Lipan Apache

Lipan Apache Tribe

Lipan Apache Indians (adapted from Ipa-n’de, apparently a personal name; n’de=’people’). An Apache tribe, designating themselves Náizhan (‘ours,’ ‘our kind’), which at various periods of the 18th and 19th centuries roamed from the lower Rio Grande in New Mexico and Mexico eastward through Texas to the Gulf coast, gaining a livelihood by depredations against other tribes and especially against the white settlements of Texas and Mexico. The name has probably been employed to include other Apache groups of the southern plains, such as the Mescaleros and the Kiowa Apache. The Franciscan mission of San Saba was established among the Lipan … Read more

Texas Lipan Apache, Troublesome Tribe

The Lipan Apaches of Texas, a very troublesome tribe, were crafty enough, when hard-pressed by their wild foes, the Comanches, to seek peace with the Spanish and a settled mission life. Neither the padres nor the soldiers put much faith in their sincerity. The Fathers were willing to experiment, however, and a mission was founded for the Apaches on the Guadalupe River. This action was approved as early as 1750 but was not carried out until 1756, and then the mission was located, not on the Guadalupe, but on the San Saba River. The Apaches were now friendly enough, but … Read more