Mangas Coloradas

Mangas Coloradas led his Chiricahua Apache people for almost forty years. In this first full-length biography of the legendary chief, Edwin R. During the last years of Mangas's life, he and his son-in-law Cochise led an assault against white settlement in Apacher a that made the two of them the most feared warriors in the Southwest.

Leading war parties against the Mexicans of Sonora, Mangas returned to his homelands in southwestern New Mexico with livestock, booty, and captives. Sweeney vividly portrays the Apache culture in which Mangas rose to power and the conflict with Americans that led to his brutal death.A giant of a man, Mangas combined strength with wisdom and became leader of the Chiricahuas by 1842. In 1846 he welcomed Americans who joined in his fight against the Mexicans.

But as more white miners, ranchers, and farmers encroached on the Apaches' territory, tragic