I Fought With Geronimo

I FOUGHT WITH GERONIMO by Jason Betzinez with W.S. Nye is one of those rare biographies of someone associated with a historical 'NAME.' In this case the title says it all but the book says even more with the kind of history and voice that puts it all into context. As a teen Betzinez rode with the famed Apache but as a proud Apache he provides us with a better understanding of his people and culture. The times and actions were brutal and with this book you get a look at another side to this complex equasion. Is it the defintive everything look at the people and era? No. For that you need to read a great deal more because no one book can offer up the truth in a time of many truths. After this good book pick up THE TRUTH ABOUT GERONIMO by Britton Davis, Gatewood's Memoirs by Charles Gatewood, GERONIMO by Angie Debo, AN APACHE CAMPAIGN IN THE SIERRA MADRE by John G. Bourke, THE LIFE OF TOM HORN, AL SIEBER, CHIEF OF SCOUTS by Dan L. Thrapp, THE FOX & THE WHIRLWIND, Cremony's LIFE AMONG THE APACHES, APACHE VOICES, GERONIMO- HIS OWN STORY, INDEH or anything else by Eva Ball, Utley's works as well as....well, you get the point. It's like a large puzzle and the more pieces you have to work with, the more the picture begins to come together. Also, if you have the opportunity, Visit Arizona. Trek down the Apache Trail and walk some of the old trails and mountains. Visit the stage station at Apache Pass, Fort Bowie and the graveyard. Get the dust in your nose, the sun beating down on you, and a better understanding on why the Apaches fought so hard to hold on to the cool and life offering spring at the Pass. Visit the San Carlos Reservation and take in the signs that proclaim how proud the relatives are of their sons and daughters who are serving in the Armed Forces. Warriors still. We tend to celebrate the big names in history but often it's the smaller figures who help write it day by day. Jason Betzinez was one such person and we're fortunate enough to have his story.

Very interesting read. Betzinez' descriptions are vivid and colorful; especially when describing the areas he roamed with Geronimo. Definitely biased, but interesting just the same. He went from a nomad Apache to a settled blacksmith and farmer. Although Betzinez is Native American, he gives a different view of the Carlisle School, relationships with his white neighbors, and the Army of the late 1800's than the popular Native American view. Filled with many historical highlights of the late 1800's to the early part of the 20th century, and Oklahoma history. Great pictures and maps if you're learning about the west.I strongly recommend this book.

I once owned an original publication and autographed hardcopy by Betzinez. I even did a book report on it in grade school back in the mid 60s. As I recall, the book was vividly descriptive about the life and times of an Apache Indian in the American Southwest in the late 1800s up to the time he wrote the book in the late 1950s. Betzinez tells a story that was not so much about fighting the US Cavalry and settlers or kidnapping women and children but more about a young boy growing up in a native culture long since forgotten. As a warrior, he survived the harsh elements fighting with the great warrior chief Geronimo. As a fully matured adult, he became well educated and Christian American Indian who loved his fellow man reguardless of skin color. His story covers how he lived off the barren land, the exciting war party and raids, conflicts against rival Indian tribes, riding bareback on horses and hunting wildgame to survive. It is hard to believe Jason was born in 1860, since he was in incredibly good health when I met him in early 60s. He would have been over 100 years old. He certainly was not a wild savage more importantly he was a good Christian family friend and part-time employee of my Dad, the late Dr. Ernest Winter, a Dentist in Lawton Oklahoma.

A fascinating story of a "wild" Indian who made his way successfully through the various stages of his life: from the unfettered freedom of the mountains, to the tenuous search for refuge in a hostile environment, through the confinement of the reservation, to the peaceful contentment of Christian love. Jason tells the remarkable story of his life from 1860 to 1959 with self-effacing honesty. He will certainly blur, if not erase, the stereotypical image of the "Hollywood" Apache.