[1] Cochise (or "Cheis") was one of the most noted Apache leaders (along with Geronimo and Mangas Coloradas) to resist intrusions by Mexicans and Americans during the 19th century.

He was described as a large man (for the time), with a muscular frame, classical features, and long, black hair, which he wore in traditional Apache style.

Eventually, the Spanish tried a different approach; they tried to make the Apache dependent (thereby placating them), giving them older firearms and liquor rations issued by the colonial government (this was called the "Galvez Peace Policy").

As a result, the Mexican government began a series of military operations to stop the raiding by the Chiricahua, but they were fought to a standstill by the Apache.

Beginning with early Spanish colonization around 1600, the Apache suffered tension and strife with European settlers until the greater part of the area was acquired by the United States in 1850 following the Mexican War.

An Apache raiding party had driven away a local rancher's cattle and kidnapped his 12-year-old stepson (Felix Ward, who later became known as Mickey Free).

[4]: 15–18  The mistaken arrest of Cochise by Lt. Bascom is still remembered by the Chiricahua's descendants today, who describe the incident as "Cut the Tent".

[5] Cochise joined his father-in-law Mangas Coloradas (Red Sleeves, Kan-da-zis Tlishishen), the powerful Chihenne-Chiricahua chief, in a long series of retaliatory skirmishes and raids on the white settlements and ranches.

The United States was distracted by its own internal conflict of the looming Civil War, and had begun to pull military forces out of the area.

At Apache Pass in 1862, Cochise and Mangas Coloradas, with around 500 fighters, held their ground against a New Mexico-bound force of California volunteers under General James Henry Carleton until carriage-mounted howitzer artillery fire was brought to bear on their positions in the rocks above.

[6] In January 1863, Gen. Joseph R. West, under orders from Gen. Carleton, captured Mangas Coloradas by luring him into a conference under a flag of truce.

Cochise believed that the Americans had violated the rules of war by capturing and killing Mangas Coloradas during a parley session.

[7] Based on statements by Sumner and descriptions by Sladen, modern historians such as Robert M. Utley believe that Cochise's Spanish interpreter was Geronimo.

He died of natural causes (probably abdominal cancer) in 1874, and was buried in the rocks above one of his favorite camps in Arizona's Dragoon Mountains, now called the Cochise Stronghold.