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Okla-homey
9/4/2008, 06:37 AM
September 4, 1886: The last American Indian warrior surrenders

For almost 30 years he had fought the whites who invaded his homeland, but Geronimo, the wiliest and most dangerous Apache warrior of his time, finally surrendered in Skeleton Canyon, Arizona, precisely 122 years ago on this day in 1886.

Known to the Apache as Goyalkla, or "One Who Yawns," most non-Indians knew him by his Spanish nickname, Geronimo. When he was a young man, Mexican soldiers had murdered his wife and children during a brutal attack on his village in Chihuahua, Mexico. Though Geronimo later remarried and fathered other children, the scars of that early tragedy left him with an abiding hatred for Mexicans.

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Goyalkla, a/k/a "Geronimo"

He became a revered leader of the Chiricahua Apache, and Geronimo achieved international fame by being the last American Indian to surrender formally to the United States.

For nearly 30 years, Geronimo and his followers resisted the attempts of Americans to take away their southwestern homeland and confine them to a reservation. He was a fearless warrior and a master of desert survival. The best officers of the U.S. Army found it nearly impossible to find Geronimo, much less decisively defeat him.

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Apache Department of Homeland Security

In 1877, Geronimo was forced to move to the San Carlos, Arizona, reservation for the first time, but he was scarcely beaten. Instead, Geronimo treated the reservation as just one small part of the vast territory he still considered to belong to the Apache.

Fed up with the strictures and corruption of the reservation, he and many other Apache broke out for the first time in 1881. For nearly two years, the Apache band raided the southwestern countryside despite the best efforts of the army to stop them. Finally, Geronimo wearied of the continual harassment of the U.S. Army and agreed to return to the reservation in 1884, much on his own terms.

He did not stay long. Among the many rules imposed upon the Apache on the reservation was the prohibition of any liquor, including a weak beer they had traditionally brewed from corn.

In early May 1885, Geronimo and a dozen other leaders deliberately staged a corn beer kegger. Reasoning that the authorities would be unlikely to try to punish such a large group, they openly admitted the deed, expecting that it would lead to negotiations. Because of a communication mix-up, however, the army failed to respond.

Geronimo and the others assumed the delay indicated the army was preparing some drastic punishment for their crime. Rather than remain exposed and vulnerable on the reservation, Geronimo fled with 42 men and 92 women and children.

Quickly moving south, Geronimo raided settlements along the way for supplies. In one instance, he attacked a ranch owned by a man named Phillips, killing him, his wife, and his two children. Frightened settlers demanded swift military action, and General George Crook coordinated a combined Mexican and American manhunt for the Apache.

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Gen George Crook

Thousands of soldiers tracked the fugitives but Geronimo and his band split into small groups and remained elusive. Crook's failure to apprehend the Indians led to his eventual resignation. General Nelson Miles replaced him.

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Gen Nelson Miles

Miles committed 5,000 troops to the campaign and even established 30 heliograph stations to improve communications. Still, Miles was also unable to find the elusive warrior. Informed that many of the reservation Apache, including his own family, had been taken to Florida, Geronimo apparently lost the will to fight. There were just to many soldiers and too few Apache,

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Ft Pickens, at Pensacola on Florida's Gulf Coast, site of Apache detainment

After a year and a half of running, Geronimo and his 38 remaining followers surrendered unconditionally to Miles on September 3, 1886.

Relocated to Florida, Geronimo was imprisoned and kept from his family for two years. Finally, he was freed and moved with this family to Indian Territory. He converted to Christianity and became a successful farmer. He even occasionally worked as a scout and adviser for the army.

Transformed into a safe and romantic symbol of the already vanishing era of the Wild West, he became a popular celebrity at world's fairs and expositions and even rode in President Theodore Roosevelt's inaugural parade in 1905. He died of pneumonia at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in 1909, still on the federal payroll as an army scout.

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Geronimo's grave at Ft Sill

Wanna make your own corn beer in memory of Geronimo? here's a recipe for the home brewer:


Ingredients:
5 lbs cracked corn, sold as bird food
8 lbs light barley malt
1/2 lb Crystal (40L.)
yeast from the bottom of a Saisson Dupont bottle
4 oz whole Hallertau

Procedure:
Mash corn at 110, for an hour, then 140 for another hour. Stir lots, since its sticky.
Mash malted barley as usual at 110, 148, 140, 160. I used a separate pot for the 110 1/2 hour protein rest, and then just tossed into the corn grits.
Mash water was around 26-30 quarts. Sparge to about 6 gallons after at least 3 hours in the 140-160 range.
Hops to taste, depending on what you're making. The yeast from the bottom of a Saisson Dupont bottle really does well with the corn content, but make sure you like that kind of beer first. 4 oz whole Hallertau for 7 gallons of wort sounds about right, but hey, adjust to your tastes. wo liters of healthy yeast grown up from a bottle of van Steenberge Golden Dragon Belgian Strong Ale. Ferment at 75F for 10 days and rack to secondary. Ferment at 65F for 3 more weeks, closed up in a SS fermenter to naturally carbonate it with a pressure relief valve set at 25psi. Cold condition at 38F for two months. Rack to serving keg.

Specifics:
OG: 1090
FG: 1016

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SoonerJack
9/4/2008, 08:06 AM
Cool story.

I think I've got everything in the pantry except the Hallertau. And we may be a little low on cracked corn, barley malt, and crystal yeast. I may not be able to host a corn-beer kegger just yet. Shoot.

Homey, any inkling as to why Geronimo's name is invoked upon jumping from airplanes and high-dives?

Okla-homey
9/4/2008, 09:16 AM
Cool story.

I think I've got everything in the pantry except the Hallertau. And we may be a little low on cracked corn, barley malt, and crystal yeast. I may not be able to host a corn-beer kegger just yet. Shoot.

Homey, any inkling as to why Geronimo's name is invoked upon jumping from airplanes and high-dives?

My guess is its easier to remember than counting to three when you step out the side door of a C-47 or C-130 at night.

Taxman71
9/4/2008, 01:38 PM
y4Hn4kMzp50

stoopified
9/4/2008, 03:41 PM
There is a guardhouse at Ft.Sill where Geronimo was held at some point in his life.The most noticeable feature of his cell is that the doorway is only around five feet tall.The story we were told is that the government wanted to humble Geronimo who was over 6 feet tall by forcing him to bow going in or out of his cell.

PhilTLL
9/4/2008, 04:15 PM
There is a guardhouse at Ft.Sill where Geronimo was held at some point in his life.The most noticeable feature of his cell is that the doorway is only around five feet tall.The story we were told is that the government wanted to humble Geronimo who was over 6 feet tall by forcing him to bow going in or out of his cell.

And I'm proooooud to be an Americaaaan...

Jimminy Crimson
9/4/2008, 04:37 PM
Geronimo's skull is rumored to be part of the initiation of the Skull & Bones Society at Yale.

Many arguments for and against proof, at that.

Okla-homey
9/4/2008, 04:49 PM
Geronimo's skull is rumored to be part of the initiation of the Skull & Bones Society at Yale.

Many arguments for and against proof, at that.


I heard it was Osceola. srsly.

Taxman71
9/4/2008, 04:54 PM
More Geronimo triva:

They kept a picture of Geronimo on the set of Cheers to honor Nicholas Colasanto (Coach Ernie Pantusso) after he died...he had kept it in his dressing room.

BigRedJed
9/4/2008, 05:26 PM
Actually, most of the lore about Geronimo at Fort Sill is just that. He apparently only spent one or two nights in the guard house the entire time he lived at the Fort, and that was for getting drunk. During the time he lived on Fort Sill he basically had the run of the place. Learned that on a tour there a couple of years ago.