Dahteste (circa 1860–1955) was a Chokonen Apache woman warrior–world history and facts

Dahteste (circa 1860–1955) was a Chokonen Apache woman warrior.

Dahteste was a famous Apache woman warrior, and it was widely known that she could out-ride, out-shoot, out-hunt, out-run, and out-fight her peers, both male and female.

 She took part in battles and raiding parties alongside her husband and best friend Lozen, another Apache woman warrior.

 She and Lozen were good friends with Geronimo, and he chose her to be his official translator in his talks with the US Cavalry. 

After negotiating treaties with the US government, she was imprisoned in Alabama and Florida, and later, Fort Sill, surviving both tuberculosis and pneumonia. 

19 years later, she was released and lived out the rest of her life on the Mescalero Apache reservation.

Family

Dahteste was the sister of Ilth-goz-ay, the wife of Chihuahua (also known as Kla-esh), chief of the Chokonen local group of the Chokonen band of the Chiricahua.

Career

In her youth she rode with Cochise's band in southeastern Arizona. Despite being married with children, Dahteste took part in raiding parties with her first husband Ahnandia. She was later a compatriot of Geronimo and companion of Lozen on many raids.

 Dahteste was fluent in English and acted as messenger and translator for the Apache. With Lozen, she became a mediator and trusted scout at times for the U.S. Cavalry and was instrumental in negotiating Geronimo's final surrender to the U.S. Cavalry in 1886.

Prison

She spent eight years as prisoner of war at Fort Marion in St. Augustine in Florida, where she survived pneumonia and tuberculosis. Thereafter she was shipped to a military prison in Fort Sill, Oklahoma.[2] During the confinement she and Ahnandia divorced in the "Apache way".

Later life

After nineteen years of imprisonment at Fort Sill, Dahteste lived out the rest of her life at Whitetail on the Mescalero Apache Reservation in New Mexico. She married a former Apache Scout named Kuni, dressed traditionally and refused to speak English. She was known to others as "Old Mrs. Coonie" until her death in 1955.

References:

* Kraft, Louis (2000). Gatewood & Geronimo. UNM Press. pp. 114–116, 163. ISBN 978-0-8263-2130-5.

 

* White, Julia. "Dahteste - Mescalero Apache". Woman Spirit. Archived from the original on 2013-01-26. Retrieved 2013-08-14.

 

* H. Henrietta Stockel: Chiricahua Apache Women and Children: Safekeepers of the Heritage, ISBN 978-0890969212

We hope that you have enjoyed reading our blog on the world history and facts. If you enjoy this blog please let us know in the comments below. If you are interested in history, we recommend you check out our other blogs here on the world history and facts. Thank you for reading.