Lipan Apache Band Of Texas

Lipan Apache are a band of Apache, a Southern Athabaskan Indigenous people, who have lived in the Southwest and Southern Plains for centuries. At the time of European and African contact, they lived in New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and northern Mexico. Historically, they were the easternmost band of Apache.Swanton, ''The Indian Tribes of North America'', p. 301 Early adopters of horse culture and peyotism, the Lipan Apache hunted bison and farmed.

Many Lipan Apache descendants today are enrolled members of the Mescalero Apache Tribe in New Mexico.Mescalero Apache Research Report
(2020), p. 3. Other Lipan descendants are enrolled with the Tonkawa Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma and Apache Tribe of Oklahoma, also known as the Kiowa Apache or Plains Apache. Other Lipan Apache descendants live in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arizona, and northern Mexico.

Language

Lipan Apache is a Southern Athabaskan language, considered to be closely related to the Jicarilla Apache language. In 1981, two elders on the Mescalero Apache Reservation were fluent Lipan speakers.

Name

Their first recorded name is ''Ypandes''. Captain Felipe de Rábago y Terán first wrote the term ''Lipanes'' in 1761. The terms ''Eastern Apache'' and ''Texas Apache'' can also include them as well as the Chiricahua and Mescalero.

'' Querecho'', a Navajo name for the Apache, was adopted by early Spanish colonists.Mescalero Apache Research Report
(2020), p. 7. Spanish chroniclers recorded their names as Achos, Chipaines, Conejeros, and Rio Colorados (or Canadian River Apaches). The Spanish recorded the Tucubante as being a band of Lipan Apache.

History

Southern Athabascans, the Apache and Navajo, had settled in New Mexico and western Texas at least by 1300 CE.Mescalero Apache Research Report
(2020), p. 4. Precontact Plains Apache first lived along the Canadian River, followed by the Lipan Apache. They traded with Pueblo peoples to the west and Caddoan peoples to the east. Pictographs at Hueco Tanks may be associated with the Apache.

16th and 17th centuries

Ancestors of the Lipan Apache lived along the Canadian River when the Expedition of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado traveled there in 1541 and were still in the region when Diego de Vargas arrived in 1694. Historians believe the Teya Indians of the Texas Panhandle likely merged into the Lipan.

Lipan Apache obtained horses from the Spanish by 1608 and adopted a nomadic lifestyle. They were excellent horsemen and freely raided settlements. Throughout the 17th century, Spaniards raided Apache communities for slaves. The Acho, a branch of Lipan, fought with Taos Pueblo and Picuris Pueblo people against the Spanish in the 1620 Pueblo Revolt.Mescalero Apache Research Report (2020), p. 16

In 1684, Spanish colonists completed the Mission San Francisco de los Julimes near Presidio, Texas, to serve Jumano, Julime, and neighboring tribes. These tribes taught the peyote ceremony to the Tonkawa and Lipan, who in turn, shared it with the Comanches, Mescalero Apaches, and Plains Apaches. In the 1860s, Spanish chroniclers wrote that some Lipan Apache lived near the Gulf Coast and adopted lifeways of the neighboring Karankawa.

18th century

By 1700, Lipan had settled across southern Texas and into Coahuila, Mexico.Mescalero Apache Research Report (2020), p. 18 They still lived in agricultural settlements, where they farmed indigenous crops such as pumpkins, corn, and beans, as well as watermelons, introduced from Africa. French explorer Bénard de La Harpe encounter the Lipan Apache near present-day Latimer County, Oklahoma, in 1719.

The Lipan were first mentioned in Spanish records in 1718 when they raided Spanish settlements in San Antonio. They frequently raided Spanish supply trains traveling from Coahuila to the newly established San Antonio.

In 1749, two Lipan Apache chiefs joined other Apache leaders in signing one of the earliest recorded peace treaties with Spain in San Antonio.Mescalero Apache Research Report (2020), p. 28 Some Lipan Apache people settled northwest of San Antonio during the mid-18th century.

Spanish colonists built forts and missions near Lipan settlements. A mission on the San Sabá River was completed in 1757 but destroyed by the Comanche and the Wichita.Swanton, ''The Indian Tribes of North America'', p. 322 That same year, the Lipan Apache fought the Hasinais, a band of Caddo people. The Lipan participated in a Spanish expedition against the Wichita and Comanche in 1759 but were defeated in the Battle of the Twin Villages. Missions established for the Lipan at Candelaria and San Lorenzo were destroyed by the Comanche in 1767.Swanton, ''The Indian Tribes of North America'', p. 323

By 1767, all Lipan had completely deserted the Spanish missions. In the same year, Cayetano Pignatelli, 3rd Marquis of Rubí">Marquis of Rubí