Geronimo/Bio & Battles

Geronimo, known to the Apache as Goyaałé, was a Native American medicine man and war leader of the Chiricahua Apache tribes. Born on June 16, 1829, Geronimo was given the title "Goyakhla", "one who yawns."

After Mexicans attacked Geronimo's camp and killed his family, the Native American rose up and raided Mexican and American towns and people. He had a strong desire to push Americans out of the West. Geronimo evolved into a revolutionary and spiritual leader who raised the Apaches against Americans during the American Indian Wars.

In 1886, after being pursued by the 4th Cavalry, Geronimo along with some of his own tribesmen were captured and made into prisoners of war. After being released from imprisonment, Geronimo fell ill of pneumonia and died of his sickness on February 17, 1909.

Battle vs. Pancho Villa (by Crow Woyeck)
The battle starts under a tree at Pancho Villa's campsite, where four Villistas are inspecting their weapons and Pancho slicing, and eating a pomegranate with his bolo knife. Not far away, Geronimo and four Apache come over the hill, himself and two other Apache mounted on horseback. Villa and his Villistas look over to the hill just as Geronimo and his men give loud war whoops. Sensing a fight, Pancho orders his men to arm up as he sheaths his bolo. As the Apaches charge forth firing their repeating Henry rifles, the Villistas take defensive positions and return fire with their repeating Winchester rifles. As one Villistas rides into the middle of the field, another takes aim with his Colt Bisley and fires, killing one of the other mounted Apache who slumps down in his saddle. As the Villista rides towards the Apache, he is fatally shot by Geronimo using his Henry rifle, and falls down from his horse. The Villa Revolutionaries continue to fire until the Apache come too close for comfort. The Mexicans retreat from their campsite for better cover, with Villa mounting a horse and escaping. Geronimo regroups with his fellow men and gives celebratory war whoops to each other. The remaining four Native Americans then decide to split up into two groups: Geronimo and the other mounted Apache on horseback, and the other two Apache on foot. An unknown amount of time passes as seen by clouds moving overhead. In a nearby field, Geronimo and his fellow brave have dismounted and are navigating the tall grass with rifles in hand. The other Apache suddenly steps on a large twig, giving their position to the other two Villistas. Behind tree cover, one of the Villistas fires his Winchester and shoots the other Apache in the head. Geronimo ducks down and disappears into the grass. The Villistas cautiously wait for Geronimo to make his move, with one of them shooting into the grass with his Bisley. The Apache chief, moving, and camouflaged, reappears and aims his Colt, shooting the Villista with the Winchester in the eye. The other Villista fires his Bisley at the Apache chief as he makes a run for his life. Geronimo quickly holsters his revolver and gives chase. Meanwhile, in the forest, the natives follow Pancho and the last Villista, cornering them behind trees. Both revolutionaries pull out their Colt Bisleys and fire, shooting one of the natives as he rises from cover and draws his revolver. While Pancho has a shootout with the other native, the other revolutionary attempts to reload his gun, only to be shot in the neck by Geronimo who appears right behind the two Mexicans. Geronimo draws a bead on Pancho but discovers he has depleted the last of his Colt ammo and readies his war club, preparing to get the drop on the Mexican general. Pancho stops firing at the last Apache brave as he sees his last Villista run up behind him and run him through with his bolo knife. The Villista then runs past Villa, and noticing Geronimo, charges at him. A blow to the head from his war club quickly puts him down as he pulls out a knife in his other hand. Takes aim and swings the heavy Bolo knife, hitting the floor as the Geronimo dodges and gets set up for a counter-attack. The Geronimo goes in for a swing with the War club, but Pancho counters with a swing that hits the Native American in the back, sending him reeling. Pancho swings again, but the Geronimo ducks under and quickly stabs Pancho in the side with his Knife. Pancho goes in for another swing, but misses as the Geronimo ducks and goes in for two more stabs. While Pancho is stunned, the Geronimo buries it into the neck of Pancho. Pancho slumps to the ground dead as the Geronimo removes his hat and cuts off the man's scalp with his Scalping Knife. Victorious, the Geronimo, shouts as he holds the bloody scalp on high. Winner Geronimo

Expert's Opinion
TBW

To see the original battle, weapons and votes, click here.

Major General William Rufus Shafter's Office, San Juan Hill, July, 2, 1898
The day had just been won at San Juan Hill, enabling the U.S Army to push forward on the Spanish even farther. But now, there were too many soldiers to take the limited arms they had. So the generals met together and decided that some of the competent officers there would be more useful in the new revision of the southeast territory, as the United States, once again wished to expand its influence.

One of the officers considered first for a piece of the mission was Theodore Roosevelt. Strong, decisive, and willing to serve his country no matter what peril it put him in. He walked down the front hall of the building the generals were using as a temporary outpost. It was an abandoned hospital, refurbished with small barricades and guards at every entrance. As he made his way into their office he immediately saluted his superiors.

" Colonel Theodore Roosevelt of the 1st Volunteer Calvary, reporting for duty Sir!" Roosevelt exclaimed. "At ease" Major General Shafter calmly voiced. Roosevelt moved his hand back to his side. " We have heard of your brave charge at Kettle Hill and have decided that you are needed on a more important front, as we have a large surplus of soldiers."

" You will be sent to the desert of New Mexico, where you will branch off with various other experienced officers, and establish a camp so that we can begin to reinforce our expansion." "Permission to freely sir?" Roosevelt uttered with reverence. " Permission granted" " How many men will I be in command of sir?"

"We expect there to be only light resistance, so you'll be leading about 30-35 men and so will the majority of the other officers in the area." Roosevelt was quite satisfied, as he believed that he would be understaffed and would be left to suffer in the desert against whatever resistance there would be, even if it was light." Do you have any more questions Colonel?" General Shafter queried. " No I do not sir." Roosevelt replied

"Then you have your orders Colonel, you may leave." Roosevelt then saluted again, and left the room, determined to follow the orders no matter what got in his way, whether it be man or nature.

Near an Apache Village, somewhere in present day New Mexico, July, 4, 1898
" ¡Vamos chicos! ¡Tenemos que salir de aquí!"(Come on guys! We have to get out of here!). That was the sound of Mexicans searching for gold,attempting to flee back to their homeland after running into some "unfriendly elements". Instead of finding the "gold" they were supposed to find ( A Dutchman who claimed to have been in the area, directed them to the site), they instead ran into a group of Apaches led by the famous Geronimo.

They were certainly unlucky today, as Geronimo, as it was well known, had a hatred for all those who hailed from Mexico. As they moved through the rocky desert, they could hear the Apache warriors getting closer and closer one of them tripped. The others stopped to help him, and this allowed their adversaries to close the gap. A shot fired, hitting the fallen straight in the chest, killing him instantly. By the time the others could react, it was too late. The Apaches were upon them and decapitated them all with their tomahawks.

Geronimo simply smiled and ordered his men to leave the bodies to rot and to continue their patrol of the desert. They made their way down a small gully where they had left their supplies so that they could restock when needed. After resupplying themselves, they climbed over the gully, which led directly to a massive expanse of mostly empty land. But instead of seeing the normal emptiness he was used to, he saw tents, a campfire and various American flags

" The United States have come to capture me once again" he rasped. Geronimo had escaped as a prisoner of war many years before and the U.S had attempted numerous times to bring him within their influence once again. And every time they had failed, essentially sending men to their deaths. But never had Geronimo seen such a large force be dedicated to his seizure.

But he noticed something very important about the group. The leader of the group appeared to be taking a smaller part of the men to presumably conduct some type of search or patrol. They were sitting ducks, inexperienced with the land, and unaware of the danger they were about to get in.

New Mexico, July 4 1898, Roosevelt's Patrol
Meanwhile, in Roosevelt's patrol, his men were getting quite restless, wondering why they had decided to venture off so early. It hadn't even been an hour before their commander had decided they needed to abandon their compatriots to go search some god-forsaken desert. One older man especially irked by this, Jebediah Owens vocalized " Why in the name of God's green Earth, are we trekking through this massive desert where God knows what could happen to us?". A younger, especially spirited boy named Jessie Streeter smacked him in the shoulder. " Shut the hell up and keep walking Jebediah, you've been complainin' since Las Guasimas".

Jebediah only snorted in response, not wanting to remember his blunder(He neglected his sleep one night and in the morning of the Battle of Las Guasimas, accidentally cut his hand deeply with his utility knife) that made him so cranky. Roosevelt even upon his horse and focused on the trail ahead, heartily laughed, fully remembering how entertaining it was to watch him jump around in pain his hands clasped together.

Everyone joined in and as Roosevelt was about to sound off to get his men to stop, a small *crack* sounded instead, just barely missing Jebediah's ear making him fall to the ground in pain and shock. The rest of the troops immediately moved down a very small ditch on the path. All except for Roosevelt, who quickly took out his binoculars and desperately searched for whatever enemy could be there.

Theodore Roosevelt: x10

Geronimo: x10

After about 3 seconds, he finally saw a short Native American man with about 9 or 10 others running loosely towards his position. Then, as his men were attempting to fire back, his horse was shot straight in the stomach, making it panic and run in a random direction, knocking Roosevelt into the ditch. Pulling out his Colt M1892, he began to fire straight at the enemy, while the others used their Winchesters.

Roosevelt knew that if he stayed in this position, he would be surrounded by the Natives in a melee battle which would be heavily in their favor. He ordered his men to get up and charge towards the enemy, but Geronimo and his men had disappeared. Roosevelt did a head count and he was confused when he was one off. They then inspected the ditch, where they found one of their Rough Rider friends with a hole where his eye used to be.

Roosevelt simply stared at the body, shaking with rage. It was Jebediah. He was grumpy, cantankerous, complained a lot, but his loyalty never wavered. In the middle of his thoughts Jessie angrily shouted " Let's kill them all! Jebediah'd do it for all of us! Blow their red heads straight to hell!" Roosevelt would usually be annoyed with such an outburst, as it caused chaos, but he simply walked towards Jessie, put his hand on his shoulder and plainly stated " Alright Private, you lead the way"

The rest of the men walked in silence towards where they last saw the Apache warriors, down into a large ravine, as spread out as possible in the limited space they had. Everyone was very much on edge, reacting to every noise in the area, whether in be small or large.

Geronimo's Point of View

"Kuruk, scout out the area on the left, Norroso, the right" Geronimo whispered to two of the warriors. They silently obeyed, slowly creeping along the high desert rock. They soon reach a position where the two warriors could observe the movements of their white adversaries.But Kuruk, too focused on them, slipped a tiny bit, making enough noise to reveal his position.

About 200m away one of the Riders fired his Winchester, hitting Kuruk square in chest, killing him instantly. Norroso, spooked, ran away as fast as he could while firing a couple shots of his Single Action Army, suppressing them just enough to escape without harm.

Geronimo had heard the shots in the background, and immediately ordered the others to rise, as he realized his plan had obviously failed. He saw Norroso sprinting towards him, and Geronimo stopped him to ask him what had happened. Norroso cried " Kuruk had slipped on the rocks, and the white men killed him."

Geronimo simply sighed and cursed to himself, knowing that he would need to supervise his troops in the next attack. The warriors then again traversed the rocks, this time much more slowly and carefully, making sure they didn't slip.

They saw Roosevelt's troops buckle down and establish a small perimeter, ready to defend.

Roosevelt's Point of View

" Alright men, we got one of them red bastards,but there'll be more where that came from, so when we get the chance, we'll charge straight up the end of this ravine and attempt to cut them off" Roosevelt momentarily put his Colt away, and pulled out his binoculars again, searching on the sides to find more Apache warriors. He could see none. Roosevelt then put his binoculars away and cautiously ordered his men too begin their pursuit to the end of the ravine.

They were getting close, when to their surprise, all of Geronimo's men appeared at once, leaving them completely vulnerable. Norroso pulled out his Single Action Army again and shot one of the Rough Riders in the chest, going into his lung, and killing him almost instantly. Another Apache warrior fired two rounds into another Rider, again killing him instantly. As Roosevelt immediately blasted a hole straight through one of the Apache warrior's throat, causing him to fall of the cliff and fracture his skull and ribs.

But again as he raised his Colt, they were nowhere to be seen. Wanting to keep the initiative, Roosevelt wasted no time ordering his men to charge up the remainder of the ravine where it led to a very rocky part of the desert with rather limited visibility. "Danny! You take James, Franklin and Frederick to the left side, and I will lead Jesse and William on the other"

Daniel Webbins had been a loyal and headstrong soldier for many years, always being a the forefront of any charge or maneuver he was in. As he and the others in his detachment moved through the rocky part of the desert they were forced to weave back and forth with the difficult terrain. Now being used to the Indian tactics, he ordered his men to look around constantly, and remain in a loose formation the whole time. This was something he was very unused to, but Daniel knew that was his only option if he wanted victory and revenge.

Franklin, being on the far left side saw the next ambush first. Norroso appeared before him, and slashed his tomahawk, just barely missing him. Franklin then reacted almost instantly, and stabbed the warrior straight in the throat, resulting in a short bloody wheeze, and another deceased Apache.

Then another warrior behind him, took out his Colt, fired, and missed. But before he could cock his pistol again, a Winchester round penetrated his chest, forcing him backwards and making him fall straight of the small rocky height.Utterly confused on the small ambush, Daniel and the others didn't realize that the rest of the Apache forces had already moved on the other side, ready to take advantage of their lack of focus. Almost as if it were a volley, Geronimo's forces fired at the same time, immediately ripping apart Franklin and James with a hailstorm of bullets.

Daniel and Frederick, however were unharmed and took the closest source of cover they could find. " Keep firing at them red bastards Frederick!", Daniel screamed. And Frederick did, hitting one square in the neck, killing them almost instantly. Daniel drew his pistol and fired, hitting another in the shoulder. The man he hit lost his awareness, and peeked out of his cover, letting Frederick finish the job.

Their luck was short-lived though, as they were eventually overrun, and flanked from all sides. They were also low on ammunition, and going to reload, as they were mowed down by multiple shots, going through their heads, legs, arms etc.

Roosevelt had attempted to come back and help his men, but he was too late, and only found bodies in place of his men. Roosevelt had to get to some even terrain, with no height at all, but he couldn't find any. But the lowest area he could find was straight in front of him, about 500 meters away, and all he had to do is run for the piece of land. It had large rocks for cover, the high ground was hard to fire from, and was filled with light, making an ambush pretty hard to accomplish.

After just about sprinting for a whole 2 minutes, the remaining 3 men made their way to what they believed to be the perfect spot to cover. But the most perfect spots have their weaknesses

Geronimo's point of view

Roosevelt had again fallen for the Apache warrior's trap, as there was only one entrance easily accessible by foot. Everything else in the area was either too steep or too high to reach quickly, which would give him the limited time he needed to successfully take down his opponent.

As Roosevelt's men made their way sprinting their way into the supposedly defensive spot, Geronimo's remaining men, hid behind the cover right next to the entrance of the area. Then, once the Rough Riders made their way through the entrance, Geronimo split his force up, with himself and one warrior on one edge, and two other warriors on the other.

" Wait a minute, did you hear that?" Jesse whispered. Roosevelt then realized that not a single Apache had approached them on their movement to the cave-like position. "Shit..." Roosevelt cursed to himself, realizing this is exactly what his foe wanted.

" Get the hell to cover, men!" Roosevelt screamed. Geronimo ran his men straight towards their adversaries, tackling all of Roosevelt's men to the ground. Jesse, easily took his opponent down with a single stab to the neck. Roosevelt too, took down the man going after him, slashing his throat. But James was unlucky, as the tomahawk going against him landed in his gut, where he quickly bled to death. Jesse and Roosevelt charged straight into Geronimo's last comrade, and not looking, Jesse tripped on a large rock falling straight on his face. The Apache fired the last bullet in his Single Action Army, penetrating his skull.

Roosevelt however, was able to get to the warrior and punched him several times in the face, and stabbed him three times in the arm, chest and head. Roosevelt yelled in victory as he forgot about Geronimo, who directly behind him, threw his tomahawk straight into his back. He smiled as he simply walked over to Roosevelt, who even while dying, had a fire in his eyes. Geronimo then shot him with his Winchester, killing him instantly. Geronimo screeched in victory, driving the white man away once again.

Expert's Opinion
Roosevelt's weaponry may have been slightly better, but he was utterly destroyed in tactical ability. Geronimo's homefield advantage and hit and run tactics enabled him to be mobile and take advantage of Roosevelt's headstrong leadership and lack of terrain knowledge.

To see the original battle, weapons, and votes, click here.

Battle vs. Leon Trotsky (by Pygmy Hippo 2)
Redacted Location, Mexico

After one successful revolution in Russia, it made sense for Lenin to send Leon Trotsky with some Bolshevik soldiers to Mexico after their previous revolutionary died. Said revolutionary was killed by the same man who had killed an American leader as well so Leon had intentions to recruit him to the cause. Unfortunately for him, Geronimo had other plans and watched the camp from some nearby woods with his own group of Apache warriors.

"Get to higher ground but don't start firing until I give the order." Geronimo's Apache nodded and ten of them climbed up a hill to get a better view of the Bolshevik camp as they hid behind some boulders. "Ленин мертв, а Сталин новый лидер ?! Кто это допустил ?!" (Lenin's dead and Stalin's the new leader?! Who let that happen?!) Trotsky's men angrily grumbled at the orders they had received, stop promoting a communist revolution and return to Russia, and he slowly got up and started walking out the tent.

It was at this moment that the Apache decided to strike with one Bolshevik guard getting shot in the head and another getting shot through the heart with .30-30 Winchester rounds. The warriors yelled out war cries that shook up the soldiers even more from the unexpected attack but Leon picked up a Mosin-Nagant and shot one of the killers in the stomach which wasn't lethal but restored some morale. "Пожар!" (Fire!) Both sides began firing a barrage of shots at each other with the Bolsheviks' 7.62×54mmR rounds hitting the Apache from longer distances than their Winchester 1894s but both took some casualties.

Head shots, torso shots, and even limb shots happened as the soldiers lost eight more men but the warriors lost ten men in the carnage. With a third of both sides gone, now was the time for the real surprise to begin as Geronimo cried out. "Now!" The hidden Apache leapt out from behind their boulders with war cries and fired a variety of arrows from their Bows which hit some poor Bolshevik who had a bad shoulder from the previous encounter in the knee, luckily that wasn't poisoned.

Others were more unfortunate as five immediately died to getting arrows through the eyes or just getting turned into human porcupines in the bombardment, five others got rusted or rattlesnake poison coated arrows in their torso, but once again, Trotsky had an idea and rushed over to the weapons cache to pull out some Model 1914 Grenades. The warriors didn't know what the soldiers and their leader had thrown at them until they were blown away by shrapnel and the three that survived that were disfigured by picric acid. The Apache were put out of their misery quickly by some more Mosin-Nagant shots as the Bolsheviks regrouped.

"Это последний из них?" (That the last of them?) "Я так думаю, но будь настороже и помоги этому бедному человеку!" (I think so but be on the lookout and get that poor man some help!) If this couldn't get any worse the two who went to pick up the wounded man dropped dead from rattlesnake poison and Leon cursed under his breath before the man next to him got shot through the heart with a .45 Colt round and he returned the favor by putting a 7.62×38mmR round through the man next to Geronimo's head. Both leaders stared at each other with hatered before getting to cover as Nagant M1895 and Colt Single Action Army shots filled the air with the occasional cries of pain as there were now only ten men left in the battle.

Both sides cylinders clicked and they pulled out their melee weapons which the Bolsheviks had to hastily attach their Spike Bayonets to their Mosin-Nagants as the Apache rushed them with one accurately throwing his Tomahawk at his foe's forehead but another missed. A fellow warrior tackled the charging soldier and knocked the rifle out of his hands before hacking his face open with the axe before a blade punched through his chest. The Apache who had just gotten his Tomahawk back was smacked in the face by a buttstroke before the Bolshevik stabbed through his throat with a Spike Bayonet.

The soldier yelled in pain as his hand was cut off by another warrior before he disarmed his foe with a quick shove before running for another Bayonet and his opponent saw an odd-looking axe on the ground which he picked up. The Apache ran at the Bolshevik with his Ice Axe raised and inadvertently impaled himself through the heart with his opponent’s blade. As his foe toppled over, the man saw Geronimo aiming his Colt Single Action Army and dropped his Bayonet to desperately try to free his Mosin-Obrez from its holster which he barely did before getting shot between the eyes.

"Отвратительное оружие." (Disgusting weapon.) Trotsky's cold response to his Bolshevik's death was interrupted by an Apache yelling as he threw another Tomahawk at the Russian leader who dodged it and accidentally fired both Nagant M1895 shots into his foe's chest. Geronimo dropped his revolver and Leon did the same as neither was of any use to them now but they both stood back, pulling out their melee weapons, and waited for an opportunity. His opponent got impatient and stabbed forwards with a Spike Bayonet which the Bedonkohe leader dodged before going for a hack which was caught on the Mosin-Nagant and he was disarmed in a single lifting movement.

However that was Geronimo's plan as he dug his stone Knife into Trotsky's stomach and went for a throat slice but a crack deafened both leaders for a moment. Leon's hearing slowly came back to him and he realized that Geronimo was bleeding heavily onto the ground from his head as his last Bolshevik unsteadily stood with his smoking rifle lowered. "Спасибо товарищ. Это принесло вам повышение, если мы выберемся отсюда." (Thanks comrade. That earned you a promotion if we get out of here.) The two wounded Russians staggered back to the tent to gather their things for the return trip even as Leon Trotsky already dreaded meeting the new leader.

Winner:Leon Trotsky

Expert's Opinion
Leon Trotsky had a better Short Range, Mid Range, and Long Range weapon and his morale-boosting tactics helped keep his force together in this fight. Geronimo had an equally effective Special Weapon and had better overall Tactics along with being the more experienced warrior himself although the Apache and Bolsheviks were equal in that regard. Ultimately Leon's technology advantage and psychological control of his forces overcame Geronimo's guerrilla warfare tactics.

To see the original battle, weapons, and votes, click here.