Cochise
Cochise was a prominent leader of the Chiricahua Apache tribe, born in the early 19th century in what is now Arizona, during a tumultuous period of Mexican revolution. Likely the son of a tribal chief, he grew up during escalating conflicts between the Apaches and Mexicans, which would shape his lifetime. By the mid-1830s, he emerged as a notable figure in Apache raids against Mexican settlements, a practice driven by the harsh realities of survival and revenge for personal losses, including the death of his father.
Throughout the 1860s, Cochise became a significant leader not only of the Chokonen band but of the larger Chiricahua tribe, known for his strategic raids into both Mexican and American territories. His leadership coincided with the American Civil War, a time when both the U.S. and Mexico were preoccupied, allowing Apache raids to flourish. However, as peace efforts began, particularly after the Civil War, Cochise negotiated a treaty with the U.S. government that allowed his people to live peacefully in the Chiricahua Mountains.
Despite his reputation for conflict, the treaty marked a shift towards stability for Cochise's people, and he worked to reduce hostilities, although skirmishes persisted. Cochise passed away in 1874, leaving behind a complex legacy of resistance and leadership during a transformative era in the American Southwest. His life reflects the challenges faced by Indigenous peoples in navigating a rapidly changing landscape.
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Cochise
- Born: c. 1812
- Birthplace: Chiricahua Mountains of present-day southern Arizona
- Died: June 8, 1874
- Place of death: Chiricahua Apache Reservation, Arizona Territory
Tribal affiliation: Chiricahua Apache
Significance: As principal chief of the eastern Chiricahua Apaches from 1860 to 1872, Cochise orchestrated and led raids against U.S. and Mexican settlements
Cochise was born in the Spanish colony of Sonora (in present-day Arizona) during the revolution of 1810-1821, which eventually established the modern nation of Mexico. Although details of his ancestry remain uncertain, Cochise was probably the son of Pisago Cabezon, the leader of one of four bands of the Chiricahua Apaches who ranged over the area that is now southern Arizona and New Mexico and the northern Mexican states of Sonora and Chihuahua. As he grew to manhood, the long peace that had marked Mexican-Chiricahuan relations since around 1790 was coming to an end. By 1830, a bloody cycle of raiding, plundering, and murder had begun between the Apaches and Mexicans that determined the course of Cochise’s life.
Virtually nothing is known about Cochise’s life before 1835. He almost certainly received the special training his people reserved for the sons of chiefs, who were expected to become leaders when they matured. Such a child learned more discipline than other children, including controlling one’s temper, patience with other children, and respect for the property of others. Religious ritual accompanied every phase of the instruction of all Apache children.
Cochise entered the pages of history for the first time in 1835, when Mexican documents mention him as a leader of the Chokonen band of Chiricahua Apaches raiding in Sonora. His name appears again on the lists of those Apaches drawing rations from the Mexican government at Janos in modern Chihuahua in 1842 and 1843. By that time, the Apaches were in an almost perpetual state of war with the Mexican population of the area. Beginning about 1830, raiding (what Cochise called in his later years “making a living”), livestock stealing, and plundering became an integral part of the economies of many Apache tribes.
The man who was most likely Cochise’s father died by treachery during the Mexican-Apache wars in 1845 or 1846. Cochise never forgave the Mexicans and continued to raid south of the U.S. border until almost the end of his life.
After the Mexican-American War in 1846-1848, the United States acquired the territory known as the Mexican Cession (modern New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and California). The Apache bands quickly learned that they could raid in northern Mexico, flee across the border into Arizona or New Mexico, and have relative immunity from Mexican pursuit. The Apaches also found unscrupulous U.S. citizens eager to buy their Mexican plunder.
The Chiricahuas continued to live in the United States and raid primarily in Mexico for the next eight years, with Cochise probably a subchief in large frequent raiding parties led by his father-in-law, Mangas Coloradas. In 1857, the U.S. Army launched its first large-scale campaign against the Apaches in reaction to raids in New Mexico. Cochise joined other Chiricahuas in making a temporary peace with the Mexicans and fled across the border. This began a pattern that continued throughout the next decade: The Apaches would make peace on one side of the border for a while and then raid on the other.
By 1859, Cochise had become the principal chief of the Chokonen band. He negotiated a peace with the U.S. troops that lasted until 1861, although members of his band occasionally raided north of the border. Early in 1861, with the American Civil War only days in the future, an event occurred that launched the so-called Cochise wars between the U.S. government and the Chiricahuas: the Bascom Affair.
Although accounts of the affair vary, American troops led by Lieutenant George Nicholas Bascom apparently captured Cochise by treachery during a peace parlay on February 6, 1861, near Apache Pass in southern Arizona. Bascom ordered the execution of three of Cochise’s relatives in retaliation for the torture deaths of three U.S. citizens. Cochise escaped and spent the next decade pursuing vengeance against the Americans. For the next four years, the American governments (both U.S. and Confederate) focused most of their attention on fighting each other. As a result of American distraction, the Apaches raided with relative impunity throughout New Mexico and Arizona.
Cochise led or planned many of the Apache raids during this period. He became not only the principal chief of the Cho-konen, but of the entire Chiricahua tribe. Apache warriors from other Apache tribes such as the Mescaleros and White Mountain groups often joined his raiding parties because of his reputation as a leader. He became the most famous (or infamous) Indian leader of the 1860’s, often mentioned prominently in the American press by newspapers as far away as San Francisco and Missouri. He also continued to plan and lead raids into Mexico. The Mexicans, their attention diverted by the French Emperor Napoleon III’s attempt to establish himself as emperor of Mexico, became easy prey for Apache raids.
After the Civil War ended and the French were expelled from Mexico, both governments began devoting more men and resources to stopping the Apache depredations in the Southwest. American and Mexican officials began cooperating more closely to eliminate the Apache scourge. As a result of this cooperation, Cochise found it more difficult to make peace with one country and raid in the other. Despite large expenditures by both governments on troops and costly expeditions, Cochise managed to evade the American and Mexican armies for several years. Cochise was growing old, however, and his health was deteriorating. He also supposedly confided to his subchiefs that the Apache way of life was coming to an end. Finally, largely through the efforts of Thomas J. Jeffords, General Oliver Otis Howard negotiated a lasting treaty with Cochise on October 10, 1872, at Cochise’s camp in the Dragoon Mountains in southern Arizona.
The terms of the treaty allowed Cochise and his people to live at peace in his beloved Chiricahua Mountains, drawing rations from the U.S. government. In return, he agreed to use all of his influence to halt Apache raids in both the United States and Mexico. For the remainder of his life, the raids virtually ceased in Arizona and New Mexico, but continued sporadically in northern Mexico. On June 8, 1874, Cochise died in bed of a stomach ailment, an ironic end for a man who spent virtually his entire adult life at war.
Bibliography
Cremony, John C. Life Among the Apaches. Tucson: Arizona Silhouettes, 1954.
Lockwood, Frank C. The Apache Indians. New York: Macmillan, 1938.
Sweeney, Edwin R. Cochise: Chiricahua Apache Chief. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991.
Thrapp, Dan L. Conquest of Apacheria. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1967.
Tyler, Barbara Ann. “Cochise, Apache War Leader, 1858-1861.” Journal of Arizona History 6 (Spring, 1965): 1-10.