Turning Adversity to Advantage: A History of the Lipan Apaches of Texas and Northern Mexico, 1700-1900 (review)

Researchers interested in material on the Lipan Apache or the historical Apache presence in Texas will want to invest time in Minor's study. She undertook extensive use of Spanish and English archival documents to chronologically trace the Lipan over two centuries. Other Apache subgroups are woven into the narrative, but Minor's central focus is the Lipan. Even the Spanish, and later Texans, certainly key players in the Lipan history, take second place to the Lipan. As a result, Minor offers readers glimpses into the fluid makeup of distinct bands of Lipan each united under often charismatic leaders. Whenever the documents allow, Minor details movements and changes among these bands and offers her conclusions about the reasons for such changes.

The abundant use of archival sources and an intense focus on one group and how that group sought to direct their own destiny amidst a changing and challenging world are the strengths of the volume. Archives at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at UT-Austin dominate the references, but wide use was made of a number of other lesser utilized repositories including the Sophienburg Archive (New Braunfels, Texas), Kiowa Agency Records, and the Oklahoma Historical Society. Documentary quotes are common and often lengthy, affording rich details about many events, such as the Lipan-Apache-Spanish peace ceremonies performed in and near San Antonio in August 1749 (34-36) or the attempts of Lipan leaders to obtain peaceful trade treaties in New Mexico in 1786 and 1787 (110-114). These details illustrate how the Lipan negotiated on their behalf, and also provide readers data on how these people organized their lives, interacted with others, sought alliances, and made decisions.

Despite its strengths, the book has some weaknesses, especially in terms of context and evaluation. Minor is so centered on the events in Texas and northern Mexico affecting or initiated by the Lipan that almost no effort is made to place those events in their larger world, although an exception is her discussion of Jacobo Ugalde's war against the Apache from 1779-90 (115-122). The lack of contextual information results in several impressions that Minor did not intend. One is that when Apaches began moving into Central and South Texas, few other indigenous people were present; yet many were (see Campbell, The Indians of Southern Texas and Northeastern Mexico: Selected Writings of Thomas Nolan Campbell, 1985). The significant pact eventually signed between the Comanche and Governor Juan Bautista de Anza in1786 is not discussed although it affected Lipan land use west of San Antonio. Evaluation of source material is also missing in the volume. For example, Minor gives significant value to the report on the Apache written by Domingo Cabello y Robles in 1784, but no evaluation of Cabello's sources and his reliability are offered. Information from other documents, such as the population estimates of Lipan and other Indians in camps and raids, is also usually accepted with little critique of possible biases or errors. Those estimates may be correct, but Spanish counts have not been universally accepted and some discussion on why she accepted these counts so readily was warranted.

These weaknesses aside, Minor's book is an important one. It chronicles the story of a tribal group that played a prominent role in Texas history, offering intimate details about their lives and how they negotiated with others to survive colonization.