White Brother of Cochise

THE history of Arizona holds tales of many men of courage, men who would face danger and laugh. But nowhere in its chronicles is there a character more interesting than that of Capt. T. J. Jeffords, best known perhaps through his connection with Cochise, brilliant war chief of the Chiricahua Apaches for whom Cochise Stronghold is named.

Jeffords, who came to Arizona about 1860, did not draw his title of captain from any military experience. He had been, it is said, the captain of a steamboat on the Mississippi river prior to his arrival in the west as a driver for the Butterfield stage lines, coming out from St. Louis after the installation of that noted link between the middle west and the Pacific coast.

He was a huge man, standing well over six feet tall and wearing a mane of sandy hair and a ruddy beard. He was noted for his fearlessness and his staunch regard for his word. Once a promise had been made by Jeffords for good or ill, most accounts agree, he never broke it. Arizona, as it is recorded, knew him first as a stage driver, then as a free trader with the Indians where he picked up fragments of the Apache tongue and later, through the acquirement of a mail sub-contract from the Butterfield, as the proprietor of a mail line between Silver City and Yuma. It was while engaged in this last occupation that he became known to Cochise.

The mail route which Jeffords operated ran through the heart of the Apache country. Cochise, having declared war on all white men following his break with the whites, after Lt. George Bascom had hanged five of his people, was making the delivery of mail through Apache Pass in the Dragoons a precarious business. It has been said, according to Dr. Frank C. Lockwood, that Jeffords hired his riders for $125 a month and it was seldom that one of them lived long enough to draw his first pay.

This situation caused Jeffords to decide that something must be done to call off the Apache warriors else the line was a failure. The price being paid in the blood of the mail carriers was too high.

A brave and honest man himself he credited his Indian adversary with equal

How Capt. T. J. Jeffords Made Peace With Most Ferocious of All Apache Warriors

bravery and honesty. He arranged for a meeting with Cochise and rode alone into the Stronghold to talk the matter over with the leader of the Indians. As soon as he entered the rugged granite gap into the lair of the chief he realized that he was surrounded by warriors and that his life depended on the whim of the Apache leader. Finally, high up in the Stronghold, where now a beautiful recreation area is maintained by the U. S. Forest service, Cochise awaited the arrival of Jeffords. There, disarmed, the white man was brought into the presence of the chief who had laid waste the San Pedro time after time and who, on his blood oath, had sworn revenge on the whites.

Jeffords, after the long silence which precedes an Indian council, told his side of the story. No one knows the manner in which he spoke but the content of his plea to Cochise was a straightforward presentation of his own case. He had a contract to fulfill. He was pledged to carry the mail along the route that penetrated the depths of Apache Pass and he must keep that pledge. He wanted peace, not war with the Apaches. The constant bloodshed had cost him many men and it had cost Apache lives. Both losses were fruitless. Would Cochise leave his mail carriers alone if they in turn made no effort to harm the Apaches?

Intrigued by the fearlessness of the man and by his honesty of manner Cochise pondered long over the proposal. He admired bravery but above all he admired honesty. Jeffords, he believed, had both. Most assuredly he was brave or else he would not have been there in the Stronghold alone and unarmed amid the warriors who had taken so many lives among his countrymen.

Finally the chief made his decision. None but Jeffords and Cochise will ever know the terms in which it was couched but the agreement which followed prevailed until the death of the Indian who made it. Jeffords nor his Men ever suffered again from the Apaches and the mail went through Apache Pass uninterrupted as long as Jeffords held the contract.

The meeting was the beginning of a friendship which was to make Jeffords noted in the annals of the Southwest and which was to later assist General O. O. Howard in making the treaty which prevailed until the death of Cochise.

Typical of the men of his time Jeffords turned his hand to many things. His contract with the Apaches and their good will permitted him to enter a more or less active trade with them. He turned to mining for a time, then to a phase of the cattle business, it is said. In many instances he was called upon to act as intermediary for various interests with the Indian people. Always, however, he kept his word to Cachise and at no time did Jeffords turn his hand, which was not always a peacable one, against a member of the Apache's band.

It was during this period that President U. S. Grant decided that something must be done regarding the Indian situation in Arizona territory and sent General O. O. Howard, one-armed hero of the battle of Fair Oaks, to Silver City to look into the situation and take whatever action he deemed needed. Howard was the first such agent of the government to bear full power to act, but Grant, knowing his officer's ability from experience, did not hamper him with trivial instructions.

General Howard arrived at Silver City and began his efforts to reach Cochise with a message asking a parley. Cochise was not interested although it is known that he knew of Howard's desire. For some time the officer's efforts bore no results. Then, through a message carried by a brother of the Apache, Howard arranged for the meeting. It was Cochise who made the terms, Howard agreeing to them.

The general was to come to the Stronghold unarmed, accompanied only by his aide, Captain Sladen and by Jeffords who would act as interpreter. No troops were to be brought into the Stronghold. After some thought Howard decided to accept the proposal although many men told him he would be going to his death. Jeffords, however, declared the word of Cochise was good, that it would not be broken and Howard(Continued on Page 18)