September 4, 1886 · Southwest Theater
September 4, 1886
After nearly a decade of resistance across the Sierra Madre mountains of Mexico and the Arizona Territory, Geronimo and his band of Chiricahua Apache — at times no more than 36 men, women, and children — surrendered to General Nelson Miles at Skeleton Canyon, Arizona. The pursuit had consumed 5,000 U.S. soldiers and 500 Mexican troops. Lieutenant Charles Gatewood's negotiations, aided by Apache scouts from Geronimo's own tribe, finally convinced the exhausted but undefeated warrior to surrender.
Commanders