Cochise

Cochise is another leader of the resistance against American encroachment during the nineteenth century. His means "firewood" and he was born 1815. He helped lead the Chiricahuas and other Apache tribes in an uprising against American military forces. The Chokonen and Nednhi Chiricahua became more and more dependent on food issued by the Mexican government to placate them from raiding. As a part of their attempt to control the Chiricahua, Mexican and American forces along with Native American mercenaries, began to kill Apache civilians (killing Cochise's father). Mexican forces finally captured Cochise once in 1848 in Sonora, but they exchanged him for nearly a dozen Mexican prisoners. Cochise is one of the most respected and venerated Native American figures. When Cochise died, the United State's government used the Apache lack of unifying leadership to remove the Chiricahua's one-hundred and fifty miles north to an uninhabitable and mosquito ridden San Carlos, where it is said that even the dogs don't like it there. It goes to show just how important leadership was to the tribes despite the tendency of the tribes to remain in small bands and remain relatively independent from each other.