Scene in Geronimo's camp during Chiracahua surrender to General Crook on

March 27, 1886. Left to right, Geronimo's son, Perico holding baby,

Geronimo, Natches, unknown.

This image available for photographic prints and downloads HERE!

The Chiricahua “great mountain” Apache were called such for their former mountain home in Southeast Arizona. They, however, called themselves Aiaha.  The most warlike of the Arizona Indians, their raids extended into New Mexico, southern Arizona, and northern Sonora, Mexico. Some of their most noted leaders included among their most noted leaders being Cochise, Victorio, Loco, Chato, Naiche, Bonito, Mangas Coloradas, and Geronimo.

The nomadic Chiricahua lived primarily in wickiups, frame huts covered with matting, of bark and brush. When they moved on they burned them. They were both hunters and gatherers, surviving on berries, nuts and fruits and well as game. They horse and mule flesh as delicacies. During the summer, they also did limited farming of corn and melon.

The Chiricahua formed clans and chiefs were chosen for their ability and courage, although there is evidence that chiefship was sometimes hereditary, as in the case of Cochise and his son, Nache.

The Chiricahua were the last to resist U.S. government control of the southwest. They finally surrendered in 1886 and were exiled to Florida, Alabama, and Oklahoma. The tribe was then released to settlements in Oklahoma and the Mescalero Reservation in New Mexico where the majority of the tribe live today.

Their last stronghold was the Chiricahua Mountains, in southeastern Arizona, part of which is now inside Chiricahua National Monument.

Also See:

Apache - The Fiercest Warriors in the Southwest

Apache Legends

Geronimo - The Last Apache Holdout

Geronimo Photo Gallery

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Return to Vintage Photographs