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In early March 1905, six Native American chiefs were at the helm of Theodore Roosevelt’s inaugural parade. Leading the group – while a crowd of 35,000 watched – was a 76-year-old Chiricahua Apache medicine man named Geronimo.
In a post-parade meeting, Geronimo pleaded with TR for the return of his people – all prisoners-of-war at Fort Sill, Oklahoma – to their ancestral homeland in southeastern Arizona; alas, the president was unsympathetic.
Later that year, Geronimo (who remained a POW until his death in February 1909) began his autobiography, which – transcribed by S.M. Barrett through interpreter Asa Daklugie, Geronimo’s nephew – was dedicated to President Roosevelt.
– Hannah Van Sickle, The Arizona 100