The Ake Party formed in the chaos of collapsing frontier settlements. U.S. troops had withdrawn from Fort Buchanan, and Apache attacks culminated in the Siege of Tubac, which left homes burned and families fleeing. By early August 1861, a procession of six double wagons, two buggies, and one single wagon gathered in Tucson for the journey east to the Rio Grande. The party numbered 24 men, 16 women, and 7 children. They drove 400 head of cattle and 900 head of sheep along with horses and goats. This mass of livestock would prove both their wealth and their doom. The Chiricahua Apache leaders Cochise and Mangas Coloradas commanded warriors throughout this region, and such a herd presented an irresistible target.

The journey from Tucson passed without incident until the party crossed the Mimbres River and entered Cookes Canyon, making for the springs at its eastern end. Around 100 Apache warriors waited until the last wagon entered the narrow defile before springing their trap. The attack began with the livestock, scattering the massive herds of cattle and sheep. Then the warriors charged the wagons. Several men of the party mounted countercharges on horseback, buying time for the wagons to form a defensive circle. The siege lasted the remainder of the day. Apaches took to the surrounding slopes, firing arrows and bullets from elevation while settlers returned fire from behind their wagons. When darkness fell, the Apaches retreated with their prize: every head of cattle and sheep the party had owned.

One wagon carrying most of the women and children never entered the canyon. At the first sounds of gunfire, it turned and fled back toward the Mimbres River. The Apaches let it go, focused on the main party and its livestock. This wagon reached the Mimbres settlement safely and sent urgent word to Pinos Altos, where Confederate Arizona Guards were stationed. The troops responded to the plea for help, leading to the Battle of the Florida Mountains two days later. Meanwhile, the main party counted their losses: four men dead, eight wounded, and every animal they had brought from Arizona gone. They withdrew to the Mimbres to regroup.

The Ake Party's ordeal was only one chapter in a summer of carnage. During those months of 1861, Apache warriors under Mangas Coloradas and Cochise methodically attacked travelers at Cookes Canyon. Seven settlers died near the canyon's eastern end. Nine Mexican herdsmen were killed and their cattle stolen. Three captured whites were tortured to death. Fourteen American settlers were murdered in late July and discovered by the Los Angeles Mounted Rifles. Historian Dan Thrapp documented 150 white deaths within sixty days. The Mexican governor of Sonora simultaneously reported 500 to 600 of his people killed by Apache on the border's southern side. Cookes Pass earned the name Massacre Canyon, and travelers learned to dread the route.

The Battle of Cookes Canyon occurred at an extraordinary historical intersection. The American Civil War had begun that spring, and Confederate Arizona was attempting to establish control over the territory. The Apache Wars, which had intensified after the Bascom Affair earlier in 1861, now raged across the region. With U.S. troops withdrawn to fight the Confederacy in the east, Apache leaders saw their opportunity. The result was a brief window when neither federal nor Confederate forces could protect the trails. Travelers moving between Mesilla and Tucson were on their own, and the bones accumulating in Cookes Canyon told the cost. One chronicler described finding 'many bones, skulls, & graves' scattered through the pass.