Butterfield Overland Mail Across Chiricahua Apache Country 1858-1861

Spur Award Winning Author, Doug Hocking, has completed advanced studies in American history, ethnology, and historical archaeology. Raised on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation, Doug retired from the US Army after serving in Military Intelligence and as an officer in Armored Cavalry. He is the author of many award-winning books of Southwest History including: Southwest Train Robberies,Terror on the Santa Fe Trail, a history of the Jicarilla tribe, Tom Jeffords, Friend of Cochise and Black Legend, about an 1861 Incident at Apache Pass said to have started the Chiricahua War. He has won the Spur Award, the Will Rogers Medallion, and the Co founders’ Award for Best History and the Danielson for best presentation.  

In 1858, the Butterfield Overland Mail carried the first transcontinental post from St. Louis (& Memphis) to San Francisco in under 25 days. Through most of this period, the Chiricahua Apache offered little resistance. Raiding increased dramatically in 1861 as…