Post-script to Brandon Seale's podcast "A New History of Old San Antonio."

This is the audio from my October 2024 SA PechaKucha talk, the video of which you can find on YouTube as well. As a summary of my thoughts after thinking deeply about San Antonio and early Texas history for the last decade, I'm pretty happy with it. But I'll admit that it's a little incomplete.

BTW, the punchline (which you can't see in the audio version) is the picture of the Alamo that I throw on the screen at the end...the "two-sided tactical miscalculation that we turned into the most celebrated defeat in American history."

www.BrandonSeale.com

We found another site. But so did someone else. And there's a rumored fourth site out there as well now? What in the name of Miguel Menchaca's ghost is going on?

Image: Martin Gonzalez, Atascosa County Historical Commission. Photo by Jessica Phelps, , SA Express-News, April 29, 2024.

www.BrandonSeale.com

Episode 2 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Lipan Apaches.

Proto-Apaches, Jumanos, and Puebloans vie for control of the Texas Plains in the face of Spanish entradas, epidemics, and slaving expeditions.

Selected Bibliography
Alonso, Gorka. Apachería.
Anderson, Gary Clayton. The Indian Southwest, 1580-1830: Ethnogenesis and Reinvention (1999).
Anderson, Gary Clayton. The Conquest of Texas (2019).
Baddour, Dylan. “Labeled ‘Hispanic,’” Texas Observer, May/June 2022, July 6, 2022.
Britten, Thomas A. The Lipan Apaches: People of Wind and Lightning (2011).
González Dávila, José Medina. ¿Qué significa ser apache en el siglo XXI?: Continuidad y cambio de los lipanes en Texas (2018).
Lipan Apache Band of Texas – Lipan Apache Band of Texas Claim as a Sovereign Nation
Maestas, Enrique G. M. (2003). Culture and History of Native American Peoples of South Texas. University of Texas at Austin, PhD Dissertation.
Minor, Nancy M. The Light Gray People: An Ethno-History of the Lipan Apaches of Texas and Northern Mexico (2009).
Minor, Nancy M. Turning Adversity to Advantage: A History of the Lipan Apaches of Texas and Northern Mexico, 1700-1900 (2009).
Opler, Morris E. Myths and Legends of the Lipan Apache Indians (1940).
Robinson, Sherry. I Fought a Good Fight: A History of the Lipan Apaches (2013).
Smith, F. Todd. From Dominance to Disappearance: The Indians of Texas and the Near Southwest, 1786-1859 (2005).

www.BrandonSeale.com

Episode 3 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Lipan Apaches.

Thanks to the horse, Plains Apaches expand their influence over an increasingly broad swath of the Great Plains and Northern Mexico. In the course of one remarkable generation, they drive the Spanish out of New Mexico and absorb their old Jumano rivals, despite an epic last-ditch effort by Jumano Captain Juan Sabeata to frustrate them.

Selected Bibliography
Alonso, Gorka. Apachería.
Anderson, Gary Clayton. The Indian Southwest, 1580-1830: Ethnogenesis and Reinvention (1999).
Anderson, Gary Clayton. The Conquest of Texas (2019).
Baddour, Dylan. “Labeled ‘Hispanic,’” Texas Observer, May/June 2022, July 6, 2022.
Britten, Thomas A. The Lipan Apaches: People of Wind and Lightning (2011).
González Dávila, José Medina. ¿Qué significa ser apache en el siglo XXI?: Continuidad y cambio de los lipanes en Texas (2018).
Lipan Apache Band of Texas – Lipan Apache Band of Texas Claim as a Sovereign Nation
Maestas, Enrique G. M. (2003). Culture and History of Native American Peoples of South Texas. University of Texas at Austin, PhD Dissertation.
Minor, Nancy M. The Light Gray People: An Ethno-History of the Lipan Apaches of Texas and Northern Mexico (2009).
Minor, Nancy M. Turning Adversity to Advantage: A History of the Lipan Apaches of Texas and Northern Mexico, 1700-1900 (2009).
Opler, Morris E. Myths and Legends of the Lipan Apache Indians (1940).
Robinson, Sherry. I Fought a Good Fight: A History of the Lipan Apaches (2013).
Smith, F. Todd. From Dominance to Disappearance: The Indians of Texas and the Near Southwest, 1786-1859 (2005).

www.BrandonSeale.com

Episode 4 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Lipan Apaches.

A new Spanish outpost on the San Antonio River represents an opportunity and a threat to the Apaches' Texas plains trade. The great empires test each other with equal turns generosity and violence. And a new rival appears on the Texas Plains.

Selected Bibliography
Alonso, Gorka. Apachería.
Anderson, Gary Clayton. The Indian Southwest, 1580-1830: Ethnogenesis and Reinvention (1999).
Anderson, Gary Clayton. The Conquest of Texas (2019).
Baddour, Dylan. “Labeled ‘Hispanic,’” Texas Observer, May/June 2022, July 6, 2022.
Britten, Thomas A. The Lipan Apaches: People of Wind and Lightning (2011).
González Dávila, José Medina. ¿Qué significa ser apache en el siglo XXI?: Continuidad y cambio de los lipanes en Texas (2018).
Lipan Apache Band of Texas – Lipan Apache Band of Texas Claim as a Sovereign Nation
Maestas, Enrique G. M. (2003). Culture and History of Native American Peoples of South Texas. University of Texas at Austin, PhD Dissertation.
Minor, Nancy M. The Light Gray People: An Ethno-History of the Lipan Apaches of Texas and Northern Mexico (2009).
Minor, Nancy M. Turning Adversity to Advantage: A History of the Lipan Apaches of Texas and Northern Mexico, 1700-1900 (2009).
Opler, Morris E. Myths and Legends of the Lipan Apache Indians (1940).
Robinson, Sherry. I Fought a Good Fight: A History of the Lipan Apaches (2013).
Smith, F. Todd. From Dominance to Disappearance: The Indians of Texas and the Near Southwest, 1786-1859 (2005).

www.BrandonSeale.com

Episode 5 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Lipan Apaches.

Following the great peace of 1749, San Antonio becomes the great outlet for native North American trade and for the mediation of Native Texas culture into Spanish society. In turn, Texas Apaches commit to a symbiotic existence with the settler communities around them, and come to take on a distinct identity as “Lipan” Apaches – the "People of the In-Between."

Selected Bibliography
Alonso, Gorka. Apachería.
Anderson, Gary Clayton. The Indian Southwest, 1580-1830: Ethnogenesis and Reinvention (1999).
Anderson, Gary Clayton. The Conquest of Texas (2019).
Baddour, Dylan. “Labeled ‘Hispanic,’” Texas Observer, May/June 2022, July 6, 2022.
Britten, Thomas A. The Lipan Apaches: People of Wind and Lightning (2011).
González Dávila, José Medina. ¿Qué significa ser apache en el siglo XXI?: Continuidad y cambio de los lipanes en Texas (2018).
Lipan Apache Band of Texas – Lipan Apache Band of Texas Claim as a Sovereign Nation
Maestas, Enrique G. M. (2003). Culture and History of Native American Peoples of South Texas. University of Texas at Austin, PhD Dissertation.
Minor, Nancy M. The Light Gray People: An Ethno-History of the Lipan Apaches of Texas and Northern Mexico (2009).
Minor, Nancy M. Turning Adversity to Advantage: A History of the Lipan Apaches of Texas and Northern Mexico, 1700-1900 (2009).
Opler, Morris E. Myths and Legends of the Lipan Apache Indians (1940).
Robinson, Sherry. I Fought a Good Fight: A History of the Lipan Apaches (2013).
Smith, F. Todd. From Dominance to Disappearance: The Indians of Texas and the Near Southwest, 1786-1859 (2005). 

www.BrandonSeale.com

Episode 6 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Lipan Apaches.

In the course of a single generation, Spanish policy toward Lipan Apaches shifts from alliance to extermination. But a  generation of alliance-making by Lipan Captain Bigotes makes the Lipan alliance more powerful than ever. They beat back the Comanches to the Red River and the Spanish to a line of presidios that still cuts across the North American continent like a scar as the US-Mexico border.

Selected Bibliography
Alonso, Gorka. Apachería.
Anderson, Gary Clayton. The Indian Southwest, 1580-1830: Ethnogenesis and Reinvention (1999).
Anderson, Gary Clayton. The Conquest of Texas (2019).
Baddour, Dylan. “Labeled ‘Hispanic,’” Texas Observer, May/June 2022, July 6, 2022.
Britten, Thomas A. The Lipan Apaches: People of Wind and Lightning (2011).
González Dávila, José Medina. ¿Qué significa ser apache en el siglo XXI?: Continuidad y cambio de los lipanes en Texas (2018).
Lipan Apache Band of Texas – Lipan Apache Band of Texas Claim as a Sovereign Nation
Maestas, Enrique G. M. (2003). Culture and History of Native American Peoples of South Texas. University of Texas at Austin, PhD Dissertation.
Minor, Nancy M. The Light Gray People: An Ethno-History of the Lipan Apaches of Texas and Northern Mexico (2009).
Minor, Nancy M. Turning Adversity to Advantage: A History of the Lipan Apaches of Texas and Northern Mexico, 1700-1900 (2009).
Opler, Morris E. Myths and Legends of the Lipan Apache Indians (1940).
Robinson, Sherry. I Fought a Good Fight: A History of the Lipan Apaches (2013).
Smith, F. Todd. From Dominance to Disappearance: The Indians of Texas and the Near Southwest, 1786-1859 (2005).

www.BrandonSeale.com

Episode 7 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Lipan Apaches.

Spanish army officers prove reluctant to change their mindset, however, even as the Lipan alliance under the great Captain Picax-Andé brings to a definitive halt the advance of Spanish conquest.

Selected Bibliography
Alonso, Gorka. Apachería.
Anderson, Gary Clayton. The Indian Southwest, 1580-1830: Ethnogenesis and Reinvention (1999).
Anderson, Gary Clayton. The Conquest of Texas (2019).
Baddour, Dylan. “Labeled ‘Hispanic,’” Texas Observer, May/June 2022, July 6, 2022.
Britten, Thomas A. The Lipan Apaches: People of Wind and Lightning (2011).
González Dávila, José Medina. ¿Qué significa ser apache en el siglo XXI?: Continuidad y cambio de los lipanes en Texas (2018).
Lipan Apache Band of Texas – Lipan Apache Band of Texas Claim as a Sovereign Nation
Maestas, Enrique G. M. (2003). Culture and History of Native American Peoples of South Texas. University of Texas at Austin, PhD Dissertation.
Minor, Nancy M. The Light Gray People: An Ethno-History of the Lipan Apaches of Texas and Northern Mexico (2009).
Minor, Nancy M. Turning Adversity to Advantage: A History of the Lipan Apaches of Texas and Northern Mexico, 1700-1900 (2009).
Opler, Morris E. Myths and Legends of the Lipan Apache Indians (1940).
Robinson, Sherry. I Fought a Good Fight: A History of the Lipan Apaches (2013).
Smith, F. Todd. From Dominance to Disappearance: The Indians of Texas and the Near Southwest, 1786-1859 (2005).

www.BrandonSeale.com

Episode 8 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Lipan Apaches.

Pressed on all sides by European and native rivals, the Lipanes never should have survived into the nineteenth century. Yet not only had they survived, they had done so with their numbers and their range undiminished. They were wealthier than ever, and more powerful too, and would play a vital role in driving the Spanish out of Texas for good.

Selected Bibliography
Alonso, Gorka. Apachería.
Anderson, Gary Clayton. The Indian Southwest, 1580-1830: Ethnogenesis and Reinvention (1999).
Anderson, Gary Clayton. The Conquest of Texas (2019).
Baddour, Dylan. “Labeled ‘Hispanic,’” Texas Observer, May/June 2022, July 6, 2022.
Britten, Thomas A. The Lipan Apaches: People of Wind and Lightning (2011).
González Dávila, José Medina. ¿Qué significa ser apache en el siglo XXI?: Continuidad y cambio de los lipanes en Texas (2018).
Lipan Apache Band of Texas – Lipan Apache Band of Texas Claim as a Sovereign Nation
Maestas, Enrique G. M. (2003). Culture and History of Native American Peoples of South Texas. University of Texas at Austin, PhD Dissertation.
Minor, Nancy M. The Light Gray People: An Ethno-History of the Lipan Apaches of Texas and Northern Mexico (2009).
Minor, Nancy M. Turning Adversity to Advantage: A History of the Lipan Apaches of Texas and Northern Mexico, 1700-1900 (2009).
Opler, Morris E. Myths and Legends of the Lipan Apache Indians (1940).
Robinson, Sherry. I Fought a Good Fight: A History of the Lipan Apaches (2013).
Smith, F. Todd. From Dominance to Disappearance: The Indians of Texas and the Near Southwest, 1786-1859 (2005).

www.BrandonSeale.com

Episode 9 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Lipan Apaches.

In the turmoil of the War for Mexican independence, Lipan Captain Cuelgas de Castro emerges as a beacon of stability in Texas. Perhaps no one saw the Texas geopolitical checkerboard better at this moment. Captain Cuelgas de Castro wins for his people recognition by the new Emperor of Mexico. But it won't be enough to secure true sovereignty for his people.

Selected Bibliography
Alonso, Gorka. Apachería.
Anderson, Gary Clayton. The Indian Southwest, 1580-1830: Ethnogenesis and Reinvention (1999).
Anderson, Gary Clayton. The Conquest of Texas (2019).
Baddour, Dylan. “Labeled ‘Hispanic,’” Texas Observer, May/June 2022, July 6, 2022.
Britten, Thomas A. The Lipan Apaches: People of Wind and Lightning (2011).
González Dávila, José Medina. ¿Qué significa ser apache en el siglo XXI?: Continuidad y cambio de los lipanes en Texas (2018).
Lipan Apache Band of Texas – Lipan Apache Band of Texas Claim as a Sovereign Nation
Maestas, Enrique G. M. (2003). Culture and History of Native American Peoples of South Texas. University of Texas at Austin, PhD Dissertation.
Minor, Nancy M. The Light Gray People: An Ethno-History of the Lipan Apaches of Texas and Northern Mexico (2009).
Minor, Nancy M. Turning Adversity to Advantage: A History of the Lipan Apaches of Texas and Northern Mexico, 1700-1900 (2009).
Opler, Morris E. Myths and Legends of the Lipan Apache Indians (1940).
Robinson, Sherry. I Fought a Good Fight: A History of the Lipan Apaches (2013).
Smith, F. Todd. From Dominance to Disappearance: The Indians of Texas and the Near Southwest, 1786-1859 (2005).

www.BrandonSeale.com

Episode 10 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Lipan Apaches.

No Native Texan captured Anglo-Texians’ hearts like Lipan Captain Flacco the Younger. His exploits as a Texas Ranger and his people’s defense of Texas’ borders against Mexico make him the darling of Texas newspapers. Texas newspapers fail to distinguish, however, between hostile native Texans and Lipanes living in their midst. And Lipan wealth becomes an irresistible target of Texian raiding and retaliation.

Painting of Flacco the Younger by Jay Hester, available online.

Selected Bibliography
Alonso, Gorka. Apachería.
Anderson, Gary Clayton. The Indian Southwest, 1580-1830: Ethnogenesis and Reinvention (1999).
Anderson, Gary Clayton. The Conquest of Texas (2019).
Baddour, Dylan. “Labeled ‘Hispanic,’” Texas Observer, May/June 2022, July 6, 2022.
Britten, Thomas A. The Lipan Apaches: People of Wind and Lightning (2011).
González Dávila, José Medina. ¿Qué significa ser apache en el siglo XXI?: Continuidad y cambio de los lipanes en Texas (2018).
Lipan Apache Band of Texas – Lipan Apache Band of Texas Claim as a Sovereign Nation
Maestas, Enrique G. M. (2003). Culture and History of Native American Peoples of South Texas. University of Texas at Austin, PhD Dissertation.
Minor, Nancy M. The Light Gray People: An Ethno-History of the Lipan Apaches of Texas and Northern Mexico (2009).
Minor, Nancy M. Turning Adversity to Advantage: A History of the Lipan Apaches of Texas and Northern Mexico, 1700-1900 (2009).
Opler, Morris E. Myths and Legends of the Lipan Apache Indians (1940).
Robinson, Sherry. I Fought a Good Fight: A History of the Lipan Apaches (2013).
Smith, F. Todd. From Dominance to Disappearance: The Indians of Texas and the Near Southwest, 1786-1859 (2005).

www.BrandonSeale.com