Geronimo (1829-1909) was a prominent leader and medicine man from the Bedonkohe band of the Apache people.

Geronimo was born near the upper Gila River in present-day New Mexico. His childhood name, Goyahkla, means "The One Who Yawns."

Geronimo married a woman named Alope, from the Nedni-Chiricahua band of Apache when he was 17. She was the first of nine wives.

On March 5, 1858, a company of 400 Mexican soldiers from Sonora led by Colonel José María Carrasco attacked Geronimo's camp outside Janos while the men were in town trading. Among those killed were his wife, children, and mother. Following the massacre, Geronimo swore vengeance, and from that point on, he and his followers would attack and kill any Mexicans that they encountered.

Geronimo's chief, Mangas Coloradas (Spanish for "red sleeves"), sent him to Cochise's band for help in his revenge against the Mexicans. It was during this incident that the name Geronimo came about. It stems from a battle in which, ignoring a deadly hail of bullets, Geronimo repeatedly attacked Mexican soldiers with a knife. Although the precise etymology of the name is a source of controversy, some historians have proposed that it was born from appeals by the soldiers to Saint Jerome ("Jerónimo!") for help.

Though outnumbered, Geronimo fought against both Mexican and United States troops and became famous for his daring exploits and numerous escapes from incarceration from 1858 to 1886. One such escape reportedly took place in the Robledo Mountains of southwest New Mexico, while he and his followers were being pursued by U.S. soldiers. They were spotted entering a cave, and soldiers were positioned outside the entrance, but Geronimo and his followers never came out. The second entrance through which they escaped was never found, and the cave is still called Geronimo's Cave.

On three occasions--April or August 1878, September 1881, and May 1885--Geronimo led his band of followers in "breakouts" from the reservation to return to their former nomadic life. Following each breakout, Geronimo and his band would flee across Arizona and New Mexico to Mexico, killing and plundering as they went, and establish a new base in the rugged and remote Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains. The Apache knew the rough terrain of the Sierras intimately, which helped them elude pursuit and protected them from attack.

On his final excursion, he led a small band of 38 men, women and children. They evaded thousands of Mexican and American troops for more than a year, making him the most famous Native American of the time and earning him the title of the "worst Indian who ever lived" among white settlers because of his frequent and well-publicized massacres. His band was one of the last major forces of independent Native American warriors who refused to accept the United States occupation of the American West.

While he often exerted considerable influence over the Apaches, Geronimo was never a tribal chief. Among the Chiricahua, he was better known for his skills as a shaman, or medicine man. Those who followed Geronimo credited him with a variety of supernatural powers including the ability to heal the sick, slow time, dodge bullets, cause rainstorms, and witness future events before they actually happened or see them while they were occurring far away.

Eldridge Aver Burbank, who examined Geronimo at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in 1897, wrote in his journal: "One day Geronimo came into my quarters at Fort Sill in a most peculiar mood. He told me no-one could kill him, or me either--if he willed it so. Then he bare himself to his waist. I was dumbfounded to see the number of bullet hole scars on his body. I knew he had been in many battles and had been shot dozens of times, but I never heard of anyone living with at least 50 bullet wounds on his body. Geronimo had that many scars. Some of these bullet wounds were large enough to rest a pebble in as Geronimo picked up pebbles and putting them in each wound he would make a noise like a gunshot--then take the pebble out and throw it to the ground ... and shout 'Bullets cannot kill me!'"