Geronimo and Sitting Bull - Essay Example

Evidently you want to write what has already been written. The points are clear and you are right, I am not ‘revising’ it. I respectfully disagree. You honestly cannot find their response to westward expansion or successes and defeats in preserving their way of life nor reasons for their ensuing mythology? It’s all through this essay. You claim there is NO discussion of this? Their tribal values and wisdom may be implied rather than explicit but it’s in there and with all the other parts, all I could fit into a 5 pg. paper. Overall, it’s a quality essay that addresses the instructions. Your response to it is simply not credible. Geronimo and Sitting Bull More than a century after the last gunslinger hung up his holster and the final Indian tribe roamed freely on the plains, the American ‘West’ still has a firm place in American mythology. This heavily romanticized period of American lore is roughly considered as occurring during the latter half of the nineteenth century in the territories located west of the Mississippi River. Even as the events were unfolding during this period, Americans were entranced with stories of the ‘Old West’ in the form of dime novels, newspapers, and ‘Wild West’ shows that brought well-known personalities such as ‘Wild Bill’ Coty, ‘Sure Shot’ Annie Oakley and Indian legend Sitting Bull. When the Civil War ended in 1865, Indians still inhabited and controlled the ‘West’ hunting buffalo and fiercely resisting white settlers’ intrusion on their territory, lifestyle and traditions. The Europeans built railroads, mined and built fences to contain livestock. These activities progressively segregated and segmented once open Indian lands. The ‘white man’ also hunted the buffalo to near extinction, the Indians’ primary food source, while spreading diseases foreign to the natives’ immune system. The Indians that were not starved or killed outright were herded onto reservations in remote areas of the nation far from economic opportunities. This discussion examines two of the most famous and storied Indians during the times of the ‘Wild West,’ Geronimo and Sitting Bull, chronicling their defiance of white incursion and tragic endings, fates which similarly befell practically all Indians during this sad period in American history. Apache Indian Chief Geronimo is an American legend and had been since well before his death in 1909. His resolve and bravery sustained the morale of the Chiricahua Apache people during the final period of the Indians’ struggle to remain as free as they had for thousands of years before. Born in Arizona, Geronimo was raised during the last years that Mexico ruled this territory. His deep resentment of Mexicans resulted from a tragic incident while still a young man. During a raid, Mexican soldiers killed his entire family including his wife, three children and his mother. This appalling episode understandably hardened Geronimo who sought retribution against Mexicans for the rest of his life. When Mexico ceded massive areas of the American Southwest to the U.S. in 1848, the government was determined to rid this new region of Indians, concentrating first on the particularly rebellious Apache tribes. This process started as white settlers began inhabiting the region establishing towns and ranches which disrupted the traditional Apache lifestyle and restricted how and where they lived. The Apaches, not surprisingly, were opposed to this incursion (Debo, 1976). In the mid-1870’s, the Chiricahua Apaches, along with other Apache tribes, were forcefully herded onto the San Carlos reservation in Arizona, an area which included a segment of the Chiricahua native lands. Geronimo and his tribe were miserable living within the confinements of the reservation and continually sought to regain their lost freedoms. “Geronimo bitterly resented the move and he especially disliked San Carlos. For the next decade he and his followers repeatedly broke out from what they saw as imprisonment” (Debo, 1976). Once outside the boundaries of the reservation, the Apaches easily eluded the U.S. Army because they knew the area much better than their pursuers. Geronimo could essentially come and go as he pleased which humiliated, intimidated and provoked the army, politicians and white settlers in the region. When the name ‘Geronimo’ was invoked, terror was stricken into those persons who were aware of his persistent evasion and intermittent murdering of whites and Mexicans. He was the most infamous, or famous depending on your point of view, personality in the Southwest at that time. “Territorial newspaper headlines blared (Geronimo’s) name, time and again” (Debo, 1976). Geronimo and his small band of tribe members finally surrendered in 1886 in Southern Arizona, an act that closed a prominent historical chapter on traditional Indian life and the ‘Wild West’ era in America. The terms of the surrender included exiling hundreds of Apaches, including Geronimo to Florida. “I will quit the warpath and live at peace hereafter” (Sharp, 2007) Geronimo claimed upon agreeing to the surrender terms. Geronimo’s understanding was that he and his people would be taken from their sacred, native lands but be moved to a reservation of lush forests with an abundance of game, water and land to grow crops. The white man’s promises were, as usual, meaningless. The Apaches were sent by cattle car trains, much the same as Jews during the Holocaust, to prison at a Fort in Florida. “Geronimo visualizes a new home of land, timber and water for the Apaches, who would be treated as reservation Indians, not as prisoners of war” (Sharp, 2007). The Apaches, Geronimo included, were separated from friends and family for the first few months of their eight year incarceration in Florida. Even the Apache scouts that worked for the army were put in prison. “There is no more disgraceful page in the history of our relations with the American Indians than that which conceals the treachery visited upon the Chiricahuas” (Sharp, 2007). In 1894, the Apaches were transferred to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma where Geronimo lived until the end of his life. He was allowed to venture beyond the confines of Ft. Sill on occasion to make guest appearances at fairs and other venues. Geronimo, the defeated warrior and captive of the U.S. government was a famous personality throughout America by the time of his death at the fort in 1909. He lived to witness Oklahoma, promised by the U.S. government to be Indian lands ‘as long as the wind blows and the grass grows’ be annexed (stolen) and become a state in 1907 (Debo, 1976). Geronimo’s death mirrored the tragedy that was his and the Indians’ fate during this period. He reportedly died after lying in a road the duration of the night in a drunken stupor while freezing rain pelted his frozen body (Sharp, 2007). The Sioux leader Sitting Bull, arguably most famously exemplified the Indians’ vehement opposition to the encroachment on native lands by the European settlers and the army deployed to protect them. The militant, rebellious Sitting Bull helped organize and fought in the Plains Indian wars during the 1860’s. He was the leader and figurehead for an association of tribes in the Dakota’s region who were united in their hatred of white encroachment. The Plains Indians signed a treaty with the U.S. government following Red Cloud’s war in 1868 which established a reservation that included the Black Hills which had long been considered hallowed ground by the Sioux tribe. As with other treaties, the ‘white man’ quickly broke its promises, ravaged the sacred lands and claimed found land for their own property, a concept the Indians did not understand. “Authorities did little to prevent the Whites from coming onto the reservation and when gold was discovered in 1874, thousands of prospectors poured onto the land, ignoring land ownership and Indian rights” (Duckstander, 2005). The situation quickly became treacherous for the white invaders prompting the government to direct that all Indians return and be confined to their respective reservations in 1876. The Indians ignored the order and the army was deployed to the area. Indian tribes banded together and with a combined 3,000 warriors prepared to repel the U.S. Cavalry from their native homeland. The Indians won the first two major battles. Crazy Horse and his warriors bested federal troops at the Battle of the Rosebud and little more than a week later General George Custer and his troops met their fate at the battle of the Little Bighorn. The army sought immediate and brutal retribution following these losses. “Aroused and humiliated by these and other defeats, the Army concentrated on a relentless pursuit of the Sioux” (Duckstander, 2005). Most Indians in this region had little choice to surrender or be killed, if they were given the choice. However, Sitting Bull along with a small band of his supporters managed to escape north across the Canadian border.  Though they were unwelcome and given no aid during the particularly harsh winters, the Canadian authorities did not capture and return Sitting Bull and his party. After three years of severe hardships, those that did not die or return to the reservation joined Sitting Bull in surrendering in Montana in 1881. He spent the next two years in prison but had been considered a folk hero by the white population prior to and even more so after his release. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show made him a star and enhanced his legend as it toured the East Coast states in 1885. Geronimo and Sitting Bull are two of the most recognizable names in ‘Wild West’ history as written by the white man, an astounding accomplishment. Both of their hearts, minds and actions were centered in Indian concerns and their courage to stand up to an enemy that could not be defeated was admired by Indians and white man alike. Fully and forever entrenched in American mythology, Geronimo and Sitting Bull were multi-dimensional men who inspired respect, fear and admiration from both friend and foe. They were true American heroes Works Cited Debo, Angie. Geronimo: The Man, His Time, His Place. Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1976. Duckstander, Frederick J. “Great North American Indians.” Dallas, TX: Rhodes Educational Publications, 2005. November 13, 2007 Sharp, Jay W. “Geronimo’s Last Hurrah.” Desert USA. (2007). November 13, 2007 Read More