8,000 Soldiers vs. 30 Apache: The Real Story of Geronimo

Geronimo: 27 Years a Prisoner of War In the summer of 1886, the United States put roughly 5,000 soldiers in the field, about a quarter of its entire army, and Mexico sent another 3,000. Their target was a single band of Apache: around thirty people, women and children included, led by an aging man in his late fifties. This is the full story behind Geronimo, born Goyaałé, 'the one who yawns.' The Apache were not one tribe but a family of peoples. They fought Spain and Mexico for centuries before the United States arrived. In 1851 Mexican soldiers killed Geronimo's mother, wife and three children, and the war that followed shaped the rest of his life. We cover Cochise and the Bascom Affair, the San Carlos reservation, the surrender at Skeleton Canyon on September 4, 1886, and the twenty-seven years the Chiricahua were held as prisoners of war, scouts who had served the Army included. And we end where the story is still unfinished: the Apache nations today, and the fight over Oak Flat (Chí'chil Biłdagoteel), a sacred site now in federal court. ⏱️ CHAPTERS 00:00 8,000 soldiers vs. 30 people 01:09 Who the Apache actually were 02:34 Centuries of war before the U.S. 03:46 The making of Geronimo 06:01 Cochise, a broken truce, and the Apache Wars 07:52 The last holdout 09:41 Prisoners of war for 27 years 11:35 Still here: Oak Flat and the Apache nations 🪶 Native Americas tells the story of every Indigenous nation of the Americas — one at a time. Subscribe, and tell us which nation you want next. 📍 Requests and corrections welcome in the comments — this history belongs to the people who lived it. #NativeAmerican #IndigenousHistory #NativeAmericas #Apache