Nahche (Na-ai-che, `mischievous,' `meddlesome.'-George Wrattan). An Apache warrior, a member of the Chiricahua band. He is the second son of the celebrated Cochise, and as hereditary chief succeeded his elder brother, Tazi, on the death of the latter. His mother was a daughter of the notorious Mangas Coloradas.
As a child Nahche was meddlesome and mischievous, hence his name. He was the leading spirit in the many raids that almost desolated the smaller settlements of Arizona and New Mexico and of northern Chihuahua and Sonora between 1881 and 1886, for which Geronimo's, a Medicine-man and malcontent rather than a warrior, received the chief credit. In the latter year Geronimo's band, so called, of which Nahche was actually the chief, was captured by General Miles and taken as prisoners of war successively to Florida, Alabama, and finally to Ft Sill, Okla., where Nahche still resides, respected by his own people as well as by the whites. In his prime as a warrior he was described as supple and graceful, with long, flexible hands, and a rather handsome face. His height was 5 ft. 10½ in, for four years in charge of the Chiricahua prisoners in Oklahoma, speaks of Nahche as a most forceful and reliable man, faithfully performing the duties assigned to him as a prisoner, whether watched or not. He was proud and self-respecting, and was regarded by the Chiricahua at Ft Sill as their leader. In recent years, however, he has lost his old-time influence as well as some of his trustworthiness (inf'n from Geo. Wrattan, official interpreter, 1907).
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