The Wrath of Cochise - Softcover

Mort, Terry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1605985503 ISBN 13: 9781605985503

Publisher: Pegasus Books, 2014

Synopsis

In a powerful evocation of the drama of the American West, here is the harrowing story of the feud that ignited the Apache Wars.

In February 1861, the twelve-year-old son of an Arizona rancher was kidnapped by Apaches; a band of Chiricahua Apaches led by the infamous warrior Cochise was blamed for the attack. Lt. George Bascom organized a patrol and met with the Apache leader, who, not suspecting anything was amiss, had brought along his wife, his brother, and two sons. Despite Cochise’s assertions of innocence and his offer to help in the search, Bascom immediately took Cochise’s family hostage. An incensed Cochise escaped the meeting tent amidst flying bullets―and vowed revenge.

What followed that precipitous encounter would ignite a Southwestern frontier war between the Chiricahuas and the US Army that would last twenty-five years. Thousands of lives would be lost, the economies of Arizona and New Mexico would be devastated, and in the end, the Chiricahua way of life would essentially cease to exist.

In a gripping narrative Terry Mort explores the collision of these two radically different cultures in a masterful account of one of the bloodiest conflicts in our frontier history.

About this title

About the Author

Terry Mort attended Princeton University, followed by graduate school at the University of Michigan. Afterward he served as an officer in the navy, specializing in navigation and gunnery. His service included a lengthy deployment to Vietnam. He is the author of The Hemingway Patrols and The Wrath of Cochise. He lives with his wife, Sondra Hadley, in Sonoita, Arizona and Durango, Colorado.

From Booklist

In 1848, as a result of victory in the Mexican War, the U.S. acquired vast lands in the Southwest, but the U.S. government also inherited a chronic problem that had plagued Mexico for decades: the inability to contain the constant raiding and other depredations by various bands of Apaches. For the U.S., the problem would ebb and flow but would not be fully resolved for another four decades. Perhaps the most well-known and even admired Apache leader in this struggle was Cochise, who led the Chiricahua band. His particular dispute with Americans was supposedly triggered by a young and inexperienced lieutenant, Charles Bascom, who unjustly accused Cochise of kidnapping a young boy. Mort has written an absorbing and balanced account of the origins of the conflict that moves past much of the mythology surrounding it. For example, Cochise, though certainly a charismatic leader of his people, was also a brutal warrior who endorsed torture and the murder of innocents. The U.S. government and white settlers were equally capable of savagery. This is a well-done chronicle of a harsh war fought in a harsh environment. --Jay Freeman

About this edition

• Publisher: Pegasus Books
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1605985503
• ISBN 13: 9781605985503
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368