GOYATLE

THE CHIRICAHUA APACHE NANTAN, GOYATLE (GERONIMO) IN WAR CAP:

Apache nantans led from the front, so he might just be checking up on the column behind him. Many Apaches think he caused unnecessary decimation of the Chiricahua people; that he remained in the field too long, causing avoidable deaths. This nantan was blinded by revenge on the Mexicans. Full disclosure: he came home from what would pass for a shopping trip one day in 1851, and found his entire camp slaughtered by Mexican troops from Janos, Mexico. The dead included his mother Juana, wife Alope, and their three infant daughters. That Empire State Building sized horror, fell on one man all on the same day. So, you be the judge.

By 1884, he was in a bind. It became very difficult to recruit warriors from the reservations, as was the custom in earlier years. He even found himself competing with the US Cavalry for Apache men. The Army offered adult males jobs as scouts. Every scout was a warrior, but not every warrior became scouts. Those Army scouts were the albatross around his neck. They knew everything about him, the tribe and its refuges on both sides of the border. Every water hole, hiding place, arms cache, cave warehouses etc., were known to them. They would destroy winter stores piled up from summer operations in Mexico and Arizona/New Mexico. They essentially broke his back. By 1886, the pickings reached an all time low. He boiled down to 19 warriors; even resorted to child warriors. There were no bargaining chips left on the table from the 1884 talks. Geronimo was painted into a corner marked "unconditional surrender".

When he finally handed over his rifle to General miles in September of 1886, there were only 38 people left in his band; half of them warriors. Deportation to Oklahoma, and what turned out to be a life sentence for him followed. The Chiricahuas served 27 years of incarceration, before being released in 1913. It remains the longest confinement in US Military history. RIP Nantan Goyatle, and all the warriors that never returned from the trail to their wikiups.

Image Courtesy~DarrenHaley/Apacheria.es