Kick-Ass Women from History #5: Lozen

Today's heroine, Lozen, is depicted by a modern painting (from Native Americans for Sovereignty & Preservation) because we have no known photograph of her. (There are photographs that purport to be her, but for a variety of reasons historians can't authenticate them. They're probably just pictures of random Apache women.)

Lozen is one of those rare figures from history. She out-manned the men around her, while also bringing clearly feminine energy into the picture. She rode horses, fired bows, hunted, and fought alongside the menfolk of her tribe as an equal (or, more often, superior) but was also a spiritual leader, a medicine woman, and a healer. She stole horses and cattle, and killed for her tribe, without compunction, yet she was a staunch, compassionate defender of the weak and brought succour and healing to the ill and wounded. Of the women I've covered so far, only Zheng Yi Sao has any claim to being more kick-ass in the literal sense of the term, and none thus far have more claim to compassion.

Names

We do not know her birth name. "Lozen" is her war title (meaning, roughly, "skilled horse thief"—an honourable Apache occupation because it depended on bravery and tactical skill for success). She has also been given other titles and names by her people including Little Sister (obviously by her elder brother, Victorio), the Warrior Woman, and a Shield to her People. In the history books, however, her war title is how she is named.

Background

Lozen was born in the early 1840s sometime into the Chihenne ("Warm Springs") band of the Chiricahua Apache in what today is New Mexico. She was the younger sister of Chief Victorio, a very prominent Apache leader alongside the likes of the famed Nana.

In the 1870s, the Chihenne band was moved from out their ancestral lands to the deplorable San Carlos Reservation. In 1877 Victorio and his band left the reservation and raided the European invaders who'd appropriated their native lands near Black Mountain.

From 1879 to 1881 they rode and raided and fought the American army in what came to be known as Victorio's War, and Lozen rode and raided and fought alongside her brother and his band the whole way. At one point Victorio said of Lozen, when introducing her to the band's patriarch, Nana:

"Lozen is my right hand ... strong as a man, braver than most, and cunning in strategy. Lozen is a shield to her people."

At other points he sang the praises of his sister thus, tacitly confessing her superiority in strategy:

"I depend upon Lozen as I do Nana."

The band rampaged, trading blows with the American and Mexican military both until, tragically, Victorio's death at the Battle of Tres Castillos ended his life in 1880, with the demoralized band's remnants rounded up by 1881. Still, this did not end the career of Lozen who first threaded the military patrols to rejoin the remnants of her band, knowing they would need her healing skills among the survivors before joining Geronimo when he broke out of the San Carlos reservation in 1885, fighting alongside him until this last gasp of the Apache Wars petered out and the rampaging band surrendered. Taken into military custody as a prisoner of war, Lozen was taken to Mount Vernon, Alabama, dying of tuberculosis (as did so many Apache prisoners) in 1889.

Reputation

Lozen was renowned for her courage, her intellect, and her strategic and tactical skills both. Despite her very unusual choice to become a warrior woman, she was highly respected and beloved of both the men and the women of her community. She was known for her compassion, especially in protecting, guiding, and escorting non-combatants in the middle of chaotic times and battles. She was remembered as being determined, resourceful, and fiercely loyal to her people.

The Spiritual Side

But more than just a famed, strong, and skilled warrior, Lozen was, too, a medicine woman, a spiritual leader, and a prophet. She believed herself to have received spiritual gifts from Ussen (the Apache creator deity) during her coming-of-age ceremony, the most famed of which was her purported mystical ability to locate enemies through prayer and ritual.

This latter gift manifested herself most often by her standing with arms outstretched,. invoking Ussen in chants, while turning in place, eyes closed, until she felt in her palms a tingling that told her which direction her enemies were in. A recorded chant translates into something like this:

    
Upon this earth
On which we live
Ussen has Power
This Power is mine
For locating the enemy.
I search for that Enemy
Which only Ussen the Great
Can show to me.

  

She also used her spiritual authority to guide, to heal, and to inspire her people.

Accomplishments & Legacy

Lozen fought alongside her brother Victorio, and later Geronimo, in the Apache wars. In those times she engaged in raids, led war parties, stole horses and supplies, snuck through patrols determined to find the rampaging band, all while protecting women and children during conflicts. She played key roles more than once in helping non-combatants escape through enemy lines, only to turn around and return to the combat. She's credited with saving many wounded people's lives through her healing herbs and rituals. And despite these "extra-curricular" activities she managed to participate in more campaign than many male Apache leaders (indeed one might dare suggest more than most).

To this day she is still remembered and revered by her people as a legendary warrior, healer, and prophet. She is frequently held up as a symbol of indigenous peoples' (and especially women's) strength, resilience, and spiritual power. Her story continues to inspire native communities and women's movements both to this day.