The return of the horse to the North American continent and its domestication by people of the Texas plains redrew the map of Native North America and defined the spheres of influence of European colonial empires for three centuries. It led to the formation of highly decentralized, individualistic frontier societies that either successfully adopted the horse or suffered at the hands of those who had. Maybe “Don’t Mess with Texas” didn’t originate with a 1985 anti-littering campaign…maybe it was written the first time a native Texan hopped on the back of a horse. 

Cover art of "Lipan Apache" available online at Star of the Republic Museum, Portal to Texas History, University of North Texas.  www.BrandonSeale.com

Don't Mess with Texas (Horsemen)

Explore the history of early Texas as you’ve never heard it before. The most recent season ("Lipan Apocalypse") unveils the legacy of the enigmatic Lipan Apaches on modern Texas. Season 6 recounts the outsized impact of José Francisco Ruíz on the state's history. And Season 5 traces the roots of Texans' unique psychology - their "Texanity" - to the technological innovations that shaped its people. Season 4 relates the largely unknown story of the improbable and inspiring Republic of the Rio Grande. Season 3 tells the remarkable tale of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and his journey across the North American continent. Season 2 covers the Battle of Medina, the largest, bloodiest battle in Texas history...and the narrowing search for the battlefield itself! And Season 1 traces the identity of modern-day Texas to the first 160 years or so of San Antonio's history. -- As seen and heard on Texas Standard, KSAT12, Texas Public Radio, the San Antonio Express-News, the San Antonio Report, the Austin Chronicle, and more! --

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

Alliance and Advantage

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.   www.BrandonSeale.com

Apache Empire

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. www.BrandonSeale.com

Changing Woman

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."  www.BrandonSeale.com

Lipanes at Last

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. www.BrandonSeale.com

Don't Mess with Texas (Horsemen)

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