I've never quite understood why a man who died quietly after 23 years of captivity would go down in history as the name synonymous with dramatic falls from a great distance, such as skydiving.

Today is February 17, 2009, and on this date in history, one hundred years ago, in 1909, Geronimo, Apache leader, died at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, a federal prisoner.

For a period of several decades, Geronimo lead the resistance to both Mexican and United States authorities. Just before his capture in 1886, with about fifty Apache, of all ages and both sexes, he evaded a huge U. S. military force.

For the rest of his life, Geronimo was in military custody but at the same time became a celebrity.

He appeared in the World's Fair in 1904 and rode in President Roosevelt's Inauguration parade in 1905. He sold pictures of himself and made a substantial income from it.

After his death some of his bones and his skull was stolen from the cemetery. A great urban legend grew up that Prescott Bush, later a U. S. Senator, and the father and grandfather of presidents, took the remains. He and other members of Skull and Bones from Yale were serving at Fort Sill at the time of the theft. The legend goes on that the skull and bones were used in secret ceremonies of the society at Yale. The story is widely held to be untrue, but the Society is so secretive that doubts remain as the society has refused to comment.

Constantly outnumbered, Geronimo fought a guerrilla war against both Mexican and United States troops from 1858 to 1886. At the end of his military career, he led a small band of 38 men, women, and children. They evaded 5,000 U.S. troops (one fourth of the army at the time) and many units of the Mexican army for a year. His band was one of the last major forces of independent Indian warriors who refused to acknowledge the United States Government in the American West. While seen at the time as a brutal savage (which he was) he was also a clever and resourceful tactician.