The United States Army and several Apache tribe confederations engaged in violent battles in the Southwest between 1849 and 1886, while small-scale warfare persisted as late as 1924. When Mexico gave up territory during the Mexican-American War in 1846, the United States inherited tensions between American settlers and Apache tribes.

See the fact file below for more information on Apache Wars, or you can download our 29-page Apache Wars worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

SHORT BACKGROUND

• In the past, the Apache had raided other tribes and occasionally one another for livestock, food, or captured people. They conducted targeted raids in small groups. The first conflicts between the Apache (who refer to themselves as T’Inde, Inde, N’dee, N’ne, meaning the “people”) and other people in the Southwest date back to the earliest Spanish settlements, but the specific set of conflicts now known as the Apache Wars started during the Mexican-American War.
• The Apache only occasionally united to gather armies of hundreds of men, using all tribal male members of warrior age.

APACHE WARS PART I: COCHISE

The Bascom Affair

• Midway through the 1800s, Chief Cochise served as the chief of the Chokonen tribe of Chiricahua Apache, who lived in the Chiricahua Mountains. He was born to be a leader. These abilities were fostered by his father-in-law, Chief Mangas Coloradas, head of the Mimbreno gang. Cochise could exert more control over the Chiricahua Apache thanks to this connection.
• The Aravaipa tribe of Apache, who were not Chiricahua, raided farmer John Ward’s farm in 1861 and were later observed leaving for the Chiricahua Mountains, which were thought to be Cochise’s domain. Felix Ward, the stepson of John Ward, was abducted along with the animals by the raiders.
• Lieutenant George Bascom, a youthful and enthusiastic man, received the order to apprehend the intruders. Bascom invited Cochise to a rendezvous at a location close to the Butterfield Stage Station on Apache Pass.
• Cochise agreed to meet and brought a few of his relatives. Bascom charged Cochise with the raid in the seclusion of his tent. Cochise told him directly that he was unaware of the incident but would assist in finding those who were involved. 
• Cochise offered Bascom his release but he refused it unless the property was returned. Cochise swiftly pierced the tent and made his getaway. Cochise’s family members were held hostage by Bascom.
• Cochise ambushed a wagon train and a Butter eld stagecoach in the days that followed, seizing his prisoners. Despite the desire to reach an understanding on both sides, hatred and misunderstandings impeded it.
• Cochise attempted to arrange a meeting with Bascom, but the latter declined. In retribution for Cochise killing his prisoners, the troops also killed their own. Coyuntura, a beloved brother of Cochise, was one of the Apaches who was slaughtered, leaving Cochise devastated and enraged.

The Battle of Apache Pass

• The most significant war group of the Apache Wars, consisting of over 200 warriors, was put together by Chief Cochise and Chief Mangas Coloradas a year later, in 1862. As the Civil War broke out, Union forces were deployed to stop the Confederacy from capturing the Southwest.
• About 120 Union soldiers from the California Column were heading east from Tucson on July 15, 1862. They were thirsty and worn out. The men moved via Apache Pass and toward Apache Spring, close to Fort Bowie.
• The Apaches likely spotted a chance to raid the military wagon train. From the highlands above, the Chiricahua attacked the soldiers. The Battle of Apache Pass was one of the pivotal clashes of the Apache Wars. The Chiricahua might have succeeded if not for two Mountain Howitzer cannons.
• The Chiricahua were perplexed by the devastation and dispersed. After the combat, Mangas Coloradas suffered severe injuries. His men dragged him to Mexico, where they intimidated a physician into aiding them. The first Fort Bowie was constructed close to Apache Pass and Spring to protect the region from potential invasions.

Death of Cochise

• Cochise started having severe stomach problems and was frequently unable to eat. He passed away in 1874, most likely from stomach cancer. Although his grave is believed to be someplace in his Stronghold, its location is still unclear.
• During the Apache Wars, Cochise was one of the Chiricahua’s most capable chiefs. Even though it did not survive long after his passing, he was the one person who could deliver his people lasting peace and independence.
• The Chiricahua were left without a potent central leader after Cochise’s passing. The troublesome Chiricahua Reservation could be closed, according to the U.S. administration. The last straw was when two Chiricahua warriors slaughtered two white men for refusing to sell them whiskey.

APACHE WARS PART II: GERONIMO

• The Bedonkehe band of Chiricahua Apaches’ Geronimo was a medicine man rather than a chief. Because he, like Cochise before him, thought his people deserved freedom, he eventually became their leader. Geronimo was one of Cochise’s most devoted warriors. He had fought alongside him during the Battle of Apache Pass and assisted him in taking prisoners during the Bascom Affair.
• Geronimo’s chief, Mangas Coloradas, had passed away, and Geronimo had been there. In a massacre carried out by Mexican soldiers while Geronimo was a young man, he lost some of his children, one of his wives, and his mother.
• He never forgot his hatred toward Mexicans or forgave them for what they did. After this incident, Geronimo felt he had little reason to exist. You won’t perish in war or be shot to death, Ussen said to him one evening as he stood on Bowie Peak.
• For the rest of his life, and with good reason, Geronimo held this belief.
• He begged Chief Cochise and Chief Mangas to lead a campaign far into Mexico to exact revenge for the murder of his family. Geronimo assured them that he would lead the fight because he didn’t care whether he survived or died. In the course of this campaign, Geronimo acquired his current moniker.
• Geronimo did not use cover to shoot arrows during the combat as many other Apaches did. Instead, he ran in a zigzag at them to avoid being fired at by the Mexican soldiers. Then, as he was still learning to handle a rifle, he murdered them with a knife and gave their firearms to other Apache warriors.
• As he approached, the Mexican soldiers started to yell, “Geronimo!” to alert one another. This word’s etymology is still a mystery. The Chiricahua Apaches chanted the term with enthusiasm and intimidation.

THE CHIRICAHUA APACHE GATHERING

• The Chiricahua Apache were beginning to assemble in more significant numbers than at any time since the reign of Cochise, deep within Mexico’s Sierra Madre Mountains, in a location known as Juh’s Stronghold. The strangely titled Fun, possibly the best warrior of the squad, arrived together with other great fighters.
• Fun once found himself encircled by seven Mexican soldiers and had nowhere to go but a bush. He shot each soldier to death, then managed to escape unharmed. Also present was Lozen, a well-known woman who abandoned a life of marriage to take up arms. Chief Nana and Chief Chihuahua were also present. Even at 75, Nana, a bright and cunning leader, was in charge of some of the most successful raids.

The Tan Wolf

• General George Crook made a second appearance to battle the Apache. His khaki civilian attire earned him the moniker “the Tan Wolf”. Like Nana, Crook greatly respected his enemy and saw his return as beneficial because he was a “good enemy”. He responded, “Acuteness of sense, perfect physical condition, complete knowledge of the area, practically unlimited ability to persevere from danger. We have before us the tiger of the human species.”
• Geronimo’s reputation as a valiant Chiricahua chief has grown. Crook was aware that the U.S. victory would now depend on locating Geronimo. Crook set out with Apache scouts and American soldiers to do just that.

Foray into Mexico

• The Chiricahua kept conducting raids in both Mexico and the United States. The Mexicans began to believe that Geronimo was the devil coming to punish them for their crimes.
• When they could, the United States and Mexico continued to locate, apprehend, and murder Chiricahua Apaches. Both sides continued to lose people. 
• The United States and Mexico agreed that they might pursue the Chiricahua across their respective boundaries. But only a few decades previously, Mexico and the United States had been at war. 

TURKEY CREEK: A NEW RESERVATION

• The conflict entered another period of calm, but this one only lasted a year. The Chiricahua were persuaded to farm by Agent Davis. At the time, it was widely welcomed in the United States that Native Americans would need to adapt to European culture to survive. Chiricahua men were formerly allowed to beat their women, which was against the law according to Davis’s legislation. 
• Davis also forbade the Chiricahua from producing the alcoholic liquor known as Tizwin. 
• One Chiricahua man was sent as far as Alcatraz for violating these restrictions. On the reservation, unrest started to simmer over time. When Apache interpreters started spreading the seeds of discord between the Chiricahua and Agent Davis, it all came to a head. Mickey Free, formerly Felix Ward, was one of these scouts. 
• He was the boy who had been taken during the raid that started the Bascom Affair from John Ward’s farm. Eventually, Geronimo heard a report that he was about to be arrested. He decided to start another breakout. It was already too late when Davis wired Crook. After the Apaches escaped from Turkey Creek, there was carnage.

POST-APACHE WARS

Surrender at Skeleton Canyon

• Near the summer of 1886, in Skeleton Canyon in southern Arizona, Geronimo made his fourth and national submission. Nelson Miles, a general, claimed credit. When the freed Chiricahua Apache arrived in Florida, they required to see their family as one of the terms of the surrender. 
• However, President Grover Cleveland was still anticipating a total capitulation. Unknown to the Chiricahua, Miles had decided that the clauses of the surrender agreement were now void because Geronimo had failed to comply with all of his previous conditions. When the Apache arrived in Florida, the U.S. government never intended to let them visit their families.

Life as prisoners of war

• Malaria decimated the initial group of Chiricahua Apache who had been relocated to Florida. As prisoners of war, they were transported to Mount Vernon, Alabama. 
• They were accustomed to vast desert plains, so the tall trees in this environment were foreign. Their kids were taken to schools in Pennsylvania, where they learned English, Christianity, and other facets of American culture.
• Many of these kids perished from tuberculosis after contracting it.
• To stop their children from being taken away, Chiricahua parents in Alabama started hiding them. Geronimo and his band were transferred to Alabama and finally permitted to see their families after spending two years in prison in Florida.

FREEDOM

• After 27 years behind bars, the Chiricahua were ultimately released in 1913 and were no longer considered prisoners of war. Two-thirds migrated to the Mescalero Apache Reservation in New Mexico, while one-third chose to remain in Fort Sill. The number of Chiricahua Apache was 1,200 during the reign of Chief Cochise. They had 500 members by the time the conflict was over in 1886. 
• They only had 261 when they were released. There are currently more than 850 Chiricahua Apache. Cochise and Geronimo’s descendants are still alive today.
• The Fort Sill Apache Tribe, with a small reservation outside of Deming, New Mexico, the Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Reservation near Ruidoso, New Mexico, and the San Carlos Apache Tribe in southeast Arizona are the three federally recognized tribes in which Chiricahua are currently enrolled.

Apache Wars Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle that includes everything you need to know about the Apache Wars across 29 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use worksheets that are perfect for teaching kids about the Apache Wars, which were the tensions between American settlers and Apache tribes following the Mexican-American War.

Complete List of Included Worksheets

Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.

1. Apache Wars Facts
2. Apache Timeline
3. Looking Back
4. Behind the War
5. Leadership
6. What Event?
7. Comparison
8. Meaning Behind the Words
9. Storyboard
10. Inference
11. Journal Entry

Frequently Asked Questions

What ended the Apache wars?

After 5,000 U.S. troops were deployed to the battlefields in 1886, Geronimo and his 30 warriors surrendered. This was known as the end of The Apache Wars. But even after this day, there was still tension between settlers and native Apaches.

What caused the Apache Wars?

The Apache Wars started when American troops blamed Cochise and his tribe for taking a young boy during an attack. This led to a lot of fighting between settlers and the Apaches.

How many Apache are left?

Right now, there are around 30,000 Apache Indians. There are thirteen different tribes in the United States today. Five live in Arizona, five in New Mexico, and three in Oklahoma.  

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