The Geronimo Campaign-Lawton's Role
1886
Numerous accounts have been written over a long span of time about Geronimo's last effort to remain free of reservation life. General George Crook spent the better part of two years chasing, capturing, and losing Geronimo until his superior, General Phil Sheridan accepted Crook's offer to resign his commission. General Nelson A. Miles relieved Crook and was given the same orders from Sheridan; capture or kill Geronimo.
Miles, a political sort with connections to General William T. Sherman through marriage, was keenly aware that Sheridan's fuse was short and in fact, President Cleveland shared in the desire to put the Apache issue to rest. Miles pulled out all the stops and his preparations included the building of an elaborate system of mirrors used to signal from one point to another over thousands of miles. The force he put together to go after Geronimo numbered about 5,000. All for the purpose of chasing down a small band of Apaches who were quite capable of effecting death and destruction as they roamed the southwest.
Henry W. Lawton, commander of B Troop, 4th Cavalry at Ft. Huachuca, Arizona was selected to head up a special troop to operate south of the U.S.-Mexico boundary. The army's overall assumption was that Geronimo and his followers would head into the mountains of Mexico to elude the thousands of soldiers and civilian authorities searching for him in the U.S.
Lawton's orders were simple; locate, subdue, and capture Geronimo and his band, dead or alive.
Over a long, hot period of time, Geronimo ran, Lawton pursued-without letup. Later Geronimo would say that Lawton was the only person who was able to tire him out and the unrelenting pursuit just wore down the little group of Apaches to the point of exhaustion.
The numerous accounts and legends about the actual surrender of Geronimo vary in terms of the credit passed around for his capture. Lawton personally never claimed credit or honor for succeeding in his mission. Some recent authors would have their readers believe that Lawton failed but they base their conclusions on a subjective bias in favor of whoever their favorite character in the story happens to be.
Lt. Charles Gatewood, one of General Crook's troopers who was an expert on the Apaches and close to Geronimo, was instrumental on the final 'chase' in convincing Geronimo that further evasion was hopeless. At the same time, Gatewood was ill, disgusted with Miles' plan, and himself convinced that Geronimo would no longer listen to him. It was some stern counseling from Lawton that encouraged Gatewood to perservere.
Gatewood 'fans' later read accounts written by Miles and other writers that gave much of the credit for Geronimo's capture to Lawton or other members of Lawton's party. Lawton's official report of September 9, 1886 credited a good number of his people for outstanding work, but true to form, never credited himself. Nor did he publicly or officially pat himself on the back. Even in correspondence or discussion with his friends, his comments concerning the campaign were brief and to the point. His command pursued Geronimo and brought him back to General Miles.
Another of Crook's young troopers, Lt. Britton Davis, wrote his own version of Geronimo's capture and surrender in September of 1886. The problem is that Davis left the army and took up cattle ranching about the time Crook was relieved. His book was apparently inspired by his desire to portray Geronimo in a good light and to give more credit to Gatewood. Yet, his account was second-hand since he was no where near the action during the summer of 1886.
One of Lawton's young officers, Lt. Benson, gave an account to the Army-Navy Journal in 1909 (long after Lawton's death) that lent support to the view that Gatewood was the chief architect of Geronimo's surrender. Benson was one of the officers commended in Lawton's report even though Benson was guilty of a number of infractions during the campaign. For one, he came across a trooper who was on a mission for Lawton and needed help getting back to the unit. Benson essentially abandoned the trooper and when Lawton asked him if he had seen the soldier, he lied and informed Lawton he had not. When the trooper finally made it back into camp, at risk of being considered AWOL, Lawton listened to his story which included an account of the encounter with Benson. Lawton chose to drop the matter and did not hold it against Benson later on.
Yet Benson apparently felt that a bit of glory might come his way in 1909 when he revised the Geronimo story.
Essentially, Lawton tenaciously pursued Geronimo, found him, and controlled events and people to the degree that Geronimo was convinced to return, under Lawton's protection, to the U.S. where he surrendered to Nelson Miles. Miles himself had acted strangely after hearing that Geronimo was in Lawton's camp, and procrastinated in meeting with Lawton and the chief. Some writers have speculated that Miles would have preferred to have Geronimo dead, and hoped that Lawton would effect that outcome. Whatever the case concerning Miles, Lawton successfully completed his mission and the affair was over.
The later accounts, statements, and documents including Geronimo's comments strongly support Lawton's official report. Of the many documents within the government's archives, one puts the Geronimo campaign into its proper perspective relating to Lawton's role. It is a letter from Lt. A.L. Smith who accompanied Lawton's 4th Cav unit into Mexico.