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 Coloradas, Juh, Victorio, Delgadito, etc. were leaders.
!!!! It also explains what the Apaches were doing in the mountains of the Southwest !!!!
You see, the Apache NEVER wanted to live in these parched, game-scarce mountains. They had no choice in the matter. After the Comanches' total conquest of the southern plains, the Apaches became one of the poorest tribes of AmerIndians. Their numbers were severely cut down to the point where they actually no longer constituted real "tribes" or "tribal groups" at all, but instead were mere BANDS - surviving fragments of long-vanished Tribal groups.
Furthermore, the Apache had no choice but to space the births of their children out by four years ( one child born per family every four years ). This was not due to some mystical concept, it was simple practicality. There was not sufficient food available in their new hide outs to keep a population healthy and well-fed except if children were born years apart. This is a very significant point - please remember it, because it will become highly significant when I tell you how utterly FALSE the image of Cochise ( and all other Apache leaders ) is as promoted by Sweeney, Thrapp, and Roberts.
**** Also note: Geronimo relates in his autobiography how, when he was a child, his family would cultivate corn, beans, and pumpkins in certain areas of their dessert homes. Geronimo lived at a time long after the Apache had fled the southern plains, but during his childhood there was apparently enough of a memory left among the adults which allowed for aggricultural activities to be embarked upon at least some of the time when they were settled in one place for an extended period.
! So, here is the very first "nail in the coffin" for books like this one: The Apaches did not have any ancestral homeland in the mountains of the southwest. They were forced to live there. They lacked food, and became one of the poorest AmerIndians on the continent thanks to having to locate themselves in these mountains. Their numbers were small due to being slaughtered by the Comanches, not due to careful planning so as to "fit into" the delicate enviroment of the dessert.
Now for FALSE FACTS #2 & 2a: The Apaches were fierce, courageous, and mighty warriors without equal. And their leaders were supermen of the southwestern desserts who could out-fight, out-think, and out-maneuver their European enemies.
TRUE FACTS: The Apache preyed upon the peaceful Indian tribes of the central and Southern Plains while they were in control of vast stretches of territory from the Dismal River in what became Nebraska, south and southwest across all the game-rich plains. However, they were exterminated or decimated and completely routed by the Comanche, who were responsible for the remainder of Apache population fragments fleeing to the most inaccessible mountains of the dessert southwest. Later, the even more fierce Kiowa appeared, allied themselves with the Comanche, and also slaughtered Apaches wherever they found them.
*** Note: Victorio and the Mimbres Apaches ( a Band Fragment, not a true tribal group ) had a record of being kept constantly on the move by Comanche, Kiowa, Texas Rangers, US Army, and Mexican Regulars until finally run to ground and exterminated.
The Kiowa raided through all northeastern Mexican Provinces, and were often mistaken for Comanches as they attacked, Spanish ( and later Mexican settlements and holdings ), Anglos in Texas, and reached as far as the borders of Guatemala and Yucatan. The Comanches, and later the Kiowas, were the principle enemies of the Apaches. After these two tribes had relentlessly hit the Apache bands, the problems the Apaches caused the Spanish were nothing compared to what they had been before the appearance of the Comanche. The Apache bands became mere pests, and the Spanish considered them as nothing more than stealth predators and ambushing bushwackers. They were never considered as highly courageous warriors by the Spanish to begin with, and after the appearance of the Comanches, the Apaches were seen as cowards who either attacked from concealment, or out in the open if they outnumbered their intended victims significantly.
Juh and the Nedni Apaches stayed holed up in the mountains of Mexico because to venture out onto the plains to the east of their location would be to place them in open conflict with Comanche and Kiowa. This they avoided at all costs. Cochise and Mangas Coloradas - two chiefs who the likes of Sweeney, Thrapp, and Roberts seek to glorify by describing as "mighty warriors with high intelligence, far-sightedness for their people's wellfare, and superb military strategy" were merely wolfish cowards conducting hit-and-run raids against much larger, far less mobile European forces AND COMPLETELY AVOIDING ANY AND ALL CONTACT WITH COMANCHE AND KIOWA FORCES TO THE EAST.
Consider for a moment that these two chiefs ( with their bands combined ) never so much as dared to venture out onto the southern plains to reclaim the game-rich areas of western New Mexico, which would have meant much more food and much easier living for their people. And thus, would have meant a rapid increase in their populations! Instead, they skulked in the mountain fastness of their so-called "strongholds" ( actually hide-outs ).
The Apache of Cochise's time were cowardly, poor, skulkers keeping to their mountain hide-outs and preying upon small Mexican settlements and holdings on the American side of the border if and when they could manage to outnumber their victims. They were considered as utterly inferior by the Comanche and Kiowa. The Texas Rangers and Black "Buffalo Soldiers" of the US Army, fould them easy to fight, but hard to corner. The US Army and Mexican Army found them troublesome because they were like needles in a haystack to locate due to being so few in number and hiding in such remote and rugged areas.
!!! This does not indicate "courageous and mighty warriors under the leadership of militarily brilliant chiefs who were superb fighters and strategists !!!
Realistically, Cochise, Mangas Coloradas, Victorio, Juh, and ALL other Apaches written about by the likes of Sweeney, Thrapp, and Roberts, were just as the Spanish had pegged their elders decades earlier - mere stealth predators and ambushing bushwackers who would cut and run when confronted, and who would attack from concealment and then quickly disappear.
Lastly, FALSE FACT #3: The Apaches had to cease their struggle against European invaders due to lack of numbers. If they had had more warriors, they would have prolonged their struggle indefinitely.
TRUE FACT: The Apaches managed to last as long as they did BECAUSE THEY WERE FEW IN NUMBER, not in spite of it ! For a certain amount of time, small forces are higly mobile and able to avoid larger forces in military conflicts. If the Apache populations actually comprised true Tribal Groups rather than fragmented bands, they would have been defeated or exterminated en mass long before the last of them surrendered or made treaties ( as in the case of Cochise ) because they would be far less mobile, and so would have been cornered, engaged, and eliminated.
I hope you are beginning to see through the fraud concerning these Indians which is promoted in Story Books like this one ( and all others by Sweeney, Thrapp, and Roberts ). In order to get a realistic, truthful perspective on the Apache ( or any other AmerIndians ) you have to carefully explore many other sources of information besides the simple details connected to Apache conflicts with US Army forces during the late frontier era. You cannot trust modern-day STORY TELLERS who churn out trash literature in order to indulge in their bizarre and irrational love affair with long-vanished Indians. Authors like this one want one thing, and that is to get you to buy into their fantasies about these Indians! They don't care about historic facts or how century-spanning trends explain significant things about the Apache. They simply want to construct a totally FALSE front image of these Indians - a fantasy image as false as if they claimed the Apache landed on earth from some other planet!
If you're sincerely interested in learning about the Apaches and in figuring out the likes of Cochise or any of their other well-known leaders, you simply cannot afford to pass by the following titles I am going to recommend. Read them and get set straight - and avoid Fantasy-as-Fact nonsense promoted by Sweeney, Thrapp, and Roberts.
Comanches (Pimlico Wild West)
The Kiowas (Civilization of the American Indian Series)
The Indians of Texas: From Prehistoric to Modern Times (Texas History Paperbacks)
Life Among the Apaches (Bison Book)
Nine Years Among the Indians, 1870-1879: The Story of the Captivity and Life of a Texan Among the Indians
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.