I Fought With Geronimo

by Jason Betzinez, Wilbur Sturtevant Nye

The cousin and lifelong associate of Geronimo, Jason Betzinez relives his years on the warpath with the Apache chief. He participates in Geronimo's eventual surrender to the U.S. Army, goes to Florida as a prisoner of war, attends the Carlisle Indian school in Pennsylvania, and in 1900 joins his people at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where they had been moved by the government six years earlier. Trained as a blacksmith, he describes daily life on the reservation until the resettlement of many Apaches in Arizona. For Betzinez, there was a happy ending. When this memoir was first published in 1959, he was nearly a century old, settled on a farm in Oklahoma with his devoted wife and esteemed by his community.

214 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1987

Reviews

[Dan Lutts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Fought with Geronimo is the memoir of Jason Betzinez, an Apache Indian who's cousin was Geronimo, the Chiricahua Apache Indian who led his tribe's defense of their homeland against the United States' military efforts to take it away from them. Geronimo led raids in both the United States and Mexico. The book begins with the Geronimo's raids and then focuses on how he surrendered his people and the attempts to make them "take the white man's road" by farming, going to church, and becoming like the white people they had been fighting. It's a book that's well worth reading.

[Terry Tucker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting read. Not very petty at times as the author paints vivid pictures of atrocity on both sides.
The book is based on the authors actual experience and tribal oral history. The author was a cousin of Geronimo. Interestingly, the author published this memoir in 1959, a year before his death in 1960 at the age of 100. The author debunks a few myths and substantiates others. All in all a great read that speaks of the history and trials in the frontier march west and the history of the US Army.

PS. The author is buried at the Beef Creek Apache Cemetery, on Ft Sill, OK.

[Shirley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy read - it's an autobiography that parallels much of the history of movement and mistreatment of the Indians throughout the 19th century.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

very much enjoyed learning about the plight of the apache from their own perspective