Free Republic

Driving the backroads of southeastern Arizona, where scrubland stretches in every direction, Chiricahua juts out of the landscape like a geological plot twist. Part of the Sky Islands, mountain ranges spanning from southeastern Arizona to southwestern New Mexico and into northern Mexico, the Chiricahuas are home to dramatic elevation changes and rich biodiversity. “Coatimundi crossing” signs dot the roadsides, warning drivers to watch for this ring-tailed, long-snouted raccoon cousin, and even the occasional jaguar is known to prowl the region. The Chiricahua Mountains also hold cultural and historical significance as part of the ancestral homeland of the Apache. As an...

Chiricahua National Monument Celebrates the Contribution of Buffalo Soldiers to the National Park Service WILLCOX -- Special exhibits will be displayed at the Chiricahua Visitor Center from Sept. 4 to 30to honor Buffalo Soldiers. One exhibit describes the past and future archaeological work in Bonita Canyon to document the Buffalo Soldiers’ encampment. Buffalo Soldiers patrolled Bonita Canyon from 1885-1886, an area that became part of Chiricahua National Monument when it was established in 1924. The park archaeologist developed this exhibit. Another exhibit focuses on the Buffalo Soldiers and Colonel Charles Young, the highest ranking African-American officer in the US Army...

February 17th is the anniversary of the death in 1909 of that legendary Chiricahua Apache chieftain, Geronimo (born ca. 1829), whose actual Indian name was Goyathlay ("One Who Yawns"). The name by which Geronimo is remembered was supposedly bestowed on him by a detachment of Mexican soldiers so stunned by the ferocity of his resistance that they repeatedly invoked the name of St. Jerome against him.