Albumen print cabinet card, titled "No. 181—Group of Hostiles,"
a group portrait of men, women, and children in Geronimo's camp, by Camillus S.
Fly, 1886. This photograph was taken in the days leading up to one of the most
famous episodes in the decades-long guerrilla war waged by Geronimo against the
U.S. Army. The printed caption on the verso of the card sums it up thus: "Scene in Geronimo's Camp, the Apache Outlaw
and Murderer. Taken before the surrender to Gen. Crook, March 27, 1886, in the
Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico, Escaped March 30, 1886." Geronimo
had agreed to an unconditional surrender and to two years imprisonment in the
East, but on the way to Fort Bowie, he and 24 others escaped. General Nelson
Miles ordered 5,000 troops into the field to capture the two dozen escapees,
but were unable to do so until September. Tombstone photographer (and later
Cochise County Sheriff) C.S. Fly accompanied General Crook to Mexico to
photograph the negotiations with Geronimo. 5 ¼” x 8 ½”. Clean except for fading
and small ink dots in the copyright box in the lower left corner. Good tone to
the image with no additional spotting. Some light spotting on the back. See the
images for more details on this historic image.