Cochise's Home

Here in southern Arizona, near Benson and Tombstone, is the home of the famous Indian warrior and leader of the Chiricahua, Cochise. He was born in 1815 in the Chiricahua Mountains and died there in 1874 of what is thought to have been stomach cancer. Peace was negotiated between the Chiricahua and the United States in 1872 due to the help of a white man who became Cochise's friend.






There are no man-made structures making up this historic site. The mountains, nicknamed the "Dragoons," were the homes of his tribe. Dragoons were Mexican mounted soldiers for which these unusually shaped mountains in this section of the Coronado National Forest were named due to their sharply protruding shapes.


The Chiricahuas, who are a segment of the Apache tribe, made their homes in these naturally sheltered and protected canyons and gullies. As you learn from the display onsite about the success of these Indians in keeping the U. S. troops out in the 1800s, you need only take a look around at the crevices and precipices to see the advantage they would be to a person who knew how to navigate them.