CHAPTER III
THE CADDO IN LOUISIANA, 1803-1835
In 1803 the Caddo Indians after having been under the jurisdiction of the French and Spanish for nearly a century passed under the yoke of American domination. The French, who were the first whites to come in contact with the Caddo, had controlled them from the first quarter of the eighteenth century until Spain actually took possession of Louisiana in 1768. The Spanish exercised control over them until the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. At the time of this transaction the Caddoes were living in the same territory that they had inhabited when first met by the white man. The different tribes of the confederacy had wandered up and down Red River at different periods, and finally during the first quarter of the nineteenth century consolidated in the Sodo Creek region in the present state of Louisiana.
1. MIGRATION OF THE CADODACHO AND AMALGAMATION OF THE TRIBES
During the last quarter of the eighteenth century the Cadodacho abandoned their villages in the prairies along the great bend in Red River, descended the river, and settled about thirty-five miles west of the main branch of Red River, on a bayou, called by them, Sodo. The new settlement was about one hundred and twenty miles by land in nearly a northwest direction from Natchitoches. They were driven from their old homes by the Osages who were constantly making excursions into their territory, killing their warriors, and stealing their horses.
The land on which they now lived was a prairie of a white clay soil. The country around them was hilly, covered with a growth of oak, hickory, and pine trees, interspersed with prairies of a rich soil, very suitable for cultivation. They raised corn, beans, and pumpkins, as they had done in their old villages.
By the beginning of the nineteenth century the importance of the Cadodacho as a distinct tribe was at an end; the people be came merged with the other tribes of the confederacy and shared their misfortune. In 1776 De Mezieres recommended that presents no longer be given to the Natchitoches and Yatasi tribes, since they had disbanded and scattered among other bands. In 1805 the Natchitoches numbered fifty. Shortly afterwards, they ceased to exist as a distinct tribe, having been completely amalgamated with the other tribes of the Caddo Confederacy. The Yatasi tribe was practically destroyed by the wars and new diseases of the eighteenth century. These had such an effect on the Yatasi that by 1805, according to Sibley, they had been reduced to eight men and twenty women and children. They, too, merged with the other members of the Caddo Confederacy. All of the Adai, Natsoos, and Nasonnites disappeared as distinct tribes by the close of the eighteenth century. The Adai were absorbed by the Caddo, and it is thought the Natsoos, and Nasonnites were also merged with their kindred. By the close of the eighteenth century with the exception of a few scattered bands, the Caddo villages in the vicinity of the present Caddo Parish, Louisiana, represented the remnants of the old Caddo Confederacy. Tribal wars and diseases had spread havoc among them, and they, who were once a thrifty and numerous people had become demoralized and were more or less wanderers in their native land.
The peaceful Caddoes who had lived under the French and Spanish regimes soon learned that they were subjects of a new master. Before the Americans took possession of Louisiana, Sibley reported the Caddoes as anxiously inquiring about their coming, for their presence meant higher prices for furs.