Making Peace with Cochise: The 1872 Journal of Captain Joseph Alton Sladen

“Cochise” was a name that struck terror in hearts across the Southwest. Yet in the autumn of 1872, Brigadier General Oliver O. Howard and his aid-de-camp, Lieutenant Joseph Alton Sladen, entered Arizona’s rocky Dragoon Mountains in search of the elusive Chiricahua Apache chief. Accompanied only by a guide and two Apache scouts, they sought to convince Cochise that the bloody fighting between his people and the Americans must stop. Cochise had already reached that conclusion, but he had found no American official he could trust.

Slade, Howard’s devoted aide, maintained a journal during their two-month quest from Fort Tularosa, New Mexico, to Cochise’s stronghold. Joseph Sladen’s journal—enriched by Edwin R. Sweeney’s introduction, epilogue, and lively notes—is a unique source on Chiricahua lifeways and an engrossing tale of travel and adventure.

Retired as a professional accountant, Edwin R. Sweeney is an independent scholar and the author of Cochise: Chiricahua Apache Chief; Mangas Coloradas: Chief of the Chiricahua Apaches; and From Cochise to Geronimo: The Chiricahua Apaches, 1874–1886.

Frank J. Sladen, Jr., grandson of Joseph Alton Sladen, served in the 100th Infantry Division in the European theater during World War II.