Honoring Apache Warriors / Dishchii'Bikoh Apache Group

"You must speak straight so that your words may go as sunlight into our hearts.
Speak Americans.. I will not lie to you; do not lie to me." – Cochise, Great Apache Warrior and Chief
* Mangas Coloradas (Red Sleeves) /(1793 -1863) – Great and Honorable Warrior Chief, Geronimo’s Mentor and Cochise’s Father-in-Law. Today historians regard him as one of the most important Native American leaders of the 19th century, partly because of his remarkable fighting achievements not only against Mexico, but against the American Army, but also for his brilliant guerilla strategies and astute leadership in uniting many disparate bands to fight for their lands and heritage. In January 1863, under the white flag of treaty counsel he went to meet with military leaders at Fort McLane, near Silver City, New Mexico. He had been promised provisions for his people and a peaceful transition by the government. By the orders of Brigadier General Joseph Rodman West, Mangas Coloradas was captured, tortured and murdered and his body was the defilement of barbarously. The regimental surgeon at Fort McLane “for scientific purposes” boiled the head in a large kettle to extract the skull and sold it to Fowler's Phrenological Cabinet in New York, until it disappeared and was never found. After the terrible death of Mangas Coloradas, Geronimo, Chochise and other Apache leaders swore vengeance and even more vicious reprisals of the Apache on the military and white settlers and consequently for the next 25 years it was a bloody war between the Apaches and the U.S.
* Cochise, Apache Warrior and Chief (1810 -1874) –Proud, famous and fierce Apache Chief who remained undefeated, known for his significant role in Indian-White relations. He lived and prospered by war, but died in peace; a man of great integrity and principle and a worthy leader of sound judgment and diplomacy of the Apache people. Cochise's rage at the loss of his family members led to a bloody cycle of revenge and retaliation between the Americans and Apaches for the 12 years, known as the Cochise Wars (1861–1872). One the major battles was Apache Pass in 1862, in which Cochise and Mangas, with around 500 warriors, battled successfully against forces 2,500 soldiers under General Henry Carleton. Eventually, Cochise and his fighters were driven back by greater and greater U.S. forces to Arizona’s Dragoon Mountains (Cochise's Stronghold). From there, Cochise continued fighting, raiding and evading capture. After the treaty in October 1872, Cochise moved with warriors and their families to the short-lived Chiricahua Reservation, located on the ancient ancestral land of the Cochise’s people leaving only small bands of Apache raiders to defend their territory. The Apache raiders were led by Geronimo. In 1876, the U.S.authorities gave the order to transfer the Apaches to the San Carlos reservation in eastern Arizona. Cochise died at the Eastern Stronghold in the Dragoon Mountains on June 8, 1874. The grave of Chief Cochise is unknown. He was buried in a deep chasm with all due respect befitting a Great Chief (His body was prepared by his family. They marked his face in war paint and dressed him in his best regalia of war with his weapons. Cochise’s war horse and favorite dog were killed and buried with him.)
* Geronimo (Goyathlay) /(1829-1909) – one of the most famous Apache leaders and the last Native American warrior to surrender to U.S. forces after a very prolonged and bitter struggle.Geronimo had been an unforgiving warrior since his early manhood, after Mexican soldiers murdered his mother, his wife and three of his children. From that tragic in 1858, he harbored a deep hatred of whites and spent much of his life terrorizing Mexican settlements, fighting both Mexican and American forces, and became known for his daring feats at Sonora and many other battles.Geronimo’s fighting force included famous Apache women warriors Lozen, Dahteste, and Goyen.Over the next few decades, the U.S. government tried to get Geronimo and his followers onto reservations, but he and his people managed to break out of their prison every time and they could not capture him. On Sept.1886, Geronimo formally surrendered to Gen. Miles at Skeleton Canyon with the promise that, after an indefinite exile in Florida, he and his followers would be allowed to return to their homeland.The promise was never kept. Geronimo’s capture signified the end of the Apache people as a viable warrior culture and an advancing U.S. didn’t have the inclination to let the Apache live their traditional semi-nomadic lifestyle.Geronimo, the last leader of an American Indian fighting force to capitulate to the United States, lived out his last years in exile. Geronimo died in 1909 and was buried in the Apache Cemetery where he and his band had been imprisoned for 23 years at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
* The film was made for educational purposes, not for commercial use - the rights to the source materials belong to their owners.