Some Recollections of Arizona and Cochise

"Edward L. Keyes, late of the Army ... informs us that Cochise died in his week up in the Dragoon Mountains." - The United States Army and Navy Journal and Gazette (1911)

"Accounts of Cochise's death and burial...Edward L. Keyes has a reliable account, reportedly obtained from Taza." - Cochise: Chiricahua Apache Chief (2012)

What events led to the eventual demise of Cochise, far up in the Dragoon Mountains of Arizona?

In the July 1890 issue of The United Service, a Monthly Review of Military and Naval Affairs, Edward L. Keyes published an 8-page article "Some Recollections of Arizona and Cochise." It is this short article that has been reprinted here for the convenience of the interested reader.

In introducing his article, the author writes: "Arizona in 1872 was quite a different place from the Arizona of 1890. It was during the first-mentioned period that 'some spirit in my feet' led me there. No railroad crossed its boundary-lines at any point."

Regarding Cochise, the author states:

"Cochise, for a savage, was intellectually brilliant, and he possessed what no other chief was able to boast of,-supreme control over his band....Spotted Tail, Lone Wolf, Little Raven, Bird Chief, Left Hand, Powder Face, Eskiminsin, Skittyslaw, and other Sioux, Cheyennes, Arapahoes, and Apaches have from time to time been mentioned as bright and brave warriors. So they were among their own people, but Cochise was brilliant and brave among them."