Geronimo by W. Michael Farmer

Author:W. Michael Farmer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781493042012
Publisher: TwoDot
Published: 2019-06-09T16:00:00+00:00

George Wratten and friend Ahnandia, 1886, Fort Sam Houston.

COURTESY OF THE LYNDA SÁNCHEZ/EVA BALL COLLECTION

General Nelson Miles was completely ineffective in stopping the raids of the Naiche-Geronimo band of Apaches. To save face, he took a two-pronged approach. First, he arranged to send the Chiricahuas living peaceably on the reservation to Florida. To the casual observer, this meant he was ridding Arizona of their dreaded Apaches. Second, he offered Martine and Kayihtah, two scouts who had relatives riding with the Geronimo warriors, a large monetary award if they would accompany his peace emissary to find Geronimo in Mexico and talk him into surrendering. Miles then called Lt. Charles Gatewood, who had many admirers among the Apaches for his fairness and integrity, to his headquarters in Albuquerque. At the meeting, General Miles directed Gatewood to take Martine and Kayihtah with him, find Geronimo, and offer peace terms. Gatewood, in poor health, agreed to go. Leaving the meeting, Gatewood ran into George Wratten on a street in Albuquerque and told him that he was going to look for Geronimo and offer peace terms from General Miles. Knowing Wratten’s language skills, Gatewood asked him to accompany the little expedition as interpreter, and Wratten agreed. Gatewood was conversant in Apache, but he believed no mistakes would be made in interpreting what both sides said if Wratten did the interpreting. Wratten’s father strongly objected to George’s accepting another enlistment as chief of scouts, but the young man left with Gatewood.2

After five or six weeks in some of Mexico’s roughest country, Gate-wood and Wratten, guided by Martine and Kayihtah, found Geronimo’s warriors. Martine and Kayihtah first, and Gatewood the next day, made the case for surrender. With Wratten serving as interpreter, they convinced the Apaches.

When Geronimo surrendered his rifle to Miles and made a peace agreement, he requested that Wratten be allowed to accompany them to Florida, to which Wratten and Miles agreed. As a result, Wratten’s parents disowned him. His father died a few weeks later, but George was not informed of his death.

The train carrying the Geronimo band to Florida unexpectedly stopped at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, and the Apaches spent the next six weeks living in tents set up in the fort’s quadrangle while President Grover Cleveland decided what to do with them. Wratten had his own tent among the Apaches and for some unknown reason had several rifles and ammunition with him. As the Apaches had not been told why they were stopped, rumors began circulating among them that the army planned to execute them all. Even Wratten thought this might be the case and, believing it uncalled for and unjust, told Geronimo that if shooting started, there were a few rifles and ammunition in his tent. He said Apaches should take them and defend themselves, and he would help them.

The army finally had to interview Geronimo and Naiche separately to get the straight story of Geronimo’s surrender terms. George Wratten served as the interpreter at these interviews and

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