Life Story: Lozen (ca. 1840–1889)

Lozen was born near Ojo Caliente (Spanish for “Hot Eye”) in present-day New Mexico around 1840. She was Chihenne Chiricahua Apache and grew up within a band known as the Warm Springs Apaches led by her father.

When Lozen was seven years old, she learned how to ride horses. Her parents saw that she was a very talented horseback rider. Even though she was a child, she was one of the best riders in her band.

The Apache had strict gender roles. The men were warriors and the women gathered and prepared food and performed other household tasks. When enemies attacked, women were responsible for collecting the most important items of the household and running to safety. Because of this, Apache women had to be in excellent physical shape. Apache girls started intensive physical training around the age of eight. Every morning, they woke before sunrise and ran to the top of the nearby mountain.

When Lozen was still a child, she witnessed an ambush of her people by a group of Mexicans. The Mexican men lured the Apache band with promised gifts and then started to shoot. Lozen and her brother Victorio escaped, but many Apache men, women, and children died. Lozen never forgot this traumatic event.

Lozen continued to grow up as a typical Apache girl, learning how to prepare food, sew, and complete other tasks related to the expected roles of wife and mother. But her path changed during her coming-of-age ceremony. This ceremony marked a girl’s first menstrual period and celebrated her entrance into womanhood. Lozen received a spiritual calling during the ceremony that gave her the power to sense the location of their enemies. This was a sign that Lozen should become a warrior.

Lozen’s brother, Victorio, became the new leader of their band. Lozen joined the men on raids and quickly gained respect from the male warriors. Eventually, she became Victorio’s trusted partner. Lozen’s talents as a hunter and horseback rider and her ability to locate enemies made her a highly respected warrior. She would never marry or have children.

After the Mexican-American War ended in 1848, the lands in the Southwest became part of the United States. More white people settled in the area, and the government wanted to grant even more land to white citizens. That’s when the U.S. military forced Apache groups onto reservations.

In 1870, the Warm Springs Apaches agreed to move to a reservation in Ojo Caliente. However, the government revoked their agreement and forced all Apaches to relocate to the San Carlos reservation in 1875. San Carlos was far away from Ojo Caliente and the conditions there were terrible. Apache members struggled with hunger and disease. The government forced members from different Apache groups to live together on the reservation, and tensions soon broke out between them.

In 1877, over 300 Apaches decided to leave the terrible conditions at the San Carlos reservation. The group included Lozen’s band. Many who escaped were caught or killed by the U.S. military. Others fled to Mexico. Victorio decided to lead his group back to Ojo Caliente and tried to pressure the government to honor their initial agreement to let them live there. When they returned to the Ojo Caliente reservation, they found that the military had shut it down.

Back at San Carlos, the government arrested Chiricahua leaders, including the famous Apache leader Geronimo. When the Warm Springs Apache heard rumors that there were plans to also arrest Victorio, they fled to the mountains. There they attacked a small group of American soldiers. This started a war between their band and the U.S. military.

Lozen’s group was on the run. When under attack, the women and children traveled in small groups separate from the warriors. During one such attack, a group of women and children had to cross a river to escape from American soldiers. The rising water made a safe crossing difficult. Lozen left the group of warriors to help them cross safely.

Lozen continued to prove herself to be a brave warrior. In 1880, the Warm Springs Apaches were on their way to Mexico through Texas when a pregnant woman went into labor. American soldiers were very close, but Lozen left the group to help the woman give birth. Being separated from the group was dangerous. Lozen left her horse behind to avoid being noticed by the military. The two women and the new baby did not have food and water. Lozen noticed a Mexican camp and decided to steal one of their horses. She waited until the men were asleep and crossed the river. As she jumped onto the horse and rode to the river, Lozen evaded bullets from the guard. She made it safely back to the woman and child and the three fled together.

As Lozen tried to reunite with the main group, she discovered that the American soldiers were guarding every water source on their route. She was able to find her way back, taking a long and dangerous route that took several weeks. This long, harrowing event exemplifies how Lozen blurred gender lines. As a skilled warrior, she was able to steal a horse and evade capture. As a woman trained in family care, she was able to help deliver and care for a baby.

When Lozen reunited with the main group at the Mescalero reservation, she learned that Mexican troops had ambushed the Apaches. Around 80 members of her band were killed, including Victorio. Lozen was devastated. She left the new mother and baby at the Mescalero reservation and went to look for other members of her band. She eventually rejoined the survivors of her band in the Sierra Madre mountains.

Apaches that remained in San Carlos fled the reservation under the leadership of Geronimo in 1885. Lozen fought beside Geronimo and used her power to evade capture by American and Mexican soldiers. Then Lozen and Dahteste, another female warrior, started peace negotiations with the Americans. However, the Americans did not take the negotiations seriously. They decided to relocate the Chiricahua to Florida. Lozen and the other leaders decided to surrender and join the forced relocation to Florida.

Geronimo surrendered to the U.S. government and Lozen was taken prisoner by the American military. They imprisoned her at the Mount Vernon Barracks in Alabama. She died there from tuberculosis on June 17, 1889.

• ambush: To attack enemies by surprise by hiding and waiting for them.
• band: A smaller group of members from an Indigenous nation.
• raid: A sudden attack to capture people or supplies.
• tuberculosis: An infectious lung disease that’s often deadly.

• Consider the treatment of Indigenous people by the American government by combining this life story with a speech by an Indigenous activist against relocation and photographs of the Carlisle Indian School.
• Pair this life story with the diary of an Arizona teacher to examine the relationship between the Indigenous people of the Southwest and the white settlers who were given their land.
• For a broader lesson on the effects of American expansion and imperialism on Indigenous communities, combine this life story with a speech against relocation, photographs of the Carlisle Indian School, a court case about citizenship rights, a speech against imperialism, and the life stories of Changunak Antisarlook, Queen Lili’uokalani, and María Ruiz de Burton.

AMERICAN IDENTITY AND CITIZENSHIP