Tom Jeffords ─ Friend of Cochise

"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."--Provided by publisher.

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.