Cochise, a major Chiricahua Apache chief, died in 1874. No one knows in what year he was born, but it could have been as early as 1799. In his own language, his name "Cheis" meant "having the quality or strength of oak." I had always understood Apaches to be short in stature, but Cochise is reported to have been 6' and almost 200 pounds - no small man! They also said he had "chiseled" features though there apparently are no photographs of him.
Cochise led his branch of the Apache tribe, the Chiricahua, in raids against the encroaching Mexican settlers. Twas nothing new - the Apaches had been resisting the Spanish/Mexicans since the 1600's. Back in Spain someone came up with the bright idea of giving them garbage firearms and all the liquor they could drink to ultimately make them dependent on the Spanish government for their next "fix." (I think Ancient Rome catered to the baser desires of its citizens to keep their focus off of politics, too.) This "Galvez Peace Policy" worked pretty good for Spain. But once Mexico won its independence from Spain, the Policy was dropped (for whatever reasons), and the Apache went back to raiding. Cochise's father was killed during these interactions, and Cochise himself was captured in 1848 by the Mexicans, but they traded him back to the tribe for a dozen or so Mexican prisoners.
After the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), when the United States took over control of the New Mexico-Arizona Territory, the Apaches settled down and got along pretty good with the white man. Apaches were even known to supply stage stops with firewood!
Occasionally frisky warriors would raid settlers for cattle or other things, but raiding turned to out-'n-out war for Cochise when, in 1861, he was personally accused of raiding a homestead and kidnapping a young white boy, Felix Tellez. Lieutenant George Bascom tricked Cochise into joining him at a stage stop one evening and arrested him with the intent of holding him in custody until the truth could be discovered. Cochise didn't appreciate this "handling" and cut his way out of the backside of the tent that he was being held in. It wasn't a planned escape, so it not only took Bascom by surprise, but it also caught Cochise's family by surprise. Bascom detained the family members left behind and so - tit for tat - Cochise captured some white folks. When negotiations broke down, both sides killed their hostages, including Bascom's killing Cochise's brother and two of his nephews. Not good! and Cochise went to warring bigtime.
Just two years later, Cochise lost his father-in-law, Mangas Coloradas, when the cavalry tricked Mangas into coming to a peace parley, took him prisoner and then murdered him. (Not cool to mess with your wife's daddy!!)
Mangas Coloradas WAS born in the 1700's (1793 to be exact.) He hated the Spanish/Mexicans for atrocities committed against his Membreno branch of the Apaches of southwest New Mexico, so during the Mexican-American War he offered to help the Americans. Later, a bunch of miners got ahold of Mangas Coloradas in one of the mining camps and whipped him. From that point forward he joined his son-in-law, Cochise, in the war against ANY foreign settlement of Apache lands.
Thousands of lives later (well, some texts say hundreds - others say as many as 5,000, so I'm thinkin' "thousands" is a pretty good compromise number...), and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property damage, the U.S. government decided to sue for peace in 1872. By then, most of southeast Arizona had been wiped clean of Mexican AND American settlements by Apache raiders. Setting aside land - a huge section of land - in the beautiful and cool southeastern corner of the Arizona Territory (where Tombstone sits) allowed Cochise to agree, saying,"The white man and the Indian are
to drink of the same water, eat of the same bread, and be at peace."
When Cochise died of natural causes two years later, his warriors took his body into the Dragoon Mountains east of Tombstone and lowered him and his needs for the happy hunting ground into a crevice in the rocks. Cochise's family and one white man, Tom Jeffers, the only white man Cochise ever befriend and never lost trust in, were the only ones to know the location - and the intel died with them. No one has ever divulged the exact location, but the area is still known as Cochise's Stronghold.
Remember the boy Cochise was accused of kidnapping? Ten years passed and Felix Tellez turned up as a Cavalry scout. He swears Cochise's Chiricahua Apaches were NOT the ones to have kidnapped him lo those many years ago. Had Lt. Bascom simply treated Cochise with respect things might have turned out a bit better, eh?
Cochise's son, Taza, succeeded him as tribal chief, went to Washington, D.C. to represent the Apaches and died of pneumonia while there. What do you do with a body in the late 1800's? How do you get it back to Arizona? You don't. Taza is buried in Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. There was a movie made in 1954, "Taza, Son of Cochise," starring Rock Hudson. (Who knew???)
There was also a TV series called "Broken Arrow" depicting the relationship between Cochise and Tom Jeffers that produced 72 episodes from 1956 to 1958. Michael Ansar played Cochise and he was perfect for the part. It was excellent show!!
Cochise's other descendants are said to currently reside at the Mescalero Apache Reservation, near Ruidoso, New Mexico.
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