JUNE 17, 1889

WARM SPRINGS CHIRICAHUA APACHE FEMALE WARRIOR LOZEN DIED

Born circa 1840 near Ojo Caliente (in New Mexico), Lozen was one of her band’s best riders. At her coming-of-age ceremony, she received the power to sense the enemy’s location–a warrior sign. With her brother, Victorio, as band leader, she joined on raids. Lozen neither married, nor had children. In 1875, all Apache were forced onto the San Carlos Reservation where hunger & disease caused Victorio’s band to leave for Ojo Caliente. The band hid in the mountains and began raiding [“Victorio’s War” (1879-81)]. Lozen’s heroism became legend, leading women & children to safety, helping deliver & care for a baby, stealing horses & provisions, killing a steer with a knife, and trekking solo around troops back to her band. Returned to San Carlos after Victorio’s death, she joined in Geronimo’s 1885 escape. While she & Dahteste, another female warrior, tried to negotiate peace, the Army captured the Chiricahua. Going with her band to Florida, she died from tuberculosis while imprisoned in Alabama.

Source: “Life Story: Lozen - Women & the American Story.  Retrieved1/26/2023, Life Story: Lozen - Women & the American Story (nyhistory.org)

Photo:  Author unknown, circa 1889.  Original (left) is the last photo of Geronimo’s band on their way by train to prison in Florida. Cropped shot (right) shows Lozen third from the right.  This is the only known shot of her.  Public Domain. [Larger shot and cropped].  Source: Life Story: Lozen - Women & the American Story (nyhistory.org)