WOAC: Battle of Apache Pass, July 1862

For a quarter century - 1861 to 1886 - the U.S. military attempted to subjugate one of the largest Indian tribes of what is today the American Southwest. "The Apache Wars" is the gripping tale of how, thanks to leaders such as Victorio and Geronimo, the Apache Indians held out longer than any other major U.S. tribe.

Fort Bowie, in present-day Arizona, was established in 1862 at the site of the famous Battle of Apache Pass, where U.S. troops clashed with Apache chief Cochise and his warriors. The fort’s dual purpose was to guard the invaluable water supply at Apache Spring and to control Indians in the developing southwestern region. Douglas C. McChristian’s Fort Bowie, Arizona, spans nearly four decades to provide a fascinating account of the many complex events surrounding the small combat post. In a sweeping narrative, McChristian presents Fort Bowie in fresh contexts of national expansion and regional development, weaving in threads of early exploration, transcontinental railroad surveys, the overland mail, mining, ranching, and the conflict with the Apaches.

A Chiricahua Apache of the Chokonen band, Cochise (c. 1810#150;1874) was one of the most celebrated Indian leaders of his time, battling both American intrusions and Mexican troops in the turbulent border region of nineteenth-century Arizona. Much of what we know of Cochise has come down to us in military reports, eyewitness accounts, letters, and numerous interviews the usually reticent chief granted in the last decade of his life. Cochise: Firsthand Accounts of the Chiricahua Apache Chief brings together the most revealing of these documents to provide the most nuanced, multifaceted portrait possible of the Apache leader. In particular, the interviews, many printed here for the first time, are the closest we will ever get to autobiographical material on this notable man, his life, and his times. Edwin R. Sweeney, a preeminent historian of the Apaches and their leaders, has assembled this collection from U.S. military records, Indian agency reports, U.S. and Mexican newspapers and journals, and transcribed personal recollections. Throughout we hear the voices of those who knew Cochise well or observed him firsthand, including one who had never "met his equal with a lance" and another who attested that "no Apache warrior can draw an arrow to the head and send it farther with more ease than he." We get two distinctly different views of the murderous events that led to the infamous Bascom Affair, in which Cochise and an American lieutenant squared off in a spiraling war of revenge. And we gain rare and unexpected insight into Cochise's thoughts during the Chiricahuas' move to the reservation at Tularosa. In addition to a close-up picture of a pivotal figure in western history, Cochise offers accounts of a vanished world from people who lived in that world.

Reuben F. Bernard (1834-1903) had one of the most remarkable military careers of the nineteenth century, serving three years in the American Civil War between stints against Indian forces in the West. He claimed to have fought in more engagements than any other officer of his day, including campaigns against the Apache, Modoc, and Paiute. Don Russell (1899-1986), a journalist and Western historian, breathes life into Bernard's story, drawing from the general's official and personal correspondence, his diary, and the recollections of retired Indian Wars officers who served with Bernard.