They lived a nomadic lifestyle following the buffalo. The Arapahos ranged to the north of Texas over a wide area encompassing much of present-day Colorado, Nebraska, and the Dakotas, westward to the Rockies, and eastward into Kansas and Oklahoma. Mackenzie led a force into Mexico, destroyed the Apache villages, and forced the survivors onto a reservation in New Mexico.
#Indian tribes series
Lipan and Mescalaro Apaches moved across the Mexican border and began a series of destructive border raids that lasted for decades. This friendship broke down in 1842, perhaps because of the unsolved murder of a Lipan chief named Flacco the Younger, whom the Lipans believed was killed by whites. When Anglo Americans began moving into Texas, the Apaches cultivated a friendship with them as a bulwark against the Comanches. Eventually, they entered an on-again, off-again relationship with the Spanish, sometimes warring and raiding, other times allying with the Spanish against the Comanches and other enemies. But as the 1700s wore on, they found themselves subject to raiding from the even more fearsome Comanches. During the era of Spanish rule, the Apaches staged constant raids against the Spanish missions. They also farmed, growing maize, beans, pumpkins, and watermelons. Apaches were among the first Indians to learn to ride horses and lived a nomadic existence following the buffalo. Two groups of Apaches, the Lipans and the Mescalaros, were of primary importance in Texas. The Apaches dominated almost all of West Texas and ranged over a wide area from Arkansas to Arizona. They moved to the Brazos Indian Reservation in 1854, and to Indian Territory in 1859.
#Indian tribes free
Greatly impacted by disease and warfare, they migrated westward after the Texas Revolution, seeking an area where they could live free of white interference and depredations from fiercer tribes. The Anadarkos lived in East Texas in present-day Nacogdoches and Rusk counties. The tribes formally incorporated under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 and developed both a constitution and by-laws. Since then, Alabama-Coushatta affairs have been alternately under both state and federal jurisdiction. The federal government also paid for additional educational facilities, a gymnasium, and a hospital. This effort finally began to pay off in the 1920s, when the government purchased an additional 3000 acres of land that helped make the Alabama-Coushatta more competitive farmers. Feagin worked for decades to gain federal assistance for land and educational opportunities that would enable the tribes to be economically self-sufficient once again. Feagin, became a tireless advocate for the tribes. During these years, an attorney from Livingston, J.C. In the 1880s, the Alabamas and Coushattas began to build new lives, becoming experts in the burgeoning lumber industry and embracing both Christianity and education as anchors in their lives. However, the 1870s saw the two tribes reach a low point, as an influx of white settlers into their lands destroyed their traditional way of life. Their support won praise from Confederate governors Francis R. They helped move military supplies for Texas during the Civil War. In 1853, the Alabamas moved to a reservation in Polk County, where they were joined by the Coushattas in 1859. Their assistance to the Texans during the Runaway Scrape in 1836 won them the friendship of even such an inveterate Indian fighter as Mirabeau B. Austin in his campaigns against the Karankawas and in the Fredonian Rebellion, and successfully drove the Comanches out of their territory in 1839. The Alabamas and Coushattas were skilled warriors but preferred to stay at peace. They migrated from present-day Alabama beginning in 1763, eventually settling in the Big Thicket area of Southeast Texas. Though recognized as two separate tribes, the Alabamas and Coushattas have long been considered one tribe culturally. The following tribes are discussed on this website. Texas was home to hundreds of tribes of American Indians. In This Section: Introduction - Indian Nations of Texas - Spanish & Mexican Indian Policy