The Caddo Indians: Tribes at the Convergence of Empires, 1542-1854

By F. Todd Smith

Book Overview

In 1542 members of the thriving Caddo Indian culture came face to face with Luis de Moscoso, successor to Hernando de Soto as leader of a Spanish exploration party. That encounter marked a turning point for this centuries-old people, whose history from then on would be dominated by the interaction of the native confederacies with the empires of various European adventurers and settlers.Much has been written about the confrontations of Euro-Americans with Native Americans, but most of it has focused on the Anglo-Indian relations of the eastern part of the continent or on the final phases of the western wars. This thorough and engaging history is the first to focus intensively on the Caddos of the Texas-Louisiana border area. Primarily from the perspective of the Caddos themselves, it traces the development and effect of relations over the three hundred years from the first meeting with the Spaniards until the resettlement of the tribes on the Brazos Reserve in 1854.In an impressive work of scholarship and lucid writing, F. Todd Smith chronicles all three of the Caddo confederacies-Kadohadacho, Hasinai, and Natchitoches-as they consolidated into a single tribe to face the waves of soldiers, traders, and settlers from the empires of Spain, France, the United States, Mexico, and the Republic of Texas. It describes the delicate balance the Caddos struck with the various nations claiming the region and how that gradually evolved into a less beneficial relationship. Caught in the squeeze between Euro-American nations, the Caddos eventually sacrificed their independence and much of their culture to gain the benefits offered by the invaders. Falling victim to swindlers, they at last lost their lands and were moved to a reservation. This intriguing new view of a little-known aspect of history will fascinate those interested in the culture and fate of American Indians. Thorough in its research and comprehensive in scope, it offers valuable insight into the differing approaches of the various European and American nations to the native peoples and a compelling understanding of the futility of the efforts of even some of the most sophisticated tribes in coping successfully with the changes wrought.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0890969817
• ISBN13: 9780890969816
• Release Date: June 2000
• Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Another Sad Chapter

My interest in the Caddo Indians stems from having worked in the area formerly controlled by the tribe. From Nacogdoches to Natchitoches, on northward into present-day southeastern Oklahoma and southwestern Arkansas, the Caddo and related tribes once controlled a vast area and were by all accounts well-organized, fairly disciplined, and relatively settled in relation to the nomadic tribes of the plains.The Caddo Indians: Tribes At the Convergence of Empires 1542-1854 is the story of how a people who from the beginning strove to maintain peaceful and profitable relations with the white settlers fell victim to disease, alcohol and the duplicity of many of those whom they trusted. But it is also the tale of bravery, perseverance and unity in the face of all the forces of history that conspired against them.The reader will see how the accidents of geography and the vagaries of events beyond the control of the Caddo nations brought them down from a tribe numbering in the hundreds of thousands, to a rump nation of just a couple hundred members today whose headquarters now sits on a meagre 37 acres in Oklahoma. You will meet good men and scoundrels on both sides and you will see how the scoundrels among the white nations (Spain, then Mexico, Texas and then the United States) eventually gained the upper hand. Of the white colonists who dealt with the Caddo tribes over the centuries, only the French come away largely free of the stench of dishonor.The story of the Caddo Nation is yet another sad chapter in the history of Euro-American interaction with the Native peoples. It is doubly sad for the Caddo tribes as they took an actively friendly stance from the start.I recommend this book to anyone interested in history as it pertains to the Indians. F. Todd Smith gives the reader a fine, easy reading overview of an important but overlooked tribe and a little-known era in what was then a remote section of the frontier.

History, Baseball & Beer

If there is just one book you buy this year on the Caddo Indians, let it be this one. This is a book for scholars. But it is also a book for the armchair history buff. Smith writes in a palatable style. In the end, it is the natural narrative that carries the story. This part of American history is missed in most public education. Sit back with a cold one and this book. I did.