GERONIMO.......On this day, February 17th, 1909 Geronimo dies of pneumonia at age 80, while still a captive of war at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.~ This rare cabinet card Image shows the great Apache Resistance leader leaning against a tree. photographed by William E. Irwin, Chickasha, Indian Territory with inscription in period script on the cards reverse, "Jeronamo (sic), from the Apache tribe, now in captivity at Ft. Sill.¡±~ "We are vanishing from the earth, yet I cannot think we are useless or Usen would not have created us. He created all tribes of men and certainly had a righteous purpose in creating each. For each tribe of men Usen created He also made a home. In the land created for any particular tribe He placed whatever would be best for the welfare of that tribe. When Usen created the Apaches He also created their homes in the West. He gave to them such grain, fruits, and game as they needed to eat. To restore their health when disease attacked them He made many different herbs to grow. He taught them where to find these herbs, and how to prepare them for medicine. He gave them a pleasant climate and all they needed for clothing and shelter was at hand. Thus it was in the beginning: the Apaches and their homes each created for the other by Usen himself. When they are taken from these homes they sicken and die.How long will it be until it is said, there are no Apaches?" ~ Geronimo, 1906.Geronimo often spoke of his desire for his people's eventual return to their ancestral homelands in Arizona. Tragically, his life ended at Fort Sill, Oklahoma far away from the beloved lands he had been forcefully taken from and imprisoned by the United States Government for defending. ~ Bedonkohe Apache leader Geronimo [Goyaa?¨¦], Mescalero-Chiricahua.
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