Tom Jeffords and Cochise
The Tortolitas were home to a little known local hero, Thomas Jefferson Jeffords, who helped bring an end to the Apache Indian Wars. This is a much shortened version of Tom’’s life and concentrates mostly on his history in this area. It is known that he was a miner, scout, a deputy sheriff of Tombstone, and small boat captain before he came west. This is how he got the name ““captain.”” He was born outside Chautauqua, New York on January 1, 1832 and died in the Tortolita’’s February 21, 1914 
Jefford’’s was the superintendent of a mail line that later became part of the famous ““Pony Express”” system and was to become a friend of Cochise when he rode by himself with great courage into the chief’’s stronghold to ask for safe passage of his mail riders. This fierce chief was much impressed with his simple honesty and bravery. Their friendship lasted throughout the SW Indian Wars conflict, no matter what the circumstances this conflict brought.
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Warfare with the Chiricahua Apaches began in 1861, when US Army troops rode into Cochise’’s stronghold at Apache Pass. They falsely accused the chief of kidnapping a white child from a nearby ranch. When Cochise denied the accusation soldiers tried to take him hostage, he escaped, took his own hostages. Soldiers then hanged a number of Apache prisoners, some of whom were relatives of Cochise which caused him to execute his hostages and the war was on. 
In an alliance with another Apache chief, Mangas Coloradas, Cochise and other Apaches formed bands of raiders who terrorized southern Arizona for the next ten years. Before this he had been relatively friendly toward the whites in his area. He was, however, implacable toward the Mexican government and raided them pretty much at will during and before his war with the ““White Soldiers.””
In 1871, President Grant, in a move to end the Apache wars, sent General Oliver Howard to negotiate treaties with the tribes. He enlisted the help of Tom Jeffords who eventually led the general into Cochise’’s camp. A treaty was signed in 1872, ending the decade long war with the Chiricahua Apache. Cochise requested that his people be allowed to remain in the Chiricahua Mountains and that Jeffords be made Indian agent for the region. 
His requests were granted but Tucsonans branded Jeffords ““Indian lover”” and wrote scathing reports to politicians back in Washington. In 1875 he was removed as the federal agent and the Chiricahua Apaches were relocated to the San Carlos Reservation. The treaty, so successfully negotiated through the help of Tom Jeffords, was broken. Luckily Tom’’s blood brother and friend Cochise didn’’t live to see this infamy. In less than a year from signing the treaty Tom Jeffords saw his friend for the last time. In this reported conversation Cochise asked his friend if he thought they would see each other again in another life. Tom said he thought so and Cochise agreed. The next day the great chief went to his ““Happy Hunting Grounds.””
The Indian Wars ended in 1886 with the surrender of the last Apache leader Geronimo and the West was secured for the White settlers. In a side note it should be stated that Geronimo and Cochise were never on good terms. It is believed that the accepting of Captain Jeffords as a blood brother was the last straw that sundered the two great war leaders forever.
An excellent movie titled ““Broken Arrow”” was made of this story from the Book ““Blood Brother”” by Elliot Arnold. In this movie in which Academy Award winner Jimmy Stewart played the role of Tom Jeffords this story was told though distorted by Hollywood as usual. But this was of course not the end of Mr. Jeffords career. A few years after the end of the Indian Wars in 1892 we find him homesteading and mining parts of the Tortolita Mountains near the Owlhead Buttes. His hand dug mines can be seen there to this day.
Apparently his company was not well received in Tucson and so he became somewhat of a hermit in his last ten years or so. An occasional visitor would stop by and rarely would he come into town for supplies. He never hit much in the way of gold but some silver and copper was extracted and apparently he lived a quiet and uneventful life for the last 22 years. His homestead was a nice but small frame home with a picket fence that included a well and his own smelter which he worked with the occasional help of some Mexican laborers. 
He seemed to sense his own death coming as he started visiting Tucson the last few months he lived, even though he hadn’’t appeared there in public for the preceding 4 or 5 years. He died on February 21, 1914 as he lived; simply and without fanfare at the Owlhead Buttes likely from complications of Asthma. He was given a respectable funeral at the Pioneer’’s Society on W. Congress Street and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery on Oracle near Miracle Mile.
In the end we have to ask ourselves who was Tom Jeffords? Our best guess is that he was a very courageous man to whom bravery was simple a way of life. He was witty, self-
depreciating, and didn’’t go in for refinement. He apparently did not have any driving ambition and did not seem to crave material possessions. In the end we can only guess what made him tick. But he was certainly one of the more interesting pioneers of the Tortolita Mountain area.