mexico.
The Indians remain renegades for five months
before Geronimo makes his final surrender to
General Nelson A. Miles at Skeleton Canyon on
September 4. Miles’s terms are harsh: He insists that
Geronimo’s band be sent to deportation camps in
Florida, along with all of the Chiricahua and Warm
Spring Apache (including the army’s Indian scouts)
from the San Carlos Reservation. Geronimo’sGeronimo and his followers meet with General George Crook and other U.S. military officers to discuss the ren-
egade Apache's surrender. (Denver Public Library, Western History Collection, Call no. X-32942)