Geronimo’s Descendant Sues to Recover His Bones
What does the Apache leader Geronimo, George W. Bush and a secretive society at Yale University all have in common? According to Harlyn Geronimo, the great grandson of Geronimo, the secretive Yale society known as the Order of Skull and Bones that George W Bush belonged to has some of his great grandfather’s bones and he wants them back.
Geronimo was a famous Apache leader in the late 1800s in the Southwestern US (the area of Arizona, New Mexico and western Texas). He fought both the US government and the Mexico government in an attempt to preserve the homeland, culture and lifestyle of his people. After a long campaign, Geronimo was eventually captured in 1886 by the US government and held for the rest of his life at various army posts and forts throughout the United States. In his old age, he was transferred to Fort Sill near Lawton, Oklahoma. He eventually died at Fort Sill of pneumonia in 1909 at the age of 79. His remains were buried in the Apache Indian prisoner of war cemetery near the fort.
The Order of Skull and Bones is a Yale collegiate society formed in 1832. Although the society is not officially associated with Yale, some of the university’s most prominent alumni have been members of the society. George W. Bush, his father George Bush and his grandfather Prescott Bush were all members of the Skull and Bones society as was Senator John Kerry. The society (like many Yale societies) has a tradition known as “crooking”, which is essentially lifting artifacts and keeping them as souvenirs for the society. Given the name Skull and Bones, it is not hard to imagine the society focused on taking skulls, bones and other artifacts associated with death, something that was not uncommon during the Victorian era.
Fort Sill is the home of the US Army Field Artillery School. Prescott Bush was an artillery officer who trained at Fort Sill before being sent overseas. Five other members of the Skull and Bones society also served time at Fort Sill during World War I. It is likely they knew Geronimo was buried near the fort.
According to the Yale Alumni Magazine, in 2005 a researcher found a letter in a box of correspondence in the archives at Yale’s Sterling Memorial Library. The correspondence was from 1918 and it belonged to a prominent member of the Skull and Bones society. The letter in question tells of how some members of the society went to Fort Sill and dug up Geronimo’s bones.
Harlyn Geronimo sued both Yale University and the Order of Skull and Bones to try to recover his great grandfather’s bones. The lawsuit was filed on the 100th anniversary of Geronimo’s death. The basis of the lawsuit is the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which gives lineal descendants certain rights to Native American human remains. The Geronimo family is being represented by Ramsey Clark, a former US attorney general.
In an interesting twist, the remains held by the Skull and Bones society might not actually belong to Geronimo. The Yale Alumni magazine quoted David Miller, a history professor at Cameron University in Oklahoma. According to Miller, Geronimo was buried in an unmarked grave that would have been overgrown in 1918. It was not until the 1920s that the exact gravesite was formally identified when a librarian at Fort Sill persuaded some local Apaches to show him the location. "My assumption is that they did dig up somebody at Fort Sill," says Miller. "It could have been an Indian, but it probably wasn't Geronimo." In 1928 the US Army covered the gravesite in concrete and placed a commemorative stone monument on top making it much more difficult for anyone to access any remains.
Some Interesting Genealogy Facts about Geronimo
• Geronimo was actually born Goyathlay (one who yawns). He received the name Geronimo (after St. Jerome) from the Mexican army, who were impressed with his ability to attack with a knife in the middle of a gun fight.
• Geronimo was never an Apache chief. Instead, he was generally viewed as a military leader of the Chiricahua Apache. He fought first the Mexican army and then the US government against their encroachment on traditional Apache tribal land.
• Geronimo was wounded many times by gunshot but he always managed to survive. He had a reputation for daring exploits and the ability to escape capture on numerous occasions.
• Geronimo only became famous later in life after his exploits became known beyond the western frontier. He attended the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, where he became a popular attraction by selling photographs of himself.
• Geronimo was so popular later in life that he even rode in the 1905 inaugural parade of President Theodore Roosevelt.
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