I Fought with Geronimo [Hardcover]

Jason Betzinez (Author), Wilbur Sturtevant Nye (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1987

The cousin and lifelong associate of Geronimo, Jason Betzinez relives his years on the warpath with the Apache chief. He participates in Geronimo's eventual surrender to the U.S. Army, goes to Florida as a prisoner of war, attends the Carlisle Indian school in Pennsylvania, and in 1900 joins his people at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where they had been moved by the government six years earlier. Trained as a blacksmith, he describes daily life on the reservation until the resettlement of many Apaches in Arizona.

For Betzinez, there was a happy ending. When this memoir was first published in 1959, he was nearly a century old, settled on a farm in Oklahoma with his devoted wife and esteemed by his community.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 214 pages
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press (September 1, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803212046
• ISBN-13: 978-0803212046
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,131,754 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars He lived from the Stone Age to the Atomic Age!, October 9, 2000

By 

Carolyn Cox (Camden, AR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Fought with Geronimo (Paperback)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars WORTH READING, May 24, 2007

By 

G. Rodriguez (Albuquerque, NM) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Fought with Geronimo (Paperback)

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.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As I Recall - My Book Report (over 40 years ago), May 23, 2006

By 

Norman Winter (Olympia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Fought with Geronimo (Paperback)

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.