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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 920
EAN num: 9780806126067
ISBN number: 080612606X
Label: University of Oklahoma Press
Manufacturer: University of Oklahoma Press
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 501
Printing Date: 1995-09
Publishing house: University of Oklahoma Press
Sale Popularity Level: 164401
Studio: University of Oklahoma Press
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Rated by buyers 
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There are many readers who have posted reviews here which gush with praise for this book, and others like it. Authors like Sweeney, Dan L. Thrapp ( the ultimate Apache Wannaba ) and David Roberts have churned out STORY BOOKS which are not at all accurate in terms of what they have to say about the Apache or how they fit into the scheme of frontier history.
This book on Cochise is worthless. You will learn nothing really revealing about this Indian, and will be offered long-known details laced with FANCIFUL AND WHIMSICAL interpretations - interpretations which mean nothing accurate in terms of history or in terms of a correct view of this chief. Let me explain:
The major approach of Sweeney ( and the other two authors I've mentioned here )to everything and anything conected with the Apache Indians is to lead the reader to believe in several utterly incorrect propositions which completely distort a truthful understanding of these Indians. Here are the propositions:
1. The Apache lived in the mountains of the Southwest for ages and they valiantly defended these ancestral homelands or home ranges against European invaders.
2. The Apache were fierce and mighty warriors "without equal" and their leaders were supermen - Napoleons of the Desserts - who could out-think, out-fight, and out-maneuver their stupid and weak European enemies.
2a. The Apache were ultra-courageous, fearless, and undaunted in the face of much more numerous enemies.
3. The Apache were only unable to continue their resistance because they were so few in number. If they had had more warriors, they would have prolonged the struggle indefinitely.
I will now explain the complete fraud behind these three propositions - propositions which form the base for what can only be described as a "Propaganda / Party Line" held by authors like Sweeney, who are IN LOVE with these Apache of the late frontier era, and gleefully willing to distort historic fact in order to promote a view of their beloved Indians that is entirely invalid and equal to mere fantasy, not history. Please read on and LEARN -
False "Fact #1 = The ancestral homeland of the Apaches was the mountains of the desserts of the Southwest.
True FACT = When very first contacted by Europeans ( French explorers ) the Apache Indians lived on the central/southern PLAINS. They inhabited the plains from the Dismal River of what is now Nebraska, and were spread south all the way into Mexico, and west to the Rockies and the edge of the mountains in what became eastern New Mexico.
The Apache culture was a combination of aggriculture ( cultivating maize, pumpkins, beans, and squash ) and hunting of bison and other plains wildlife as a means of securing food stuffs. These activities were supplemented with a warlike aspect that caused the Apache to prey upon more peaceful Indian tribes of the southern plains, and upon the Spanish colonizers when they finally appeared and began settling northern Mexico and areas of what ultimately became Texas and New Mexico.
In the late 1600's, the Comanches began moving southward from what is now Montana and began clashing with the extensive Apache tribal groups. By 1706, the Comanche had smashed the Apache settlements from the Dismal River south to the mid-Texas plains and also west across the northwestern plains of what became New Mexico.
The Comanche literally slaughtered the Apaches en mass, killing them wherever they found them. They exterminated several large tribal groups while decimating others to such an extent that they were mere fragments of what they had originally been in terms of numbers. By 1725, ALL Apache tribal groups were either anihilated or severely destroyed and forced to flee from the game-rich southern plains forever.
The fragments of the original tribal groups were pushed up into the mountains of western New Mexico, Eastern Arizona, and northwestern Mexico.
The Spanish colonizers, who had been plagued by Apache attacks, became aware of what had happend due to the relentless Comanche assaults, and in some instances joined forces with the Comanches to further decimate the Apaches ( Lipans, Jicarillas, etc. ) who made up the largest and most troublesome BAND FRAGMENTS in the mid-1700's. Also, the Spanish hired Comanche tribal groups to enter Mexican Provinces and kill Apaches who were raiding there. In one year's time, the Provincial Treasury of just one Province alone, paid the Comanche over 18,000 Pesos ( 6 Pesos for each Apache scalp the Comanche delivered ).
The Comanche, who were utterly victorious over the Apache, began hunting them in the Provinces of Chihuahua, Sonora, and Durango. The Apaches were safe only when holed up in the highest, most remote mountains in all Mexican provinces and also in what became New Mexico and Arizona.
This all took place BEFORE Indians like Cochise, Mangas ... Read More
Rated by buyers -
While I have read quite a bit about the American Indians of the Northern Plains, this is only the second book I've read on Cochise and the Apaches and I found it a little disappointing. Edwin Sweeney has apparently done exhaustive research, but while I learned a lot about where the Chirichua Apaches camped and traveled, the battles Cochise might have taken part in and those he definitely did, and when he made peace and war with the Mexicans and when he made peace and war with the Americans, I learned very little about Cochise the man.
While he was obviously a very strong and able leader there are hints that he ruled partly out of fear, that he had a terrible temper, and that he was known to strike members of his band and his wives from time to time. If this is so, it would make him an unusual leader amongst American Indians. I can understand that Sweeney may not have wanted to engage in speculation, but more eye witness accounts from captives or Indians who knew Cochise would have made this more interesting. Even the years he spent on the reservation are covered rather sparsely, though I'm sure there must have been more information about what he did, the company he kept, etc.
While informative to a certain extent, this reads like a laundry list of engagements and treaties and would have been better titled as a history of the Chiricahua Apache than a biography of Cochise.
Rated by buyers 
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This author makes no bones about his feelings. He says Cochise was a true chief of his people, a noble warrior. He says of Geronomo that he was not a chief, just a vengeful leader of small band. Cochise was a political and military leader who cared for his entire people for many years, fighting to keep them independent and finally dying alone, free in the Dragoon maountains of Arizona. The Apache lived in a savage, inhospitable desert, a no mans land, no food, no water, but these amazing people lived up in these mountains and for more then a hundred years were a nemesis to indians and Anglos and Mexicans alike. Cochise led his men in battle against the americans only a few times. Mostly he negotiated with the soldiers at Fort Bowie(yesterday you must walk a wonderful short trail to see this post). Sweeney has written this and a book on Mangas of the New Mexico Apache tribes.
This book os so thorough so well written and so unflawed in its great depth of study of the experiences of Apache in Arizona and Mexico and slowly theyw ere driven from thier way of life.
This is a must read, superior to any biography of similar Native American characters.
Rated by buyers -
I was highly impressed by the exhaustive research conducted by Sweeney for this biography of Cochise, who was surely one of the most impressive Indian chiefs ever. Sweeney's extensive use of obscure documents and recollections, as well as general knowledge of nearby events and geography, give this biography an authority that you don't often see in the historical bio field. Therefore Cochise clearly emerges from the world of rumors and romanticism, and is shown as a true man with real concerns and actions. So instead of the ruthless, bloodthirsty savage of popular legend, we see that Cochise was a highly intelligent leader of men and was nearly a military genius. He managed to fight a nearly even war with White settlers for a much longer time than any other Native American leader. This would not have been possible if Cochise were not a clear-thinking man of great intelligence, and Sweeney gives exhaustive proof that this was the case.
Sweeney's historical and geographic backgrounds, as well as extensive testimonials from the characters around Cochise, truly make the story come alive. Of special interest are many of Sweeney's footnotes, in which he gives a brief life story of just about every single person mentioned in the story (wherever possible). Sweeney is also ready to admit when information is missing, which is very refreshing for a biography. And in an even-handed fashion, Sweeney is not afraid to criticize Cochise at points, such as when he flouted his agreement to stay on the Chiricahua reservation to allow his warriors to continue raiding in Mexico.
Anyone who reads this book will come to greatly respect Cochise as a man, even if some of his actions were brutal. Unfortunately, this story ends like all other works of Native American history, with the eventual destruction of the people's independence. But while he was in his prime, you can't help but root for Cochise.
Rated by buyers -
Ed Sweeney has written a marvelous biography of an Apache war leader of much greater stature and importance than the more popular Geronimo. It is based on a detailed examination of American and, especially, obscure Mexican documents having to do with the Chiricahuas and Cochise. As a result, Sweeney rescues the chief from the romantic mythology of Elliott Arnold and Michael Ansara. He turns out to be a fierce and uncompromising leader of a barbaric and savage people. His was not an era of gentle, politically correct, and liberal humane attitudes. Some of the accounts are chilling of the brutalities committed by whites, Mexicans, and Apaches toward each other. Sweeney examines in great detail the incident at Apache Pass that spurred Cochise's war against the whites. He notes that such a conflict was likely inevitable between two such very different cultures. Sweeney also writes about the relationship between Cochise and Tom Jeffords, which turns out to be somewhat different than the common myth. But it is also clear that the relationship was indeed a strong one and important to the final peace effort by General O.O. Howard. After reading this biography, you may want to read Sweeney's recent publication of the journal of Captain Jos. Alton Sladen, "Making Peace with Cochise". My only regret with Sweeney's biography is that he did not include more detail on the lifestyles of the Chiricahua Apaches. But the book is an important resource to everyone interested in the 19th century history of south Arizona.
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