Survivors: the Caddo Confederacy

The Caddo were a confederation of tribes of the Southeast, in what is now Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas.  As such, their history spans both the period of the early American frontier, and of the American west.  Prior to European contact, the Caddo were among the Mississippian cultures, building some of the more complex mounds in the southeastern region.  The were connected to the Wichita, Pawnee and Kitsai, who also spoke Caddoan languages.  By the time of Hernando de Soto's expedition in 1541, the 18 or so tribes of the Caddo Confederacy had grouped themselves into three main divisions, the Natchitoches in what is now Louisiana, the Haisinai, in what is now Texas, and the Kadohadocho, who lived near the border of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. 

De Soto had apparently not learned his leasson from his encounters with Tuskaloosa and what would become the Choctaw Nation.  His troops clashed with the Tula, a Caddo band near present-day Caddo Gap, Arkansas.  The Caddo won and the town commemorates the incident with a monument.  French explorers in the 18th century had a better outcome, as they were willing to trade furs.  Unfortunately, traders, missionaries and explorers also brought contact with infectious diseases, which took their toll among the Caddo bands as it did with other Native peoples.  They were able to maintain their traditional homelands.  Towns such as Nacogdoches, Texas and Natchitoches, Louisiana reflect early contact with the Natchitoches people.  When the United States took over the Louisiana Purchase in 1804, the Caddo remained neutral in conflicts between the Army and other southeastern tribes, for the most part being left alone, for the time being.

Indian Removal threatened the Caddo as well as other Southeastern tribes.  The Kadohadacho signed a treaty in 1835 with the United States, agreeing to remove to what was then part of Mexico.  In 1836, when the Republic of Texas proclaimed its independence from Mexico, this area became part of East Texas.  The name Texas may be a Haisinai word, taysha, meaning friend.  In 1845, when Texas became a state, the Haisinai and Kadohadacho were relocated to the Brazos Reservation and, by 1859, most had been relocated to Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma.  Their reservation was between the Washita and Canadian Rivers.

In the 19th century, the Caddo became interested in the Ghost Dance religion and later the Native American Peyote religion.  Allotment stripped the Caddo people of much of their initial reservation land and their rights of self-government.  Caddo leaders protested these laws, but their arguments fell on deaf ears.  The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, and the Indian Welfare Act of 1936 allowed the Caddo to reorganize their government.  They are now a federally recognized tribe based in Oklahoma. 

This post also appeared in https://greatwarriorsII.blogspot.com