Native American warriors like Sitting Bull (Lakota), Tecumseh (Shawnee) and Geronimo (Apache) have long been celebrated as defenders of Indigenous territories. Their courageous resistance to foreign invaders helped to ensure cultural survival.
One lesser-known warrior was Lozen, an Apache, or Nde, woman who also resisted European domination. Known for her bravery, military prowess and dedication to her people’s safety during a tumultuous period in Apache history, Lozen was a warrior shaman and humanitarian who fought against Mexican and American forces for 30 years, earning the nickname “Apache Joan of Arc.”
Lozen could ride a horse and shoot; she also is said to have used supernatural powers to locate the enemy. She was a trusted ally of the famed Apache Chief Geronimo and sister to Apache Chief Victorio. Although these men are better known to historians, Lozen remains a legend to her people today.
Lozen’s Early Life
Lozen was born around 1840 into the Chihenne Apache band near Ojo Caliente, New Mexico. At the time, there were at least seven Apache bands and numerous clans spread across a vast area known as Apacheria in what is now northern Mexico, eastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico.
Becoming a Warrior Woman
Born into a matriarchal culture with a deity called “White Painted Woman” at the center of her creation story, Lozen understood from a young age that women played an important role.
“She was a warrior woman in her time. The Apaches always had a woman with them, she stood right behind the man with a knife or gun,” Padilla says. “If the man went down, you had to deal with the woman too. Women also hid the children from enemies.”
Lozen’s Role in the Apache Wars
In 1861, the Chokonen Chiricahua Chief Cochise was falsely accused of kidnapping a rancher's son, sparking a series of conflicts that would embroil the U.S. and various Apache nations in conflict for 24 years. In 1862, Cochise and another chief went to battle at Apache Pass with 200 warriors, but were pushed into retreat and scattered by howitzer cannons.
Lozen fought at Apache Pass, was welcomed into council as a warrior and fought on for years with her brother Victorio in the struggle for their homeland. Lozen was likely involved at a horse raid at Fort Craig where Apaches armed with bows and arrows took horses from soldiers. In 1869, she joined Victorio and other Apache leaders for a meeting to establish a reservation at Ojo Caliente, but they were instead moved to harsher conditions at the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona.
In 1877, Victorio, Lozen and other Chihenne fled San Carlos, eventually choosing war rather than return. They disbanded to evade capture, and Lozen later escorted a group of women and children to Mexico across the raging Rio Grande river. James Kaywaykla, a child at the time, remembered riding behind his grandmother as the Chihenne band fled American forces. Kaywaykla said he saw a “magnificent woman” on a beautiful horse, holding a rifle above her head. After the group reached Mexico, cold and wet but alive, Lozen then rode back across the Rio Gande and returned to the fight.
