184?-189?
Lozen was the younger sister of the mighty Apache war leader Victorio, and the most famous of the Apache War Women. Lozen was born in a section of New Mexico / Arizona / Northern Mexico known at that time as Apacheria, somewhere in the late 1840s. She was born within sight of the Sacred Mountain near Ojo Caliente where the People began.
She let it be known at a very early age that she had no interest in learning the women's duties of the tribe, and set out on the warrior's path - taught by her famous brother. She learned to ride a horse at age seven and soon became one of the best riders in the band. She loved the rough games of the boys. All of the girls of the band started hard physical training at the age of 8. Their physical endurance would be necessary to survive the harsh way of life they lived. A few women went on raids or with hunting parties to take care of chores and of their husbands, but Lozen took part in the warrior training and never married.
When Lozen was born, the leader of the People was a tough, grizzled, canny warrior named Juan Jose Compa. The Chihenne lived then mostly in the Animas Mountains. Some Mexicans came into the area and made friends with them and brought with them slave Indians from other bands and drove those slaves ceaselessly to work in the caves of the earth.
Mangas Coloradas liked the golden metal the Mexicans were digging for and also like the mescal that the Mexicans taught them to use, so he made peace with the Mexicans. The warriors profited by trading horses and cattle and other things with the Mexicans.
The Mexicans also brought a white man into the area whose name was John James Johnson. Juan Jose led the People to an area to Santa Rita where the Mexicans had barrels of mescal and piles of presents. They watched warily the other white eyes who had bristled hair on their faces. But the whole fiesta scene was a trap and John Johnson shot many of the Indians dead on the spot. They shot even the women and children. Johnson and the other white eyes and Mexicans seized the hair off the heads of the Indians to sell back in Mexico. The People feared the dead and the 'chindi' spirits that lingered after a death.
Mangas Coloradas took charge of the survivors and determined to take revenge on the white eyes and Mexicans and Santa Rita. The People believed in revenge. Over 100 warriors took part in the raids that followed and they killed as many of the white eyes and Mexicans who had taken part in the murder of the People. When the Mexicans and white eyes were captured and brought to camp, the wives, mothers and daughters of the murdered Indians killed the men in revenge. The crushed them under horses hooves, beat them to death with clubs and even hacked them to pieces with knives. This is what Lozen learned as a child.
Lozen was quite unlike her counterpart, Dahteste. Lozen had no concern for her appearance and, even though she is in several famous photos of Geronimo with his warriors, there is nothing to indicate that she is a woman. She was manly in her appearance, dressed like a man, lived and fought like a man. She devoted her life to the service of her people.
Victorio is quoted as saying, "Lozen is my right hand . . . strong as a man , braver than most, and cunning in strategy, Lozen is a shield to her people."
Legend has it that Lozen was able to use her supernatural powers in battle to learn the movements of the enemy and that she helped each band that she accompanied to successfully avoid capture. She also had the ability to use song and herbs to help heal people and was considered a Shaman.
After Victorio's death, Lozen continued to ride with Chief Nana, and eventually joined forces with Geronimo's band, eluding capture until she finally surrendered with this last group of free Apaches in 1886. She died of tuberculosis at the Mount Vernon Barracks in Mobile, Alabama at the approximate age of 50.