Native American Tribes of Texas
Comanches – The nomadic masters of the buffalo range plains of Texas, a lot of the Indian Territory and the territory of New Mexico, and parts of Colorado and Kansas.
https://www.unseenservant.us/forum/view ... 68#p670868
Called by Gen. George Armstrong Custer “the most superb horsemen of North America,” they virtually live on horseback. They’re famous for being about to accurately shoot while hanging from the side or even under a galloping horse. They’re at war with the Anglo settlers coming from the east to set up farms and ranches on the range, and the U.S. Army ordered to subdue them and force them into life on a reservation. They are also at war with the Apaches, their hereditary enemies.
All of the Comanches’ enemies-- Apaches, other Indian tribes, Texans, Mexicans-- know that it is better to die than be captured by them alive. Should that happen, death comes very slowly, in a number of imaginative and unthinkable ways.
The Comanche are armed with knives, stone-headed war clubs, bows and their famous lances, which are their preferred weapon for harvesting buffalo. They also have firearms, mostly older models such as cap and ball revolvers, breech loading single shot rifles, Spencer lever-action rifles, and Civil War-era rifled muskets. Their current best-known war leader is Iron Shirt, who wears the breast plate of an old Spanish conquistador in battle.
Kiowa – Nomadic buffalo hunters based in the north Panhandle of Texas, between the Indian Territory and New Mexico.
https://www.unseenservant.us/forum/view ... 53#p619553
See the inset map of the Panhandle
The Kiowas are known for being far ranging, even for Indians of the southern and northern plains. Tribes as far away as the lower northern plains and Mexico have clashed with them, and rarely come out the better for it. They are also known for their men cutting their hair from the level of the eyes straight back around the head, to keep long hair tangling with a bowstring drawn across the cheek.
The Kiowa are allies of the Comanche, and though they’re not as populous as a tribe, they’re no less fearsome in battle. Their level of horsemanship, though not as renowned as the Comanches’, is an a par with the excellent skill of any of the plains bison-hunting tribes. They’re armed similarly to the Comanche, though with less emphasis on the lance. Their current war leader is Satanta, a clever tactician and great poetic orator.
Lipan Apache – Originally nomadic buffalo hunters on the high plains, the Lipan Apache were driven off of it by the Comanche and Kiowa. They now inhabit semi-arid lands around the shallow Rio Grande River, Texas’s border with Mexico. They also resist the U.S. Army’s attempts to force them into reservations, and Texan and Mexican ranchers’ attempts to make their foraging lands into land to graze their cattle. The Apache are surrounded by enemies-- the Comanches and Kiowas to the north, the Texans to the east, and the Mexican army and Federales police force to the south and west. As such, the Lipan Apache live by their wits, and by their reputation as stealthy, and extremely unpredictable hit-and-run fighters. Every kind of enemy of the Apache report seeing them at two places at once-- People at La Mission Acuna say the Apaches raided the village on Friday afternoon, and Army officers report fighting the same group of fighters outside Fort Hudson at the same time. It’s no big surprise to the Indian tribes. The Apache are known to have very powerful shamans who walk freely in about The Other Side.
The Apache are reportedly equipped similarly to the Comanche and Kiowa, but with, by necessity, much less reliance on horses. The Apache can ambush on foot in rugged terrain, or rapidly strike from horseback strike in plains terrain. They don’t often use the plains Indian lance, but they’re good short range archers. Their firearms armament is unpredictable. It can range from old muzzle-loading rifles and pistols to cap and ball revolvers and revolving cylinder rifles to modern Winchester level-action rifles and carbines. There current most-famed war leader is Cochise, who is described as a big and gentle man loved by children and respected by shamans, but cunning in war. And absolutely without fear.
Tejas – The westernmost tribe of the Caddo confederation originally of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. They live in the piney woods of eastern Texas, and are a peace with the Texans. They’re allies of the Comanches, and trade foodstuffs, arrow shafts, lodge poles (and some say firearms and whiskey) with them in exchange for rights to harvest buffalo meat, hides, and parts on Comanche ranges.
Tonkawa – The strange, tattooed, outlier tribe of Texas. The were allies with the Comanche against the Comanche. Then as the Comanche grew stronger, with the Apache against the Comanche. Like the more populous Lipan Apache, the Comanche and Kiowa drove them off of the buffalo range plains. They went to the east of San Marcos, Texas, and for years subsided on deer, rabbits, wild bird eggs, bullfrogs, roots, acorns, and the like. Eventually the Congress of Texas awarded them two square mile of land. During the War, they sided with the southern government, possibly just to get along with the majority of neighboring Texans. But when the northern side won, the tribes who had sided the other way punished them, hard. At present there are hardly more than 100 Tonkawa.
The term “Indian chief” is a misnomer and a misunderstanding by about everyone but the Indians. The tribes are not ruled by a chief, they’re advised by a group of elders who gather often and informally discuss things. The elders discuss the issues with their sons and daughters, gossip and discussion goes around the village, and there ends up being a kind of general opinion about which way to go. Sometimes bored or angry young men group up and go out for “walkabouts” or “wildings” on their own. The papers report it as “Iron Shirt Breaks Treaty, Declares War & Massacre Red River Settlers.” But “Chief” (war band leader) Iron Shirt may have been 10 of miles away and asleep in his lodge, and the whole Comanche nation may have known nothing about the young men’s big, possibly deadly, but always exciting adventure.
PCs