The Castillo de San Marcos—Part 8

by Jennifer Uhlarik

Hello, readers! Is anyone up for one more post about the Castillo de San Marcos? If so, here it is. By now, you’ve followed my posts about the fort being built by Spain in the 1600s, ceded to Britain in the 1700s, returning to Spain’s control again for a few years, eventually becoming an acquisition of the United States, and its fall into the Confederate Army’s hands during the American Civil War. We’ve also looked into the three years during the 1870s when the fort became home to seventy-three Plains Indians, as well as the internment of the Apache Indians a decade after that . So what happened next at the United States’ largest masonry fort? 

 

Life grew relatively quiet at Fort Marion after the Apaches departed. This once busy and crowded structure returned to the mundane service as a storage facility in the days after its last use as a military prison. However, that was only on the inside of the fort. While the ownership of the property belonged to the United States War Department, Fort Marion underwent the “Gilded Age” treatment. Due to its prominent location in the heart of St. Augustine’s historic district—and with it being easily viewed from the waters of Matanzas Bay, as well as standards of that era being on beauty and recreation, the War Department spent much money landscaping the grounds with trees, grass, and benches to turn this 20-acre facility into a park rather than a sterile military facility. Many flocked to the beautiful setting to walk on the extensive web if sidewalks and paths or even tour the ancient building. Fort Marion also became home to Florida’s first golf course. And various special events were held on the grounds—including the likes of early baseball games played by professional African-American players. 

Golfing on the grounds of Fort Marion, circa 1902. This golf course was the
first in Florida!

 

However, eventually, talks turned to whether the War Department should retain control of the facility or hand it off to another department who might make better use of it. On October 15, 1924, Fort Marion and another nearby installation, Fort Matanzas, were both decommissioned as military sites and were transferred into the control of the National Park Service. While the War Department’s main goal was to keep the fort in good repair for use as a jail or storage of military armaments, the NPS’s goal was to preserve the history of the site for ages to come. One significant change they made came in the early 1940s, when the old fort retook the name “Castillo de San Marcos” as it was originally called by Spain.

 

Another thing that occurred during the early 1940s was the bombing of Pearl Harbor, which, as we all know, drew the United States into World War II. With that development, Florida became a busy place for military training and military bases—and once again, St. Augustine and the  Castillo de San Marcos had a role to play. The United States Coast Guard came to town in 1942, taking over several hotels in historic St. Augustine. They placed their recruits in those hotels, then worked a deal with the Castillo de San Marcos to do PT exercises on the fort’s grounds. In addition, several of the casemates inside the fort were turned into classroom space again—just as they’d been used during the incarceration of the Plains and Apache Indians in times past. And the beautiful courtyard became the site of many graduation ceremonies for those who’d completed their training.

Graduation ceremony for the Coast Guard during the 1940s,
held in the courtyard of Castillo de San Marcos.

 

It was a good thing the U.S. Coast Guard had come to St. Augustine during this time. The Germans had long-range plans to do more than just wreak havoc in Europe. They’d also set their sights on the United States, and Florida was one area they were targeting. With an offensive code-named Operation Drumbeat, German submarines infiltrated the waters around Florida. In a matter of months, they sank roughly 400 ships and took thousands of sailors’ lives. This state, usually known for tranquil waters and pristine white-sand beaches became a nightmare where, many mornings, people would awaken to find bodies and carnage littering the shorelines. Even more frightening was the night in June 1942, when four German spies made it ashore from one of these German subs, carrying American money and explosives. Thankfully, those men were captured before they could carry out their nefarious plans. Once this was discovered, special patrols of Coast Guard members patrolled the beaches on horseback, in Jeeps, or even on foot with specially trained dogs.

Coast Guard and trained dogs patrolling
Florida beaches during WWII

 

As I’m sure everyone knows, World War II lasted until 1945. As troops returned to American soil, many who had come to Florida for training or service at one of the 172 military installations in the state decided to return here once they’d made it home. What had been a relatively quiet, agriculture-based state with only small pockets of tourist areas prior to the war suddenly flooded with newcomers. Across the nation, the population boomed following the soldiers’ return—at an average rate of about fifteen percent. In Florida, the boom was three times that amount, or 46%! The state officially became one of the tourist capitals of the country, and St. Augustine and the Castillo de San Marcos remain one of the most captivating vacation spots to this day!

 

It's Your Turn: If you have been following along on these posts about St. Augustine’s Castillo de San Marcos, what time period did you find to be the most interesting? If you have not read the entire series of posts, what piece of today’s post was most intriguing?

 

 

 

Award-winning, best-selling novelist Jennifer Uhlarik has loved the western genre since she read her first Louis L’Amour novel. She penned her first western while earning a writing degree from University of Tampa. Jennifer lives near Tampa with her husband, son, and furbabies. www.jenniferuhlarik.com

 

 

 

AVAILABLE NOW!

 

Love's Fortress by Jennifer Uhlarik

 

A Friendship From the Past Brings Closure to Dani’s Fractured Family

 

When Dani Sango’s art forger father passes away, Dani inherits his home. There, she finds a book of Native American drawings, which leads her to seek museum curator Brad Osgood’s help to decipher the ledger art. Why would her father have this book? Is it another forgery?

 

Brad Osgood longs to provide his four-year-old niece, Brynn, the safe home she desperately deserves. The last thing he needs is more drama, especially from a forger’s daughter. But when the two meet “accidentally” at St. Augustine’s 350-year-old Spanish fort, he can’t refuse the intriguing woman.

 

Broken Bow is among seventy-three Plains Indians transported to Florida in 1875 for incarceration at ancient Fort Marion. Sally Jo Harris and Luke Worthing dream of serving on a foreign mission field, but when the Indians reach St. Augustine, God changes their plans. However, when Sally Jo’s friendship with Broken Bow leads to false accusations, it could cost them their lives.

 

Can Dani discover how Broken Bow and Sally Jo’s story ends and how it impacted her father’s life?

 

 

 

The Castillo de San Marcos--Part 7

by Jennifer Uhlarik

 

Hello, readers! Are you ready for more interesting history about the oldest masonry fort on U.S. soil? If you’ve been following along, you’ve learned all about the fort’s founding and how it was passed between Spain, Britain, Spain again, the United States, and even fell to the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. Last month, I told you how, for a period of three years during the 1870s, the fort became home to seventy-three Plains Indians. And this month, I’ll share another interesting chapter of the Castillo’s history—the internment of the Apache Indians.

 

Just as we learned in last month’s post about the Plains Indians, the Native Americans of all tribes were struggling to acclimate to the idea of so many white men flooding into what had been their traditional territories. The Apaches were no different, and conflicts sparked between these groups all across Arizona for decades. Fierce warriors that they were, the Apaches fought hard against the incoming settlers, making homesteading in the Southwest a difficult endeavor. The Frontier Army came in and attempted to subdue the Apaches, placing them on reservation lands, but as so often happened, those promised lands ended up being found to have hidden value in the form of gold, silver, or other resources. Or the government didn’t deliver the promised supplies—cattle and other food supplies, blankets and clothing, etc. So new treaties were negotiated, and new boundaries drawn up, shrinking the sizes of reservations or moving them to new locations all together, all so that white men could capitalize on the resources they’d found on reservation lands—or with more promises of better supplies in the new locales. As anyone would, the Apaches grew tired of this shuffling and broken promises. Bands began breaking out of the reservations to go again on raids and make war on the Army and settlements for these unfair practices, as well as to provide for their families. Ultimately, this war went on for years, but slowly ended as Apache leader after Apache leader finally surrendered when they couldn’t keep going.

Apache Men sitting among cannons housed
at Fort Marion, circa 1886

Similar to the Plains Indians, various Apache men were chosen to be sent to Florida for incarceration at Fort Marion. What was different from the Plains Indians incarceration was that women and children were also sent to the fort. They arrived by train on April 16, 1886. Of course, all of St. Augustine came out to gawk at the new arrivals. The oldest men came first, wrapped in their blankets. Following them came the younger warriors. And lastly, the women and children. While large, the fort could comfortably sleep 150 or so, not the 502 who ended up being sent to Florida for imprisonment. Some of the Apaches were made to sleep in the casemate rooms surrounding the inner courtyard, and many others were sent to the gundeck above to sleep in Sibley tents.

 

As you might imagine, life was difficult in a strange new place, particularly in such tight quarters. The Apaches were given a pound of beef per adult per day, with children receiving half that; fresh bread each day; vegetables and grains like rice, turnips, hominy and beans, as well as a small weekly portion of potatoes and onions. The women were expected to cook the food themselves, except for the bread, which was made down the street at St. Francis Barracks and carted over each morning. They drank coffee with sugar, or they had water from the well within the fort’s walls. 

 

Geronimo, one of the most famous Apache
warriors. While he was not held at Fort Marion,
his wife was, and gave birth to his daughter, Marion
(later renamed Lenna), while there.

There were twelve Apache children born during the year they were incarcerated at Fort Marion, the first of which was Geronimo’s daughter (aptly names “Marion”, although she later changed her name to Lenna). Unfortunately, there were also several deaths in that year. When you stop to consider the sheer number of people in such confined spaces, it isn’t surprising that illness ran rampant among them. Colonel Langdon, who was in charge of overseeing the Apache prisoners, brought in Army physician, Dr. DeWitt Webb, to treat the men, women, and children. Despite his best efforts, Dr. Webb reported that he lost numerous patients to various diseases, such as dysentery, acute bronchitis, marasmus (or wasting disease), old age, epilepsy, tuberculosis, and neonatal tetanus. All told, twenty-four Apaches died during that year in St. Augustine. 

 

In order to make more room during the daylight hours, the Apaches were allowed to spread out outside the fort walls on the grounds and go into town, but even so, there wasn’t much for them to do. Children played games while the adults saw to the needs of their families, cooking, mending clothing, and repairing their few belongings. There wasn’t enough space for much else. The women would weave baskets to sell to locals and tourists, and men and boys would make and sell bows and arrows, as well as offer lessons in how to use the weaponry. However, with the overcrowded conditions, it was harder for the Apaches to make and sell their wares than it had been for the seventy-three Plains Indians a decade before.

 

The prisoners began turning to gambling and card games to pass the time until Colonel Langdon came to the same conclusion that his predecessor, Lt. Richard Henry Pratt, had. They needed stimulation, and it would come through education and assimilation. Colonel Langdon contacted Richard Henry Pratt in Carlisle, PA, to ask him to return to Fort Marion and interview the children to see if any would be a good fit at the Carlisle Indian Residential School, of which Pratt was the founder and headmaster. Upon Pratt’s visit, he selected 103 of the children to return with him to the school, and they young ones were immediately sent on their way under Pratt’s care. At the Carlisle Indians School, they children were given military-style uniforms to wear, their hair was cut short, and they were given Christian names.

Apache children in traditional garb on their arrival at Carlisle Indian School (left).
Many of the same children after receiving haircuts and military-style uniforms (right).

 

Of the roughly four hundred remaining Apaches, Colonel Langdon again called upon St. Augustine’s women to begin educating the Natives. Just as with the Plains Indians, Miss Sarah Mather and other local women set up classes so the Apache adults could learn to read, write, and speak English, as well as some simple arithmetic, science, and other subjects. Those children who were not taken to Carlisle, PA, were taken each weekday to a local nunnery where the Sisters of St. Joseph educated them in similar subject matter. Unlike Lt. Pratt before him, Colonel Langdon did not implement a physical training program or having skilled craftsman teaching the Apaches their crafts—more than likely because there were too many prisoners and not enough space for such education.

 

After roughly one year, those Apaches left in St. Augustine were moved again, this time to a reservation in Alabama, and later to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, where they remained.

 

Award-winning, best-selling novelist Jennifer Uhlarik has loved the western genre since she read her first Louis L’Amour novel. She penned her first western while earning a writing degree from University of Tampa. Jennifer lives near Tampa with her husband, son, and furbabies. www.jenniferuhlarik.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

AVAILABLE NOW!

 

Love's Fortress by Jennifer Uhlarik

 

A Friendship From the Past Brings Closure to Dani’s Fractured Family

 

When Dani Sango’s art forger father passes away, Dani inherits his home. There, she finds a book of Native American drawings, which leads her to seek museum curator Brad Osgood’s help to decipher the ledger art. Why would her father have this book? Is it another forgery?

 

Brad Osgood longs to provide his four-year-old niece, Brynn, the safe home she desperately deserves. The last thing he needs is more drama, especially from a forger’s daughter. But when the two meet “accidentally” at St. Augustine’s 350-year-old Spanish fort, he can’t refuse the intriguing woman.

 

Broken Bow is among seventy-three Plains Indians transported to Florida in 1875 for incarceration at ancient Fort Marion. Sally Jo Harris and Luke Worthing dream of serving on a foreign mission field, but when the Indians reach St. Augustine, God changes their plans. However, when Sally Jo’s friendship with Broken Bow leads to false accusations, it could cost them their lives.

 

Can Dani discover how Broken Bow and Sally Jo’s story ends and how it impacted her father’s life?

 

The Castillo de San Marcos--Pt 6 (and a giveaway!)

 

By Jennifer Uhlarik

 

Hello, readers! Time for your next installment of the history of the Castillo de San Marcos. If you’ve been following along over the last handful of months, you’ve read about the Spanish building this large masonry fort in St. Augustine, Florida, how the fort came into British possession, was returned to Spanish control for a brief time, became an American acquisition, and then traded hands between the Federal and Confederate armies during the Civil War. So what happened after the war’s end? Life in the St. Augustine fort was quiet for only a decade before it next came into use.

 

The north wall of Fort Marion,
including the wooden barracks the
Native American prisoners built
on the upper gun deck.

As many of you may know, the western territories were fraught with conflict. Not just between lawmen and outlaws, but also with conflicts between the Native American tribes and the western settlers. Many battles cropped up between settlers and Indians, with much bloodshed on both sides, until the Frontier Army and the Native American tribes such as the Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Comanche, and others, were in an all-out war. There were many instances where whites attacked and massacred sleeping camps of Indians, and others where Indians wiped out whole wagon trains or military units. It was a long, drawn-out period where many lives were lost—a tragic piece of America’s history.

 

That war finally came to an end on the western plains in the mid-1870s. In 1874 and 1875, the various Indian tribes surrendered to the Army. Investigations were done into some of the most horrendous of attacks perpetuated by members of these tribes, and those who led them were singled out to be made examples of. The rest were sent to the reservations in Indian Territory (modern-day Oklahoma). While some Indians were tired of the decades of conflict and were willing to live peacefully, others chafed at the American government being able to tell them where and how they should live. Those in the latter group often attempted to stir up trouble within the reservation lands, leading their other tribesmen to rebel. So these men also were singled out for further punishment. In total, there were seventy-three men from five tribes—the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Comanche, Kiowa, and Caddo—who were to be punished. Their punishment was to be sent to distant Florida, far from their tribal lands, and completely cut off from their people, to be incarcerated in Fort Marion (aka the Castillo de San Marcos). 

 

Some of the seventy-three Plains
Indians, posing with Lt. Pratt,
soon after their arrival at
Fort Marion.

The trip from the west took roughly a month, and during that time, these seventy-three men traveled by wagon to reach the railroad, then by train all the way to the panhandle of Florida. There, they disembarked the train and boarded a steamboat for a brief ride south. Then another short train ride, and finally, they arrived at the fort they would call home for some unspecified time. Their travels east were not without difficulties. While the men were used to galloping for miles on horseback, the unfamiliar movements and sounds of the train made many of them sick at their stomachs. There was at least one escape attempt during a brief stop-over, leading to one of the seventy-three men being shot and left behind under military guard until he was well enough to travel. By the time these prisoners of war reached St. Augustine’s fort, they were shells of the fierce warriors they’d once been. Instead, they were thin and bedraggled, wrapped in blankets with shackles on their hands and feet. They shuffled through crowds of St. Augustine residents to reach the stone fort and face their punishment.

 

Uniformed Indians performing
morning drills.

The man who was placed in charge of the Indians’ care was one Lieutenant Richard
Henry Pratt. He quickly realized that his charges were wasting away with little to do, so he struck upon the idea to give them men structure. First, he instituted military drills and physical exercise, just like the Army soldiers were made to do. Then, Pratt began noticing that the casemate rooms in which the men slept each night were moldy. He put the Indians to work scrubbing the walls and ceilings. With each new task, the men’s outlook seemed to improve. They liked to work. It wasn’t long before Pratt approached his military superiors to ask about teaching the Indians reading, writing, simple arithmetic, and even trades with which to make money in the white man’s world. After some discussion, he was granted approval for the progressive plan, and Pratt teamed up with various women in the St. Augustine community to begin classes. Two of the most prominent women were Sarah Ann Mather and Rebecca Perit, who did much to further the lives of freed slaves and the Native Americans in St. Augustine. With their help, Lt. Pratt even began weekly church services within the fort, led by local ministers from the St. Augustine area.

 

Just like on the reservations, there were some who took to the new ways, and those who didn’t accept it as easily. But by and large, the Indians cooperated enough to make the plan work. For several hours each weekday morning, they would sit in class and learn to speak and read English, work simple math problems, and other academic subjects. In the afternoons, they would learn trades like shoe cobbling, blacksmithing, farming, and other skills that they would be able to carry into life after incarceration.

 

Example of Ledger Art drawn by one of the 
Plains Indians, depicting their travels
to Fort Marion.

As they embraced their new, structured day and showed themselves to be trustworthy, Pratt begin giving them more freedoms. When a local jeweler approached Lt. Pratt with the request to have the Indians gather and polish “sea beans” for him to sell in his store, they went to work. They were given time to go across Matanzas Bay to Anastasia Island and gather then beans, then spent hours polishing the beans to a high shine. They turned over thousands of the trinkets and were paid handsomely for their efforts. This led to other money-making ventures. Drawing “ledger art” and selling it outside the fort. Making bows and arrows to sell to tourists. Teaching those same tourists how to use the authentic weapons. In addition, they also began putting on cultural displays—powwows, Native dances, “buffalo” hunts (using cattle from local ranches and the worst of the nags the local livery stables had to offer). 

 

For three years, these industrious men were incarcerated in St. Augustine’s ancient fort. While many of those seventy-three fell ill to consumption (tuberculosis) and other illnesses, most survived and either returned to the reservations and their families—or, in some cases, followed Pratt on his next venture, which was to found the Carlisle Indian School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. 

 

It’s Your Turn: Lt. Richard Henry Pratt fought hard for the seventy-three Native American men he was put in charge of at Fort Marion in 1875. He employed progressive ideas to educate these men in hopes they might be able to one day integrate into society at large. In your opinion, was Pratt a hero for his ideas to help the Indian men learn skills that would help them integrate, or was he a villain for forcing them to embrace a culture not their own? Leave your honest opinion with an email address to be entered into a drawing for an autographed paperback copy of Love’s Fortress (US entries only). (I know this topic can bring some heated feelings, so please be kind in your responses)!

 

Award-winning, best-selling novelist Jennifer Uhlarik has loved the western genre since she read her first Louis L’Amour novel. She penned her first western while earning a writing degree from University of Tampa. Jennifer lives near Tampa with her husband, son, and furbabies. www.jenniferuhlarik.com

 

AVAILABLE NOW!

Love's Fortress by Jennifer Uhlarik

 

A Friendship From the Past Brings Closure to Dani’s Fractured Family

 

When Dani Sango’s art forger father passes away, Dani inherits his home. There, she finds a book of Native American drawings, which leads her to seek museum curator Brad Osgood’s help to decipher the ledger art. Why would her father have this book? Is it another forgery?

 

Brad Osgood longs to provide his four-year-old niece, Brynn, the safe home she desperately deserves. The last thing he needs is more drama, especially from a forger’s daughter. But when the two meet “accidentally” at St. Augustine’s 350-year-old Spanish fort, he can’t refuse the intriguing woman.

 

Broken Bow is among seventy-three Plains Indians transported to Florida in 1875 for incarceration at ancient Fort Marion. Sally Jo Harris and Luke Worthing dream of serving on a foreign mission field, but when the Indians reach St. Augustine, God changes their plans. However, when Sally Jo’s friendship with Broken Bow leads to false accusations, it could cost them their lives.

 

Can Dani discover how Broken Bow and Sally Jo’s story ends and how it impacted her father’s life?

 

St. Augustine, Florida and the Rise of Ledger Art

Group of Plains Indians on their arrival at Fort Marion, 1875

By Marilyn Turk

On May 21, 1875, seventy-two Native Americans arrived in St. Augustine, Florida, to be held as prisoners at Fort Marion (now called by its original name, Fort San Marcos). They had traveled over a thousand miles by wagon, railroad and steamboat from Fort Sill, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). These Native Americans had been chosen at random from other Indians captured during the 1874 Red River War of the Southern Plains.

The group included so-called ringleaders of raids on white settlers and included representatives from five different tribes - Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa, Arapaho, and Caddo. The Native Americans, shackled in chains and heavily guarded, slept on the dirt floor of the fort.

When Lieutenant Richard Henry Pratt of the 10^th Calvary was given charge over the prisoners, he improved their living conditions. The prisoners were unchained and allowed to move more freely around the fort. They were also given wood to build their own barracks on top of the gun deck (terreplein).

Native American soldiers

Lt. Pratt issued the prisoners military uniforms and had their hair cut. They were organized into guard units and taught to perform daily drills, engage in morning exercise routines and were subject to daily inspections like regular soldiers. In addition, Pratt organized camping bivouacs for the Native Americans on nearby Anastasia Island and taught them how to sail and fish.

Pratt believed Native Americans could be educated, so he recruited local teachers to come teach the English language, along with other elementary skills to the prisoners. Several of the fort’s rooms were turned into classrooms and one was converted to a chapel where local ministers would preach the gospel. Although Pratt’s goal was to “westernize” the Native Americans with his theory, “kill the Indian, save the man,” his approach to their treatment was more humane than many of his peers who did not see the Indians as human equals. 

Many of the Native Americans were accustomed to telling their stories by drawing on buffalo hides. Pratt encouraged their drawing skills by giving them pencils and paper from ledger books to use and later, sketch pads. In this way, the Native Americans preserved the history of their life on the plains, their journey to Florida and their life at the fort. Several of the Indians achieved some fame with their artwork.

Three years later, the prisoners at Fort Marion were released to the care of the Indian Bureau. Many returned west, but 22 expressed a desire to stay in the east and continue their education. Pratt made arrangements to have their education funded by white citizens. He convinced the superintendent of the Hampton School, a Virginia school started for freed slaves after the Civil War, to accept seventeen of these men as students. The remaining five went to live with families in the northeast.

Have you ever heard of ledger art? Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of my new book, Redeeming Light.

Add caption

Cora Miller, a recent widow, moves to St. Augustine in 1875 with her young daughter to start life over as a single mother. She opens a fine millinery shop and seeks the business of affluent town society. An unfortunate incident during the arrival of Indian prisoners results in Cora meeting a group of wealthy tourists.

When Daniel Worthington accompanied his mother and sister to St. Augustine, he didn’t expect their trip to coincide with the arrival of Plains Indians at the fort. But concern for their plight prompts him to use his art training to help the prisoners communicate. He has little interest in pretty hatmaker Cora Miller, who has no sympathy for the Native Americans and is only concerned with frivolities. But seeing her with a benevolence group at the fort, his opinion of her begins to change.

Just as Cora’s business is picking up, her wealthy customers report the theft of their jewelry. When the jewelry mysteriously appears in her shop, she is afraid of being accused of theft. What will happen to her if no one believes her? Will she lose everything she’s worked for, or will someone step up to her defense?

Geronimo Goes To The Beach

Geronimo at time of capture

By Marilyn Turk (http://pathwayheart.com.)

In the wee hours of the morning on October 25, 1886, a train pulled into the station at Pensacola, Florida. By 8:30 a.m., people were lined up to view the occupants in the highly publicized event.

Onboard was the most notorious Indian ever captured by the United States Army. Geronimo, along with 14 other Apache warriors, had arrived.

Thirty soldiers stood guard over the Indians while townspeople pointed and gawked at the sight of the natives they’d read about, especially Geronimo. He’d made a laughing stock out of the US Army, avoiding capture many times, then escaping when captured. Newspaper cartoons caricatured the events happening out West which made the elusive Geronimo appear to be the victor instead of the captured.

Apaches at Fort Pickens

Meanwhile, the 62-year-old Apache with the shiny black hair, parted down the middle with a handkerchief tied around it, sat resolute, observing those who came to see him. He had finally surrendered, accepting the conditions of a handshake that guaranteed him his own land. But he and his band of warriors were sent to prison instead. Because the Army didn’t want to risk another embarrassing escape, he was sent to Fort Sam Houston in Texas, then to Florida.

The original plan was to send his entire band to Fort Marion in St. Augustine where 400 other Indians of different tribes were already being held prisoner. However, while Geronimo and his band were “quartered in four big tents” in Texas, several prominent Pensacola residents petitioned the government to have Geronimo’s group sent to Fort Pickens on nearby Santa Rosa Island instead. They pleaded the case that Fort Marion was too crowded and that Army troops from Pensacola’s Fort Barrancas could guard the prisoners in a more secluded environment. The editor of The Pensacolian newspaper noted that Geronimo would be “an attraction which will bring here a great many visitors.”

The Apaches were sent to Florida as scheduled, however, the families were divided. When the train stopped in Pensacola, the men were removed, but their wives and children in a separate rail car continued on to St. Augustine and Fort Marion.

The men were then taken to the wharf to a steamer where they were ushered aboard for the ride across the bay to the island where Fort Pickens awaited.  For most of them, their first boat ride was a frightening experience, while one “old” Indian was reported to enjoy the sight of porpoises running alongside.

Casement room where Apaches lived

At Fort Pickens the Indians lived in two open casemates with fireplaces. They slept on cots and hung netting in their quarters as protection from the mosquitoes. They were issued army rations, cooking utensils, and clothing. At Fort Sam Houston, Geronimo spent his time playing cards with the others in his band. Things were different, though, at Fort Pickens, where the captives were forced to work each day cleaning up the old fort, clearing weeds, planting grass and stacking cannonballs. Model prisoners, they hoped their willingness to cooperate would reunite them with their families.

To see the Apaches, tourists had to first obtain a pass from Colonel Langdon, who was in charge, and pay for a boat trip to the island. Groups of visitors, sometimes as many as 400 a day, took an excursion boat across the bay to see the captives. Geronimo, the “savage” whose reputation struck fear in the hearts of Western settlers, enjoyed his popularity and used it to his advantage, requesting various items from sympathetic tourists. Besides entertaining visitors, Geronimo and some of the other Apaches were sometimes displayed in town, where they charged 25 cents for their pictures and autographs.

Geronimo on the right

Public outcry over the treatment of the Indians pressured Colonel Langdon to petition his superiors for reunification with their families. As a result, on April 27, 1887, the families arrived and were housed in the officers’ quarters on the south side of the fort while single men were moved to similar rooms on the north side.

Soon the sound of women and children was heard at the fort and newspapers reported “Geronimo Happy.” In June 1887, a corn dance was held in celebration of the families’ reunion. About 300 Pensacolians attended by invitation from the Colonel.

One of Geronimo's wives and his children

Unlike at Fort Marion where many Apache prisoners died, the Apaches’ health was generally good at Fort Pickens. There was only one death during the eighteen months they were held there - She-gha, one of Geronimo’s three wives. She was buried at Barrancas National Cemetery.

The fear of yellow fever led the Army to remove the Apaches from Fort Pickens to Mount Vernon Barracks, north of Mobile, Alabama on May 12, 1888. The Apaches were moved a final time to a reservation of 50,000 acres at Fort Sill, Oklahoma in 1894. Geronimo died there in 1909, having attained fame, but never regaining his freedom or returning to his homeland. The remaining Apaches from his tribe were freed in 1913.

 

Geronimo posing for picture

.