February 17: On This Day in World History … briefly
The United States military used the code name ‘Geronimo’ for the raid that killed al-Qaeda terrorist Osama bin Laden in 2011, but its use outraged some American Indians.
1909: Geronimo dies with honour
Legendary Apache warrior chief Geronimo died at age 79 on February 17, 1909, at his ranch on an Oklahoma reservation, far from the homeland he fought so hard to defend.
He cleverly and fiecely resisted white settle incursions in the Chiricahua Apache lands in Arizona and New Mexico. After the Chiricahua were forced onto a bleak desert reservation in 1876, Geronimo repeatedly broke out on hit-and-run guerrilla raids, and in 1881 led the last Apache uprising after US troops killed an Apache holy man.
He finally surrendered in 1886 and took to ranching. The great warrior was selling Apache souvenirs at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904 and in 1905 he rode in President Roosevelt’s inaugural procession.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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