On May 31, 1783, a band of Mescalero Apaches killed a man named Fernando Veramendi near the presidio of San Juan Bautista in Coahuila. Veramendi and the Veramendi family played an important part in the early history of Texas and of San Antonio. A San Antonio businessman and alderman, Veramendi was only about forty years old on May 31, 1783 when he was away from home on a business trip to Mexico City when he found himself at the mercy of the Apache raiders.