- The Apache Indians originated as a southern branch of the Athabascan group of Indians, pushed further and further south by enemy tribes. Historians believe that the Apache arrived in the American southwest some time after 1000 AD but well before the Spanish began to settle the area. The Mescalero Apache were predominant in southeastern New Mexico and western Texas, along with the Lipan Apache. When the Spanish arrived in Texas and New Mexico, the Mescalero Apache attacked missions and outposts in an attempt to drive off the foreign settlers. Despite numerous attempts by the Spanish, the Mescalero Apache refused to be missionized and they fiercely protected their territories from settlement by the Spanish, then the Mexicans, and eventually Anglo-Americans. Throughout the mid-1800s the Mescalero Apache fought off and on with United States military forces attempting to drive the Indians out of western Texas and southeastern New Mexico. In the 1880s a reservation was created for the Mescalero Apache in south-central New Mexico, and within in a short time most of the New Mexico and Texas Mescaleros were living on or near the reservation.
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The Mescalero Apache earned their name from one of their main food staples, the mescal. Traditionally the Mescalero Apaches would take the hearts of the mescal, a plant native to their homelands, steam them in pits in the ground and eat them. As hunters and gatherers in a dry, rugged landscape, the mescal was vital to the tribe because it was a food source they could find even in lean times.
Like the other bands of the Apache tribe, the Mescalero Apache were nomadic hunters and gatherers that roamed across their territories searching for big game like buffalo, deer, elk, and bighorn sheep. The Mescaleros were known as skilled horsemen which gave them a huge advantage when hunting and raiding other Indian villages or Spanish and Anglo settlements. They lived in brush covered wickiups that they could easily set up and take down when the tribe moved on in search of food and water.
The Mescalero Apache did not have a very structured or organized ceremonial aspect to their tribal religion, except for the highly sacred and traditional female puberty rite ceremony that is still practiced on the Mescalero reservation today. - Like the other groups of Apache Indians, the Mescaleros were band-oriented and identified themselves as Mescaleros before all else. The Apache did not have an organized political system, rather, the band was the primary association for the Apache and all governing occurred at this local level. The Mescaleros chose their leaders from among themselves, usually picking an accomplished speaker or warrior. However, his position was not secure and if the Mescaleros found fault with his policies they would simply decide on a new leader.
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Once rulers of the vast landscape of eastern New Mexico and western Texas, the Mescalero Apache were a significant part of the area's history and they vividly demonstrated the intensity of the Native Americans' plight to keep their lands protected from aggressive settlers. The Mescaleros fought relentlessly for centuries to protect their lands in New Mexico and Texas from onslaught by the Spanish, the Mexicans, and the Anglo settlers through much of the 19th century.
The Mescalero Apache reservation is located in their native tribal lands, a fact that has helped the Mescalero to thrive in modern times. The U.S. Census Bureau reported a population of over 3,000 on the reservation in 2000, which includes some Lipan and Chiricahua Apache that the Mescaleros welcomed into their tribe. - European and Anglo settlement of their native homelands brought many hardships to the Mescalero Apache as they were pushed out of their traditional hunting grounds and forced to search for food and water elsewhere. Despite these difficulties and multiple attempts to change their traditions and discredit their heritage, the Mescalero Apache have survived and today run a 463,000 acre reservation in their native homelands. Many Mescalero Apache traditions and customs are alive and well on the Mescalero reservation, including the continued use of the Mescalero language.
