Geronimo, Cochise, Mangas
Coloradas and the Apache
Nation
1
Mangas Coloradas or Dasoda-hae

(known as Red Sleeves) (c.1793 –
January 18, 1863) was an Apache tribal
chief and a member of the Eastern
Chiricahua nation, whose homeland
stretched west from the Rio Grande to
include most of what is present-day
southwestern New Mexico
2

He is regarded by many historians to be
one of the most important Native
American and Apache leaders of the 19th
century due to his fighting achievements
against White intruders from the United
States. The name Mangas Coloradas was
given to him by Mexicans
3

During the decades of the 1820s and
1830s, the Apaches' main enemy were the
Mexicans, who had won their
independence from Spain in 1821. By
1835 Mexico had placed a bounty on
Apache scalps. After Juan José Compas,
the leader of the Mimbreno Apaches, was
killed for bounty money in 1837, Mangas
became a war leader and began a series
of retaliatory raids against the Mexicans.
4

In 1846, when the United
States went to war with
Mexico, the Apache Nation
promised U.S. soldiers safe
passage through Apache
lands. Once the U.S. occupied
New Mexico in 1846, Mangas
Coloradas signed a peace
treaty, respecting them as
conquerors of the hated
Mexican enemy.
5
An uneasy peace between the Apache and
the United States lasted until an influx of
gold miners into New Mexico's Pinos Altos
Mountains led to open conflict.
 Mangas was personally attacked by a
group of White miners who tied him to a
tree and severely flogged him.

6

December, 1860, thirty miners launched a
surprise attack on an encampment of
Bedonkohes on the west bank of the
Mimbres River.

"...killed four Indians, wounded others,
and captured thirteen women and
children." Shortly after that, Mangas
began raids against U.S. citizens and their
property.
7

Mangas Coloradas' daughter Dos-Teh-Seh
married Cochise, principal chief of the
Chokonen Apache. In early February 1861,
US Army Lieutenant George N. Bascom,
apparently without orders, lured Cochise,
his family and several warriors into a trap
at Apache Pass, southeastern Arizona.
8

Cochise managed to escape, but his family
and warriors remained in custody.
Negotiations were unsuccessful and
fighting erupted. This incident, known as
the “Bascom Affair," ended with Cochise’s
brother and five other warriors being
hanged by Bascom.
9

Later that year, Mangas and Cochise
struck an alliance, agreeing to drive all
Americans out of Apache territory. They
were joined in their effort by Juh and
Geronimo. Although the goal was never
achieved, the White population in Apache
territory was greatly reduced for a few
years during the Civil War, after federal
troops had been withdrawn to the east.
10

In the summer of 1862, after recovering from
a bullet wound in the chest, Mangas Coloradas
met with an intermediary to call for peace. In
January 1863, he decided to meet with U.S.
military leaders at Fort McLane, in
southwestern New Mexico. Mangas arrived
under a flag of truce to meet with Brigadier
General Joseph Rodman West, an officer of
the California militia
11
Armed soldiers took Mangas into custody. West
allegedly gave an execution order to the
sentries. “Men, that old murderer has got away
from every soldier command and has left a trail
of blood for 500 miles on the old stage line. I
want him dead or alive tomorrow morning, do
you understand? I want him dead.
 That night Mangas was tortured, shot and killed
"trying to escape."

12

The following day, U.S. soldiers cut off his
head, boiled it and sent the skull to Orson
Squire Fowler, a phrenologist in New York
City.

The murder and mutilation of Mangas'
body only increased the hostility between
Apaches and the United States, with more
or less constant war continuing for nearly
another 25 years.
13
Cochise

Cochise (or "Cheis") (c. 1805–June 8, 1874) was
one of the most famous Apache leaders to resist
intrusions by Americans during the 19th century.
He was described as a large man with a
muscular frame, classical features, and long
black hair which he wore in traditional Apache
style. He was about 5'10" tall and weighed
about 175 lbs. In his own language, his name
"Cheis" meant "having the quality or strength of
oak
14
Cochise and the Chokonen-Chiricahua
lived in the area that is now the northern
Mexican region of Sonora, New Mexico,
and Arizona.
 As Spain and later Mexico attempted to
gain dominion over their lands, the various
Chiricahua groups became increasingly
resistant.

15
Various Chiricahua bands resumed traditional
raiding to acquire what they needed after the
Mexicans no longer made provisions for them (in
the 1830s)
 As a result, the Mexican government began a
series of military operations in order to either
capture or neutralize the Chiricahuas, but they
were fought to a standstill by the Apaches. As
part of their attempts at controlling the
Chiricahuas particularly, Mexican forces, often
with the help of American and Native American
mercenaries, began to kill Apache civilians,
many times paying bounties for their scalps. .

16

Cochise's father was one of these victims.
This hardened Cochise's resolve and gave
the Chiricahuas more rationale for
vengeance. Mexican forces did capture
Cochise at one point in 1848 during an
Apache raid on Fronteras, Sonora, but
they exchanged him for nearly a dozen
Mexican prisoners.
17

For Cochise, the Americans held nothing
sacred and had violated the rules of war
by capturing and killing Mangas Coloradas
during a parley session. Cochise and the
Apaches continued their raids against
American and Mexican settlements and
military positions throughout the 1860s.
Blue dot represents where US Army Lieutenant
George N. Bascom met Apache leader Cochise
in Apache Pass on February 5, 1861
18

Following various skirmishes, Cochise and his
men were gradually driven into the Dragoon
Mountains but were nevertheless able to use
the mountains for cover and as a base from
which to continue attacks against the white
settlements.
19

Cochise managed to evade capture and
continued his raids against white
settlements and travelers until 1872. A
treaty was finally negotiated by General
Oliver O. Howard, with the help of Tom
Jefferds who was Cochise's only white
friend
20

After making peace, Cochise retired to his new
reservation, with his friend Jeffords as agent,
where he died of natural causes (probably
abdominal cancer) in 1874. He was buried in the
rocks above one of his favorite camps in
Arizona's Dragoon Mountains, now called
Cochise Stronghold. Only his people and Tom
Jeffords knew the exact location of his resting
place, and they took the secret to their graves.
21
Cochise Stronghold, Dragoon Mountains, southeastern Arizona.
Geronimo

(June 16, 1829 – February
17, 1909) was a prominent
Native American leader of
the Chiricahua who fought
against Mexico and the
United States for their
expansion into Apache tribal
lands for several decades
during the Apache Wars.
22
Allegedly "Geronimo" was the name given
to him during a Mexican incident, but his
real name was Goyaałé from the
Chiricahua Language meaning "one who
yawns"; often spelled Goyathlay
 Goyahkla was born to the band of the
Apache, near Turkey Creek, a tributary of
the Gila River in the modern-day state of
NewMexico

23

On March 6, 1858, a company of
400 Mexican soldiers from Sonora led by
Colonel José María Carrasco attacked
Goyahkla's camp outside Janos while the
men were in town trading. Among those
killed were Goyahkla's wife, his children,
and his mother. His chief, Mangas
Coloradas, sent him to Cochise's band for
help in revenge against the Mexicans.
24

Allegedly it was during this incident that
the name Geronimo came about. This
appellation stemmed from a battle in
which, ignoring a deadly hail of bullets, he
repeatedly attacked Mexican soldiers with
a knife, causing them to utter appeals to
Saint Jerome ("Jeronimo!"). Americans
heard this and thought his name was
Geronimo, and the name stuck
25
Apache raids on Mexican villages were so
numerous and brutal that no area was safe.
 While Geronimo said he was never a chief, he
was a military leader. As a Chiricahua Apache,
this meant he was one of many people with
special spiritual insights and abilities known to
Apache people as "Power"
 Among these were the ability to walk without
leaving tracks; the abilities now known as
telekinesis and telepathy; and the ability to
survive gunshot

26
Though outnumbered, Geronimo fought against
both Mexican and United States troops and
became famous for his daring exploits and
numerous escapes from capture from 1858 to
1886.
 At the end of his military career, he led a small
band of 36 men, women, and children. They
evaded thousands of Mexican and American
troops for over a year, making him the most
famous Native American of the time and earning
him the title of the "worst Indian who ever lived"
among white settlers

27

"About two weeks after the escape there
was a report of a family massacred near
Silver City; one girl was taken alive and
hanged from a meat hook jammed under
the base of her skull." His band was one
of the last major forces of independent
Native American warriors who refused to
acknowledge the United States occupation
of the American West.
28
In 1886, General Nelson A. Miles selected
Captain Henry Lawton, in command of B Troop,
4th Cavalry, at Ft. Huachuca and First Lieutenant
Charles B. Gatewood to lead the expedition that
captured Geronimo
 Completely worn out, the little band of Apaches
returned to the U.S. with Lawton and officially
surrendered to General Miles on September 4,
1886 at Skeleton Canyon Arizona

29

When Geronimo surrendered he had in
his possession a Winchester Model 1876
lever action rifle with a silver-washed
barrel and receiver. It is on display at
the United States Military Academy,
West Point New York. Additionally he
had a Colt Single Action Army revolver
with a nickel finish and ivory stocks and
a Sheffield Bowie Knife with a dagger
type of blade and stag handle made by
George Wostenholm in an elaborate
silver-studded holster and cartridge
belt. The revolver, rig, and knife are on
display at the Fort Sill museum
30
Capture

Geronimo and other Apaches, including the
Apache scouts who had helped the army track
him down, were sent as prisoners to Fort
Pickens, in Pensacola, Florida, and his family was
sent to Fort Marion. They were reunited in May
1887, when they were transferred to Mount
Vernon Barracks in Alabama for seven years. In
1894, they were moved to Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
In his old age, Geronimo became a celebrity. He
appeared at fairs, including the 1904 World’s Fair
in St Louis, where he reportedly rode a ferris
wheel and sold souvenirs and photographs of
himself. However, he was not allowed to return
to the land of his birth. He rode in President
Theodore Roosevelt’s 1905 inaugural parade
31
Death

In February 1909, Geronimo was
thrown from his horse while riding
home, and had to lie in the cold all
night before a friend found him
extremely ill. He died of
pneumonia on February 17, 1909,
as a prisoner of the United States
at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. On his
deathbed, he confessed to his
nephew that he regretted his
decision to surrender. He was
buried at Fort Sill in the Apache
Indian Prisoner of War Cemetery
32