His very name once struck terror in the ranchers, farmers, and other settlers of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. When Geronimo escaped the reservation in 1886, it took 8,000 Mexican and American soldiers five months to capture his tiny band of 38 fleeing Apache. Then, the United States government held Geronimo and all his people as prisoners of war for 27 years. Yet in 2009, on the 100th anniversary of his death, Geronimo was honored by the U.S. House of Representatives in Resolution 132. They praised "his extraordinary bravery, and his commitment to the defense of his homeland, his people, and Apache ways of life." In 100 years, Geronimo's image has been transformed from a bloodthirsty savage to a courageous symbol of resistance.
