Cochise escaped, and a standoff developed as Cochise's tribe and allies surrounded the American forces, demanding the release of the rest of Cochise's party. Cochise professed truthfully that his tribe had not kidnapped the boy and offered to try and find him for the Americans, but the commander refused to believe him and instead took Cochise and his party hostage for the return of the boy. The Apache Wars were sparked when American troops erroneously accused Apache leader Cochise and his tribe of kidnapping a young boy during a raid. The first conflicts between the Apache (who call themselves T`Inde, Inde, N`dee, N`ne, meaning the 'people') and other people in the Southwest date to the earliest Spanish settlements, but the specific set of conflicts now known as the Apache Wars began during the Mexican–American War. The Apache only rarely united to gather armies of hundreds of men, using all tribal male members of warrior age. They raided with small parties, for a specific purpose. Historically, the Apache had raided enemy tribes and sometimes each other, for livestock, food or captives. The Confederate Army briefly participated in the wars during the early 1860s in Texas, before being diverted to action in the American Civil War in New Mexico and Arizona. This is generally considered the end of the Apache Wars, although conflicts continued between citizens and Apaches. Army put over 5,000 soldiers in the field to fight, which resulted in the surrender of Geronimo and 30 of his followers. Some reservations were not on the traditional areas occupied by the Apache. in accordance with the Indian Removal Act. Army established forts to fight Apache tribal war parties and force Apaches to move to designated Indian reservations created by the U.S. Conflicts continued as new United States citizens came into traditional Apache lands to raise livestock and crops and to mine minerals. After the Mexican–American War in 1846, the United States inherited conflicted territory from Mexico which was the home of both settlers and Apache tribes. The Apache Wars were a series of armed conflicts between the United States Army and various Apache tribal confederations fought in the southwest between 18, though minor hostilities continued until as late as 1924.

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