"During my [childhood] we had never seen a missionary or a priest. We had never seen a white man. Thus quietly lived the Be-don-ko-he Apaches."

- Goyathlay (Geronimo), Bedonkohe

"They never explained to the Government when an Indian was wronged, but always reported the misdeeds of the Indians. Much that was done by mean white men was reported at Washington as the deeds of my people."

- Goyathlay (Geronimo), Bedonkohe

"In the summer of 1858, being at peace with the Mexican towns...we went south into Old Mexico to trade....Late one afternoon when returning from town we were met by a few women and children who told us that Mexican women and troops...had attacked our camp...when all were counted, I found that my aged mother, my young wife, and my three small children were among the slain. There were no lights in the camp, so without being noticed, I silently turned away and stood by the river. How long I stood there I do not know....I stood until all had passed, hardly knowing what I would do -- I had no weapon, nor did I hardly wish to fight, neither did I contemplate recovering the bodies of my loved ones....I did not pray, nor did I resolve to do anything in particular, for I had no purpose left. I finally followed the tribe silently, keeping just within hearing distance of the soft noise of the feet of the retreating Apaches....[Later, I] talked with the other Indians who had lost in the massacre, but none had lost as I had, for I had lost all. Within a few days we arrived at our own settlement. There were the decorations that [my wife] Alope had made -- and there were the playthings of our little ones. I burned them all....I was never again contented in our quiet home...and whenever I...saw anything to remind me of former happy days my heart would ache for revenge upon Mexico."

- Goyathlay (Geronimo), Bedonkohe

First Opened: November 13, 2000
Revised: June 2004