Geronimo Goyaale was born to an Apache tribe in what is now New Mexico, which was then claimed by Mexico. In 1858, a band of Sonoran Mexican soldiers attacked his home while he was away, killing his mother, wife and three children. After this, needless to say, Geronimo began a lifelong revenge on Mexicans. In 1906, Geronimo put out his autobiography, detailing the story of his years of fighting, imprisonment and latter day celebrity as a “Wild West†performer and protege of President Theodore Roosevelt, thereby passing into the realm of legend. The very name “Geronimo†conjures up visions of the ultimate warrior who will fight against all odds to vanquish the enemy. Paratroopers and schoolchildren alike invoke his name when embarking upon the most dangerous of feats. His dictated autobiography may perhaps soft-soap his animosity toward white settlers (he hoped that President Roosevelt, to whom he dedicated it, would allow him and others to return to their native Oklahoma), but no matter – legend he became and legend he remains.
