Geronimo: An American Legend Page #6

The war is over.

I offer this...

...because it has power for me.

Our fight must end here.

When I was young, I took a wife.

We lived in these mountains.

We have our family.

The Mexican soldiers came

and they killed her.

They killed her and my two little girls.

They killed them because we are Apache.

I remember when I found their bodies.

I stood until much time had passed,

not knowing what to do.

I had no weapon...

...but I did not want to fight.

I did not pray.

I did not do anything.

I had no purpose left.

After a year had passed...

...my power showed me

how to get revenge.

And always, since then, I get revenge.

But no matter how many I kill...

...I could not bring back my family.

Yosin...

...the Apache God, is a God of peace.

I gave you the blue stone.

You give me this.

It will be peace.

On September 4, 1886...

...Geronimo and 34 Chiricahua men,

women and children...

...surrendered to General Nelson Miles.

As he handed over his weapons,

Geronimo simply said:

'Once I moved about like the wind.

Now I surrender and that is all. '

He refused any further conversation

with the General.

After arranging Geronimo's

final surrender...

...Lieutenant Gatewood was transferred

to a remote garrison in Northern Wyoming.

His continued presence would have been

an embarrassing reminder...

...that the United States Army had failed

to defeat a band of 35 Apache.

Instead of being rewarded with a medal

for his heroic efforts...

...Lieutenant Charles Gatewood

was sentenced to obscurity.

Sir, formation is ready.

Attention!

-Prepare to mount!

-Present arms!

Mount!

Detail, arms, halt!

'By order of the office

of the President of the United States...

'...all Chiricahua scouts are under arrest...

'...and will be transported

to Fort Marion Prison...

'...Saint Augustine, Florida...

'...with the outlaw Apaches,

led by Goyakla, known as Geronimo!

'The Apache scouts

from the White Mountain...

'...Coyotero and Mescalero tribes

are to return at once...

'...to their reservations.

'They will remain within these boundaries

unless given express permission to travel.

'Their duties for the United States Army

are at an end.

'We thank them for their services.'

Detail!

Collect arms!

I'm a good Apache, it's not right.

I'm Sergeant Chato, a scout.

Later that afternoon,

Geronimo, his band of renegades...

...and all the Chiricahua

that had served the Army so faithfully...

...were loaded into wagons and transported

to the railhead at Holbrook.

There, they were to begin their journey

to Florida and imprisonment.

Halt!

Morning report, sir.

Mr. Glenville, I'd like to see the General.

On what business?

It's about Mr. Gatewood.

Sir.

I thought the US Army kept its word.

I thought maybe

we were the only ones left who did.

What's going on out there is a disgrace.

Lieutenant.

You're more worried

about keeping your word to a savage...

...than you are fulfilling your duties

to the citizens of this country.

We won. That's what matters.

It's over, Lieutenant.

Geronimo, the Apache, the whole history

of the West, except being a farmer.

Mr. Gatewood wouldn't want me

to be a part of any of this.

I hate an idealist.

There's always something messy

about them.

I'm ashamed.

And you have my resignation.

To the disappointment

of family and friends...

...I had ended my military career.

Over the years, the events

surrounding the Geronimo Campaign...

...have continued to haunt me.

I carry the memory of those days...

...days of bravery and cruelty...

...of heroism and deceit.

And I am still faced with

an undeniable truth:

A way of life that endured

a thousand years was gone.

This desert...

...this land that we look out on...

...would never be the same.

You were right to fight the White-Eye.

Everything they said to me was a lie.

You helped them...

I will hate you forever.

There are so few of us left...

We should not hate each other.

She has the coughing sickness.

She will die soon.

Maybe the baby, too.

No one knows why the One God

let the White-Eye take our land.

Why did there have to be

so many of them?

Why did they have so many guns,

so many horses?

For many years,

the One God made me a warrior.

No gun, no bullets, could ever kill me.

That was my power...

Now my time is over.

Now, maybe, the time

of our people is over.

Geronimo lived for another 22 years...

...as a prisoner of war.

Despite its promise...

...the federal government

never let him return home.

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