Geronimo was one of the most well-known Native American warriors of the 19th Century. A fierce, feared warrior, he gained a reputation for fearlessness and was reputed to be invulnerable to attack. Like so many of his ilk, however, he was eventually captured and sent into captivity. He died far from his homeland.

He was born with the name of Goyathlay in No-Doyohn Canyon in June 1829, in what was then Mexico but is now near the Arizona–New Mexico border. His Apache parents, like many of their tribe, farmed the land. As the fourth of eight children, Goyathlay worked hard at planting and harvesting beans, maize, and pumpkins. His father died when the boy was young, forcing the young warrior to look to others, including his mother, for instruction.

He went through the ways of the warrior when he was 17 and then got married, to a woman named Alope. They eventually had three children. He later had other wives and other children.

In 1858, Goyathlay and others went on a trading expedition to Sonora, a Mexican town, as they were in the habit of doing. The usual practice was that only men would go on these trips; women and children would stay home, guarded by a handful of men who had stayed behind. The Apache brought home what they intended from the trade but found themselves having to absorb astronomical losses because Mexican men from Sonora had raided the village and killed many of the tribe, including Goyathlay's wife, children, and mother. Then and there, he swore hatred against Mexican soldiers. He joined a band of Apache warriors known as Chiricahua, whose leader was the famous Cochise.

Like several other Native American leaders, Goyathlay claimed to have visions. One such vision presented itself to him not long after his family's massacre and assured him that, if he were to take up arms against Mexican soldiers, he would emerge unharmed, no matter how tall the odds against him. This is exactly what happened when he and other Apache fought against a group of Mexican soldiers. He ran straight into gunfire, dodging bullets left and right, and stabbed a handful of soldiers with his knife.

It was around this time that he was given the name by which he is most widely known: Geronimo. The Spanish word for Saint Jerome is Jeronimo, and one origin story of the name Geronimo is that the Mexican soldiers who bore the brunt of the Apache warrior's attack were imploring Jerome to help them. He emerged from subsequent attacks similarly unharmed and gained a reputation for fierceness and invulnerability.

Also at this time, lands lived on by Apache and other Native Americans were increasingly attractive to American settlers who had come west in the wake of the California Gold Rush and the American victory in the war with Mexico. Geronimo turned his newfound anger on Americans as well.

The struggles between Native Americans and Americans escalated as the 19th Century went on. More and more, U.S. Army troops appeared in the West in order to enforce orders set out by the U.S. Government, that Native Americans, whether they had signed a treaty or not, were to move on to reservations. Geronimo's people were ordered to live on the San Carlos Reservation, in what is now Arizona. This bleak stretch of land was known as "Hell's 40 Acres."

Not to be intimidated or ordered to do something he didn't agree with, Geronimo, who by this time was a well respected warrior and medicine man, refused to report to San Carlos, instead choosing to go to the Ojo Caliente Reservation, in what is now New Mexico, along with Juh, his brother-in-law, and most of their tribe.

They did not reach their destination. Captured by American soldiers, they were restrained and taken to San Carlos. Conditions were dire at the reservation, and Geronimo and a small group of friends escaped, fleeing into the nearby mountains, in 1878.

The U.S. Army didn't take kindly to this escape, especially of someone who had made such a name for himself fighting American soldiers, and sent a force of 5,000, under the command of Brig. Gen. Nelson Miles, to bring the Apache back. They tracked them through the mountains, over several hundred of miles of trails and obscured lands, for five months, and finally caught up with them. By this time, in 1886, the runaway group was quite small. Geronimo offered to surrender himself and forgo further fighting if Miles let the rest go. The soldiers took Geronimo and several dozen Apache to a virtual prison camp in Florida. Their journey was by box car. Many died along the way; the survivors were taken the following year to an Alabama prison. While in Florida, officials allowed members of the public to pay a fee in order to see the famous/infamous Apache leader in person.

Geronimo, strong of constitution and still burning with hatred despite his pledge not to fight again, survived all of this, enduring the indignity of being put on display. He and a few hundred others of his tribe, taken at various times and places, were next sent to a U.S. military base in what is now Oklahoma in 1894. Conditions there were a fraction more manageable. They did not have their freedom, but they were given certain privileges. Geronimo was given a plot of land that he farmed for food.

Still famous, he gained permission to leave the otherwise captivity-like conditions on several occasions and embarked on a period of making public appearances and taking money for signing autographs and photographs of himself.

Geronimo also appeared in Wild West Shows, for the likes of which "Buffalo Bill" Cody was perhaps most famous. Other notable Native Americans to appear in this way included Sitting Bull.

He appeared at the Trans-Mississippi and International Exhibition in Omaha, Neb., in 1898, and at the World's Fair in St. Louis in 1904. He attended the 1905 inauguration of President Theodore Roosevelt, appearing on horseback and meeting with him afterward, hoping to convince the President to allow his people to go free. He was not successful. Geronimo later wrote his autobiography and dedicated it to Roosevelt.

It was on Feb. 11, 1909, that he finally lost control. He was by this time nearly 80 years old and had survived many hardships that had felled most of his companions. He sold a bunch of bows and arrows and spent the money on drink. Inebriated, he fell off his horse and into a creek. He spent the night unattended and developed pneumonia, which killed him six days later.