The Wrath of Cochise: The Bascom Affair and the Origins of the Apache Wars by Terry Mort

The Wrath of Cochise: The Bascom Affair and the Origins of the Apache Wars Reviews

• 
  David Eppenstein

  I am not very familiar with this area of history but a recent trip to the Southwest inspired me to acquaint myself. This book was more than I expected. Not only was it a good biography of Cochise but also a good survey of the culture, traditions, and lifestyle of his tribe. Further, as the history of the area unfolds it was necessary for the author to also delve into the history. Of the Mormons and their settling of Utah. This book was quite informative and has piqued my interest in the history of the West.
• 
  Jim

  Terry Mort writes the story of the clash of two cultures which couldn't have been more different--the Chiracahua Apaches and the United States. His focus is on the Bascom Affair of 1861 which ignited a war which would last for ten years. In that incident, a young and inexperienced Lt. George Bascom met with the warrior Cochise. Cochise was accused of kidnapping a twelve-year-old boy who was an Arizona rancher's son. Cochise very likely was not responsible but Bascom took Cochise's family hostage as well as Cochise himself, to be released upon the return of the boy. Cochise managed to escape and began a war upon the U.S., a war that would end with the destruction of the Chiracahua culture. Mort reconstructs what happened in the incident. Much of the book gives a background on the two men who made the fateful meeting and then the aftermath- and what happened to the major figures involved. Some very tragic history and one is left wondering how conflict could have been avoided...
• 
  Tom Dunn

  Just finished the story about Cochise and it was excellent, the way it was written was good and the story itself was very informative. The struggle between two different cultures, one trying to enforce his way of live onto another culture who was there way longer than his. Try to get Cochise and his people to change the only way of life that they have known for centuries. Yes there was misunderstandings on both sides which led to years of savagery on both sides. But then you look at the way the white man and the government has treated the native Americans by breaking treaty after treaty (example the black hills which were sacred to the native Americans), forcing them off their land and forced relocation to so called reservations there only to have them die off from diseases. We owe the native Americans more than just lip service. If any one group deserves reparations it is the many Indian tribes through out this country.
• 
  Fredrick Danysh

  Mort gives us an academic study of the events at Apache Pass in present day Arizona that sparked a ten year long war between the Apache and the United States. He examines the background and culture of the principal participants. Cochise and Lieutenant Bascom for most of the work. The author is fond of using big words so the average reader needs to have a dictionary handy. Insight into the Apache way of life is provided.
• 
  Christine Beverly

  "White people store their cultural values in libraries and museums and universities; Apaches stored them in specific places in the landscape and in the stories that were rooted there and passed along from generation to generation...When something happened was not important; where it happened and what it meant were what mattered."
  
  This book tackles the "where" and "what it meant" much more than the "when" it happened. The author tackles a single place in the book and really digs into the forces at work around that place. The scope expands beyond Apache Pass when he looks into these forces: the educational system for officers (who made the decisions), the tensions between the Mormons & army (which influenced the lives of those who made the decisions), the Apache culture (which those who made the decisions knew little about, but which directly affected the outcome of the action), and the Butterfield line history (which is why the army even cared about this dusty path in Southern Arizona).
  
  I enjoyed learning about all of these things, especially as one who has grown up in the desert Southwest. There is much about my part of the earth that I do not know, and there is much history that must be left out of history classes because the school semester is short. I had heard the name Cochise, and I've visited Glorieta Pass, but I knew little else about the history covered in this book. The author has done a fine job of digging into that history and unearthing some of the forces at work on that fateful day in that fateful pass.
• 
  Pamela Okano

  A so-so book on the background leading to the Apache Wars, this volume contains a lot of pure speculation, which the author admits. At the end, there's a small bit about how the Civil War was fought in the southwest.
• 
  Hari Brandl

  Great writing with extensive bibliography, footnotes and first sources. Includes a fair amount of the history of Mormonism, not especially flattering. Heartbreaking.
• 
  Julie

  Along with Neither Wolf nor Dog, this book changes my perspective of Native Americans. The realistic view of the soldiers was enlightening too.
• 
  Jim

  Excellent read.
• 
  Joshua

  I thought I was exposed to a lot of new information, but the book strayed off topic at times.
• 
  Karl

  Terrible book. It was mostly focused on the background. Not on the main subject.
• 
  HBalikov

  It's not the place to explain the concept of Manifest Destiny which may have united more of the USA during the 19th Century than any religion or political party. It provided the vision for the march of citizens and immigrants west across the continent.
  
  In the 1840s, it justified the Mexican War and resulted in the largest addition to the USA since the Louisiana Purchase. But it wasn't sufficient. It wasn't easy enough for the railroads to lay their track. So, in the 1850s, there was pressure to make a deal, and Mexico was too weak to resist. It became the last major addition to the continental USA. What wasn't calculated were the Native Americans that came with the territory.
  
  This book focuses on an incident involving a kidnapping, a counter-kidnapping and the resulting 20 years of major (and avoidable) conflict with Chiricahua Apaches. My knowledge of this history had been limited to assiduous research in the files of Hollywood epics. You, too, may be familiar with the names, Cochise and Geronimo, from TV and pictures.
  
  This book concerns "The Bascom Affair" and the reader will learn in all its detail. How Lt. George Bascom, a Mormon, made the decisions that affected a generation and resulted in much hardship and avoidable death. The background to this is fascinating and represents a great deal of research. Thus, it plods. The reward is an understand of some of the issues that persisted into the 20th Century and color relations in the Southwest even until today.
  
  Now, if you excuse me, I will go back to watching Broken Arrow with Jimmy Stewart.
• 
  John Bascom

  An interesting if at times tedious account of events and encounters leading up to the worst of the conflicts with the Apache Indians in Arizona in the mid to late 19th century. This book was of interest to me in that one of the key historical characters, Lt. George Bascom, was a distant relative of mine. Mr. Mort is nothing if not detailed, sometimes deviating into barely relevant and only loosely related historic events such as the Mormon wars in Utah. The author's writing itself is workman-like if uninspired. It is also quite repetitive at times. To its great credit, the book avoids the patronizing and maudlin characterization of the Apaches as gentle victims seen so often in contemporary if politically correct portrayals, and brings out instead the overwhelming belligerence and cruelty of which they were capable. Given their behavior, one cannot imagine another outcome other than that which occurred: their complete extermination as a people. Overall an interesting read, although I don't smell a Pulitzer Prize here.
• 
  Tzi Alexander

  The Wrath of Cochise: The Bascom Affair and the Origins of the Apache Wars by Terry Mort was one of the worst historical biographies I have ever had the unfortunate ability to read. Terry Mort who has no credentials in which to write a book about Cochise focused entirely too much on the idea of Bascom and too little of Cochise the subject topic. Detailing the details of Bascom's life while interesting is not useful in a book called the Wrath of Cochise.
  
  Terry Mort is a boring author with no credentials to write historical biographies and has a very monotone way of writing. His writing style is like reading a series of bad thesi and extremely boring books like In His Steps.
  
  I would only recommend this book to those that want something to put them sleep. A horrid, boring, warped read, I would never wish this book on anyone. Do not read it.
• 
  Karyl Krug

  The lessons of the clash between the White people and the Indians apparently did not stick. In 1848, the U.S. Army considered Indians savages because they were not men of science. Imagine what they would think of so many Americans' hostility to science today. Neither side took a nuanced view of the other, lumping the violent Apache in with more peaceful tribes. The Indians resented the mining Whites were doing in their sacred mountains. Even today, Americans have to fight off industrialists to prevent the mining and destruction of our national parks. Whites sought to convert Indians to Christianity, when the Whites were consumed by their love of golden idols. No lessons have been learned from our own history. Splitting and demonizing of "the other" continues apace.
• 
  Tom

  This book was suggested by my friend Ron Gossen as part of a two-book read, including Robert Utley's Geronimo. The clash between Cochise and Lt. George Bascom characterizes our military's approach to the Native American civil war. Mort's book details how Bascom and Cochise ended up face-to-face in Apache Pass, and sparked a generation of bloodshed.
• 
  Mike Atkinson

  At times while reading this book I thought the story was reaching into areas that had little to do with Cochiese or LT Bascom, but patient reading reveals why the author included historical forays into Mormons, the Utah War, the Civil War and government corruption and other areas of interest as well. This was good history, thoroughly covered and not dusty or dry.
• 
  Katie

  Parts of this book were very interesting. I have never even heard of the Utah War! And others parts got a little bogged down. However, it was an interesting read and I did learn more about Apache culture & customs.
• 
  Cheryl Schibley

  The Apaches were raiders, the Mormons were killers. Together they teamed up to kill a lot of people in the late 1800's. Fascinating account of the War of Utah and the rise of the Mormons and the demise of native Americans.
• 
  Rena Jane

  The cast of characters gets difficult to keep track of at times, but otherwise, a well-researched and documented description of the Apache Wars and the Bascom Affair.
  
  Well described history of early New Mexico-Arizona history.
• 
  Sean

  Bookseller's title on a story about two groups. Both apache and settler (invader) cultures are described with some sympathy. The writing could have been better.