The last major Indian campaign took place in the Southwest. Kit Carson’s Civil War campaign had subdued the Navajo and the Mescalero Apaches, but the Chiricahua Apaches remained unbroken. Led by Chief Cochise, they terrorized parts of Arizona and New Mexico until the only white man Cochise trusted, Thomas Jeffords, persuaded him to make peace and accept a reservation on traditional Chiricahua land (1872), where Jeffords served as the Indian agent. But the forced transfer of the Chiricahua to the San Carlos reservation two years after Cochise’s death (1874), led to a renewal of raiding, this time under the principal leadership of warrior chief, Geronimo. for nearly a decade, Geronimo and his “renegade Apaches” kept U.S. and Mexican Army units busy, waging skillful guerrilla warfare characterized by rapid movement and carefully-laid ambushes. The number of his pursuers had grown to more than 5,000 before Geronimo finally surrendered his little band of less than 50 in September, 1886 to end the Apache wars. Geronimo and his “hostiles,” together with many “friendly” Chiricahuas, were imprisoned in Florida and then Alabama, before being moved in 1894 to Fort Still, Oklahoma, where Geronimo died in 1909. Despite his status as a “prisoner of war,” Geronimo became a popular figure, making appearances at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair and President Teddy Roosevelt’s 1905 Inaugural Parade.

Born: 1858, New York, NY
Died: 1919

The son of a wealthy banker, “Teddy” Roosevelt was a sickly youth who overcame his frailty through exercise and sheer grit. After graduating from Harvard he entered politics as a Republican reformer, but when his wife and mother both died on the same day, he temporarily left public life to become a rancher in the Dakota Territory. He remarried in 1886 and went to work on the Civil Service Commission, then became New York’s Police Commissioner. Appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy by President McKinley, Teddy led the Rough Rider Regiment in Cuba during the Spanish American War. Elected New York Governor in 1898, he was McKinley’s running mate in 1900.

Upon McKinley’s assassination, the progressive new President tackled the industrial monopolies, earning the label “trust-buster.” A passionate defender of the wilderness, he expanded the National Parks. In foreign policy he said, “speak softly and carry a big stick,” and he helped create the Panama Canal. The nation liked his Square Deal and elected him in a landslide in 1904. In 1906 he won the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the Russo-Japanese War. He retired in 1908, but resurfaced in 1912 to head the Bull Moose ticket. Although he lost, Teddy showed his usual flair. Shot in the chest while campaigning, he delivered his hour-long speech before going to the hospital.

Twenty-Sixth President
Republican