4. CONCLUSION
More than a century of contact and relationship with the Europeans and Anglo-Americans practically broke up the once powerful and influential Caddo Confederacy. The peaceful disposition and friendly attitude of the Caddoes towards the nations under whose jurisdiction they happened to be, established early contact with the civilized people. Naturally this expedited the work of civilizing influences, but it proved disastrous for the natives, who were exposed to the contaminating vices which back ward people generally acquire from contact with races more advanced.
The tribes belonging to the Caddo Confederacy were scattered from Natchitoches to the great bend of the Red River, thus they were so divided that at no time could they successfully resist the intruding white races. Never did they attempt to use violence against the white traders and settlers who penetrated the territory claimed by themselves, but always referred such acts of intrusion to the governmental agencies in charge.
During the first half of the eighteenth century the French and Spaniards were involved in a contest for the control of the Caddo country. Each nation endeavored to win the allegiance of the Caddoes, as they exercised a commanding influence over all of the border Indians. The Spanish policy of attempting to win the natives through the influence of the Franciscan missionary was no match for that of the French who operated through the agency of the trader. As a result the French soon established undisputed control over most of the Caddo tribes, but the brunt of these contentions fell upon the Indians. The trails connecting their villages became routes over which armed forces traveled, while some of their villages were converted into fortified posts.
The Caddoes suffered greatly from their contact with the Europeans. Tribal wars were fomented, villages were destroyed and abandoned, new diseases took their toll among the people, and by the end of the century a number of the tribes were practically extinct, while others were seriously reduced in numbers; and those tribes that had migrated north, being too few in numbers to resist the onslaught of the Osages who were being driven south by the whites, descended the Red River, and joined the other tribes of the confederacy.
With the purchase of Louisiana by the United States the Caddoes again became border Indians, and the bid for their control was now between the United States and Spain. The policy followed by the United States in winning the allegiance of the Caddoes was similar to that used by France. They gave presents and established trading houses whereby the Indians could be sup plied with the necessities of life without having to travel a great distance in search of them.
As a result of the acquisition of Louisiana, immigration into the Caddo country increased, and it soon became impossible for the government to restrain the white immigrants from inhabiting the Caddo lands. The policy of the government had been not to allow settlements in the territory claimed by the Indians until their title had been extinguished. As the government agents realized that it was beyond their power even with military assistance to prevent intrusions into the Caddo country, they recommended the purchase of that country.
The United States Indian agent, taking advantage of the starving condition of the Caddoes, enticed them to sell their lands and to agree to leave the United States, never to return and settle as a tribe.
Thus it seems that they were to be forced into Mexican territory, but at that time the Anglo-Americans in Texas were waging a revolution and strenuously objected to Indians from the United States migrating into their territory. The Caddoes found them selves in a desperate situation, the United States Indian agent on one side of the border selling them guns and ammunition and urging them to enter Texas, while on the other side, the Texans threatened to exterminate them if they crossed into their country.
Although the Caddoes were forbidden to enter Texas, necessity compelled them to go into that region in search of game. The transfer of thousands of Indians from east of the Mississippi, and the westward migration of the whites had so taxed the resources of the old Caddo hunting grounds as to make stealing almost a necessity.
The Texans failed to make a distinction between friendly and hostile Indians. They thought that the only good Indian was a dead one, therefore they attempted to drive out or exterminate all of the Caddoes that had migrated into their country. As a result of this policy of extermination the Caddoes that were not killed were driven from Texas east of the Red River, where in retaliation for this cruel treatment they sent small bands into Texas to plunder and harass the white settlements.
By this time the friendly attitude of the Caddoes towards the whites had changed to that of hatred and distrust. They who had been ambassadors of peace under the rule of France, Spain, and the United States; they who had been promised as a reward for their allegiance that they would never be disturbed; they who were once a thrifty and influential people had become demoralized, and were now forced to fight for their actual existence. But when the party in Texas that had advocated conciliatory methods in dealing with the Indians returned to power, the Caddoes were invited to return into Texas, where a permanent peace was made that resulted in a cessation of hostilities.