1872 Peace Treaty between the US Military and Apache Chief Cochise
~ Cochise, the only enemy combatant in the history of the USA to not have been defeated by the US military.
Years of violence between the US and Apache reached its peak because of the Bascom affair in 1861 where Cochise was falsely accused of a kidnapping, lost many of his family members being hung by the US military, Cochise sought retribution reportedly killing as many as 150 settlers. His war path ended in 1872 when he signed a peace treaty with Brigadier General Oliver Otis Howard. Howard arrived without soldiers, which won Cochise's approval. Tom Jeffords, a white man who became Cochise's friend, also attended the negotiations.
Outcome
The treaty brought an end to more than a decade of warfare between the Chiricahua's and the Americans. Cochise reportedly said, “Hereafter, the white man and the Indian are to drink of the same water, eat of the same bread and be at peace” The Chiricahua Apache reservation was created as a result of the treaty that encompassed the majority of present day Cochise County. (See the section on the reservation in this website for more information).
Duration
The peace lasted for about four years. Cochise died in 1874, reportedly likely from stomach cancer. Peace did not survive the death of Cochise. The US military did not hold up their agreed upon terms of the treaty to supply certain rations and supplies which caused the Apache warriors to seek supplies themselves. Raiding parties, to secure supplies, left the reservation into Mexico and eventually the surrounding Arizona Territory. This caused the US Military to abolish the reservation and eventually send the Apache people via train to Oklahoma and eventually Florida to live in deplorable conditions.
Excerpt from History. com regarding the peace treaty:
By 1872, the U.S. was anxious for peace, and the government offered Cochise and his people a huge reservation in the southeastern corner of Arizona Territory if they would cease hostilities. Cochise agreed, saying, “The white man and the Indian are to drink of the same water, eat of the same bread, and be at peace.”
The great chief did not have the privilege of enjoying his hard-won peace for long. In 1874, he became seriously ill, possibly with stomach cancer. He died on this day in 1874. That night his warriors painted his body yellow, black, and vermilion, and took him deep into the Dragoon Mountains. They lowered his body and weapons into a rocky crevice, the exact location of which remains unknown. Today, however, that section of the Dragoon Mountains is known as Cochise’s Stronghold.
About a decade after Cochise died, Felix Tellez—the boy whose kidnapping had started the war—resurfaced as an Apache-speaking scout for the U.S. Army. He reported that a group of Western Apache, not Cochise, had kidnapped him.
Legend has it
that Cochise's
son ran to the
top of Knob
Hill to plant a
white flag to
signify the
signing and
therefore
enactment of
the 1872
peace treaty!