Of the several cultures in the southern United States, the Chiricahua (also known as the Chiricahua Apache) are the indigenous people who speak the Mescalero-Chiricahua language, which is one of the southern Athabascan language.

About 1300 CE, bands of the Athabascan language speaking Apaches moved into the Lower Basin ecoregion of southern New Mexico and made the Tularosa Basin their home. Their homeland encompassed the Tularosa Basin and all the land surrounding their four sacred mountains: Sierra Blanca, Three Sisters Mountains, Oscura Mountain Peak and the Guadalupe Mountains.

Three sub-tribes, Mescalero, Lipan and Chiricahua, make up the Mescalero Apache Tribe who live in south central New Mexico on a reservation of 463,000 acres of what once was the heartland of this people′s aboriginal homelands.

Today the Mescalero-Chiricahua live in three separate areas: Whiteriver, Arizona; Mescalero, New Mexico; and Anadarko, Oklahoma.

Basin and Range Region of New Mexico

Escarpment and Mountains Ecoregion

Geronimo (1829-1909) was born in present-day New Mexico at the head waters of the Gila River. Geronimo was the last warrior fighting for the Chiricahua Apache. He became famous for standing against the U.S. Government and for holding out the longest. He was a great spiritual leader and medicine man. The Apaches report that Geronimo was highly sought by Apache chiefs for his wisdom, that Geronimo had supernatural powers, that Geronimo could see the future, that Geronimo could walk without creating footprints and that Geronimo could keep the dawn from rising to protect his people.

Howerver, like all men, as strong as they may seem to be, Geronimo, after his last significant Apache guerrilla action in the United States, surrendered in 1886. Upon this, his last surrender, his group consisted of 16 warriors, 12 women, and six children. Following his surrender, Geronimo and 300 of his fellow Chiricahua were shipped to Fort Marion, Florida, and became prisoners of war.

On the morning of 25 October 1886, a train pulled into Pensacola, Florida, which train carries 16 Apache warriors who had been hunted down, captured and taken by the US government to the battle hardened military fortress, Fort Pickens, located on the Gulf Island of Santa Rosa near Pensacola, Florida. These sixteen men were locked behind bars, most to stay their until they died.

Geronimo spent 23 years of his life as a prisoner until on February 17, 1909, Geronimo died from pneumonia while still in the Fort Pickens prison. As much as he may have wished, he was never able to return to his homeland. After his death, however, his remains was taken to be buried in the Apache Cemetery in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. His descendants reside in south central New Mexico on the Mescalero Apache Reservation.

Mangas Coloradas (1797-1862) was a chief and leader because of his intelligence and his size, standing at over six feet tall. He united the Apache tribes and led then in a successful war against white settlers on their land in New Mexico.

Victorio (1825-1880), a Chiricahua Chief of the Warm Springs Apaches, who fought with continual raids, the people who had taken control of his ancestral home. He died at Tres Castillos by a surprize attack from General Joaquin Terazas, while he and his band of 78 Apaches were awaiting for needed ammunition.

Lozen (1840-1886) was a Chiricahua Warm Spring Apache, skillful warrior, prophet, and an outstanding medicine woman. Lozen was sister to Victorio and known as a shield to her people. After the death of Victorio, Lozen continued to ride with Chief Nana and later joined Geronimo′s band, until she surrendered with the last band of Apaches in 1886. She died in Mount Vernon Barracks in Mobile Alabama.

Chohise (died 1874) was born in present day Arizona, led the Chiricahua band of Apache during a time of social upheaval. In 1850, the US took control of the territory of what is now Arizona and New Mexico, but Cochise maintained peace with the white settlers at first, but then fought against those who would take away his homeland. Cochise surrendered in 1871 and upon his death was buried near he impregnable fortress in the Dragoon Mountains.