Frontiersman, Scout, Indian Agent. He was a steamboat captain on the Mississippi River in his youth. He arrived in the New Mexico territory in 1859 as an Army scout and reportedly participated in the Battle of Apache Pass. He remained in the territory and found work as a teamster. In that capacity, he made personal contact with the Apache chief Cochise in order to secure safe passage for his freight wagons through Apache territory in the midst of the "Cochise War." He and Cochise became friends, and he was key in creating the opportunity for General Oliver O. Howard to meet with Cochise in 1871 and 1872 for the purpose of negotiating an end to the Cochise War. He witnessed the burial of Cochise in 1874. Jeffords became the agent to the Chiricahua or Chokonen Apaches and remained in that post from the date of the treaty creating their reservation in 1872 until the Chiricahua reservation was consolidated at San Carlos in 1876, at which time he was released from his duties. He later served General Nelson A. Miles as scout in the final Geronimo campaign in 1886. His roll amongst the Plains Indians was detailed in historian Dee Brown's work "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee".
Frontiersman, Scout, Indian Agent. He was a steamboat captain on the Mississippi River in his youth. He arrived in the New Mexico territory in 1859 as an Army scout and reportedly participated in the Battle of Apache Pass. He remained in the territory and found work as a teamster. In that capacity, he made personal contact with the Apache chief Cochise in order to secure safe passage for his freight wagons through Apache territory in the midst of the "Cochise War." He and Cochise became friends, and he was key in creating the opportunity for General Oliver O. Howard to meet with Cochise in 1871 and 1872 for the purpose of negotiating an end to the Cochise War. He witnessed the burial of Cochise in 1874. Jeffords became the agent to the Chiricahua or Chokonen Apaches and remained in that post from the date of the treaty creating their reservation in 1872 until the Chiricahua reservation was consolidated at San Carlos in 1876, at which time he was released from his duties. He later served General Nelson A. Miles as scout in the final Geronimo campaign in 1886. His roll amongst the Plains Indians was detailed in historian Dee Brown's work "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee".
Bio by: Robert Schaller
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