Born in No-doyohn Canyon, Arizona, in June 1829, as a child Geronimo was "warmed by the sun, rocked by the winds, and sheltered by the trees as other Indian babes." He was then called Goyahkla and did not adopt the name Geronimo---the Spanish equivalent of Jerome, the patron saint---until adulthood.

Taught the legends of his people, Geronimo learned to kneel in prayer to Usen (the Apache name for God), while his father told stories about war, offering him the same advice handed down by every Apache father to his son: "No one is your friend, not even your sister, your father, or your mother. Your legs are your friends; your brain is your friend; your eyesight is your friend. . . . Some day you will be with people who are starving. You will have to get something for them. If you go somewhere, you must beat the enemy who are attacking you before they get over the hill. . . and bring them back dead."

The fourth of eight children, Geronimo was soon toiling in the two-acre field between rows of corn, melon, and pumpkins. Tobacco leaves grew wild and were harvested and cured in autumn. All Indians, men and women, smoked. A young boy claimed the same right after he had successfully hunted and killed his first large game, either wolf or bear. Corn was ground for bread and crushed and soaked for fermentation---the end result, tizwin, was highly prized.

By the age of ten, he chased antelope, elk, and buffalo, learning that deer---the most challenging of the prey to stalk---was considered valuable for its buckskin, and that certain animals like snakes and fish were not good to eat because they were thought to embody evil spirits.

Oglala Sioux chief, born near the Platte R in present-day Nebraska, USA. He was chosen chief over the hereditary candidate because of his intelligence, strength, and bravery. In 1865-8 he led and effectively won ‘Red Cloud's war’, closing the Bozeman trail (in present-day Montana), and forcing the US government to destroy its forts along the trail and to sign the Fort Laramie Treaty (1868), in which the latter accepted the territorial claims of the Sioux in exchange for peace. Although he did not hesitate to criticize the conduct of the US government and its agents, Red Cloud never again went to war against the USA. He made several visits to Washington, DC and undertook speaking tours in Eastern cities, lecturing in 1870 at the Cooper Union in New York City. Despite his peaceful ways, he was removed by the government from his position as chief in 1877, and he and his people were removed to the Pine Ridge Agency in South Dakota.