A Whole People Held for 27 Years
In September 1886 the United States Army sent hundreds of Chiricahua Apache men, women and children out of the Southwest by train. They did not return as a community until 1913. For 27 years they were held as prisoners of war, moved from one military post to another, and later shaped by the choices they made on release. Children were born in captivity, and many people died far from their homelands.
This page gives the overall outline. Other articles in this section cover each place and theme in more detail. Dates in this period are well documented, but some numbers (how many people, how many died) vary between sources, so this article gives figures only in general terms.
Who the Chiricahua Were
“Chiricahua” is a name used for several related Apache groups of southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico and northern Mexico. They include the Chihenne (also called Warm Springs), the Chokonen, the Bedonkohe and the Nednhi, each with its own leaders and country. The Chihenne Apache and Nednhi Apache, for instance, had different homelands and histories, and the Chiricahua were never a single unified group under one chief. People such as Geronimo, Naiche and Loco came from different bands.
The Surrender and the Decision to Remove Everyone
The long conflict with the United States and Mexico is usually dated as ending in 1886, when Geronimo and Naiche surrendered to General Nelson Miles in the early autumn. Historians often cite that moment when they say the Apache Wars end 1886, though the story is more complicated than a single date.
The key fact for this section is what happened next. The government did not confine only the people who had been with Geronimo. Chiricahua living quietly near Fort Apache, Arizona, many of them farming, were rounded up as well. So were Apache scouts who had served the Army, a hard episode often summed up as Chiricahua scouts imprisoned despite their service. Officials in Washington and in the Army wanted the whole Chiricahua population removed from Arizona, partly because of pressure from settlers and fear of renewed trouble. The result was that people who had not fought were treated the same as those who had.
Florida: Fort Marion and Fort Pickens
The prisoners were sent by rail across the country. In Florida the men of Geronimo’s party were held at Fort Pickens near Pensacola, while many other people, including families and former scouts, were held at Fort Marion in St. Augustine. Families were split between the two forts. Overcrowding, an unfamiliar humid climate and illness marked these first years. Children were also taken from Fort Marion to a boarding school in Pennsylvania, which is described in its own article.
Alabama: Mount Vernon Barracks
In 1887 and 1888 the groups were brought together at Mount Vernon Barracks, north of Mobile, Alabama. Families were reunited there, houses were built, a school operated, and the men worked at tasks assigned by the Army. Illness, especially lung disease, took a heavy toll. The Army’s own officers came to describe the arrangement as a failure, and calls to move the prisoners grew.
Oklahoma: Fort Sill
In 1894 the prisoners were transferred to Fort Sill in what was then Indian Territory, on land shared with the Kiowa and Comanche. Here they lived in small villages around the post, raised cattle and grew crops, and still remained under military control. Geronimo died there in 1909 and was buried in an Apache cemetery on the post. Some prisoners also worked for the Army or for neighbors. Life at Fort Sill was still captivity, but the prisoners had more space and more ability to look after their families than in the East.
The 1913 Release
The prisoner of war status ended in 1913. Those released were offered a choice: move to the Mescalero Apache reservation in New Mexico, or stay in Oklahoma on allotted land. Most went to New Mexico, where the Mescalero Apache people already lived, and a smaller number remained in Oklahoma. Those who stayed are the ancestors of the Fort Sill Apache Tribe, a federally recognized nation today.
Why It Matters
The imprisonment is a clear example of the federal assimilation policy of the late nineteenth century applied to an entire community, including its children. It also shows how a single label, “hostile,” could be used for people with very different histories. Peaceful farmers, scouts, elders and children were swept up with warriors.
The Chiricahua people did not disappear. Descendants live today in the Fort Sill Apache Tribe, the Mescalero Apache Tribe and elsewhere, and they carry the memory of this period in their own ways. This site is independent and does not speak for any nation.
Where the Evidence Comes From
Much of what is known comes from Army correspondence and reports, which are held in places such as the National Archives records for the War Department. Because those documents were written by the officials who ran the confinement, they need careful reading, and they are balanced by letters, photographs and the later accounts of survivors and descendants. Readers are encouraged to consult the official websites of the nations themselves for their own histories and current information.