LOZEN

This Apache warrior is believed to have been in her 30s when she and her brother Victorio's tribe was forced into the San Carlos Reservation in 1870s Arizona. The place was described as "Hell's Forty Acres" because of its deplorable conditions. Around 1877, Victorio led a band—Lozen among them—out of the reservation, and together they raided the lands, striking awe and fear in the hearts of the settlers of New Mexico's Black Mountain, who had taken over the Apache land.

                    

Lozen took pity on the women and children during one such raid, and, as recounted by James Kaywaykla, who was a child at the time, she led them to safety across the Rio Grande. "I saw a magnificent woman on a beautiful horse—Lozen, sister of Victorio. Lozen the woman warrior!" Kaywaykla recounted, "She could ride, shoot, and fight like a man."

Her brother 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." Unfortunately, she could not be his shield when he most needed it. Victorio died in battle while Lozen was seeing a new mother and baby back to the reservation. Hearing of the battle and her brother's death, she set out to aid the survivors. From there she was a part of a vengeance-fueled rampage that streaked across New Mexico in 1881.

She later fought beside Geronimo, and legend has it she could sense the enemy's location and number just by reaching out her arms. After Geronimo's surrender, Lozen was captured. She died of tuberculosis while she was a prisoner of war. Her body was returned to the tribe so it could be buried in a place of honor according to Apache tradition.