CADDO INDIANS IN TEXAS

THEY INHABIT THE CADDO NATION WHICH IS A CONFEDERACY OF SOUTHEAST NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBES. WHO LIVE IN EAST TEXAS AND PART OF LOUISIANA. TODAY THEIR CAPITOL IS AT BINGER OKLAHOMA . THEIR VARIOUS LANGUAGES HAVE CONVERGED INTO A SINGLE LANGUAGE. THEY ARE FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED FIVE THOUSAND ARE ENROLLED IN THE TRIBE. AND 2500 LIVE IN THIS STATE OF OKLAHOMA. THEY HAVE PROGRAMS TO INVIGORATE CADDO TRADITIONS. THESE FOLKS WERE WOODLAND PEOPLE AND LIVED IN MOUNDS. SOME VILLAGES WERE ARRANGED TO GAIN PROMINENCE AS RITUAL CENTERS WITH ELITE RESIDENCES AND TEMPLE MOUND CONSTRUCTIONS. THE MOUNDS WERE AROUND PLAZAS USED FOR CEREMONIAL PURPOSES. THEY HAD COMPLEX RELIGIOUS SOCIAL IDEAS.

BY 1200 AD THE NUMEROUS VILLAGES DEFINED A CADDOAN SOCIETY WITH VILLAGES AND FARM STEADS WITH AND EXTENSIVE USE OF MAIZE. THEIR ARTISTIC ENDEAVORS AND MOUND BUILDING FLOURISHED UNTIL THE 13TH CENTURY. SOME OF THE MOUNDS WERE THE MOST ELABORATE IN THE U S, AND WERE MADE BY THEIR ANCESTORS. THEY HAD A GREAT DROUGHT DURING 1276 - 1300!

ACCORDING TO THEIR ORAL HISTORY THEY HAVE CULTURAL CONTINUITY FROM PREHISTORIC TO PRESENT TIMES. THEY BELIEVE THEIR OWN CADDO ORAL HISTORY SAYS THEY EMERGED FROM AN UNDERGROUND CAVE , CHAHKANIANA. IT TRANSLATES AS THE PLACE OF CRYING. MOON SAID NOT TO LOOK BACK. AN ELDER CADDOAN CARRIED A DRUM, A PIPE, AND FIRE - ALL RELIGIOUS ITEMS. HIS WIFE CARRIED CORN AND PUMPKIN SEEDS. PEOPLE AND ANIMALS EMERGED. THEY MOVED WEST TO RED RIVER. A WOMAN TAUGHT THE TRIBE HUNTING, FISHING, HOME CONSTRUCTION.

THEIR RELIGION IS ABOUT KADHI NAYUH - OR LORD ABOVE. PRIESTS COMMUNED WITH SPIRITS LIVING NEAR CADDO TEMPLES. THEY HAD CEREMONIES FOR CORN PLANTING. TOBACCO WAS USED FOR CEREMONIES. PRIESTS DRANK A JUICE OF WILD OLIVE LEAVES.

THE CADDO LIVED IN THE PINEY WOODS, A DECIDUOUS AND CONIFER FOREST WITH STEEP RIVER VALLEYS AND WETLANDS. THEIR MOST COMMON FOOD WAS DRIED CORN, SUNFLOWER SEEDS, PUMPKINS AND WILD TURKEYS.

DE SOTO HAD A VIOLENT CLASH WITH THE ONE BAND OF CADDO FOLKS. THE CADDO TRIBE DIVIDED INTO THREE CONFEDERACIES WHEN EUROPEANS ARRIVED. WHEN THE FRENCH AND SPANISH MISSIONARIES ARRIVED A SMALLPOX EPIDEMIC BROKE OUT, AS WELL AS MEASLES, INFLUENZA, AND MALARIA. PRIOR TO EUROPEAN CLASHES THE OSAGE INDIANS PUSHED THEM OUT OF SOME OF THEIR TERRITORY. THE CADDOS NEGOTIATED FOR TERRITORY WITH SPANISH, FRENCH, AND ANGLOS. AFTER THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE IN 1803 THE GOVERNMENT ALLIED WITH THEM. IN 1835 THE NORTHERNMOST CADDO MOVED TO MEXICO.

IN 1845 TEXAS BECAME A STATE THEY FORCED SEVERAL TRIBES TO RELOCATE TO BRAZOS RESERVATION. IN 1859 MANY CADDOS WERE RELOCATED TO A SECOND TERRITORY WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. AFTER THE CIVIL WAR THEY WERE CONCENTRATED ON A RESERVATION BETWEEN THE WASHITA AND CANADIAN RIVER. THEY STILL REMAIN ACTIVE IN THE NATIVE AMERICAN CHURCH. TRIBAL ENROLLMENT IS OPEN TO FOLKS WITH 1/16 DEGREE CADDO BLOOD.

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