Ghost Warrior
Encyclopedia
Ghost Warrior, Lozen of the Apaches is a 2002 historical novel
by Lucia St. Clair Robson
. This novel was the runner-up for the Golden Spur Award
in 2002.
The Chiricahua Apache
s revered Lozen
while she lived and they revere her still. One Apache described her as their patron saint. She is one of history’s most remarkable individuals. The human story is richer because it includes her life and her spirit.
, called his sister Lozen
his wise counselor and his right hand. He said she had the strength of a man and was a shield to her people. Even in a society possessing extraordinary courage, endurance and skill, she was unique. The Apaches believe that when she was young, the spirits blessed her with horse magic, the gift of healing and the power to see enemies at a distance. In the Apaches’ 30-year struggle to defend their homeland, they came to rely on her strength, wisdom, and supernatural abilities.
Because of her gift of far-sight, she was the only unmarried woman allowed to ride with the warriors and fight alongside them. After her beloved brother Victorio's death, she joined Geronimo
's band of insurgents. With Geronimo and fifteen other warriors, she resisted the combined forces of the United States and Mexican armies, and the heavily armed civilian populations of New Mexico and Arizona Territories. She and the sixteen warriors, and seventeen women and children held out against a total of about nine thousand men.
Historical novel
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...
by Lucia St. Clair Robson
Lucia St. Clair Robson
-Literary biography:Lucia St. Clair Robson was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and grew up in West Palm Beach, Florida. She has been a Peace Corps Volunteer in Venezuela, a teacher in New York City, and a librarian in Annapolis, Maryland. She has also lived in Japan, South Carolina, and Arizona...
. This novel was the runner-up for the Golden Spur Award
Golden Spur
The Golden Spur Awards are literature awards given for distinguished western fiction about the American West by the Western Writers of America. The first Spur Awards were given in 1953.-Recent winners:*Larry McMurtry for Lonesome Dove...
in 2002.
The Chiricahua Apache
Apache
Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
s revered Lozen
Lozen
Lozen was a skilled warrior and a prophet of the Chihenne Chiricahua Apache. She was the sister of Victorio, a prominent chief. Born into the Chihenne band during the late 1840s, Lozen was a skilled warrior and a prophet. According to legends, she was able to use her powers in battle to learn the...
while she lived and they revere her still. One Apache described her as their patron saint. She is one of history’s most remarkable individuals. The human story is richer because it includes her life and her spirit.
Plot summary
The Chiricahua Apache chief, VictorioVictorio
Victorio was a warrior and chief of the Chihenne band of the Chiricahua Apaches in what is now the American states of New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and the Mexican states of Sonora and Chihuahua....
, called his sister Lozen
Lozen
Lozen was a skilled warrior and a prophet of the Chihenne Chiricahua Apache. She was the sister of Victorio, a prominent chief. Born into the Chihenne band during the late 1840s, Lozen was a skilled warrior and a prophet. According to legends, she was able to use her powers in battle to learn the...
his wise counselor and his right hand. He said she had the strength of a man and was a shield to her people. Even in a society possessing extraordinary courage, endurance and skill, she was unique. The Apaches believe that when she was young, the spirits blessed her with horse magic, the gift of healing and the power to see enemies at a distance. In the Apaches’ 30-year struggle to defend their homeland, they came to rely on her strength, wisdom, and supernatural abilities.
Because of her gift of far-sight, she was the only unmarried woman allowed to ride with the warriors and fight alongside them. After her beloved brother Victorio's death, she joined Geronimo
Geronimo
Geronimo was a prominent Native American leader of the Chiricahua Apache who fought against Mexico and the United States for their expansion into Apache tribal lands for several decades during the Apache Wars. Allegedly, "Geronimo" was the name given to him during a Mexican incident...
's band of insurgents. With Geronimo and fifteen other warriors, she resisted the combined forces of the United States and Mexican armies, and the heavily armed civilian populations of New Mexico and Arizona Territories. She and the sixteen warriors, and seventeen women and children held out against a total of about nine thousand men.
Excerpt from Ghost Warrior
- Smoke from the grass fire smudged the blue sky of early May, but it did not obscure the footprints in the moist sand in the arroyo. The footprints weren’t a mystery. For miles the soldiers had been following the woman who made them.
- “She’s heading up the canyon.” Lt. Howard Bass Cushing beckoned to thirteen of the sixteen privates in the company. “These men and I will trail her. Sergeant Mott, you and Collins, Green, Pierce, and Fichter cover the rear.”
- “The tracks are too clear, sir,” said John Mott.
- “What do you mean?”
- “The squaw set her feet down heavy. She avoided places where the prints won’t show. Looks like she wants us to follow her.”
- “More than likely she doesn’t know we’re here. She’s being careless.”
- “Apaches aren’t careless.” Rafe knew that disagreeing with Cushing wouldn't change his mind, but he had to try. … Rafe kept his peace on the subject of Cushing and stared at the thorny landscape until his eyes watered.
- “If I were an Apache. I’d set up an ambuscade in that canyon,’ said Mott. “That dry gulch is a sack waiting to close around us.”
- As though on cue, rifle fire reverberated across the canyon. Where no Apache had been, dozens appeared. Cushing and his troops retreated and joined Mott and Rafe to form a line, firing as they fell back.
- The Apaches advanced down the slope in two lines, keeping formation rather than scattering…
External links
- For book club discussion points, more background information, and an excerpt, see author's website: Ghost Warrior