Apache War of 1876-83
Years: 1876 - 1883
The restrictive life on the reservation does not agree with the Apache, especially when game is scarce and their families are hungry.
After several drunken Apache kill a white station master, the US troops try to remove hundreds of innocent Indians to a more remote reservation, and war erupts again.
Roving Apache bands led by Geronimo (1829-1909) terrorize most of the Arizona and New Mexico territories, killing prospectors and herders and stealing horses and guns.
When army troops come too close, they fles over the border into Mexico, where the Americans cannot follow.
The Apache continue their raids from across the border, where they are joined by Comanche Indians and other renegades.
Geronimo's people take refuge in the Sierra Madre mountains, from which they venture forth to steal cattle and ammunition.
Troops led by US Generals George Crook (1829-90) and Nelson A. Milnes (1839-1925) battle the Indians under Geronimo for a number of years until an Apache turncoat leads Crook's men to Geronimo's stronghold in the mountains in 1883.
The Indians are taken by surprise, and Crook induces them to surrender.
They agree to start anew on the White Mountains reservation.
