One plea was more urgent than the other.

It also seemed like Washington was viewed it as asking for co-operation whereas Cochise was asking for help and felt defeated, like it was..

a last resort.

I got that "last resort" feeling from when he was asking for blankets to clothe their nakedness. I remember thinking, "wow, they must be...

in a sorry state".

I would definitely agree that it was some sort of last resort. I still wonder what it would have been like if it hadn't been recited