Geronimo’s Missing Million-Dollar War Bonnet

Janelle Meraz Hooper

   When I was writing the Geronimo, Life on the Reservation show for Rudy, I had written in an explanation of why Geronimo had a feathered war bonnet hanging on the wooden fence that surrounded his garden. It was too long to fit into the show, so I thought I’d share it with you here.

As you know, Apaches didn’t wear war bonnets. And Geronimo wasn’t a chief, but the Comanche Chief, Quanah Parker, was organizing a photo- shoot of the chiefs on the reservation and he wanted Geronimo to wear a war bonnet like the other warriors in the photo.

Geronimo didn’t have one, so Quanah loaned him one of his. At the end of the summit in Collinsville, Indian Territory on Oct. 19, 1907, 78-year-old Geronimo “gave” the bonnet—decorated with a tail of 48 feet of eagle feathers—to two gentlemen friends. Notice I put “gave” in quotes. I have no proof, but I suspect the two gentlemen had something Geronimo wanted. Most likely, cattle.

I have no idea how Quanah reacted when he discovered his elegant war bonnet had been given way. However, in 1999—Ninety-two years after the photo was taken, the most recent owner of the bonnet was charged by the FBI for trying to sell the war bonnet over the Internet for over a million dollars. It is hoped the headdress will ultimately belong to the Smithsonian.

Credit: October 19, 1999- Joseph A. Slobodzian Knight Ridder Newspapers and others. Illustration, Sherri Bails.