Read the whole story of Geronimo

Geronimo was a chief of the Bedonkohe Apaches. His life took place primarily in what is now southern Arizona and in the north of the Mexican state of Chihuaua.

Geronimo was born in 1829 on the headwaters of the Gila River in Nodoyohn Canyon east of Tucson, Arizona. In the summer of 1858, his life changed radically and became the man we know today: In the summer of 1858, 499 Mexican soldiers under the command of Colonel José Maria Carrasco attacked the Bedonkohe Apache village near Janos (Chihuahua, Mexico), which had been abandoned by the warriors in the Janos area (Chihuahua, Mexico) and killed all the women, children and elderly people, including Geronimo's first wife and his 3 children.
In the summer of 1859, Geronimo was allowed to lead a revenge campaign by a group of Bedonkohe to Arispe (Chihicaua), even though he had never been a chief before. Due to his military successes, Geronimo eventually became a chief of the Bedonkohe Apaches. He fought doggedly against the Mexicans and later also against the Americans.
In the mountains of Arispe in the north of Chiricahua Geronimo fought against Mexican troops for the last time.
Geronimo surrendered to American troops several times and lived on the San Carlos Reservation. He broke out of the San Carlos Reservation for the last time in May 1886 with about 30 followers, but had to surrender to General Miles on September 4, 1886 in Skeleton Canyon near Douglas on the border between New Mexico and Arizona. Around 5,000 U.S. soldiers Poor men and around 3,000 soldiers of the Mexican Army pursued Geronimo's small group of 19 men and 28 women and children!
He came to Florida and finally to Oklahoma as a prisoner of war. He was never allowed to return to his homeland. He died on February 17, 1909 at the Fort Sill Indian Reservation in Oklahoma.

Read the full story of Sitting Bull

When and where exactly Sitting Bull was born is not clear. Many sources cite 1831 as his birth year, possibly in the Miles City area in what is now the state of Montana. His life took place in eastern Montana and western North Dakota and South Dakota.
At the age of 14 (1845), Sitting Bull killed his first opponent, a Crow Indian, with a tomahawk along the Powder River in Montana. In 1857 Sitting Bull became war chief of the Strong Heart Society, and in the same year he became war chief of the Hunkpapa. The Hunkpapa fought the most battles against the Crow, Assiniboine and the Flathead Indians.
Fighting against the U.S. began in 1864. Army, for example on June 27, 1864 at the battle in the Killdeer Mountains in the southwest of North Dakota, when around 2,200 soldiers met around 3,500 Hunkpapa, Dakota and Yankonai Indians and were able to drive them to flight.
For the next 12 years, Sitting Bull fought against the U.S. as war chief of the Hunkpapa. Army, mostly along with other Lakota tribes such as the Oglala, Miniconjou and the Brule. Most of these battles took place in eastern Montana.
On June 25, 1876, the combined Lakota and Northern Cheyenne defeated the 7th U.S. Army at the Battle of Little Big Horn River. Cavalry under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. As a result, the U.S. began Army mercilessly pursued the last free Plains Indians and the Hunkpapa under Sitting Bull fled to the Wood Mountains in southern Saskatchewan in Canada.
At the beginning the Canadian authorities were friendly towards the Indians, but over time they put more and more pressure on the Indians who had fled and from 1880 onwards they surrendered group by group. Sitting Bull surrendered on July 19, 1881 at Fort Buford on the Montana-North Dakota border.
He was sent to Fort Randall in South Dakota as a prisoner of war. In April 1883, Sitting Bull and another 160 Hunkpapa were sent to Fort Yates on the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota.
Here he did as best he could for his people, but had constant arguments with the Indian agent James McLaughlin.
In 1885 Sitting Bull performed at the famous Buffalo Bill's Wild West show in Montreal and New York.
From 1889 onwards, the Indians on the reservations in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota were caught up in the Ghost Dance movement and James McLaughlin repeatedly portrayed him as a leader of this movement, but this was false. In this context, Sitting Bull was arrested at his home on December 15, 1890 on the orders of James McLaughlin. During the arrest, Sitting Bull was murdered by an Indian policeman named Bull Head.

Read the full story of Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse may have been born around 1838 somewhere east of the Black Hills along the Cheyenne River in South Dakota. And no: there is not a single picture of Crazy Horse. But in his honor a monument is being carved into the rock in the Black Hills, which has been under construction since 1948 (!).
Crazy Horse was an Oglala-Lakota war chief whose life took place in southern Montana, northern Wyoming and western South Dakota.
During the 'Red Cloud War' between 1866 and 1868, in which the Lakota and northern Cheyenne fought the immigration route along the Bozeman Trail in Wyoming and Montana, Crazy Horse made a name for himself as a young chief. In the 'Fetterman Battle' of December 21, 1866, he was one of the ten decoys in which three companies of infantry and cavalry under the command of Captain William Judd Fetterman were destroyed to the last man.
In the 'Wagon Box fight' of August 2, 1867, Crazy Horse led the attack on the wagon fort of the lumbermen who were cutting wood for nearby Fort Phil Kearny in northern Wyoming.
Crazy Horse never signed a treaty with the Americans; like Sitting Bull, he took the position that the land belonged to the Indians and that no treaties were necessary to cede land to the whites.
Crazy Horse came to American attention because of the Battle of the Rosebud River on June 17, 1876, because Crazy Horse led about 1,000 Lakota and Cheyenne in the attack on the 15 companies of infantry and cavalry under the command of General George Crook. For hours the Indians successfully defied the better armed soldiers. This strategic victory for the Indians set the stage for the successful Battle of Little Big Horn River 8 days later.
At the Battle of Little Big Horn in southern Montana on June 25, Crazy Horse led the successful attack on Captain Miles W. Keogh. After the Battle of Little Big Horn, the last free Plains Indians were captured by the U.S. Army hunted mercilessly. The village of Crazy Horse was attacked on January 8, 1877 in the Wolf Mountains on the Tongue River in southern Montana by Colonel Nelson A. Miles. This battle with the U.S. Army was supposed to be Crazy Horse's last stand. In May 1877, Crazy Horse and his Oglala surrendered at Fort Robinson in northwest Nebraska.
The U.S. Army had a great deal of respect for Crazy Horse as an opinion leader among the Indians. A few days after his surrender at Fort Robinson, Crazy Horse was murdered by soldiers with a bayonet. His parents loaded their dead son into a wagon and left Fort Robinson. It is still not known where Crazy Horse was buried.

Read the full story of Osceola

Osceola was born in southern Georgia in 1804. His mother, from the Red Stick (Upper Creek) tribe, married a white trader named William Powell. Osceola means 'The Rising Sun' and his life took place primarily in northern Florida.
As a result of the defeat at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in southern Alabama in 1814, many Red Sticks (Upper Creek) fled to the Suwanee River area in northern Florida. Here the Red Stick met the Mikasuki and joined them. Among them was 10-year-old Osceola.
In the Second Seminole War from 1835 to 1842, Osceola was one of the chiefs, along with chiefs Micanopy, Charley Emathla, Alligator, Jumper, Abraham, Sam Jones, Wild Cat and John Cavallo, who were very successful with guerrilla tactics against the U.S. Army fought. In this war, amont other victories, all captured Indians were imprisoned in Fort Brooke near present-day Tampa for later transport to Oklahoma.
On June 2, 1837, Osceola and Sam Jones and around 200 warriors managed to lead all of the 700 Seminoles waiting to be shipped out of the camp unnoticed at Fort Brooke. How exactly this worked is not entirely clear. Based on reports from Creek spies, people were warned that something like this could happen. But despite the guards posted, the feat was achieved.
Osceola took part in all battles against the U.S. Army during the 2nd Seminole War.
On October 21 1842, Osceola was captured with other chiefs south of St. Augustine at Fort Peyton on Moultrie Creek in northeast Florida and transported to Fort Marion at St. Augustine. On November 29, 1837, all the chiefs managed to escape, but not Osceola. Osceola was probably too sick by then. Osceola and 202 other captured Seminole were transported from Fort Marion to Fort Moultrie, South Carolina, by Captain Pitcairn Morrison of the 4th US Infantry. Osceola died here on January 30, 1838, probably of tonsillitis due to a malaria infection.

Read the full story of Chief Joseph

Known in 1877 as 'Chief Joseph', the Nez Perce chief was born on March 3, 1840 in the Wallowa Valley of northeastern Oregon and given the name 'Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt' or 'Thunder Rolling.' Down the Mountain'. Joseph spent his life in northeast Oregon and west central Idaho.
In 1863, part of the Nez Perce signed a treaty with the U.S. government, but Joseph's father refused to sign. This portion of the Nez Perce continued to live in the Wallowa Valley of northeastern Oregon. However, living together with the increasing number of settlers in the Wallowa Valley became increasingly difficult and increasingly escalated. In November 1876, the U.S. Government gave the Nez Perce an ultimatum: The Nez Perce had 30 days to move to the Lapwai Reservation in central-western Idaho. otherwise the Nez Perce would be attacked by the U.S. Army forced into the reservation.
The Nez Perce fled from the advancing U.S. Army under the command of General Oliver Otis Howard. Chief Joseph was one of the Nez Perce chiefs, but not a war chief like Looking Glass, White Bird, Ollokot, or Toohoolhoolzote. The flight of the Nez Perce went through central Idaho to Montana and from there towards the Canadian border.
About 25 miles south of the Canadian border, the Nez Perce were confronted on September 30, 1877 in the Bear Paw Mountains of Montana by the troops of Colonel Nelson A. Miles. After five days of fighting in the cold winter, Chief Joseph surrendered. He was the only chief still alive, all other chiefs were killed during the escape.
The surviving Nez Perce were transported to the Oakland Agency near the Ponca Reservation in Oklahoma. In May 1885, 149 Nez Perce were moved with Joseph to the Collville Reservation in Washington state, the other Nez Perce to the Lapwai Reservation in Idaho.
Joseph was never allowed to live any more at the Lapwai Reservation in central Idaho near his home again and died in 1904 on the Collville Reservation in Washington State.

Read the full story of Metacomet (King Philip)

Metacomet (later also 'King Philip'), the second son of Chief Massasoit, was born in the village of Sowans in 1639. At that time, Sowams was a village of the Pokanoket (Wampanoag) Indians southeast of today's town Warren in Rhode Island. Unfortunately, not a single good image of Metacomet exists. Metacomet's life takes place in Rhode Island and Massachusetts on the east coast of the United States.
The Pilgrim Fathers landed their ship 'Mayflower' near what is now the town of Plymouth in eastern Massachusetts in December 1620. As a young man, Metacomet witnessed how his father Massasoit, the Englishman, first gave away and then sold more and more land. The local Indians, including the Pokanoket, were increasingly pushed out of their own land. The number of English people quickly increased and they became more and more demanding.

After Massasoit's death in 1662, his first son Wamsutta became the new chief of the Pokanoket. In the same year, Wamsutta was poisoned by the English and Metacomet became the chief of the Pokanoket.
From 1650 - 1659 Metacomet signed a total of 14 ownership deeds. Like his father, he sold land, but only to buy guns, powder and lead. His thought was probably that he could take his country back with a successful war against the English. From 1665-1675 Metacomet made a total of 76 land sales.
It is believed that Metacomet adopted his Christian name 'King Philip' sometime between 1660 and 1670.
On June 20, 1675, King Philip's War against the English began. On the Indian side, the Pokanoket, Pocasset, Sakonnet (all three tribes belonged to the Wampanoag Confederacy) and the Nipmuk took part, a total of about 1,400 warriors. At this point in time, around 80,000 English people were already living in the Massachusetts and Rhode Island area, of which theoretically around 16,000 were able-bodied men. The largest tribe, the Narragansett, remained neutral until almost the end of 1675 and did not take part in the fighting.
The Indians were very successful until the end of 1675, but the tide began to turn in early 1676. The English were able to recruit, train and send many young men into battle over the winter. Despite the initial successes, the Indians were slowly running out of food and ammunition.
King Philip and the last Indians loyal to him were pushed back by the English to the area of Mount Hope near today's Bristol (Rhode Island). Indian spies reported King Philip's location to Benjamin Church, who directed the English actions. On August 12, 1676, in a swamp at the foot of Mount Hope, Philip and his last followers were discovered by Church's men and the Sakonnet (who had since switched to the English side). Church's force consisted of 12 men at best. King Philip was shot while fleeing the attacking English.
During the 14-month King Philip's War 1675 - 1676, 5,000 people died, more than 2/3 of them were Indians. These statistics do not count hundreds or even thousands of Indians who were taken as slaves. Relative to population, the war cost more than twice as many lives as the American Civil War and 7 times as many victims as the American Revolution.

Photo credits

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geronimo
https://aktalakota.stjo.org/american-indian-leaders/sitting-bull/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_Horse_Memorial

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