Tom Jeffords: Friend of Cochise

by Doug Hocking

Overview

The first full-length biography of the Western legend Tom Jeffords, immortalized by Jimmy Stewart in 1950's Broken Arrow. This book tells the true story of a man who headed West drawn by the lure of the Pike's Peak Gold Rush in 1858; made a life for himself over a decade as he scouted for the army, prospected, became a business man; then learned the Apache language and rode alone into Cochise's camp in order to negotiate peaceful passage for his stagecoach company. In his search for the real story of Jeffords, Cochise, and the parts they played in mid-nineteenth century American history and politics, author Doug Hocking reveals that while the myths surrounding those events may have clouded the truth a bit, Jeffords was almost as brave and impressive as the legend had it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493026371
Publisher:	TwoDot
Publication date:	05/01/2017
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Doug Hocking was born on Long Island and spent part of his youth in the whaling and sailing ports along the coast breathing in the sea air as Tom Jeffords did the Great Lakes air in Ashtabula. While still young, Doug was transplanted to the Jicarilla Apache Reservation in New Mexico where he grew up forming close friendships with Native Americans and Mexican Americans learning the peoples, cultures and terrain of the Southwest. Doug lives in southeast Arizona and has located and explored Tom Jeffords’s homes and haunts.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction xiii

Chapter 1 Growing Up 1

Chapter 2 Lake Sailor 11

Chapter 3 Going West 25

Chapter 4 Apaches 37

Chapter 5 The Civil War 59

Chapter 6 Post-War Adventures 71

Chapter 7 Friendship 91

Chapter 8 The Chiricahua Agency 109

Chapter 9 Making a Fortune, 1877-1892 129

Chapter 10 Owl Head Buttes, 1892-1914 149

Bibliography 165

Endnotes 173

Index 195

About the Author 203