The Apache people originally lived in Arizona, northwestern Mexico, New Mexico and parts of Texas and the Great Plains. Misrepresented in popular culture, the Apache were actually a group of many different semi-nomadic tribes that had diverse and complex customs. The Apache fought the Spanish, Mexicans and the United States as those countries immigrated and settled what was historically Apache land. The Apache were finally defeated and driven from their land in 1886, when 5,000 US troops forced Geronimo and his comrades to surrender. The remaining members of the tribe were eventually relocated to reservations in Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma, where many of their descendants currently live.

Two of the more noted figures in the Apache history are Geronimo and Cochise. Geronimo was the chief of the Chiricahua Apache. He defended his people's land from the United States for more than 25 years. Cochise was also a chief of the Chiricahua Apache. He led an uprising in 1861 after being falsely accused of taking part in an incident involving a local rancher's cattle and his son, who was kidnapped.

A descendant of Geronimo, Harlyn Geronimo, filed a lawsuit in an attempt to claim what were believed to be Geronimo's remains. A long-standing rumor that Geronimo's skill was stolen by Yale University's Order of Skull and Bones was given more credence in 2006, when a letter confessing to the crime emerged. However, no direct evidence that Geronimo's grave has been discovered.Courant: Lawsuit Renews Mystery Of Geronimo's Skull (February 19, 2009)

Other Apache disagree on the lawsuit.The head of the Apache tribe of Fort Sill, Jeff Houser, stated that moving the remains of Geronimo that reside at Fort Sill would be desecrating the grave. The lawsuit seeks remains both from Yale and from Fort Sill.NBC: Fort Sill may protest return of Geronimo remains February 20, 2009)

• NBC: Fort Sill may protest return of Geronimo remains (February 20, 2009)

• 1867: Leaders of the Kiowa, Comanche and Kiowa-Apache signed a peace treaty at Medicine Lodge, Kansas

• 1872: Chiricahua Apache leader Cochise signed a peace treaty with the Special Indian Commissioner

• 1872: A U.S. Army force defeated a group of Apache warriors at Salt River Canyon, Arizona Territory, leaving 57 Apaches and 1 soldier dead

• 1874: Cochise died on a reservation in southeastern Arizona

• 1880: Victorio, leader of the Minbreno Apache, was killed in northwestern Chihuahua, Mexico

• 1883: U.S. Supreme Court declared American Indians to be "dependent aliens"

• 1886: A band of Apaches led by Geronimo attacked a ranch west of Fort Huachuca

• 1886: Apache leader Geronimo surrendered to General Nelson A. Miles, ending the last major US-Indian war

• 1909: Apache chief Geronimo died while still in captivity at Fort Sill, Oklahoma

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