Dahteste
Dahteste | |
|---|---|
 Dahteste in 1886 | |
| Chokonen Chiricahua Apache warrior | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1860 |
| Died | 1955 Mescalero Apache Reservation |
| Relations | Chihuahua (brother-in-law) |
| Nickname | Mrs. Coonie |
Dahteste[pronunciation?] (circa 1860–1955) was a Choconen Apache woman warrior.
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.[1]
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".[3]
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.[4][5]
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. Retrieved 2013-08-14.
- ^ H. Henrietta Stockel: Chiricahua Apache Women and Children: Safekeepers of the Heritage, ISBN 978-0890969212
- ^ Ove, Robert S.; Stockel, H. Henrietta (1997). Geronimo's Kids: A Teacher's Lessons on the Apache Reservation. Texas A&M University Press. pp. 15–16, 36–37. ISBN 978-0-89096-774-4.
- ^ Stockel, H. Henrietta (2000). Chiricahua Apache Women and Children: Safekeepers of the Heritage. Texas A&M University Press. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-89096-921-2.