How the West Was Lost — Season 1, Episode 3: Always the Enemy
Documentary • 45 min • 2 seasons, 13 episodes
Episode synopsis
This is the story of Geronimo and Victorio, two Apache leaders who repeatedly struck out against, and were victorious over, the white men who tried to oppress their people and force them to live on a hot, barren, malarial flat on the Gila River in Arizona, called the San Carlos Reservation. For years, US and Mexican troops attacked Victorio and Geronimo and eventually won their surrender only to find that the two had escaped once again from the reservation and had resumed the battle. In 1886, with Victorio now dead, Geronimo formally surrendered to General Nelson Miles. In this episode viewers will meet direct descendants of Geronimo and Victorio and other Apache.
About How the West Was Lost
The history of 19th-century America is the story of struggles between settlers moving west and Native Americans trying to hold on to their ancestral territories. The clash between lifestyles and land rights forged a new land and unified an American culture, but in the process a venerable way of life was destroyed. Follow the Cherokee, Dakota, Lakota, and Nez Perc as they fight to keep their homelands.