Mason, Texas - Herman Lehmann
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Herman Lehmann in the 1930s. Photo Courtesy
Esther Lehmanm |
Herman Lehmann was born in 1859 near Loyal Valley. on May 16, 1870, Herman and his brother Willie were captured by Lipan Apaches. Buffalo Soldiers from Fort McKavett were dispatched to rescue the boys. The soldiers encountered the band of Apaches at Kickapoo Springs on May 20. During the ensuing battle (for which, Sgt. Emanuel Stance would receive a Medal of Honor for his bravery), eight year-old Willie escaped. But the Apaches fled with Herman back to New Mexico, where Herman was adopted by a man named Carnoviste.
Believing his family dead, Herman adapted to Apache life and rose to a minor position of authority in the band. He participated in battles against Texas Rangers, Comanches, Mexicans, and white settlers from the Guadalupe Mountains in New Mexico down into the Mason County-San Saba area and into Mexico. In 1876, a medicine man killed Carnoviste. Herman killed the medicine man, and fearing revenge fled the Apaches, eventually joing up with a band of Comanches. In the spring of 1877, Herman was wounded in an attack on buffalo hunters near Lubbock. Known as the Buffalo Hunters War, it was the last major conflict between Indians and non-Indians in Texas. Later in the year, Herman and his band of Comanches would join Quanah Parker at the Comanche reservation in Indian Territory, now Oklahoma.
In April of 1878, Herman's mother had learned that a white boy that matched Herman's description was with the Indians on the reservation, and asked that the boy be brought to her. He arrived in Loyal Valley on May 12, 1878, almost exactly eight years since he was captured. Eventually, he remembered his name was Herman and was left with the family.
Herman had a hard time fitting back in to German life. Willie had to teach him German and keep him from killing the neighbor's livestock. He would usually wear Indian clothes, a breechcloth, leggings and feathers. Eventually, he got married, but the first marriage failed. In 1906, Herman and his second wife, Fannie, moved to Indian Territory to be near his Indian friends, eventually getting land as an adopted Apache. In 1926, Herman left his wife and family and returned to Loyal Valley, where he lived the rest of his life with his life with Willie.
Herman dictated two autobiographies. He was unhappy with the first book, because the author embellished the account of Herman's stay with the Indians. In 1929 he dictated a second account, making sure the book was written exactly as he told it.
Herman died in 1932 and is buried in Loyal Valley. Fred Gipson's sequel to Old Yeller, Savage Sam, was inspired by Herman's story.
For more information:
Handbook of Texas Online - Herman Lehmann
TexasEscapes.com - The Savage Life of Herman Lehmann