Mangas Coloradas

Apache Leaders

Chiricahua Apache Leaders

Cochise, Geronimo, and Mangas Coloradas

Mangas Coloradas

For years, the Apaches protected their homeland in the Southwest (present day New Mexico and Arizona). In 1848, when gold was discovered in California, the Apaches’ land was further threatened by fortune-seekers.

Mangas Coloradas was beaten, an act that resulted in his life-long hatred against white men. His son-in-law, Cochise, was betrayed by white men and turned against them too. Together, Mangas Coloradas and Cochise attacked much of southern New Mexico and Arizona. Mangas was captured and killed in January of 1863. Cochise became chief of the Apaches and revenge.

Cochise

Cochise had long worked as a woodcutter at the Apache Pass stagecoach station. In 1861 a raiding party stole and kidnapped the stepchild of a ranch hand. A new Army officer, Lt. George Bascom arrived and blamed Cochise of the crime. Bascom’s men attempted to arrest Cochise. This event is referred to as “The Bascom Affair.” This caused Cochise to strike back. During the following year, warfare by Apache bands was so fierce that troops, settlers and traders all withdrew from the region. 

Cochise avoided capture for more than 10 years by hiding out in the Dragoon Mountains of Arizona. He continued their raiding with his Apache bane, always fading back into their mountain strongholds. Cochise surrendered when the Chiricahua Reservation was established and he was promised peace. He died June 8, 1874. Today, the southeastern most county of Arizona bears his name.

Geronimo

Geronimo led his people’s defense of their homeland against the U.S. military after the death of Cochise. In 1874, some 4,000 Apaches were forcibly moved by U.S. authorities to a reservation at San Carlos, a barren wasteland in east-central Arizona.

Denied tribal rights, short on rations, and homesick, they revolted. Geronimo and hundreds of Apaches left the reservation to resume their war against the whites. Geronimo, under the promise that he and his followers would be permitted to return to Arizona, surrendered. The promise was never kept. Geronimo was a prisoner of war for 20 years. He died of pneumonia at Fort Sill on February 17, 1909, never returning to Arizona.