Beth Clark, age 12, of Brownsville, Texas, for her question:

WHO WAS GERONIMO?

Geronimo was a leader of the Chiricahua band of Apache Indians, the bandit group that was one of the last to resist the white man in the southwestern part of the United States. He lived from 1829 to 1909.

Born in Arizona, Geronimo was a young warrior who took part in many raids in Mexico and the United States. After years of warfare, the Apaches were placed on reservations and most settled into a peaceful new life. But Geronimo escaped to Mexico in 1876 and organized outlaw raids on white settlers.

Geronimo was captured in 1883 and sent back to the reservation. But he was out soon, this time staging raids on both sides of the border.

Geronimo was in and out a number of additional times. Then came a last night when his band of 35 men and eight boys was captured by a team of 5,000 troops and 500 Indians. It was finally time for the great Indian leader to settle down. He converted to Christianity in 1903.